If you want to lose weight and improve your cardiovascular fitness but are concerned about previous injuries and your joints, low-impact exercise will be an excellent fit for you.

Low-impact does not mean low efficiency. On the contrary, with the proper form, low-impact workouts can be beneficial for everyone. Jaque Crockford, a certified personal trainer and exercise physiology content manager at the American Council on Exercise, reports that some of the benefits of this type of workout are “improved strength, lower blood pressure, and reduced stress.”

What Low-Impact Exercise is right for me?

Various low-impact exercises can be right for you and your goals.

Some high-impact exercises are designed to help you lose weight, while others aim to increase core strength.

We will explain some of the more common low-impact exercises you can utilize that burn calories with a cardio workout without the added stress on your joints. So no matter your health concern, you don’t have to lose out on a good activity, improved mood, and increased muscle strength.

Swimming

Swimming is going to be a great low-impact cardio workout. Since it is a full-body workout, this exercise burns calories efficiently! Moderate swimming can burn approximately 223 calories in half an hour (calculations made for a 155-pound person). Vigorous swimming burns calories at a much higher rate.

You don’t need a great form to get a great workout!

You can have fun swimming while you work out your upper body, lower body, and core. No matter your fitness level or muscle strength, there are many options to do once you get in a pool to fit in a high-intensity exercise.

Rowing

The rowing machine is excellent as a warm-up, cool-down, or primary exercise for the day. Since you will need access to this machine, this will likely be something that you do at the gym, and most gyms will have this equipment. Never used a rowing machine before? Learn great form here for an intense low-impact cardio workout.

With great form, you will see yourself improving posture a the same time as your full body exercise.

Cardiovascular Healthy Workouts

If you want to go low-impact with your workout, it doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice the normally high-impact exercises. On the contrary, an incredible low-impact option is still doing that workout but keeping one foot on the ground.

This new low-impact workout will bump up your heart rate and give you the exercise you want without painful joints later on.

Essentially, you do similar workouts to whatever cardio routine of your choosing, such as stair climbing, mountain climbers, and jumping jacks in short bursts. If you have increased your fitness levels, you can add weights to the routine as well!

Takeaway Message

Low-impact exercises are still effective in weight loss, strength training, and cardiovascular health. In addition, this way of working out will allow you to reduce the risk of mobility-related injury, decrease recovery time, improve flexibility, and much more!

We hope that this article has helped illuminate the possibilities of staying safe and active.

 

Here’s to your health!

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Disclaimer:  This information is provided as an educational service only, and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice.  Anyone seeking specific medical advice or assistance should consult his or her doctor or orthopedic surgeon.