Whether you are a pro athlete or an exercise novice, low impact exercise can be a very important part of your fitness plan.

The human body cannot and should not be pushed to its limits with HIIT or strength training on a daily basis. Some of your biggest fitness gains, no matter your fitness level, will happen while you are resting. If you don't allow yourself proper rest, you run the risk of not only undoing the hard work that you're putting in towards your workouts, but also causing serious harm to your body. If you haven't heard of overtraining, you should at least take the time to briefly familiarize yourself with the condition; it's a real thing and it should be taken seriously (see below for a couple of quick warning signs).

Because we want to encourage people to live an active, balanced lifestyle, these beginner workouts, or low impact workouts, are an important part of Fitness Blender - for the people who are looking for an introductory workout, and for the people who are looking to stay active - using very light workouts to get a bit of a calorie burn boost without the strain of an intensive workout.

This is a no-jump, low impact workout that makes for a good starting place if you are brand new to exercise or looking to take it easy on your joints.

Workout Structure
10 Different intervals
50 Seconds on; 10 seconds off
No equipment (exercise mat optional)
No warm up or cool down included

Printable Low Impact Cardio Workout

1 Warrior Lunges
2 Toe Touch Kick + Floor Tap
3 3 High Knees + Kick
4 Walk Down + Side Star
5 3 Torso Twists + Knee
6 Tricep Push Ups to Cobra
7 Bicycle Crunches
8 Back Bow Pulls
9 3 Flutterkicks + Leg Pulls
10 Leg Cross Bridges (alternating)

Signs of overtraining (for beginners or advanced exercisers)
- Mood swings; depression or an altered mood (agitation, shorter temper, etc)
- An increase in illness or injuries; either can be a sign that you're pushing yourself too hard, too often
- Changes in appetite (especially a decreased appetite)  
- An elevated heart rate (even while you're resting)
- A change in menstrual cycle (for women; missed periods are something to consider, especially in the presence of these other symptoms)
- Excessive fatigue
- If your usual workouts are feeling much harder than normal and you have stopped making gains, you may actually need a rest
- Body aches that are not easily explained (different from delayed onset muscle soreness)

If you ever feel like you have noticed a number of these items being true for you, talk to your doctor and consider taking your workouts down a notch for a least a little while. Our bodies are constantly sending us signals; do yourself a favor and don't ignore them!