The American Heart Association recommends that healthy adults do at least 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise daily to maintain a healthy weight, get fit, improve cardiovascular health and reduce the chance of getting certain diseases. However, many vigorous cardiovascular workouts entail doing high-impact movements that repeatedly shock your tendons, muscles, joints and ligaments. This type of workout can cause injury or aggravate existing injuries. Instead, choose lower-impact aerobic exercises that target your major muscles.
Walking
One easy way to get fit and protect your knees is to walk for exercise. While you still lightly impact your leg muscles and joints while walking, you have more control over your movement than when jogging or running. Warm up for walking by stepping from side to side or by walking slowly. During your workout, keep your feet closer to the ground and walk on softer surfaces such as grass to reduce shock to your knees. Make the workout more challenging by climbing hills, walking on a route that has a steady incline, or pumping your arms vigorously while walking.
Water Exercise
Any type of water exercise reduces impact on your knees. The water simultaneously protects your joints from impact and adds gentle resistance, making your workout more intense and helping you build strength. Choose aqua aerobics, walking through water or jogging through the water for a gentler full-body workout. For more vigorous exercise, swim laps. Use wide arm movements and do strokes such as the butterfly or freestyle to burn more fat.
Elliptical Machine
Like climbing stairs or running on a treadmill, an elliptical machine makes you move your legs repeatedly, elevating your heart rate. However, the unique design has your feet in constant contact with the machine's pedals so that you do not heavily impact your joints. Your movement propels the elliptical and adjusts the speed, so focus on keeping an intense pace to make it an effective cardio workout. Increase the intensity by using the attachments that work your upper body simultaneously.
Yoga
Doing yoga strengthens your muscles, lubricates your joints, and helps you build strength and increase flexibility. However, gentle yoga and restorative yoga do not qualify as cardio exercises. You need to do stretches, poses and movements that work your upper, lower and core muscles groups. Exercise at a rate that makes you breathe more rapidly and break a sweat. Intense forms of yoga include Bikram, power and Ashtanga yoga. Doing basic sun salutations also provides cardiovascular benefits, as long as you maintain a challenging and fluid pace.
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