Aerobic means „ with air“, so aerobic exercise is a kind of activity that requires oxygen. When you breathe, you take and if you are doing aerobic exercise, you may notice you are breathing faster than normal. If you are gasping for air while talking, you are probably working anaerobically.
Aerobic, or cardiovascular exercise, is an essential part of a fitness routine.
Several of the benefits to aerobic exercise are: increases conditioning, burns calories, alleviates and prevents depression, helps prevent osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer, and it can improve body composition.
More than 24 million people participate an aerobics. There are varied forms of aerobics including low-impact, swim and other water aerobics is popular. Dance is still the predominant form and may be inspired by ballet, country line dancing, salsa or even hip-hop.
Typical aerobics program begins with 5-10 minutes of warm-ups and stretching, 20-30 minutes of target heart range dance, can include 20 minutes of a muscle stretching floor program known as body sculpting and ends with 5-10 minutes of cool-down and more stretching .
Programs typically run three to four times a week.
Aerobics exercise is a fun way to get fit.It combines fat-burning aerobic movements, muscle-building exercises, and stretching that are performed to music. Some aerobic exercise classes use dance forms, such as disco, jazz, and ballet. All ages can benefit from aerobic exercise.
Aerobic classes are usually offered ad 3 levels of intensity. A LOW-IMPACT class is conducted at a slow pace and is easy to do. It is good for people just starting an exercise program. An INTERMEDIATE class is designed for people who are active and need a higher exercise level to improve and maintain their fitness. The ADVANCED classes, also called HIGH-IMPACT, are for fit people who want a hard workout.
Aerobic instructors should show class members how to do moves in high or low intensity.
If you are too tired too continue exercising in an aerobic class, march in place for a while until you can resume exercising. It is not ok to stop in the middle of an aerobic class because your body is sending extra blood to the muscles. (this is why all aerobic classes have a cool down at the end of the aerobic section.)

A proper exercise program includes four steps:
1. warm-up
the warm-up is the first step of an exercise workout. Warming up for 10-15 minutes before exercising increases circulation and delivers more oxygen to muscles. It increases flexibility by stretching muscles. Begin with 5-10 minutes of slow activity. It is helpful to spend a few minutes walking, jogging, or marching in place. This can be followed by mild stretches to warm up the muscles, raise the body temperature, and increase blood flow before the actual exercise begins.
2. Aerobic exercise
The appropriate frequency (how often), intensity (how hard), and time (how long) of an aerobic program will vary from person to person. When begining an exercise program, one should review goals, time commitment, current activity level and age. Then one can decide how often, how hard, and how long to exercise on a regular basis.
Beginner- should train 3 days a week at 40-60 % MHR 12-20 minutes per session.
Improvement/Intermediate – 3-5 days at 50-85 % MHR for 20-30 minutes.
Maintenance- 3 days at 70-85% MHR for 30-45 minutes.
MHR is 220 minus your age.
3. Cool-down
Cooling down involves gradually reducing heart rate and blood flow to the muscles by decreasing the intensity toward the end of the workout. Every work out should end with a cooling down period, followed by stretching.
4. Stretching
Stretching should be done when the body is warm, such as after a workout session. It is important to hold each stretch for at least 10 to 30 seconds. Stretch to the point of mild discomfort, not pain. Perform 5 to 10 stretches that target the major muscle groups.

Aerobic exercise is a fun way to get fit.