The reality is, all of us want slightly cardio in our lives. However the excellent news is, it doesn’t must look the way you would possibly assume: A low-impact cardio exercise might help you get all the advantages, which could be nice for people who aren’t followers of conventional kinds like working or plyometrics, or whose joints get slightly indignant throughout them.

Cardio is all about difficult and strengthening your cardiovascular system (coronary heart and lungs) and it’s a mandatory a part of a motion routine if you wish to optimize your well being. But it surely doesn’t have to imply working or leaping or no matter different high-impact, repetitive motion pops into your thoughts.

If you happen to’re nonetheless not offered, know this: Cardio additionally helps you elevate higher, if energy coaching is extra your jam, ACSM-certified private coach Asher Freeman, CPT, creator of the Nonnormative Physique Membership in Philadelphia, tells SELF. “Heavy lifts are like sprints, and we’d like good cardio health to get by them,” they clarify. “Moreover, cardiovascular health could make actions of day by day dwelling simpler and enhance general well being.”

And in case your concern is the impression in your knees, ankles, or hips, we’re right here to reassure you that you could, in actual fact, get your coronary heart pumping whereas additionally sparing your joints. “Biking, swimming, rowing, kettlebell flows, and utilizing an elliptical are frequent examples of low-impact cardio,” Freeman says. However good old style body weight workouts may also be extraordinarily efficient for high-intensity, low-impact cardio—should you do a few simple-yet-impactful issues first.

First: Go laborious and restrict relaxation. You may add depth by doing extra work—say, performing an train for an extended time frame or including in additional reps to the identical period so that you’re shifting faster—and lowering the size of time between units or rounds, Freeman says.

Second: Concentrate on compound workouts that interact a number of massive muscle teams without delay. For instance, take into consideration a curtsy lunge. If you happen to’re simply doing the lunge half—an important train in its personal proper—you’ll really feel your coronary heart fee improve a bit. However should you add in a aspect kick on the high of the motion, you’ll discover that you simply lose your breath a lot faster.

By specializing in low-impact cardio workouts, you possibly can put much less power in your joints, which is a should for anybody with previous or present accidents, Freeman notes. Even when your knees and ankles carry out nicely below strain, it’s a good suggestion to differ up your exercises once in a while—each to maintain issues fascinating, and to verify your joints don’t get an excessive amount of repetitive stress (learn: power from the identical movement over and again and again) and proceed to remain wholesome for the lengthy haul.

The exercise Freeman created under works your complete physique—legs, glutes, abs, arms, shoulders, and sure, your cardiovascular system—with out placing a lot impression in your joints. “You must by no means be coming into contact with the bottom with any extra power than you do when strolling,” they clarify. “Nonetheless, you’re shifting your physique from the ground to standing in between workouts and performing full-body actions throughout every train with little to no relaxation, so your coronary heart has to work laborious.”