Low impact exercise refers to the kind of exercises where one foot stays in contact with the ground while the other is actively involved in the exercise. The exception would be swimming. These kinds of exercises are ideal for over-weight people, those new to exercises, older people, pregnant women and those suffering from illness such as arthritis or osteoporosis. Low impact exercises exert little stress on the joints but still allow the body to move and improve overall health. Here are a few low impact exercises you can do at home.
Low Impact exercises you can try at Home.
If you enjoy exercising at home, the following low impact exercises can help keep your bones and muscles strong. These low impact exercises include stretching, swimming, yoga, walking, dancing, and jogging. An added benefit of these exercises is that you don’t require any special equipment to perform them. If completed correctly on a regular basis, these low impact exercises are a great way to help lose weight as well as improve your overall health.
Other low impact exercises that you can perform at home with the help of special equipment include Cycling, elliptical machine, rowing machine, light weight lifting, and stair stepping.
Why low impact exercises?
- They improve your flexibility.
Being more flexible can provide many benefits health-wise. When you are flexible, you can experience fewer back pains and joint pains. Also, flexibility improves your movement, reduces muscle tension and stress as well as helping to prevent occasional future injuries.
- Help ease pain experienced when working out.
Some high impact exercises can be painful especially for overweight people. Therefore, if you are struggling with weight, it is not advisable to perform high impact exercises as there is a high possibility you will experience pain during and after workouts – especially in the beginning. For obese people, low impact exercises are very helpful since little or no pain is experienced when one performs these kinds of exercises and they help to prepare the body for higher impact routines in the future.
- Increases muscle strength.
Contrary to what many people believe, low impact exercises are useful for muscle building. Therefore, if you want to shed off some weight as well as strengthen your muscles, try lower impact exercises.
- Help ease joint pains.
If you experience pain in the feet, back, hips and knees after high impact workouts, its time you shifted to lower impact exercises. With low impact exercises, you will not experience muscle fatigue and soreness nearly as much. This is because, low impact exercises exert minimal force on the muscles, joints, ligaments, spine, and tendons.
Low impact exercises help you avoid pain experienced during exercises as well as improve flexibility to a great extent. Also, they don’t strain the joints as much as more intense exercises and are helpful for muscle building.
Here’s to your health!
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Dr. Kevin Crawford