13 Best Examples of Anaerobic Exercise

If you want to increase strength and endurance, burn significant calories and improve overall body composition in a short amount of time, consider doing anaerobic exercises. Anaerobic training includes short duration exercises that are highly intense and heart-pumping. Sprinting, Tabata, and powerlifting are some of the best examples of anaerobic exercise.

In this article, you’ll see the thirteen best anaerobic exercise examples that can boost your stamina, enhance your cardiovascular health, reduces body fats, and take your fitness to the next level.

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What is Anaerobic Exercise?

Anaerobic exercises break down glucose for energy without using oxygen. It includes highly intense and heart-pumping exercises that are performed for a very short period, typically 10 to 30 seconds. A session of anaerobic training lasts anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, with several minutes of intervals in between.

Sprinting is a great example of anaerobic exercise. During the sprints, you don’t focus on breathing; instead, you try to run as fast as possible for a short duration.

From improving bone density, joint health, muscular endurance, and lactic threshold to decreasing excess body fats and risk of disease, anaerobic training has various health benefits.

However, despite many advantages, anaerobic workouts can be detrimental to some people, particularly people with cardiovascular disease, past injuries, and obesity. So it’s best to consult with your doctor or physical trainer before you do one of the types of anaerobic exercise.

Top 13 Examples of Anaerobic Exercise

1. Sprinting

Sprinting means running as fast as possible for a set duration, typically 10 to 30 seconds.

It engages multiple muscles throughout the body, especially the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hips, calves, and core.

Sprinting is the best way to boost metabolism, improve performance, increase endurance and build strength for sports like football, soccer, basketball, and track and field.

Benefits of Sprinting, according to a study published in the National Institute of Health journal.¹

Improves and maximizes your VO2 max,
Regulates blood pressure,
Lowers blood glucose levels,
Improves cardiovascular health,
Increases stamina and endurance,
Develops body composition.

Example of a sprint interval routine

The duration of one sprinting session: 30 minutes
Sprinting time: 15-30 seconds
Total Rounds: 6-8
Rest between each round: 4-5 minutes
Estimated calories burned: 300

2. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

HIIT isn’t particularly a workout, it’s a workout program. It involves short, intense bursts of activity that alternate between high-intensity work and a short recovery period.

For example, doing battle rope for 15 seconds with 30 to 40 seconds of rest and repeating until the desired time.

The goal of this training is to push yourself as hard as possible but then quickly recover so that you can repeat the cycle again.

High-Intensity Interval Training has several benefits, such as:

It allows you to burn more calories,
Help you build muscles while losing fat,
Increase stamina and boost metabolism,
Reduce weight (if you decrease calorie consumption)
Build strength and quickness,
Improve heart and lung health.

Example of an anaerobic HIIT routine

Do as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes with 2 minutes of rest in between.

Exercise	Activity	Rest
Burpees	10 reps at 85-95% of your MHR	30 seconds
Kneeling Jump	10 reps at 90-95% of your MHR	30 seconds
Pushups	30-40 pushups in 30 seconds	30 seconds
Squats	30-40 pushups in 30 seconds	30 seconds
Mountain Climbing	20-sec at 85-95% of your MHR	–

You may also like: The Best 6 Week HIIT Workout Plan

3. Weightlifting

Weightlifting is also one of the best types of anaerobic exercise that involves a short burst of intense movement.

You might be wondering how weight training is considered an anaerobic exercise, ain’t you?

Well, your body uses carbohydrates (as an energy source) as well as converts glycogen to produce energy that allows you to lift weights. And it does not require oxygen (for energy) like cardio exercises, which is why weightlifting is considered an example of anaerobic exercise.

If your goal is to build muscle strength, enhance power, increase muscle mass and burn more calories then weightlifting may be the option for you.

Here are some examples of weightlifting exercises:

4. Plyometric

Plyometric exercises are intense bursts of activity that increase your body’s ability to produce force and power. They are a great way to improve your overall athleticism while also improving the strength of specific muscle groups, especially your legs.

The plyometric training includes various jumping exercises, such as the high jump, vertical jump, and kneeling jump. It is more suitable for athletes, particularly for soccer, basketball, and netball players who want to maximize their speed, power, strength, endurance, and agility.

Example of Anaerobic Plyometrics Workout

Perform each exercise for 30 seconds at a quick pace with little to no rest between exercises.

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3
Ankle Hops	Split Jump	Vertical Jumps
Squat Jump	Skater Jumps	Alternate Lunge Jump
Jumping Jacks	Broad Jump	Tuck Jump
Mountain Climbers	Plyo Pushups	Kneeling Squat Jump

5. Ballistic Workout Training

The ballistic workout training is another good example of an anaerobic workout. It includes high-intense exercises that increase speed and power and improve athleticism and sports performance.²

This training helps maximize the acceleration phase of an object’s movement and minimize the deceleration phase, as well as improve neural factors, including motor-unit recruitment, firing frequency, and intra- and inter-muscular coordination.³

Tossing or throwing medicine balls as hard and fast as possible and jumping with weights are examples of ballistic exercises.

6. Rowing

Rowing is an excellent full-body exercise with both aerobic and anaerobic components. It helps increase strength, power, endurance, and speed.

Rowing involves various muscle groups throughout the body, especially the back, biceps, and core, and helps improve body composition.

It is suitable for people of all fitness levels, whether male or female. So you can incorporate rowing into your anaerobic workout routine to strengthen and tone your muscles, build lean mass, and improve bone density.

Example of 20 minutes of rowing for building Anaerobic fitness:

Duration: 20 minutes
Activity: 30 seconds rowing at 85% to 95% of your maximum heart
Recovery Period: 1 minute
Total rounds: 12

7. Bicycling

Cycling isn’t only an aerobic exercise, but it also has anaerobic components. For example, while cycling at your maximum effort, your body breaks down glucose for energy without using oxygen.

Bicycling is a great way to enhance cardiovascular functions and boost metabolism. A study demonstrated that cycling reduces the risk of cancer, increases strength and endurance, reduces weight, as well as increases life expectancy.⁴

Example of an Anaerobic Cycling Workout Routine

Duration: 20 minutes
Activity: 30 seconds rowing at 85% to 95% of your maximum heart
Recovery Period: 1 minute
Total rounds: 12

8. Tabata

Tabata is a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that involves performing 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. One circuit of Tabata lasts 4 minutes, and one session of Tabata workout is usually performed for 20 minutes.

The goal of this workout training is to keep your heart rate elevated for as long as possible during each set, which means you need to push yourself hard enough so that you are working at your max capacity but not so hard that you burn out before the end of the exercise period.

Tabata has various health benefits, for example, it helps improve cardiovascular fitness, accelerates fat loss, and increases maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), endurance, speed, and power.

Here’s an example of 20 minute Tabata workout

Round	Minute 1	Minute 2	Minute 3	Minute 4
1	Jumping Jacks	Mountain Climbers	Kneeling Jump	Flutter Kick
2	Squat Jump	Push-Ups	Crunches	Shoulder Tap
3	Burpees	Shoulder Tap	Jumping Split Squat	Leg Raises
4	High Knees	Kneeling Jump	Jumping Jacks	Leg Raises
5	Front Box Jump	Bicycle Crunches	Shoulder Tap	Flutter Kick

9. Swimming

Like rowing, swimming also has both aerobic and anaerobic components.

During anaerobic swimming, your body is unable to utilize oxygen as an energy source and fails to fulfill the muscles’ demand for oxygen.

The anaerobic type of swimming requires great effort and will only be sustained for two minutes or less.

This type of swimming helps you build your lactic threshold, increase muscle strength, boost metabolism, and burn significant calories in a short time.

You can do short distances anaerobic swimming for the desired period of time.

10. Jumping Rope

Jumping rope may be considered both aerobic and anaerobic activity. It depends on the intensity of your training. And to make jumping rope an anaerobic workout, you should have to perform as fast as possible without focusing on breathing. It involves different muscles of the body at once, such as arms, legs, and the core.

The jumping rope has myriad health benefits, including better heart health, lower blood sugar, weight loss, better VO2 max, and much more.

Example of Jumping Rope Routine:

Duration: 15 Minutes
Activity: 30 seconds (perform as quickly as possible)
The number of sets: 8-10
Recovery time between sets: 60 seconds

11. Battle Rope Training

The battle rope workout improves both aerobic and anaerobic fitness. It is part of intense training programs, such as Crossfit and HIIT.

It bolsters multiple muscles throughout the body, especially the shoulder, arms, and core.

As an intense workout, battle rope burns numerous calories in a quick time, improves cardiovascular fitness, and levels up your fitness level.

However, it requires decent energy and endurance to perform efficiently.

Example of a 10-minute battle rope workout:

Activity: 15 seconds at your max effort
Rest: 45 seconds
Rounds: 10

12. Boxing Punches

Throwing hard punches on the boxing bag is another good way to improve aerobic and anaerobic fitness.⁵

Boxing has four kinds of punches; the jab, the cross, the hook, and the uppercut.

The jab punch is a short and quick punch that is used mainly for defense and counterattacks.

The cross punch is a short, quick, and powerful punch that can be used to attack your opponent’s head or body.

The uppercut punch is a powerful punch that is thrown with a lot of force.

The hook is another powerful punch that comes from strength and speed in an arc motion to hit the side of the chin or neck.

You can throw all these punches on a boxing bag at your maximum effort to boost your anaerobic fitness.

13. Crossfit

If you want to maximize your anaerobic fitness, you can also try Crossfit. Crossfit is a combination of strength and endurance training. It includes high-intensity functional movements that push you to your physical and mental limits.

From plyometrics and sprinting to strength training and HIIT, Crossfit comprises myriad exercises that increase strength, stamina, speed, balance, and agility.

To improve your anaerobic health, you can include high intense Crossfit WODs. For example, Holleyman, Daniel, Hammer, Santiago, and Omar.

The Bottom Line

Anaerobic exercises break down glucose for energy without using oxygen. It includes exercises of very short duration, such as sprinting, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), and powerlifting.⁶

Studies have shown that anaerobic exercises have a positive effect on lipid profiles, cardiovascular health, and overall life quality.

Research also suggests including short bouts of anaerobic training to reduce fat mass and improve metabolism.⁷

Anaerobic workouts are also excellent for athletes and fitness enthusiasts who want to maximize their endurance, power, speed, agility, and strength.

However, it is not suitable for all fitness levels, especially for people with cardiovascular disease, past injuries, and any health issues. So it’s best to consult with your doctor or physical trainer before you do any type of anaerobic exercise.

References

1
Research into the Health Benefits of Sprint Interval Training Should Focus on Protocols with Fewer and Shorter Sprints – Springer.com Sports Medicine
2
Eight weeks of ballistic exercise improves power independently of changes in strength and muscle fiber type expression – Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
3
Ballistic Training – Wikipedia
4
Health benefits of cycling: A systematic review – Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports
5
The Effects of Intermittent Hypoxic Training on Anaerobic and Aerobic Power in Boxers – International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
6
Aerobic vs anaerobic exercise training effects on the cardiovascular system – World Journal of Cardiology
7
Short bouts of anaerobic exercise increase non-esterified fatty acids release in obesity – Europian Journal of Nutrition

13 Best Examples of Anaerobic Exercise

What is Anaerobic Exercise?