What exercises would be good to start that are low impact?

peasgarden

Hi everyone! I'd love to again build a healthy routine eating healthy and doing exercise.
A couple of years ago, I used to be very active, enjoyed doing pilates, low impact cardio, dance, walking, and lifting weights and my health was stable. With grad school, my healthy habits declined a bit. I haven't been that active and my health is paying the cost, I feel very tired a lot of the time and rely on caffeine which also doesn't help.

I'm reducing my coffee consumption. Just take one cup a day.
I'm also intentionally drinking 8 glasses of water.
I'm limiting processed canned foods.
I'm trying to sleep 8 hours per night.

Now with exercise, I would like to go little by little. What exercises would be a good start that are low impact?

nossmf

By "low impact" I presume you mean easy on your joints, especially your knees. Some options spring immediately to mind:

Walking - not power-walking or speed-walking, just non-stop walking. Up and down hills is great, but even just flat walking works. Evening strolls after dinner, with or without a dog, help. Parking at the far end of the parking lot and walking into the store/work adds a small amount each day, which adds up.

Elliptical - I find the elliptical machine far easier on my knees than running or even biking, yet I can get my heart rate up pretty high.

Swimming - This can mean swimming laps, or simply wading through waist-deep water. The resistance of the water adds a bit of a strengthening element as well.

Yoga - no personal experience, but some people swear by it to help increase flexibility, balance, and in certain poses strength/stamina.

cwolfman13

walking, biking, swimming

DiscoveringLisa

Walking. Long walks. I do it everyday, it's good for your body and mind ☺️

IAmTheGlue

Why are you drinking less coffee? Coffee is super good for you. Maybe not the cream and sugar but coffee itself is protective of your liver and has antioxidants. Even decaf!

Back to you actual question:

Walking
Yoga
Tía Chi
Elliptical
Water aerobics
Swimming


Good luck to you! You’ve found an awesome, supportive place to be!

JaysFan82

I swim laps 4-5 days a week and I'm down 50 pounds since the end of February. It's been life changing.

Xellercin

I would recommend just trying things and seeing if they feel good.

I have to do low-impact exercise due to severe joint issues, and I have TONS of things I do. I have a few hours of gentle PT exercises to choose from every day, I used to walk back when I could walk, I swim, I do clinical Pilates (Pilates for people with messed up bodies), weighted hula hoop, elliptical back when I could do elliptical, gentle weight lifting, dance back when I could do dance, basic body weight exercises, tai chi, resistance bands, stair climbing back when I could climb stairs, really anything that was active and felt good for my body.

gpanda103

Generally the more walking and standing you can do, the better. The majority of my movement throughout the day is me standing or walking. I’d set a step goal, and slowly work it up to something that works for you. Eventually you can get too many steps, but you would have to try pretty hard to get there

MsCzar

I LOOOVE rebounding!
https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/nasa-the-trampoline-and-you/
I started with just 2-4 minutes a day. It was all I could manage. Now I can keep up a fast pace for 30 minutes without losing my breath. I have had double hip replacements and the mini-trampoline is super gentle on the joints while burning big time calories.

mylaineriobe

Hi! Sounds like you were already doing great exercises before grad school, so why reinvent the wheel? You can resume your pilates, but just start with an instructor who can ease you back in. If you loved these exercises before and still would gravitate to them, just ease back in at a slower pace than before and gradually increase the intensity as tolerated. Listen to your body and make sure you feed your workouts with good, clean protein and some carbs before and after. Warm up and stretch before and after as well. You've already got this - don't sell yourself short! Best wishes on your journey!

azuki84

Walking and swimming is a good place to start