What is Low Impact Exercise?
Low impact workouts are where one-foot stays on the ground at all times, whereas high impact exercise includes things like running, jumping and other plyometric type movements such as burpees and skipping.
Low Vs High Impact
Both have their pros and cons.
High impact exercise isn’t all bad, in fact it can be great for your bone density and burning serious calories. But the drawbacks are that it can be really stressful on your joints. If you’re coming back from injury, illness, are currently pregnant or post-pregnancy, low impact exercise might be your safest bet.
Low impact workouts are great for people who want to start moving again after some time off, but if you’re looking to burn fat you want to ensure there’s a moderate-to-high level of intensity involved to really start shifting some weight.
Low impact exercise can be just as effective as high intensity in helping you burn fat and improve your fitness. And because there’s less impact, there’s less stress on the joints and body which means it can be done more often.
Great news for people just starting out with exercise or returning from injury, illness, or pregnancy but who want to lose weight or improve their fitness level and want to see results quickly.
What is the best low Impact exercise?
Some common forms of low impact exercise are things like swimming, rowing and cycling, but those things can get boring quickly. You don’t have to restrict yourself to just these options. You can use strength, circuit and HIIT training to add even more variety to your exercise routine and start seeing some amazing results quickly.
Do Low Impact Workouts burn fat?
You can burn fat using both low and high impact exercise, what matters most is the total calories you burn.
HIIT training is a great way to burn calories whilst working at an intensity that’s suited to your current level of fitness and low impact HIIT is even better.
Does Low Impact HIIT Work?
Still wondering if low impact exercise is effective? These 5 low impact HIIT routines are proof that low impact doesn’t have to equal low intensity and that you can absolutely burn fat and achieve your body goals without having to jump around.
Try these workouts
#1 LOW IMPACT HIGH INTENSITY
This apartment friendly cardio HIIT brings the intensity without the impact!!
Time to Complete: 45 Minutes +
Equipment: No Equipment Necessary
How it works: There are 6 Circuits that make up this workout. Complete 3 Rounds of each Circuit, working for 30 seconds and resting for 15 seconds between exercises. Have a 30 second rest between circuits.
#2 LOW IMPACT WITH WEIGHTS
Sculpt, strengthen and burn fat with this low impact high intensity circuit. No Jumping and No Noise! Plus, bonus bodyweight modifications included if you have no equipment at home * Just grab 2 water bottles
Time to Complete: 30 minutes
Equipment: 1 Moderately heavy set dumbbells. I used 5kg dumbbells but you may want to use something lighter or heavier depending on your fitness and strength levels.
How it works: Complete 3 Rounds of the following circuits. Working for 30 seconds with 15 seconds rest between movements & rounds. Have 1-minute rest between Circuits.
#3 LOW IMPACT CARDIO & ABS
Blast body fat and tone your tummy with high intensity, low impact workout! No Equipment necessary.
Time to Complete: 30 minutes
Equipment: No equipment necessary
How it works: There are 4 Circuits that make up this workout. Complete 3 Rounds of each Circuit, working for 30 seconds and resting for 15 seconds between exercises. Have a 30 second rest between circuits.
# 4 LOW IMPACT PYRAMID
Work hard without having to jump around with this low impact workout that combines weights in a Pyramid HIIT format that will make you sweat
Time to Complete: 32 Minutes
Equipment: Moderately heavy to heavy dumbbells. I used 1 set of 5kg dumbbells but you may want to work with something lighter or heavier depending on your strength level.
How it works: Complete each move for 30 seconds, adding on an exercise as you move up the pyramid. Perform exercise 1 for 30 seconds then rest 30 seconds; then exercise 1 + 2, rest 30 seconds and so on until you complete moves 1-7. Move back down the pyramid in reverse order, dropping off exercise 1, then exercise 2, then exercise 3 and so on to complete a 32 Minute workout up and down the pyramid.
#5 LOW IMPACT NO EQUIPMENT
Want to work hard without having to drag equipment out or jump around? This low impact circuit brings the intensity so you can blast through calories and tone your entire body.
Time to Complete: 30 minutes
Equipment: No Equipment Necessary
How it works: There are 2 Circuits that make up this workout. Complete 3 rounds of the circuits following the time scheme below:
Round 1-30 secs work/10 secs rest
Round 2-45 secs work/15 secs rest
Round 3-30 secs work/10 secs rest
*Have 1-minute rest between Circuit 1 & Circuit 2.
WANT TO SEE MORE LOW IMPACT HIIT WORKOUTS LIKE THESES ONES?
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