To many individuals, cardio is synonymous with running. While running is a convenient, inexpensive, and effective cardio workout, it could even be hard in your body. Luckily, there are many low-impact cardio exercises that may still offer you a sweat-worthy workout.
Switch out some — or all — of your running workouts for low-impact cardio workouts like cycling, yoga, and rowing, which all minimize wear and tear in your joints while strengthening your entire cardiorespiratory system, including your heart and lungs.
What Is Low-Impact Cardio?
Plain and easy, low-impact cardio involves exercise that raises your heart rate and challenges your heart and lungs without inflicting a whole lot of jarring force in your joints.
The reason running isn’t low-impact is due to landing, explains orthopedic surgeon Dr. Nick DiNubilechief medical advisor for American Council on Exercise.
“For every extra pound you carry, your knee reads it as five to seven kilos. So you’re talking about amplification of force whenever you’re running,” he adds.
But that doesn’t mean high-impact exercise is bad, necessarily. If you like to run and it doesn’t cause you pain, there’s no reason to stop.
But if you ought to give your joints a break, or simply wish to try a brand new approach to increasing cardio fitness, give the next workouts a try.
Can I Lose Weight With Low-Impact Exercise?
Low-impact doesn’t mean low intensity or low results: Tour de France racers, competitive swimmers, and Olympic rowers all practice low-impact training — and are among the many fittest athletes on the planet.
Reduced-impact exercise will be as intense or as mild as you want, which makes it an efficient approach for everybody from newbie exercisers to MMA athletes.
6 Low-Impact Cardio Workouts
Give your joints a rest and check out a few of these low-impact cardio workouts.
1. Swimming
Swimming is the quintessential low-impact exercise. Water offers resistance in all directions, difficult your muscles in novel and helpful ways without requiring you to pound your joints.
And unlike most other types of cardio, swimming is upper-body focused, offering an important challenge to your back, chest, arm, shoulder, and core muscles.
Get began with some sample workouts below, or try a couple of more here. And in case you’re seeking to brush up in your freestyle stroke, we’ve got a couple of pointers for that, too.
Beginner Swim Workout
16 x 50:
- Swim 50 meters. Rest 10 to 30 seconds. Repeat 4 times total to finish one set.
- Do as much as 4 sets, resting 1 to 2 minutes between them.
Intermediate/Advanced Swim Workout
3 x 50, 150, 200
- Swim 50 meters at a quick pace. Rest 10 to 30 seconds and repeat a complete of 3 times. Rest 1 to 2 minutes.
- Repeat the above, swimming 150-meter work sets, after which repeat again, swimming 200 meter sets.
- For a more advanced workout, repeat steps one and two in reverse order: 3 x 200, 3 x 150, and eventually 3 x 50.
2. Cycling (indoor or outdoor)
Whether you’re zipping along a rustic road, grinding up a mountain switchback, or furiously peddling in your apartment, cycling is a fun (and infrequently scenic) approach to get fit.
It’s also practical: Commuting and running errands on a bicycle can save time in traffic and reduce your carbon footprint. The proven fact that cycling is simple in your joints is a bonus.
Cycling is nearly entirely lower-body focused, so remember to round out your bike training with some upper-body and core work on days you aren’t spinning your wheels.
For the outdoor workouts below, you’ll need a basic bike computer — a small investment that may enable you to track distance, speed, pedaling cadence, and calories burned.
The BODi Bike tracks all these personalized metrics, plus your heart rate, for customized rides that enable you to get probably the most out of all of your cycling workouts.
And whenever you’re ready for cross-training, the screen swivels out so you possibly can transition to floor workouts, which range from HIIT and cardio to recovery and mobility.
Speed Cycling Workout
3–4 x 6–8 minutes @ 90 rpm
- On a flat surface, ride in a low gear, aiming to maintain up a high cadence (pedaling speed — we recommend 90 rpm for this workout) for six to eight minutes.
- Rest or pedal easily for 3 to 4 minutes. Repeat 3 to 4 times total.
Power Cycling Workout
6–8 x 3–6 minutes @ 65 rpm
- On an extended, gradual hill, ride in a low to medium gear that drops your cadence to about one pedal stroke per second (65 rpm).
Endurance Cycling Workout
4–6 x 4 minutes @ 60 rpm, 2 minutes @ 100 rpm
- Choose a high gear and pedal at a low cadence for 4 minutes, after which downshift and pedal at a better cadence for two minutes.
- Repeat the cycle a complete of 4 to six times.
3. Elliptical
It’s easy to see why elliptical trainers are amongst the preferred cardio machines within the gym.
By combining upper-body and lower-body movements, ellipticals can offer a more comprehensive workout than running, they usually can enable you to burn a good amount of calories as well.
In addition to adjusting the incline and resistance, you too can decide to pedal backward — an option that challenges different muscles than front-to-back pedaling.
Most elliptical trainers have workout options built right in: Enter a couple of easy data points (age, gender, weight), punch in “HIIT” or “MOUNTAIN,” and also you’re good to go.
Failing that, you possibly can put the machine on manual and work with any of those options:
HIIT Elliptical Workout
- After a 5-minute warm-up at a straightforward pace, pedal for one minute at an effort level of 8 or 9 out of 10.
- Drop right down to level 5 for two minutes.
- Perform 5 to 7 rounds, alternating between cycles of high and low effort.
- Finish with 3 minutes of easy pedaling.
Strength-Endurance Elliptical Workout
- After a 5-minute warm-up at a straightforward pace, pedal for 10 to fifteen seconds at an all-out 10 effort level.
- Drop right down to a level three for 45 to 50 seconds.
- Perform as much as 10 rounds, alternating between cycles of high and low effort.
- Finish with 3 minutes of easy pedaling.
Cardio-Endurance Elliptical Workout
- After a 5-minute warm-up at a straightforward pace, pedal for 20 to 60 minutes at a 6 to 7 out of 10 effort level.
- Finish with 3 minutes of easy pedaling.
5. Rowing
Indoor rowing permits you to work your complete body — particularly the legs and back — with little or no impact. Rowing emphasizes spinal extension — a boon for desk jockeys, whose 9 to five forces their backs right into a hunch.
The rower is an important machine to attack whenever you feel like clicking into beast mode, but there may be some technique to rowing.
Remember this sequence: legs, torso, arms, arms, torso, legs. That’s the order through which your body parts should move.
To master proper technique, seek the advice of a web based guide or (higher yet) a trainer, after which dive into this low-impact cardio workout.
Power Rowing Workout
For this one, you’ll have to enter your information into the machine so you possibly can track what number of calories you burn each minute in real time.
- For the primary minute, row until you burn one calorie, after which rest for the rest of the minute.
- The second minute, rest after you’ve burned two calories.
- The third minute, rest after you burn three calories, and so forth, continuing until you possibly can’t hit the goal calorie burn for that minute (attempt to make it to twenty minutes in case you can). Note how long you were in a position to go — and check out to beat it next time!
Endurance Rowing Workout
3–5 x 1500m
- Row 1500m at a difficult, but manageable pace.
- Rest 1 to 2 minutes and repeat a complete of three to five times, attempting to sustain or beat your previous time with each effort.
5–10 x 500m
- Row 500 meters at a difficult pace.
- Rest 1 minute, and repeat a complete of 5 to 10 times, attempting to sustain, or beat, your previous time with each effort.
5. Yoga
Originally conceived as a approach to make long periods of motionless meditation more comfortable, yoga has evolved within the West right into a one-stop shop for fitness.
Advanced poses can train your flexibility, balance, and overall body control. Power poses comparable to warrior and Chaturanga variations can construct strength and muscle.
Restful poses can enhance recovery and leave you refreshed.
Not all yoga will provide you with a cardio burn, but certain practices — like vinyasa flow — will certainly get your heart rate up. By performing the more difficult poses in a faster, more dynamic manner, you possibly can create a cardiovascular challenge that inflicts minimal stress in your joints.
At-Home Yoga Workouts
Check out the numerous yoga classes offered in Yoga52 and Beachbody Yoga Studio on BODi to begin transforming your body from the comfort of your individual home!
6. MMA
Like yoga, martial arts training can take many forms. And identical to all yoga isn’t cardio, not all MMA workouts are low-impact.
In thai boxing, you’ll kick heavy bags till you drop; in aikido, you’ll practice falling as much as 200 times in an hour; in Western boxing, you’ll pound focus mitts until your hands ache. Not really easy for the joints.
But, in case you remove the pads and mitts and concentrate on punching and kicking into the air, you get a high-intensity, coordination-enhancing workout without having to slam your legs and your hands into any object.
There are loads of MMA moves and combos that may work your upper and lower body, and tax your cardiovascular system.
At-Home MMA Workouts
To try it out yourself, cue up Rough Around The Edges on BODi. This MMA-inspired workout program is led by six badass Hollywood stuntwomen who can enable you to challenge your whole body, get lean, and feel powerful without killing your joints.
If you ought to punch and kick your approach to a shredded core, try Core De Force on BODi. With a mixture of boxing, kickboxing, and Muay Thai, these workouts will construct cardio endurance and strength while improving mobility and adaptability.
With no equipment essential, this program gives you all you wish for a stronger, slimmer physique.