Can You Lose Weight with Low Impact Exercise?

You may have heard of the term “low impact exercise” before. If so, you may be wondering if it is a good option for losing weight. At first, the answer would seem to be no, after all, the name “low impact” doesn’t exactly scream effectiveness. However, low impact exercises can, in fact, help you lose a lot of weight. In this article, you will see why this is.

What Is Low Impact Exercise? Low impact exercise is the name applied to any sort of exercise that has a low impact on your body. This includes things like swimming, walking, yoga, Pilates, elliptical machines, and much more. It is a very broad category that includes a lot of different exercises, with the only unifying factor being that they also have very little physical impact on your muscles and your body as a whole.

Are Low Impact Exercises Effective? The name low impact should not be confused with low effectiveness. Low impact exercises are extremely effective at burning calories, burning fat, and helping you to build muscle. They just happen to do these things without putting any serious strain on your muscles or bones. In fact, low impact exercises are often the most effective way to burn calories.

Why Are Low Impact Exercises Effective?

Low impact exercises are effective in large part because they don’t cause any strain on your muscles. This allows you to continue exercising for longer periods of time. Think of how many workouts you have cut short because you started feeling intense pain or soreness. If you are like most people, then the chances are good that quite a few of your workouts had to be ended early because you just can’t take the pain or soreness anymore.

This can be problematic for those of you trying to lose weight because the secret to burning calories is to keep up a fast pace. You want your heart constantly beating. So, being able to do low impact exercises, like swimming, for longer periods of time will lead to you burning more calories than if you did more intense exercises, like sprinting, for smaller periods of time.

Not All Low Impact Exercises Are Equal

When it comes to losing weight, not all low impact exercises are equal. Some are better than others. For example, yoga and Pilates aren’t great options for burning calories (although they do have other advantages). On the other hand, swimming is a great option for burning calories.