What is the difference between high and low impact aerobics?
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Posted on : 13-01-2010 | By : Aerobics Top Tips | In : Questions
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Loading ...On different online calories burned calculators the is an option for high impact or low impact aerobics. I guess I’ve never really understood the difference and the estimated calories burned are quite different. Thank you!
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high impact leads to quick results low impact is generally before a workout to warm thats the major difference
High is rarely done anymore.
Very hard on the knees and joints.
You want to burn the calories without damage to your joints
get into swimming!
Best way to describe them is through example. Walking and swimming are low impact. Running and weightlifting are high impact.
’nuff said?
Marching in place and taking side steps would be low impact, jumping jacks and jumping rope would be high impact. High impact makes your breathing heavier and burn more calories faster, but low impact is probably safer if you’re starting out, and less stress on you joints.
Anything aerobic involves getting the heart to pump at a higher rate for an extended period of time. Hi-impact is just doing more strenous activities,low is doing less but still doing things that elevate your heart rate.
High impact aerobics involves you raising and lowering your arms in quick succession (like doing jumping jacks) or running in place or bouncing or hopping. The idea is to bring your heart rate up relatively quickly and then keep it there for an extended period of time. It can be hard on the knee and ankle joints, especially if you’re out of shape or older or have prior injury to the joints. There’s also the risk of accidentally twisting and tearing a ligament or tendon.
With low impact, you basically keep your feet on the ground and step side to side or front to back and and when you raise your knees, it’s done slower and you touch down softer to lessen the impact on the joint. In low impact, you raise your arms when the lower body is not heavily engaged and generally you keep your arms down when you do legs.
The trick with high impact aerobics is not to work so hard that the workout becomes “anaerobic” (means without oxygen). If you work too hard, it becomes ineffective. So you have to find the proper target heart rate and work within that zone to get the maximum benefit.
The latest fitness wisdom is to incorporate 30 seconds of anaerobic training into a high impact session and I’ve done this to see whether it actually has an effect, but I haven’t noticed any significant changes.