Claire Jenkins
Fitness Trainer
ACSM-CEP, MS, RYT-200
Whether it’s the new year or you’re just ready for a change, but feel held back by joint pain or injury, low-impact workouts might be the key to unlocking an entire new world of fitness.
Chronic joint pain or injury is truly difficult to deal with. You feel motivated to exercise and better your health, but it feels impossible when every workout you try flares up your pain. This is where low impact workouts come in. So long as you have the green light from your personal health care provider you may be able to work out and challenge yourself, while taking it easy on your joints. Read on to find out how!
What Type of Exercise is Low Impact?
The goal of low impact exercise is to minimize the amount of force or stress placed on your body while still providing an opportunity to elevate your heart rate. Low impact doesn’t necessarily mean low intensity.
Some examples you might be familiar with are cycling, swimming, yoga, or Pilates. These types of workouts may help reduce overuse injury risk while still improving strength or endurance.
Low Impact Doesn’t Have to Mean ‘Easy’
Anyone who has taken a Pilates or cycle class knows that these types of exercise are far from easy. Low impact exercise is often conflated with low intensity exercise, which is quite different.
To keep things spicy and your calorie burn high, you can try the following options:
- Add more sets or reps to strength training workouts
- Increase resistance in cycle workouts
- Increase the distance of your swim workout
- Decrease rest intervals between sets
You don’t have to sacrifice the health of your joints to feel the burn!
7 Reasons to Try Low Impact Workouts
Whether you’re recovering from an injury or just getting started with your fitness routine, there are many reasons you might want to try incorporating low impact workouts or exercises into your life. Here are a few of our favorites:
1. Protects joints
Not only is low impact exercise inherently good for your joints by keeping force to a minimum, but it can also help support your joints by strengthening the muscles, tendons, and ligaments surrounding them. This promotes stability and strength, making your movements safter and more effective. If you’re recovering from an injury, are new to exercise, or have other conditions that may cause exercise limitations can, you can greatly benefit from this type of exercise.
Even if you are an avid exerciser that does HIIT training regularly, you can improve your long-term joint health and longevity by integrating low impact training into your regular routine.
2. Decrease injury risk
In the same way that low impact exercise is easy on your joints, it is also gentle on your muscles while still providing a stimulus for increasing muscular strength and growth. Many high intensity exercises that involve jumping can place your muscles under an immense amount of force in a short period of time. If not properly prepared, or if you implement these exercises too often in your training program, this can be a quick road to injury. Adding in exercises with minimal impact will protect you from having to sit out on the sidelines in pain.
3. Less recovery time needed after your workout
If you love your workouts but are left feeling absolutely exhausted afterwards, it may be time for some low impact exercise. This allows you to continue building strength and cardiovascular fitness without feeling like you need a 3-hour nap afterwards.
4. Promotes better technique and alignment
High impact exercise often includes many compound movements that require a significant amount of coaching and practice. Low impact exercises often require slowing things down, allowing you to focus on your body movement and positioning, which can lead to better technique.
5. Improves mobility
Many types of low impact workouts focus on working your muscles and joints through their full range of motion (think yoga or Pilates). This is significant, because having adequate mobility and improved flexibility will allow you to move through the world more comfortably and efficiently.
6. Ideal for all levels
The beauty of low impact exercise is that you can make it high OR low intensity. Depending on your fitness level, you can easily adjust most low impact workouts to meet your needs—whatever they may be.
7. Your downstairs neighbors will thank you!
If you have ever lived in a downstairs apartment, you know how annoying it can be to hear loud stomping and crashing coming from your ceiling. Low impact workouts can still get your heart rate up, while keeping peace with your neighbors’ downstairs.
Low Impact Exercises You Can Try Today
Below are some classic exercises that can be modified for low impact versions while keeping the intensity high:
Half Jacks
Reach both arms overhead like you would for a regular jumping jack but instead of jumping both legs apart at the same time, step one foot to the side, then the other. Move at a pace of your desired intensity.
Modified Burpees
Start in a standing position with feet hip width distance apart. Perform a low squat and bring both hands to the ground. Step one leg back, then the other, so that you are in a plank position. Slowly bring one foot forward, then the other, back into your low squat and finish the movement by standing up.
Modified Jump Squats
Perform a squat with both hands behind your head. Once you are in a standing position again, bring one elbow towards the opposite knee and repeat on the other side.
Slow Mountain Climbers
Perform a mountain climber while only moving one foot at a time (rather than switching at the same time).
Walking
A classic but effective option for improved cardiovascular health and weight loss! Perform in intervals of power walking and recovery pace to increase intensity, if desired.
How to Create a Low Impact but High Intensity Workout
Take the above exercises and put them together for a quick but effective low impact workout. Consider the following:
- 1 minute half jacks
- 1-minute modified burpees
- 1-minute modified jump squats
- 1-minute slow mountain climbers
- 1 minute rest
Repeat 3 times and you’ve got a quick, intense, 15-minute low impact workout!
Meet Your Fitness Goals While Keeping Your Joints Safe
If you are a HIIT training fanatic and would never dream of cutting your plyometric exercises from your exercise routine, don’t worry. There is plenty of room for both high impact and low impact training in your workout plan. Try swapping out one high impact workout per week for a low impact one, to give your joints a reprieve while still working towards your strength or cardiovascular fitness goals. You can also try incorporating an active recovery day into your routine, where you enjoy some light walking and stretching. This keeps your body moving while also allowing it to recover from any strenuous workouts you completed earlier in the week.
The bottom line is to be mindful of how you are feeling and give your body what it needs! You can still improve your fitness level and make progress on your goals with low impact training, while also being gentle on your body.
Keep your joints healthy and continue training for years to come by adding low impact training to your workout plan!
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