Cardio exercises are a great way to keep fit, lose weight and generally improve your quality of living. Unfortunately, the high-intensity levels of these exercises can put them out of the reach of people with joint pain. If you fall within this category, it’s time to learn about the benefits of low impact cardio, and how low impact cardio can get you in shape.
A surprisingly large number of people still believe that exercises that don’t strain the body are ineffective. Thankfully, this isn’t factually correct. Low Impact Cardio provides benefits that are comparable to high- intensity cardio workouts. The great thing about it is, you wouldn’t need to overexert your body, or even leave your comfort zone. Which makes it perfect for you, if you have injuries in your joints that you’re wary of putting pressure on.
Naturally, before having a conversation about the benefits of low impact cardio and how low impact cardio can get you in shape, we must first learn what it is. So, what is low impact cardio?
What Is Low Impact Cardio?
Cardiovascular exercises are designed to elevate your heart rate and low impact cardio is no different. However, with low impact cardio, consistency is emphasized, not effort. You can usually engage others in conversation and even sing while doing low impact cardio.
Low Impact Cardio is a range of exercises that require minimal exertion. Consequently, these exercises do not put a lot of pressure on your joints and can be fun, energizing and refreshing.
Low Impact Cardio is especially suitable for elderly people who want to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It’s a fact of life that as we grow older, our bodies become less resilient and we need to be more careful about what we subject it to. At this stage, we can no longer indulge in physically gruelling workouts, no matter how much we want to, which takes HIIT exercises right out of the picture. As far as substitutes go, low impact cardio is pretty great. People who have pain in their joints due to either injury or deteriorating bone strength caused by age are encouraged to try out these exercises.
What makes low impact cardio so appealing is, apart from helping you keep your body in optimum condition, it can also help you lose weight and get it shape. Yes, you heard that right. Low Impact Cardio offers a lot of other benefits, which we’ll get to in a moment. For now, let’s highlight some low impact cardio exercises that can be carried out by virtually everyone.
Low Impact Cardio Exercises
- Walking
Exercises do not come much simpler than walking. This common, everyday activity may look fairly routine, but it holds immense benefits for your health. As a matter of fact, people who indulge in this exercise are about 50% less likely to suffer cardiovascular diseases. If the weather makes walking outdoors impossible, simply make use of a treadmill to continue enjoying this exercise. On average, walking burns up to 170 calories, depending on speed and distance covered. Walking can also ease the pressure in your joints by helping you stretch the muscles there.
- Swimming and Water Aerobics
Swimming can help you lose up to 300 calories per session. One thing that makes this exercise so popular is that it is pretty fun, and does not require you to be particularly athletic. The whole body benefits from swimming, and if you keep up a steady pace, you’ll get better results. You can also try out water aerobics exercises such as walking and running while in the pool.
- Yoga
Yoga is great for joint pain. It can help soothe sore muscles and relieve pressure in your joints. Yoga can also help you build core strength while protecting you from a whole host of Cardiovascular diseases.
- Cycling
Cycling is fun and easy on your joints. Like the other exercises we’ve mentioned, cycling can help you maintain a healthy lifestyle. Beyond that, riding bicycles or stationary bikes can help you lose more than 300 calories. What this means is that, if done over a sustained period, these simple exercises can help you lose weight naturally.
Benefits Of Low Impact Cardio
A lot of people can reel out the whole gamut of the benefits of HIIT exercises, but most people know precious little about what low impact cardio brings to the table, or how low impact cardio can get you in shape. In case you were wondering, here are the benefits of low impact cardio:
- Weight Loss
If your goal is to get and stay in shape, it’s a good idea to try out low impact cardio. Several studies have proven that low-intensity exercises are just as effective as high-intensity exercises in the weight loss process. All you need is consistency; you can burn off enough calories with low impact cardio so much so that you wouldn’t even need to go on a diet.
- Healthier Joints
According to research, low impact cardio can actually speed up the healing of damaged joints. People who engage in low impact cardio will enjoy the same benefits that traditional exercise forms offer, which will come as music to your ears if you’re nursing problematic joints.
- Protection From Cardiovascular Diseases
You’ve probably heard this one before. One of the best ways to protect yourself from a wide range of complications arising from cardiovascular diseases is engaging in cardio exercises. This is not mere conjecture either. Multiple research on the subject reveals that low impact cardio can prevent and even treat cardiovascular diseases.
- Better Balance
Research also proves that low-intensity cardio can help improve balance in adults, leading to a minimizing of the risk of injuries caused by falls.
- Happiness and Enjoyment
Exercising in a relaxed and warm atmosphere can do wonders for your mental health, and this is what low impact cardio offers. Just like everything else in life, if you enjoy doing it, chances are you’ll perform better at it. There is also less risk of you abandoning this exercise because even though it affords you the opportunity to work at your own pace, the results will be visible to everyone.
Check out our blog on weight loss gimmicks to avoid. https://www.onthegofitnesspro.com/3-weight-loss-gimmicks-to-avoid/
