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Now, before you go crazy on me' hear me out.

I've been in the health and fitness industry (more specifically health clubs) for a while now and I really have to say that if I were to start a club from scratch' I wouldn't include an aerobic program at all.

Why?

Because I've never REALLY seen these programs work.

Sure, I've seen people start to drop weight with step aerobics, but they tend to plateau extremely quickly and plateaus lead to frustration. Frustration leads to doubt and doubt leads to failure.

Studies have shown that aerobic activities can burn away valued muscle AND have shrinking effects on the heart and lungs. Now, of course I'm not taking about aggressive cardiovascular routines that truly challenge the body.

No, what I'm referring to are the activities that try to 'put' you in a certain target rate' you know' the vaunted 'fat burning' zone.

Listen to this:

Yes, it is true that your body burns more calories from fat when you are operating at a certain effort level like what is experience when most people are involved in activities like step aerobics.

However, what you truly miss out on are the 'afterburn' effects that other types of exercises can provide. Most people lose any and all the benefits of a heightened metabolism within 30 minutes of finishing a step aerobic workout. Compare that to the 72 hour lift in metabolism that interval training and weight training can provide and you can now start to understand why many of the people that are actually on the workout floor subjecting themselves to more grueling workouts look and feel better than their 'step aerobic' counterparts.

I'm sure you've seen all of the step aerobic DVD's and tapes that go on sale in places like Walmart or even on TV'

Don't waste your money.

Most people only do these tapes for a short amount of time and then they quit.

Why?

No results' it's too convenient' it gets stale' etc.

Remember, your body is an INCREDIBLE assembly of systems and it's ability to adapt to any given stimulus is quite remarkable. That being said, the other downfall of step aerobics is that you are always doing the same routines over and over again and you adapt.

Adaptation = NO RESULTS

There is one good thing about step aerobics though'

Most step aerobic classes are VERY SOCIAL and this social atmosphere actually helps people to continue their workout programs.

I like social programs and working out' the right social program properly formatted will give you incredible results.

Unfortunately, step aerobics really doesn't fit the bill of what I would consider 'proper formatting'.