Categories: HEALTH & WELLNESS

Work Up a Sweat with Low Impact Cardio Exercise Alternatives

I’m an avid exercise enthusiast but there are times that I can’t go to the gym. Maybe I’m between health clubs, maybe the car is being repaired, maybe the snow is two feet deep. I’m sure you can come up with a few “maybes” too. Finding a good low impact routine that pushes your cardiovascular system can be a challenge. This is especially true when you don’t own a treadmill or elliptical trainer. Fortunately, I found an excellent way to increase my heart rate when I’m home bound.

Two Exercise DVDs Stand Out

I have written reviews of over 40 exercise DVDs and there were many more that I watched and didn’t write up. There are two that stand out from the crowd. If you’re like me and don’t have cardio equipment at home because of lack of space or lack of funds, this is the alternative that I go to that makes me sweat as much as an elliptical trainer machine. It’s an exercise skill I learned at a health club: kickboxing.

Automatic Repeat Segments

If your health club doesn’t hold kickboxing classes to help you learn the moves, you can buy DVDs that start out with the basics and then move up to DVDs for advanced kickboxers. “10 Minute Solution Kickbox Bootcamp with Keli Roberts is a good starter. She begins slowly to show you how to do the move correctly and then repeats it at a faster pace. Each exercise grouping is 10 minutes long. What I like on this DVD is that you can repeat a 10-minute segment as many times as you want in whatever order you want. So, if you only want to work on your arms and shoulders, you can select the Arm & Shoulder Sculptor routine as many times as you want and the DVD will repeat that section for the number of times you chose. There are five segments; four are low impact.

Roberts is a highly trained instructor and she teaches the routine clearly. The music does not drown her out. I found this to be a problem in many exercise DVDs. Weights are optional. If you’re a beginner, you may want to start without them until you are more comfortable with the routine.

Tutorial Segment and Refresher Insert

The other kickboxing routine I like is “Kelly Coffey-Meyer 30 Minutes to Fitness – Kickboxing.” These routines are longer and more complex. The longest one is 53 minutes long. The DVD includes a separate tutorial segment of the kickboxing moves and an unobtrusive video “refresher” insert in the corner of your screen. It is a very challenging DVD and it took me some time to learn the routines. I was able to view it on slow motion on my TV/DVD which helped. You may want to try that too. Weighted gloves are optional.

A Modifier for Low Impact

Kelly Coffey-Meyer is a highly experienced instructor. Her DVD includes four other performers. One of the performers is called a “modifier” who follows Coffey-Meyer but does a low-impact version. When I need to, I follow her moves.

I own other exercise DVDs but none of them compare to these two as far as professionalism, intensity, teaching ability, and audio quality. Both include a core/abdominal segment.

There is no excuse to skip cardio exercises anymore. Try kickboxing. Sign up at your health club to learn the skill. Otherwise, go the DVD route. Either way, it’s fun, challenging, and gives results.