Best Alternatives To Jogging

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Jogging is a high impact exercise. The constant pavement pounding causing shock waves up your feet to your ankles, knees and hips isn't comfortable for everyone. This is particularly true if you're dealing with pulled muscles or achy joints already.

Jogging is a great aerobic exercise, however. Most people who jog regularly experience many benefits including lowered cholesterol, lowered blood pressure and weight loss.

Even with all of the great jogging benefits there are terrific benefits with...

Walking. Walking is the first choice for many people. It's the most obvious fitness routine because it takes so little to get started.

• Because walking is a low impact exercise it's terrific for cross-training due to injury or as full, stand alone exercise routine. However, the type of walking we're talking about here is not leisure walking. To get results for lowered blood pressure, for example, your best bet is to perform paced walking.

• Paced walking is simply walking more briskly than you would if you were out sight seeing. You're goal is to keep your heart rate within your target zone. Going beyond the suggested number for your age will likely diminish your results. You'll be working too hard. That's no good.

• It's fine to work hard, of course, but doing it in a smart way that gets you your desired results.

• So figure out your heart rate, get a good pair of walking shoes and head out the door! This really is easily one of the best alternatives to jogging.

Resistance Swimming. This is a refreshing fitness routine. There is no impact on joints, but you can still get a challenging workout from it. Swimming is very easy to begin and only requires a suit, earplugs and goggles.

• If you've got access to a body of water this can be fairly easy to achieve daily. But if you're in a landlocked area consider the iPool Above Ground Exercise Swimming Pool as a way to get your cardio into your day. Depending on your climate, you can enjoy this pool all year long.

• As best alternatives to jogging goes, resistance swimming is a safe, effective form of fitness. Medical professionals encourage their patients to engage in daily fitness. They will often suggest walking or swimming because both are easy to begin. If you've got the interest and the space (about the size of a minivan), consider a swimming pool for your fitness needs.

Lastly, but also a great choice is...

Biking. Yet another terrific alternative to jogging is biking. It, too, is low impact and offers very good health benefits. You'll increase endurance, muscle strength in your legs and lose weight.

It does cost more to begin than a pair of walking shoes. Some bikes cost about the same as a good pair of running shoes. Depending on your budget, this may not be the cheapest route to fitness.

However, a bike offers you tremendous road freedom. You've got the challenge of the terrain if you find routes that offer hills. And, you can enjoy the scenery as you're coasting down hill. Talk about the wind in your hair!

This is a great activity for families as you can all enjoy fitness together. Like jogging or really any outdoor, on-the-road exercise, you want to be careful of vehicles. Take the necessary precautions with bright attire, flashing lights, etc. so that you're seen by other drivers.

The top three best alternatives to jogging listed above offer great ways to stay in shape. You don't have to perform high impact exercise if your joints resist. You can successfully build your endurance, lose weight and strengthen your heart and muscles with these alternatives.

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