Low Impact Ways To Get And Stay Fit

I love working with clients at One Love Fit Club in Chino Hills, CA. I love to watch how rapidly they improve and the self-confidence they build with each goal they reach. Some of these clients were severely overweight and others had physical limitations that also made high impact exercises dangerous to their joints or health. For those people I used low impact ways to get and stay fit. In most cases, once the weight is shed, they can slowly progress to higher impact workouts. In other cases, maintaining fitness the low impact way is important.

Kickboxing can be low impact.

When you train in kickboxing, whether it’s high or low impact depends on the moves you choose to do. There’s a lot of low impact moves in kickboxing, such as punch and lean lifts, front kicks, back kicks, tap rows and upper cuts with kicks. There’s so many different types of moves in kickboxing that it’s easy to find ones that are low impact and ones that can be modified to become low impact. If you’re working out at One Love Fit Club, make sure you give all the information about limitations to your instructor before you begin. We want to make sure every workout is safe, but also that you get the most benefit.

Don’t go running, take a walk, ride a bike or use a rowing machine.

Running can be the worst thing you can do for your joints, but also one of the best ways to build aerobic strength. You don’t have to risk your joints to get aerobic benefits. You can do several things that may not be the quickest way to get into shape, but it will do it safely. Consider walking. It’s simple and you don’t even have to put on special clothing, unless it’s comfortable shoes. Riding a bike or using a rowing machine also prevents the pounding, while building endurance.

Strength training, whether barbells, dumbbells, resistance bands or kettlebells can be good low impact workouts.

Not all strength training is good for your joints or low impact. Consider box jumping, whether weighted or not, out of the question. However, you can burn a ton of calories and even work on building muscle strength around the knees or other affected joints. That increased strength can actually help the joints by limiting the pressure put on them. Judge each one by whether you’ll be pounding your joints or slowly, rhythmically building muscle tissue.

• There’s nothing better than swimming for a low impact workout. That’s why you see so many seniors at aqua-aerobic classes.
• You can get a good workout that’s low impact with yoga, tai chi or aerial yoga. You’ll be surprised at how those simple movements can really wear you out, burn calories and help you get fit.
• Make those walks a little more difficult by hiking. Hiking is nothing more than walking, but with an adjustment to the terrain. If you really have problems with knee joints, save this one for later, after you’ve made the muscles stronger.
• Dancing can be either high impact or low impact. Ballroom dancing is definitely low impact, but it’s a toss-up when you’re discussing other types, like hip hop or even ballet. It all depends on whether you’re making moves that put heavy impact on your joints, like jumping. The key is if it makes your joints hurt, don’t do it.

For more information, contact us today at One Love Fit Club