America became aware of aerobic exercise when the book, "Aerobics" was published in 1968. Since then, research on aerobic exercise has revealed many benefits for your heart and lungs. Aerobic exercise features a relatively low intensity level, and is performed for at least 20 minutes at a time. Despite having healthy benefits, different forms of aerobic exercise place varying amounts of stress on the body over time. Consult with your health care provider before beginning an exercise program.
Considerations
For an exercise to be considered aerobic, it must elevate your heart rate to a target zone for an extended period. To determine your target zone, subtract your age from 220, and multiply the result by between 50 and 85 percent. If you keep your heart rate closer to 50 percent in your target zone, the exercise is considered to be low intensity. As your heart rate increases toward 85 percent in your heart rate zone, the exercise increases to moderate, and then high intensities
High Impact
High impact aerobic exercise places the greatest stress on your joints, ligaments, and overall skeletal structure. The impact is caused by the weight of your body, as your feet strike the ground. The repetitive impact can aggravate existing injuries to your weight bearing joints, or cause injuries to occur. Precautions can be taken to reduce the amount of impact on your joints while you exercise. For example, wearing quality running shoes can lessen the impact you experience while jogging. Running on grass or a cushioned track instead of pavement can minimize impact as well. Jogging on a treadmill at a slight angle lessens the stress on your knees, states healthguidance.org. Examples of high impact aerobic exercises include running, jogging, jumping rope and high impact aerobic classes.
Low Impact
As impact related injuries began to increase, low impact forms of aerobic exercise were developed. The intent of low impact exercise was to minimize or eliminate the impact on your joints caused by your feet hitting the ground. For example, the rotary action of cycling eliminates impact caused by the ground. Consequently, cycling is a desirable form of exercise for people carrying extra weight or those who suffer from arthritis. Electronic equipment such as eliptical machines feature movements that eliminate downward pressure on your joints, as well. Low impact aerobic classes feature stepping on benches that eliminate the impact caused by jumping up and down.
Zero Impact
Swimming provides zero impact on the joints because of the buoyancy provided by the water. Consequently, it is a preferred form of exercise for senior citizens, arthritis sufferers and females during pregnancy. For individuals who are poor swimmers, water aerobics classes offer an alternative to lap swimming. Swimming is especially beneficial because it involves many muscles.
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