The majority of people have the wrong idea about low impact exercise. Most seniors would answer that low impact exercises would be things like yoga, or the recumbent bike. Inevitably, the next words said are, “you know, something easy”. I’m hear to clear up this misconception. Low impact exercises don’t have to be low-intensity.
Low impact on health
Low impact doesn’t and shouldn’t mean no impact or low impact on your health. When you do low-intensity exercises it’s because you have very low capabilities. If you are fairly able-bodied, then low-intensity exercises will have an extremely limited or low impact on your health and wellness. If the exercise isn’t challenging enough, you won’t see any benefit. The draw to doing these kinds of exercises is that you kid yourself that you’re doing exercise, so it must be good, even if it’s not doing much for you.
For example, yoga is a great low impact exercise. However, the research on the proven benefits of yoga are miniscule compared to other modalities and when compared to your overall health status. For example, yoga does nothing to build bone density or fight sarcopenia.
Low impact and joint health
The reason so many ‘easy’ exercises have become popular low impact exercises for seniors is because they don’t create jarring and impacts on your joints like you get from running, for example. If you only look at exercises that don’t put stress or impact on the joints you will be sacrificing your bone health and bone density.
One of the best ways to improve bone density is jumping. But jumping hurts your joints.
So what do you do?
You can stress your bones to rebuild stronger through impact/jarring forces or strength training which will create a load through the bones and spine as well as make the muscles pull on the bone, all of which will signal bone growth.
High health impact through low impact exercises
The key then becomes balancing exercises that are more joint-friendly but that are still challenging enough to reap a positive health outcome.
High health impact exercises should do at least one of the following, if not more:
- Get your heart rate very high (high-intensity interval),
- Work multiple muscle groups at the same time, and/or
- Requires you to move quickly.
Here are some of our favorite low joint-impact exercises that give you the highest health-impact.
Low impact cardio exercises
We are huge fans of aerobic equipment that isn’t jarring on the joints, and also makes you use both your upper and lower body. This will cause you to work harder and therefore get better results.
Some of our favorite equipment choices that meet this criteria are: the rowing machine (concept 2 rower), the assault bike, and the versaclimber.
Bear crawling
This low impact exercise is deceptively challenging. It works your shoulders, core, legs, hips, heart, & lungs. If you have wrist flexibility or toe flexibility issues, this may need to be modified.
Inertia wave
This is a fun and unique exercise because it requires constant upper back activation which will help with your posture. It’s also challenging because you don’t typically use your arms for locomotion like you do with your legs. This fast, constant effort makes it very challenging but safe at the same time.
Skipping
I would argue that it’s impossible not to smile while skipping. Skipping is easier than jumping on the joints but still has some impact that can help with bone density. It’s also helping you work on your fast-twitch muscles which you lose as you age.
Weight training
Almost all weight training exercises are not jarring on joints, but still provide the positive stress on the bones that you want to help improve your bone density.
Power training (moving forcefully/quickly with load) is even more critical as we age than just strength training. The exercises are very similar to traditional weight training, but speed becomes more important provided form is kept.