Do Low-Impact Workouts Actually Get You In Shape?
Exercise advice for staying fit after 50 is often confusing. Many people never get into a regular exercise routine because they are unsure what exercises are best. One of the biggest questions surrounds low impact exercises. Low impact exercises may protect your joints, but will they actually help you with losing weight over 50 as much as high-intensity workouts? Learn what counts as low impact exercise and how to make it an effective part of your lifestyle.
High Impact Exercise Isn’t For Everyone
High impact exercise is typically defined as a type of exercise in which both of your feet leave the ground at one time. For example, running, jumping rope, plyometric exercises, or doing jumping jacks are examples of high impact exercise.
One of the main benefits of high impact exercise is its intensity. Most high impact exercises are aerobic exercises that can be performed at moderate or vigorous intensity. This leads to an increase in heart rate that burns calories, strengthens muscles, and puts your metabolism into a fat-burning mode. Incorporating aerobic exercise into your lifestyle is important for losing weight and reducing your risk of certain chronic medical conditions.
However, high impact exercise is not for everyone. Many people who start high impact exercise programs experience joint pain and other injuries. High impact exercise can cause problems with your ankles, shins, knees, hips, and back. This creates a cycle in which people attempt a new exercise routine, get injured, and then have to take a break for weeks or months while they rehabilitate their injuries. After finally feeling better, a return to high impact exercise can cause yet another injury.
The research on high impact exercise and joint health is mixed. Combined analyses of multiple large studies suggest that competitive runners have a greater risk of knee osteoarthritis than recreational runners. However, recreational runners were less likely to have osteoarthritis than a non-runner control group. This suggests that some concern about high impact exercise is valid. This type of exercise may be particularly harmful in high doses, high intensities, and among people who are not accustomed to vigorous intensity exercise.
Understanding High Impact vs. Low Impact Exercise
To learn what exercise program is right for you, it is helpful to break down the differences between high impact and low impact exercise. As the name suggests, high impact workouts cause your joints to bear a greater force. Consider running, for example. Each time your foot strikes the ground, the force moves through your foot arch, up your shins, through your knees, and into your hips and back. When you run a mile, this happens hundreds or thousands of times. Over time, this repetitive force may damage the cartilage in your joints. This causes greater friction in your knees, hips, or other joints that leads to pain.
A low impact exercise is one that keeps at least one foot on the ground at one time. Because you consistently maintain contact with the floor or ground, less force is transmitted into your joints with each movement. Consider the difference between walking and running. When walking, you transfer your weight from one foot to the other as you move. As a result, less force reverberates through your joints with each step.
Examples of low impact activities include brisk walking, swimming, cardio kickboxing, rowing, cycling, and rollerblading. Each of these activities reduces stress on your joints while still increasing your heart rate to promote weight loss and fat burning. They also emphasize balance, flexibility, and whole-body fitness.
How to Make the Most of Low Impact Exercise
Keep in mind that low impact exercise doesn’t necessarily mean low intensity exercise! When it comes to aerobic exercise, it’s all about getting your heart rate into an optimal fat-burning zone. The type of exercise you do is less important than the intensity at which you do it.
When you embark on any new exercise journey, it’s important to start small. Injuries frequently occur in the first few weeks after a person starts a new or beginner plan. Follow these tips to create a low impact exercise routine that works for you.
Choose an exercise you enjoy. It may seem obvious, but if you don’t like a given activity, you’re very unlikely to stick with it. When choosing a low impact exercise regimen, select activities that you like. This could include a dance routine like Zumba, indoor cycling, yoga, or swimming laps at the gym. Recruiting a friend to join you is another way to stay motivated to make this a consistent part of your lifestyle.
Go slowly and ramp up gradually. The key to healthy exercise after 50 is to go more slowly than you think you need to, at least at the beginning. Set a goal of boosting your heart rate for at least 10 minutes the first day. For example, you might choose to take a brisk walk around the block. As you gain stamina, you can gradually increase the duration and pace of your walks. This will prevent you from developing an overuse injury.
Be mindful of form. Even with low impact exercise, injuries are possible. Prevent joint problems or pain by paying close attention to your form. If you are starting a new activity that you have never done before, it may be helpful to watch a video or get feedback from a wellness coach. This ensures that you move your body in the most effective way and with the least risk of injury.
Focus on your heart rate, not external metrics of success. Many people newly getting into exercise focus too much on the outcome rather than how they feel during the exercise. For example, if you’re starting a swimming routine, it may not be helpful to set a mileage or length goal. Instead, focus on getting your heart into an aerobic range. Aim for a heart rate that is elevated but still allows you to carry on a brief conversation. Sustain that heart rate for a given period of time, rather than getting focused on how far you’ve traveled. As you adjust to your exercise program, you may start creating distance or speed goals that are appropriate to your fitness level.
Consider interval training. Low intensity interval training is a great way for people losing weight after 50 to burn fat. In this form of exercise, you cycle between high-intensity and low-intensity intervals. For example, you may bike at 80% of your maximum effort for 1 minute, followed by 40% of your maximum effort for an active recovery minute. Repeating these intervals five times increases your aerobic fitness and puts your body into a fat-burning mode. Just be mindful that you continue to use good form when doing a higher intensity interval.
Although many low impact activities are aerobic in nature, not all of them are. It is also possible to incorporate low impact strength training into your routine. Weight training with dumbbells, resistance bands, or kettlebells is a great way to build muscle, strengthen your joints, and maintain bone density. If you don't love weight training, pilates is a great alternative. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that older adults aim for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise five days per week or 20 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise three days per week. At least two days per week of joint friendly strength training is also recommended.
How Mighty Health Can Help You Meet Your Fitness Goals
The best way to incorporate any new exercise into your routine is to get help from an expert. That’s where Mighty Health can help. We offer personalized health coaching to help you meet your weight and fitness goals. Sign up today to get tailored advice about whether low impact exercise is right for you and improve your overall health.