High Impact Aerobics

The key to a successful weight control and overall fitness is to incorporate any kind of physical activity in your daily life. Whether it is a strenuous physical activity like running or jumping, or moderate intensity exercise like walking or just household work, any type of physical activity helps in losing weight and increasing the body's stamina to do daily work. And one such physical activity that improves the body's overall health and fitness is high impact aerobics.

What is Aerobics?

Aerobics mainly refers to a series of fun, rhythmic, large muscle exercises that are normally done in presence of music in a class led by an instructor. Considered to be an advanced form of total body exercise, aerobics is a type of cardiovascular exercise that enhances muscle coordination, strength and mobility. It includes variety of structured movements that increase your heart rate, and make the blood and oxygen flow more quickly in the body. Hence, aerobic exercises benefit by burning calories, reducing chances of having heart diseases, improving muscle endurance and body posture. It is primarily classified in to two main categories: high impact and low impact aerobics.

What is High Impact Aerobics?

High impact aerobics is continuous, high energy activity that involves movements which take both of the exerciser's feet off the floor simultaneously. This causes more jarring of the joints when the body weight strikes the floor again. High impact aerobic exercises involve energetic use of large muscle groups over a short span of time, typically for the purpose of weight loss. It elevates the heart rate and can burn several hundred calories in an hour. Hence, it is basically done with an aim of improving cardiovascular fitness and controlling body weight. High impact aerobic moves primarily include fast-paced walking, running and jogging, jumping and stretching, aerobic dancing, kick boxing, etc.

High Impact Aerobics vs Low Impact Aerobics

The basic difference between these two types of aerobics is that in low impact aerobics one foot always stays on the floor and supports the weight of the body whereas in high impact aerobics both feet are off the floor. Low impact aerobics generally involves a smaller risk of injury than high-impact, as it considerably exerts less stress on the feet and joints when you land. On the other hand high-impact aerobics usually offer more intensive and stressful workouts. Low impact aerobics involving exercises like walking, step aerobics, bicycling, etc. helps in overall body conditioning and is good for pregnant woman, older people, patients recovering from injury, etc. For beginners, it is important to start with low impact aerobics like 20 minutes of walking, jogging or a combination of walking/jogging and then gradually increase the intensity by involving high impact aerobic exercises like running or jumping for an extended duration of time.

In order to reap the maximum benefits, i.e., to lose weight fast and improve cardiovascular health one should perform any of the high impact aerobics exercises at least for 30 minutes, 4 - 5 times a week. However, the best types of aerobics exercises are the one's which include both low impact and high impact exercises. The low impact exercises warm up the body while high impact aerobic exercises help in burning more calories by increasing your heart rate significantly. If you are a beginner, it is advisable to practice these exercises under a professional trainer's supervision to avoid any unwanted injury.