High-impact exercise causes pain for those who suffer from knee injuries or chronic conditions such as arthritis. The good news is that there are non- and low-impact exercises that offer equivalent calorie burning. High intensity does not have to mean high impact. Save your knees and customize your workout to include a variety of methods to melt fat without pain.
Walking
Walking is a low-impact, weight-bearing exercise that burns approximately 297 calories in 60 minutes for a 150-lb. person walking at a 3 mph pace. In addition to caloric expenditure, walking enhances your bone density. Walking is easily accessible and does not require additional equipment outside of your shoes. Enhance the calorie burning capacity of walking by picking up your pace and varying the terrain. Walking at 4 mph burns approximately 50 additional calories, and walking stairs for one hour burns 549 calories.
Aquatic Exercise
Water aerobics and swimming pack a calorie-burning punch without risk of exacerbating your knee pain. During water aerobics, you mimic many of the same movements and exercises you would perform in a studio class against the resistance of water. A 150-lb. person burns approximately 270 calories during an hourlong class. If you want to burn even more calories in the water, try freestyle swimming. Swimming melts away calories while improving your aerobic capacity. A one-hour session of freestyle lap swimming burns up to 413 calories.
Cycling
Whether you cycle outside on the roads or indoors on a stationary bicycle, cycling stokes your body's calorie-burning fire. Cycling is nonimpact and strengthens your cardiovascular system as well as your quadriceps and hamstrings muscles. Riding outside for one hour at 12 to 14 mph burns 594 calories for a 150-lb. person. Riding on a stationary cycle during a group indoor cycling class burns 477 calories. Increase your caloric expenditure during a group indoor cycling class by increasing your bike's resistance.
Low-impact Group Fitness Classes
Group fitness classes, including circuit style, boot camp training and dance-inspired classes, are low-impact in nature and you also have the option of performing low-impact modifications for high-impact moves. On average, a 150-lb. person burns 413 calories during a 60-minute class. Classes that incorporate strength training along with aerobic exercise help you increase lean muscle mass and increase your metabolic rate.
Interval Training
You can increase the calorie burning capacity of any exercise modality by incorporating interval training. Interval training involves working at a high intensity level followed by a lower intensity level. Intervals repeat the high and low intensity work spurts for a given period of time. Intervals shock your body and help you to avoid workout plateaus. An example of an interval workout includes performing repeats of walking at a speed of 4 mph for one minute followed by walking at 2 mph for 30 seconds.
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