Low Impact Cardio Exercises You Can Do at Home
Low impact cardio does not often get the credit that it deserves. It is easy to get lost in a heart pounding, fast paced run to jack up your heart rate and deliver that “hurt” we crave from a good workout. While I love a soul crushing work out just as much as everyone else, too much of a good thing in this case can have detrimental impacts on your training.
The constant strain on your body that is experienced with hard high-impact workouts can lead to reduced recovery time and heavier strain on your ligaments and joints. Your body needs a break from the constant wear and tear. To allow this break and boost your workout result, you can incorporate a mixture of both high and low-impact cardio.
Reducing the amount of high-impact cardio in your workout routine does not mean you are taking cardio out altogether! You can still get a great workout in, and incorporate HIIT to feel like you got the workout you need to achieve your goals. That’s right, I said you can still do HIIT! The only thing low about low-impact cardio is the amount of strain you put on your joints!
Here are some of my favorite low-impact cardio exercises you can do either at home or at the gym that are sure to have you break a sweat!
1. Walking
Walking is a great low-impact cardio workout that should be incorporated in everyone’s training plan. The great thing about walking is that it is so easy to modify your level of intensity based on your needs. Let’s say you just had a long hard run; you can incorporate walking the next day of your training as an active recovery day.
Walking is a good way to reduce the strain on your joints and flush out any lactic acid build up in your legs. It is also extremely easy to either increase or decrease your intensity by either slowing your pace down, walking faster, or seeking out a very hilly path. Another plus of walking is how easy it is to incorporate into our daily lives. You can turn walking your dog into a workout, or even make it a social activity and go for a walk in the park with your friends or loved ones.
2. Planks
While planks by themselves may not be a type of cardio, when implemented as a circuit for time planks will have your heart rate skyrocket before you know it! The key is work for as long as possible with as little rest as you can manage during each movement. My favorite plank movements to string together are:
Beginner: 1 round.
Intermediate: 2 rounds with 2 minutes rest in between each round.
Advanced: 3 rounds with 2 minutes rest in between each round.
- Forearm Plank – 30 seconds
- Straight arm plank hold – 30 seconds
- Side plank (left) – 30 seconds
- Straight arm plank hold – 30 seconds
- Side plank (right) – 30 seconds
- Straight arm plank hold – 30 seconds
- Mountain Climbers – 30 seconds
- Straight arm plank hold – 30 seconds
After 4 minutes of work not only will your heart rate be through the roof, but you’ll feel it in your arms, shoulders, and your core. One of the reasons I like this circuit so much is the benefits it has on strengthening core muscles. A strong core is important for overall fitness, but extremely important for high impact cardio like running! A strong core helps stabilize your torso during high impact cardio and reduces the chance of injury. This stabilization helps your body recover from each step you take which in turn helps reduce the strain on your joints.
3. Yoga
Yoga is a great way to not only reduce the impact on your joints but increase your flexibility. Yoga is the perfect active recovery low impact cardio exercise to help reduce your chance of injury while still being active. There are multiple styles of yoga, with some that increase your heart rate. One style, Vinyasa, does just that! Vinyasa, unlike “fixed form” which is the form used in popular classes like Bikram Yoga, uses a variety of posses that you move in and out of triggered by your breathing. Unlike fixed form, where you explore each pose, Vinyasa has you move in and out of positions. This constant movement from positions and breath control are a great way to work on your breathing while also increasing your heart rate.
4. Tabata Circuit
Tabata is one of my favorite forms of HIIT. Tabata is a four-minute workout broken down into 8 rounds of 20 seconds of all-out effort followed by a 10-second rest. When strung together into a circuit of four to five different Tabata exercises you can get a killer low-impact HIIT workout. There are also a ton of free apps that you can download to help you keep time. I personally like listening to the playlist “Welcome to Tabata” on Spotify. Its free and has great songs that tell you exactly when to work and when to rest.
Total time 20 minutes:
Each round is 4-minute Tabata session:
- Body Weight Squat and Punch
- Skaters
- Mountain Climbers
- Reverse-Lunge Front Kick
- Flutter-Kicks
5. Cycling
Whether on an actual bike or a stationary bike, cycling is a great way to incorporate cardio without taxing your joints. Not only will cycling increase your aerobic fitness, but it will also strengthen your hamstrings, quads, glutes, and calves; all these muscle groups are needed for high impact cardio activities! While cycling has been proven to greatly increase your cardio and target your legs, it does not help improve stability and your core. I personally recommend incorporating a mix of the planks circuit as well as Tabata and cycling to get a good balance of muscle groups during your low-impact cardio days.
6. Rowing
Unlike cycling, rowing is a low-impact cardio activity that will truly target your whole body and work up a sweat! The pushing and pulling motions that compromise this workout strengthen your core, upper and lower back muscles, and your lower body! The types of workouts you can do on a rower are also very versatile. You can either do all out effort for time or a prolonged endurance workout for distance. Either way, the full body motion will have your heart rate through the roof in no time!
7. Swimming
Out of every low-impact cardio activity on the list swimming is by far the least taxing on the body. Swimming is especially good for those nursing an injury and would like to maintain their level of cardiovascular fitness. While in the pool, our bodies are essentially weightless giving your body the rest that your joints and ligaments need to recover from high impact cardio like running. While your joints may be resting, the muscles in your body are not! Swimming forces all the muscles in your body like your arms, core, hips, quads, and hamstrings to constantly be engaged as your push and pull your body through the water. It also forces you to work on your breathing which makes it an excellent choice for cardio. The great thing about pool work is that if you’re not a great swimmer like me, you can also do aqua jogging and still get the same benefits! Okay, so not everybody has a pool in their backyard but we can’t not list swimming as a low impact exercise given the tonnes of benefits to be had.
8. Elliptical training
If you have the space for it, an elliptical trainer will give you a low impact workout for your arms, body and legs. There are two types of elliptical, both uses a form of pedal cycle mechanism for the elliptical action and option to increase or reduce resistance to suit your training. First is a small under desk elliptical cycle to train your legs in a seated position. The other is a full size upright machine with handle bars such as those from Schwinn. The latter offers a full-body workout without leaving the home, combining running, cycling and upper body workout to work on your leg, hips, arm, shoulders and abdominal muscles. Plus, you get to burn more calories per minute than say walking, running or cycling alone.
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Final Thoughts
Low-impact cardio workouts are a great supplement to high-impact cardio and should be incorporated in your training plan. Whatever your goals may be, weight loss, training for a race, or just trying to be more active, incorporating low-impact cardio into your exercise routine will give your body the rest it needs while still maintaining fitness to reach your goals. Other low impact exercises you might consider are the Low Impact Training (LIT) exercises, Kettlebell train to build muscles, Hot Yoga (a variation of Yoga sometimes known as Bikram Yoga), Total Body Resistance Training (TRX), Tai Chi and Pilates.
