What are low impact workouts?
If you’re trying to lose weight, you know that getting into the middle-to-high range of your target heart rate zone (about 65% to 85% of max heart rate) is important for burning calories. You also probably know that it’s easier to get your heart rate up when you’re jumping around.
But for some people, high impact exercise just isn’t an option. There are many reasons you may be averse to high impact workouts including:
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Being a beginning exerciser
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Being very overweight
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Chronic health problems such as arthritis, osteoporosis, or stress fractures
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Injuries in the joints, bones or connective tissue
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Pregnancy
While it’s important to have some type of impact for healthy bones, you don’t necessarily have to jump around to get an intense workout. Many low impact exercises can get your heart rate into your target heart rate zone. The catch being, you may have to work a little harder.