5 High-Intensity Moves for a Low Impact Workout
When I was postpartum or felt like I needed to give my joints and pelvic floor a break from heavy impact, I looked for low-impact moves that still left me breathing heavy and challenged in a safe way. These are a few moves that I enjoyed!
Maybe you too, want to get your heart rate up but also need to keep your body grounded to protect your joints or recover from having a baby or sustaining an injury.
These moves will help you feel like you’re really working hard while still staying safe.
First of all, what is low-impact? Low-impact is moving your body in a way where you keep at least one foot on the ground. Keeping this point of contact will reduce the impact your body takes when you return to the ground or rebalance yourself on two feet. Think of the speed-walking, or the sport racewalking, where one foot must stay in contact with the ground at all times.
Most of these exercises are joint-friendly if you start with your bodyweight and switch the stairs for the elliptical. Swimming, spinning, and walking up hills are also great low-impact cardio options. But as with any exercise, start with where you are and go from there. Listen to your body and follow the joy!
Check out my Instagram reel to see these moves in action.
But remember to consult a professional before attempting these moves if you aren’t sure how to perform them (hint: see my virtual coaching services here).
5 High-Intensity Moves for a Low Impact Workout
As I say in my book Move for Joy after the great Katy Bowman, how you move your body all day is your “meal” and how you choose to exercise is your “supplement.” Find a balanced way to move with these 5 major motor patterns, or hire a coach to get you on track. You can find more movement ideas at the end of this post.
Low Impact Workout
For a full cardio workout, do each of the below exercises for 45 seconds with a 15 second break. Repeat 4x.
Option 2 is to do a set of resistance training and add one of your favorite exercises from below for cardio. Repeat.
Option 3 is to do resistance training, and add all of the following for a cardio finisher!
There are of course many other options because movement is so much more than a one-size-fits-all, so I’d love to hear yours in the comments below.
1. Kettlebells for a low-impact exercise
First, get some kettlebell training with a professional. Working with heavy kettlebells is fun and gets your heart rate up, but carries more risk. Kettlebells are great because you get to swing around a heavy weight which strengthens your whole body and involves your cardiorespiratory system. Start off with two-armed swings before you go fancy with moves like one-armed swings, snatches, and pulls.
2. Overhead Stair-Stepping for higher intensity
Raising the arms overhead makes the heart work harder to pump the blood against gravity. Add stairs and a weight for more challenge! You can also do this even if you only have one stair to walk up and down on, or even walk a hill outside. Get creative!
3. Add Weight to Low-Impact Exercises for higher intensity
Allow your cardio respiratory system to rise to the occasion. Grab a kid in their PJs, a heavy backpack, a jug of laundry detergent, or whatever weight you have around you and let’s go for squats, lunges, whatever kind of body-lowering movement you can think of.
4. Battle Ropes for high-intensity low-impact exercise
Battle ropes are heavy and don’t require any jumping to get you breathing hard. I bought one from TJ Maxx that is actually just right for me, but you can find these in most gyms now too. I like to do the classic two-armed
5. Slam Balls for low-impact exercise
Slamming a ball on the ground is so cathartic. There are lots of different uses here: throwing a ball straight down, laterally, behind a shoulder, passing to a friend, doing sit-ups, etc.
Respect Your Body’s Season
Remember that modification is not weakness, but wisdom!
If your body is tight, tense, or in pain, listen and respond.
Don’t ignore your the wisdom of your body built up over generations of humanity.
God’s ways are kind, which means eternally fitting.
Don’t limit yourself to what you think has to be fitness to count, but honor His limitations in your body while seeking the creativity of movement.
Whatever season you are in that you need to modify, remember that Isaiah 40:31 says “but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Wait on the Lord, and you will rise up in His strength!
And know that a season is just that, a season. Every season is temporary, and is the training ground for love. In moving your body, as in all things, put a little love in it, because love never ends!
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.” 1 Corin 13:7-8a
The Joyful Health Collective
If you’ve always worked out for weight loss or really aren’t sure how to best take care of your body in a way that you need, I encourage you to watch Aubrey from Grace Fueled Nutrition and I’s video on how to stop dieting and start discovering the joy in food and fitness. Life is too short to move in a way that you dread! Let’s bring back the joy!
What Are Your Favorite Low-Impact Exercises for Cardio?
What do you like to do for low-impact, high intensity moves? I would love to hear from you!
