By Cary Raffle
Master Trainer
Times have changed since the 1980s, when
exercise consisted mainly of high impact
activities such as aerobics and running. You
rarely see a totally high impact class today;
most involve a combination of high and
low. (High impact is a label
assigned to any exercise that has both feet
leaving the ground. For purposes of
this article, high impact will include
running and any exercises that involve
jumping. Low impact will include pretty
much everything else, like biking, elliptical
machines, strength training with weights or
machines or tubes, flexibility and yoga, etc.)
There is no one generic exercise
program that works for everyone. If you
meet with a professional trainer, your first
session will consist of an assessment where
you review your goals, discuss any medical
issues, evaluate your fitness level,
determine whether you have any
physical issues or muscle imbalances,
and begin working on an appropriate
program.
The initial phases of your program may
include exercises that
address these muscle imbalances,
essentially strengthening weak muscles and
stretching the tight ones. During
this assessment, the trainer will be able to
determine whether high impact exercises are
appropriate or should be avoided due
to risk of injury. To some extent,
you can make this determination
yourself: avoid high impact exercises
if you are pregnant or have tight or cramping
calves, knock knees, knee pain, shin splints
or stress fractures.
Low impact exercises should be part of
almost every exercise program. If
you’re new to exercise or have taken a
long break, you’ll want to start with
low-impact exercises because they put less
strain on the muscles and connective tissues
and are usually easier on the joints. Give
your body time to acclimate to the stress and
demands of exercising before progressing or
adding a lot of high impact exercise.
Low impact exercises also work for
conditioned athletes. Many distance runners
will cross train with cycling or machines
like the elliptical. This helps them to
increase the volume of aerobic training while
reducing the chance of an injury from too much
impact. A properly targeted resistance or
strength training program that is non-impact
can also help improve postural alignment and
flexibility, which can improve performance
and reduce the chance of injury. Most
people can benefit from a combination of low
and high impact exercises. How do you
know what is best for
you?
Popular low impact
cardio exercises includes the bicycle,
various elliptical machines, step machines,
step classes, dancing and, in some cases,
walking. These are all excellent exercises
that will increase your heart rate and
improve your cardiovascular condition and
overall level of fitness, and can help you lose
weight. Most healthy adults should be
working at between 60-70% of their
maximum heart rate during cardiovascular
exercise, which can be calculated using
the simple formula 220-age X 60%. In most
cases it makes very little difference which
form of exercise you do to reach that level,
so choose those you enjoy and are most
comfortable doing. Walking is
usually considered a low impact
exercise; however, for an individual with
medical issues, severe arthritis, joint
replacement or other conditions, it may
actually be too much impact for
them.
Strength
training—another form of exercise that
is not high impact—is increasingly
recognized as an important part of
any fitness program. Even for
older Americans, The American
College of Sports Medicine now recommends
strength training because of its positive
effects on insulin action, bone density,
energy metabolism and overall
fitness. In addition, for those with
weak muscles, these exercises can help
improve your posture and body
alignment. This helps you to work more
efficiently, generate more
force and avoid injuries that
occur due to misalignment. Strength
training is often overlooked as a way of
losing weight. By circuit training,
performing exercises without breaks in
between, you can actually keep you heart rate
up and burn more calories while working out.
Strength training also increases your muscle
mass so that you burn more calories while
resting.
While machines are often favored for
beginners at strength training, free weights
and resistance bands or tubes allow your body
to follow a more natural motion path and can
be a fun and easy way to learn new exercises.
For those experienced at working out, tubes
and bands can target specific muscles very
well in prehab or rehab exercises, and
provide added resistance in the end phase of
movements. I try to get my healthy clients
at almost every fitness level to do exercises
sitting or lying on a stability ball as soon
as possible. This forces them to engage and
strengthen their core muscles during the work
out.
You can set up a compact and inexpensive
gym at home with a stability ball and
resistance tubes, and take the tubes on the
road if you travel. Some of my favorite
exercises with balls and tubes include squats
with the ball between your back and the wall,
biceps curls seated on the ball, chest press
lying on the ball, external rotation at the
shoulder using tubes, and hip adduction to
work the side of the leg and gluteus medius
using bands.
Group exercises that offer low impact
exercises are a great way to start. They help
you get motivated, put a regular appointment
for exercise on your schedule, and you
participate in a professionally designed
program. The downside is that if you are
just starting to exercise, you may not get
the personal attention you need to ensure
that you are doing the exercises properly.
Before beginning, speak with the instructor
to see if you can get some help. Work within
your own comfort zone and don’t try to
keep up with the group.
Some people think that low impact means
that there is less chance of injuring
yourself. Certain injuries like stress
fractures and falls may be less likely, but
you can experience pulls, strains and twists
and other problems with low impact exercises.
A targeted flexibility program, proper
exercise selection and good form will reduce
this risk whether you are doing high, low or
no impact work.
A
common misconception is that high impact
exercises are bad for the knees
or ankles. If an individual
has muscle imbalances that cause them to land
improperly, this is true, but for individuals
with good posture and alignment a carefully
controlled high impact program can actually
help. For example, the National Academy
of Sports Medicine includes box
jumps as part of its recommended preventive
and recovery program for individuals with ACL
surgery (the anterior cruciate ligament is a
commonly injured part of the knee). The
emphasis here is on careful control.
High impact exercises can have tremendous
benefits for those who are ready for them.
Plyometric exercises, like jumping onto a box
and stabilizing, can help train the body
to generate maximum power and then
stabilize. The emphasis on stabilizing
and absorbing force can be helpful in
preventing injuries especially in
athletes. Impact also can help
increase bone mineral density, which can
be very helpful for women after
menopause. Sports specific
training may also require some amount of high
impact training.
Do you need high impact exercises? Not
necessarily. One of my clients lost 104
pounds over a two-year period through
exercise and diet. His program didn’t
add high impact until he lost the first 80
pounds. His goals were to lose weight and
improve his mobility and coordination. For
more than a year he dieted, attended studio
cycling classes three times a week, and
strength training twice a week. We added
non-contact boxing and some running to the
program, and he increased his food intake to
support these activities. It was a pleasure
to see him flourish, and he is now preparing
for an amateur boxing competition –
something he never would have dreamed of two
years and 104 pounds ago.
Should you be doing low-impact exercises?
Of course! Just start slowly, ask for help
if you need it, and you’ll soon be on
your way to looking, moving and feeling
better.
Cary is a Certified Personal
Trainer with an MS in Exercise Science and
Health Promotion. He is Pre- and Post-Natal
Certified, with an expertise in assessing
clients and designing programs for general
fitness, weight loss, improved mobility,
athletic performance. He began training in
2004 as a second career after 30 years of
working in the advertising field, and blogs
about fitness at caryraffle.com and
exercisenono.com. He’s been interested
in fitness most of his adult life; in
the 1980s and 1990s, Cary ran 8 marathons.
