Conventional wisdom says that aerobic exercise is a leading method for
burning fat and losing weight.  Recently I was given some advice that
runs against the grain of conventional wisdom. The advice was taken
from Dr. Bernarr, D.C. D.D., who has this to say about aerobic vs.
anaerobic exercise:

"Lean muscle has the highest resting metabolic (calorie burning)
 rate of any tissue. The more muscle you have, the more calories
 you burn, day and night! Muscle burns calories even at rest,
 while fat tissue is virtually dead weight."

[...]

"To lose weight, do as little aerobic exercises as you can.
 Aerobic exercises (with oxygen), do not help you to lose weight.
 Aerobic exercise only helps you gain endurance and will take you
 forever to burn up your fat." [As you've noted, with the added
 risk that you'll start losing muscle mass.]

[...]

"To lose weight and fat, do anaerobic exercises (not using oxygen,
 without oxygen). Anaerobic exercises are sprinting, running up
 stairs rapidly, jumping high, long and vertically with intensity,
 rapid cycling, rapid rowing, rapid swimming, weight throwing,
 weight lifting with low repetitions, hand balancing, gymnastics,
 chins, parallel bar dips, roman rings, rope climbing, tubing,
 bands, pulleys, wrestling and martial arts. [He leaves out
 rapid jump-roping].

 Anaerobic exercises are intense exercises that can be tolerated
 for only a few moments. They are short bursts of all out
 activities. They are activities using muscle groups at high
 intensities that exceed the body's capacity to use oxygen to
 supply energy. They create an oxygen debt by using energy
 produced without oxygen. They are activities in which oxygen
 demands of muscles are so high that they rely upon an internal
 metabolic process for oxygen."  Much more on the page:
http://www.healself.org/weight.html

Can you evaluate this unusual advice from Dr. Bernarr?  Also, can you
evaluate his credentials? ("D.C., D.D.")

skyhawk8...

I'm glad you posted another question, and I'm even happier
I found some time to research it.

After much digging, I finally found a couple of articles
that clarify the issue. The first one is especially 
comprehensive, and explores the aerobic/anaerobic 
controversy at length. It's written by Coach Eddie Lomax,
a strength, conditioning and fitness coach, and hosted
on the EzineArticles website. I can't quote it all, due
to potential copyright infringement, but here's the
essentials:

"Low Intensity Exercise burns about 50% fat for fuel while
 High Intensity Exercise burns about 40% fat for fuel...
 so you could say that Low Intensity Exercise burns more
 fat for fuel than High Intensity Exercise.

 But, let?s say you burn 100 calories in 20 minutes of
 Low Intensity Exercise (50 fat calories), and you burn
 160 calories in 10 minutes of High Intensity Exercise
 (64 fat calories)... you still burn more over-all fat
 with high intensity exercise than with low intensity
 exercise."

 There is also another advantage of High Intensity
 Exercise... it increases your metabolism long after
 the exercise is completed."

[...]

"The benefits of aerobic activity are...

 Increased Cardiovascular Function Decrease in Body Fat

 The negatives of aerobic activity are...

 Decreased Muscle Mass
 Decreased Strength
 Decreased Power
 Decreased Speed
 Decreased Anaerobic Capacity"

[EEK!]

 Most people in favor of aerobics in the Aerobic vs
 Anaerobic Controversy rely heavily on the ability of
 aerobic activity to reduce body fat... but fail to
 mention that you are also losing muscle, strength,
 power, speed and anaerobic capacity along with fat
 reduction.

 And here is the really shocking news... Low Intensity
 Exercise = Greater Fat Loss is a myth!"

[...]

"The benefits of anaerobic activity are...

 Increased Cardiovascular Function
 Decrease in Body Fat
 Increased Muscle Mass
 Improved Strength
 Improved Power
 Improved Speed
 Increased Aerobic Capacity

 The negatives of anaerobic activity are...

 Anaerobic activity requires an aerobic foundation"

Much more on the page:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Aerobic-vs-Anaerobic:-Whats-All-the-Controversy-About?&id=126596

Big difference, huh? And need I remind you that increased
muscle mass = increased levels of naturally-produced 
testosterone.


Now, he only touched on the fact that the high intensity
anaerobic activity builds muscles which increases your 
metabolism - burning fat 24 hours a day. In fact, your
metabolic process is most active when you're at rest -
actually, when you're asleep - taking in much more oxygen
than is being consumed by your activity level, and using
it to burn fat. Actually meditators, though conscious
while deeply at rest, report that they can feel the 
heat as the fat-burning process occurs. I can personally
vouch for this.

The amount of calories burned by this fat-burning at rest
is certainly not equivalent to the amount of calories
burned during either aerobic or anaerobic exercise, but
it's all fat calories, and takes place all day long, 
though moreso while asleep.


Another page which reaffirms the contrast between low and
high intensity exercise noted by Coach Lomax is on the
BetterU Inc. website, and includes some graphs. It agrees
with Coach Lomax that the best way is to combine both:

"Cardio and Weight Training"

"The best way to incorporate cardio into your training is
 to do it in a completely different session then your weight
 training. If you plan on doing both weights and cardio in
 the same session, do the weights first. There are two major
 reasons for this:

 - First, doing cardio before weights will pre-fatigue your
 muscles, limiting your weight training. Doing cardio after
 weights will not.
 - Second, weight training will serve as a sort of pre-exhaust
 for cardio; lowering your blood sugar and allowing you to burn
 fat immediately after you start cardio. If you do cardio first,
 it will take about 20 minutes before you really start to burn fat"
http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Info/Cardio_fitness1.htm


This takes us back to the quote from the first question I 
answered for you, in which Phil Kaplan stated:

"People who get started on my program begin by performing
 only 12 minutes of aerobic exercise per day...."
http://www.philkaplan.com/thefitnesstruth/aerobics.htm

Without buying his program, I'm willing to bet that he
simply has them doing some high-intensity anaerobic
exercise, such as heavy weights at low reps, after which
you can do aerobics during which you will begin to burn
fat immediately after you begin. Don't forget to stretch
out in between.


From my own reading on the subject, I can tell you from
memory that the highest level of strength trainers will
tell you to work at about 70% of the maximum weight you
can do one repetition of, for any particular exercise
(also referred to as 1RM, or 1 rep max). Combine that 
amount of weight with no more than 5 reps, and you'll 
be training with the best power lifters of our time.
You'd do that daily, which is one reason it works well
with aerobics, which you also want to do daily, right
after the weight training.

Let me see if I can find a link for that...

Okay, here's a variation called 'The Original 3 to 5 
Method for Maximal Gains in Very Little Time', on 
DragonDoor.com, which is a very good resource for 
strength training:

"Three to five, or even two, exercises for the whole body.
 3-5 days between workouts. 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps. 3-5
 minutes rest between sets. That?s it."
http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/2/

In the latter program, you would start with 70% of your
5RM, or 5 rep maximum weight for each exercise.

I would personally suggest 3-5 reps of 70% your 1RM
with, say, 3 major exercises that work the whole 
body, such as deadlifts, squats and benchpress, done
daily, along with about 15 minutes of aerobics afterward.

You can progress from there, gauging by your body's
responses, and the voluminous resources on the Dragon
Door website.


Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that  
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog  
established through the "Request for Clarification" process. 

sublime1-ga


Additional information may be found from an exploration of
the links resulting from the Google searches outlined below.


Searches done, via Google:

"aerobic vs anaerobic" OR "anaerobic vs aerobic" "lose OR burn fat" 
://www.google.com/search?q=%22aerobic+vs+anaerobic%22+OR+%22anaerobic+vs+aerobic%22+%22lose+OR+burn+fat%22+

70% "5 reps" site:www.dragondoor.com
://www.google.com/search?q=70%25+%225+reps%22+site%3Awww.dragondoor.com

Another very thoroughly researched answer.  Thanks again!

I'd just point out that there's no one right way to exercise.  I do
generally agree with what was mentioned above in the answer, but
there's one detail that get's glossed over by all the other stuff...
"Anaerobic activity requires an aerobic foundation"
Anybody who's really busted their butt lifting weights (heavy squats,
deadlifts, drop-sets, super sets, etc) can attest to the need for a
solid cardiovascular base.  And intense interval training as described
above (which I'm personally a huge fan of) also requires a
cardiovascular base to build off of.  It's my observation that for
many people, particularly beginners, it's easier to start off with
'traditional' aerobic-type exercises (i.e. jogging, elipticals,
biking, etc) and progress to the anaerobic interval training as
they're able.
Finally, it's important to do something you like.  If you're one of
those nuts that enjoys training for endurance type-events (5K, 10K,
marathon, triathalon, etc), then do it.  You're better off doing what
you like, since you'll actually stick with it, rather than trying to
keep up with the latest in exercise physiology.
Good luck with your training.
js

Search: HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

Aerobic exercise can burn a good amount of fat but in general it's
horrible for muscle size.