Cardio exercises that can be tough on joints (how to tweak them)

When it comes to improving our cardiovascular health or losing weight or enhancing our overall fitness, cardio exercises are the best form of workout routine.

Depending on how efficient you are at your fitness game, you can choose from a wide range of cardio exercises and also decide on the level of intensity you want to indulge in.

For those prone to injury or who have a bad knee would want to avoid high impact exercises and do more of low impact exercises. If you're new to this, here's how low impact and high impact exercises differ from each other.

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High impact exercises are movements that put a lot of force on your joints. It involves a lot of jumping and jolting which could take a toll on your bones and joints. While high impact exercises work wonders for cardiovascular health since it accelerates the heart rate, it can put a high level of impact on your joints, ligaments and tendons, creating a force equal to about 2.5 times your body weight. This can be extremely damaging, which is why high impact exercises are not usually recommended to older adults or kids.

On the contrary, low impact exercises are less risky and more gentle towards your body. It is also an effective form of exercise that can be performed by a wide range of people. Such exercises are more beneficial for people looking to improve balance and stability.

That said, for those of you who want to venture into cardio workouts, here's a list of exercises that are high impact and can affect your joints.

Also read: Lose weight by turning your routine tasks into a workout routine

Running is great cardio exercise that helps strengthen muscles, improves cardiovascular fitness and assists in losing weight too.

However, running for long hours with poor form can put excessive pressure on your joints, leading to injury and pain. That said, running too much before your muscles, bones, joints and cartilage are ready for more can lead to straining, making you more prone to injury.

So before you jump right to it, consider gradually picking up the pace. Start with long walks, then go on brisk walking and finally make running a part of your workout routine. Make sure you take it slow.

Jumping jacks are full body workouts that improve cardiovascular health and fitness. These not only target major muscle groups, but also strengthen the bones. However, jumping jacks involve a lot of jumping, which in turn put a lot of force on the lower body joints. This is why jumping jacks are associated with a risk of injury, especially to the joints in the knee and ankle.

In order to avoid such risks, it is important to first focus on strength and conditioning. Strength and conditioning involve exercises dedicated to building muscles and endurance. It includes squats, lunges, bridges, push ups, dead bugs and deadlifts.

However, if you want to still indulge in jumping jacks, start without the jumps. It is called a modified jack.

Burpees are a total body workout that helps burn fat, improves blood flow and helps lower risks of heart disease and diabetes.

However, performing burpees is not easy. There's a lot that you need to master and a lot that can go wrong. From putting stress on your back and shoulders to posing risk to your knees, burpees can wreak quite the havoc. So to avoid such circumstances, you need to keep certain things in mind.

- Do not rush and take it slow. Start with a simplified version or burpees that involves no pushups and no jumps. Just simple movements.

- Make sure to engage your core, while keeping your back straight.

- Work on your landings. Avoid jumping and modify by bringing the feet back one by one.

Side to side jumping lunges make for a great lower body exercise. It targets the quads, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, and calves, and also works towards improving cardiovascular health.

However, there is always a risk of injury associated with this cardio form. Since the movement has a lot to do with balance, posture and jumping, it can put a lot of pressure on the bones and joints and can put extra force on them.

That said, to avoid such risky circumstances, you can always either start with simple lunges or side lunges that are low impact and effective.

Squat jumps are a more difficult variation of squats that help burn fat in the lower body and tone your legs, abs, and butt. It also improves your mobility and balance.

However, if you perform this exercise with negligence it can cause some serious consequences, such as knee injury. If you're someone who already has a knee or back injury, avoid doing this exercise.

In order to reduce the impact, you can always switch back to a simple squat that is as effective and can reduce fat from your stomach and your legs.