Heart Rate

Steady-state cardio exercises like jogging put you in the 60 to 70 percent heart rate zone. To get the benefits of anaerobic conditioning, you need to push your heart rate to above 80 percent of its maximum. Professional athletes and extremely fit individuals might push themselves into the red-line zone of 90 percent, but this is dangerous for most people.

Energy Source

Which energy-producing system your body uses depends entirely on your heart rate. Less intense aerobic exercises cause you to consume oxygen as the main energy source. More intense anaerobic exercises cause you to consume glycogen, which is stored in muscle tissue. A byproduct of burning glycogen is lactic acid, which builds up in muscle tissue and makes it difficult to maintain intense exercise for long periods of time.

Benefits

Just because you can't exercise as long in the anaerobic zone as you can in the aerobic zone doesn't mean there aren't benefits to pushing yourself. Interval training, including sprints, plyometrics and high-speed sports result in the consumption of high number of calories without losing muscle mass. Exercising in the anaerobic heart zone will allow you to burn fat during and after your workout as you build strength and muscular endurance.

Considerations

Anaerobic conditioning has several drawbacks. Because of its intense nature, training in the anaerobic zone can be stressful. Pushing your heart rate close to its maximum isn't something that should be done lightly. Since your muscles work hard during anaerobic exercise, you can't do them as often as aerobic exercise. Avoid doing interval workouts and other high-intensity exercises on consecutive days.