Weight lifting does not stand alone. Knowledgeable coaches compare the achievement of fitness to a stool of three legs: weight training, diet and aerobic exercise. Each leg must bear its fair share of the load to assure balance. Who am I to disagree? I just accentuate the thickness of the weight training support, establish a sturdy dietary leg and use aerobics as a balancing pole to assure an upright, on-target position. I prefer to lean on hard, well-paced lifting and consistent clean, high-protein, low-carb dieting to set and control my muscle building, fat burning, cardio-respiratory health and metabolism, with a side order of intense aerobic to zero-in on my course. Here I stray from the crowd. Physical fitness is vitally important. Aerobic exercise to achieve it, I fear, is over-rated, over-consumed and over-worshipped. This doesn't make it bad. The "iron" is better, that's all... you'll see.

Aerobics come in all shapes and sizes from an early morning brisk walk to an all-out sixty-minute Spin class. Make your choice based on time, needs, goals, equipment available and desire. Some folks love the high, the rhythm, the demand, discipline, socializing and the results. Jump in. But, please don't let the activity become excessive or it may eat you up. There are, of course, those who absolutely hate the thought of running in place, the stationary bike and classes. If it keeps you from the gym, forget it. Maybe some other time.

The model for aerobic efficiency is 3 or 4 fifteen to twenty-minute sessions of treadmill, stair, bike or road work at various levels of intensity each week: interval training. Here, the choice of what medium and what time is up to you according to desire, effect and convenience.

I perform the stationary bike prior to my workouts to warm-up my body's core temperature, replace distracting thoughts with positive thoughts and establish a training momentum. The amp in our fuel burning system engendered by aerobics continues to burn calories for hours. Cool. Herein lies the real benefit of long-term aerobics; on-going fat burning via the chemistry change brought about by the exercise. The calories burned during the actual running and jumping, kicking and screaming are minor. It is during this activity, over time, that the body creates fat-burning enzymes that carry on their delightful role long after our aerobic exercise has ceased for the day. Cool, again.

Supersets are forever. They work the heart and lungs. They build shapely muscle.