[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]If you want to
get more active but are concerned about your joints or your
current fitness level, then low-impact workouts might be what you need. Many people associate exercise with the movements they did in gym class, like running or jumping jacks and burpees.
Although these high-impact exercises are excellent for your cardiovascular and bone health, they can also be stressful on your joints and intimidating for newbies or those returning to exercise after an extensive break. Low-impact exercise is any physical activity that avoids jarring, jumping or other movements that cause sudden force on your body.
The good news is that low-impact workouts are incredibly beneficial for your health in several ways. You can still accomplish any fitness goal by sticking to movements that don’t aggravate existing issues or make you feel completely beat up by the end of your training session. Keep reading for more on the benefits of low-impact workouts, plus a sample workout plan.
Low Impact Workout Benefits
Improves heart health
You don’t need to run, jump or jar the joints to get the benefits of exercise for your cardiovascular system. Any activity that increases your heart rate, whether vigorous house cleaning,
walking, swimming or low-impact aerobics, will improve heart health.
Consistent physical activity is
solidly linked with reducing cardiovascular mortality and cardiovascular disease risk. People who keep active have lower blood pressure, higher insulin sensitivity, and better cholesterol levels.
Workout Tip:
Research shows that walking without high-impact huffing and puffing is enough to significantly reduce cardiovascular disease risk—no need to pound the pavement to protect yourself from one of the leading causes of death.
Easy on your joints
Low-impact workouts are inherently easy on your joints. While it’s essential to keep in mind that higher-impact exercise can actually improve your joint health, sometimes medical conditions or
physical conditioning dictates that those more intense workouts just aren’t accessible to you right now. Rather than avoiding exercise altogether, choose low-impact activities that support your health
without aggravating your joints.
Workout Tip: Low-impact exercise is
less likely to cause injury to your joint cartilage. Another way to reduce the impact on your joints is to build muscle, which decreases the loading on the joints, offering a protective effect.
Safe for those with back pain
Not only is low-impact exercise safe for most people with back pain, but it can also improve your pain and prevent it from worsening. Aerobic exercise helps relieve back pain by
reducing stiffness and
increasing the amount of nutrients flowing to the spine through your bloodstream. This increase in nutrients can speed healing and reduce inflammation.
Low-impact exercise still boosts your heart rate but doesn’t jar your spine or aggravate back pain, which is a win-win for those with back issues. Of course, ensure you are cleared for exercise by your doctor first.
Workout Tip:
Research shows a combination of low-impact aerobic exercise, muscular strength, and flexibility training can reduce back pain by 52.5%.
Supports a healthy weight
Low-impact workouts support achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. Weight balance depends on burning the correct number of calories to offset what you eat. And while you may have heard that high-intensity exercise is superior for weight loss, these claims have been vastly overstated.
While high-intensity exercise can burn more calories in a shorter time, they are also much more difficult to sustain, and you shouldn’t do them every day; they are just too taxing. Conversely, low-impact exercise is ideal for doing daily, which can add up to a much higher number of calories burned over time.
Workout Tip: There’s nothing magical about HIIT, so choose lower impact and intensity workouts if you prefer.
A review of over 100 studies on exercise and weight loss shows no difference in weight, fat, and visceral loss rates between aerobic and high-intensity interval training as long as the calorie burn is the same.
Increases brain function
Regular physical activity can
improve brain function, reducing the risks of cognitive decline and dementia. Research on exercise and brain health shows that
low-impact, low-intensity training provides incredible benefits for brain function.
What’s more, low-impact exercise is highly advantageous compared to no exercise at all. So, if you cannot perform anything other than low-impact workouts, you’ll still knock your risk of dementia down by a
substantial 30%.
Workout Tip: Taking 60-minute
walks three times per week for six months provides benefits such as improved attention, visuospatial function, memory, executive function, cardiorespiratory fitness, lower body strength and dynamic balance.
Sample Low-Impact Workout Plan
Taking the research-backed information into account, you can use the following weekly low-impact workout plan to boost your strength, physical functioning, brain and heart health while reducing the chances of aggravating any joint or back pain and supporting a healthy weight.
Keep in mind that these are ideas, and you can alter or substitute the plan as you wish. Ensure you are cleared for physical activity by your health care provider before you start.
- Monday: 30 to 60-minute walk.
- Tuesday: 30-minute full body strength training workout; 15-minute walk.
- Wednesday: Flexibility and mobility training (yoga, general stretching, active stretching)
- Thursday: 30-minute full body strength training workout; 15-minute walk.
- Friday: Flexibility and mobility training; 30 to 60-minute walk.
- Saturday: Fun, active hobby such as pickleball, gentle hike, bike ride or gardening.
- Sunday: Active chores such as housecleaning, gardening, etc.
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