If you're someone who dreads cardio, there’s good news. You don't need to do endless burpees or push yourself through grueling runs to stay healthy and fit.
Low-impact strength workouts are a great way to develop muscle while also elevating your heart rate and improving cardiovascular fitness—all without stressing your joints.
Britany Williams, from the fitness app Sweat, has designed a low-impact workout as an alternative to cardio.
Using six dumbbell exercises, this routine is ideal for anyone looking to improve their fitness and strength in a joint-friendly way. As it's high-intensity, it will boost your metabolism too.
How to do Britany Williams' low-impact cardio routine
Perform each exercise for 40 seconds, followed by 20 seconds of rest. Alternatively, you can do 10 repetitions (reps) per side of each movement, if you prefer a rep-based format.
Repeat the circuit three to four times, depending on how much time you have, taking a 90-second rest between rounds.
You'll need a pair of dumbbells for this workout—light to moderate weights are best to maintain good form and maximize the cardio impact.
If you’re comfortable, you might want to increase the weight for moves like the dumbbell swing or plank to stand. But for exercises like the ground to overhead and lateral lunges, lighter weights are recommended.
How high-intensity workouts impact your metabolism
Despite being a low-impact routine, this is an example of HIRT (high-intensity resistance training). It's similar to the popular HIIT format, but it involves moving slightly slower and lifting heavier loads.
Like HIIT, this kind of intense training will speed up your metabolism, albeit temporarily. Even after you've finished exercising, you will still have an elevated calorie expenditure; this is known as the afterburn effect.
The workout could help you build muscle, too. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue that burns more calories at rest than fat, so strengthening your legs, arms and core will also boost your metabolism.
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