Low Impact Exercises for You
By Sara Butler
When most people think of low-impact exercise, they think of easy, light, or gentle exercises for people who can’t do the high-impact stuff. The truth is that low-impact exercise can be incredibly beneficial to everyone, helping you to burn calories, build muscle, and maintain a healthy weight. Here’s what you need to know about low-impact exercise and how you can incorporate some into your fitness routine.
High Impact: Not for Everyone
You know that exercise is important to your overall health and wellness, and high-impact exercise is a great way to get your heart rate up quickly. But some people can’t do high-impact exercise due to issues such as:
- Injuries
- Pregnancy
- Chronic health problems
- Aversion to high-impact exercise
- New to exercise
High impact exercise helps to build strong bones, but you don’t necessarily have to do a super intense workout to reap the benefits. Many low-impact exercises can increase your heart rate. The only catch is you may have to work a little harder to get into your target heart rate zone for fitness.
Make the Most of It
If high-impact exercise isn’t for you, then there are alternatives. You simply need to know what to do in order to get the most out of low-impact workouts.
Walking is a great example of a low-impact workout. But to reap the benefits, you have to:
- Walk fast – Slowly ambling along isn’t going to help you get your heart pumping; pick up the pace to add intensity to your workout
- Add intervals – Add short speed bursts or take on a steep hill to amp up your walking workout intensity
- Pump your arms – No matter if you’re on a treadmill or on the road, swing those arms to take the intensity up a notch
- Add variety – If walking is your cardio, then add other activities to challenge your body
Other great low-intensity workouts include hiking, step aerobics, and stairs. As you build up your endurance, you can add other, more intense workouts such as:
- Cycling
- Rowing
- Swimming
- Cross-country skiing
These activities don’t impact your body but offer a higher level of intensity to help your body work harder.
Low-impact exercises are a great way to get moving and get healthy. No matter your challenges, you can find a low-impact activity you love and make the most of it!
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Sandy Springs, Ga.