Low Impact Walking Workout | Indoor Walking Cardio for Beginners & All Fitness Levels (20 Min!)

Hey everybody, I'm Amy from BodyFit by Amy, and this is your low impact walking cardio workout. In today's workout, we are going to be moving to the music. You don't have to be on the beat, you can go at whatever speed is possible for you, and we're going to be getting walking cardio. So I will give you lots of different options in pacing and in movement. Work to your level. Our goal is just to get some steps in, get our heart pumping, and have a good time. We'll be keeping it all low impact. Are you ready? Let's do it. All right, so here we go. This is low impact walking cardio. I want you just to find a marching in place or walking in place that feels good to you. I'm gonna be working with the music, with the beat, but you certainly do not have to. I know for some of us, especially if we did a lot of cardio or aerobics classes back in the day— I know I did— it feels natural to want to find the beat. But if you need to go slower or even faster depending on your fitness level, that is totally fine. Be where you are today is something I always say, where you are in your fitness journey. Maybe you're a total beginner or just getting back into it, a begin-again-er I like to call it. Or maybe you have another reason that you need to take it a little slower and go at your own pace. This is your workout, so you do you. We're going to start with just a march right here. And let's start to roll the shoulders right here. Take it up nice and slow. We'll pick up our pace as we go, so don't worry. We're going to keep it low impact the whole time. To the front. So no jumping, no running, no quick fast fancy moves, just variations of walking cardio. Tap it out, tap it out right here. You can kind of roll those shoulders to the front. So this warm-up is a little bit slower, but just to get you into the movement. Let's reach our arms across right here. Tap, reach, tap, reach. So a lot of these things will add some upper body, add our arms, add a little bit more movement, but you can always take it back to home, I'll call it, kind of like we used to do back in the day when we did step class. Always go back to home if you need to, and that is just your march, or you can always do the lower body without the arms, or you can do the arms without the legs. You do you. 4, reach it over. 3, big stretch. 2, good. Let's bring those knees up nice and slow. Knees, you can keep it grounded if you want to just do a little tap, or bring them up a little more Take it up, take it up. Again, you do you. Maybe it's just a tap, maybe it's here, here, up. There we go. Good. Now we're going to tap to the back. Tap, tap, reach those arms back. And then if you want You can make this a hamstring curl. Up, up. Got about 30 more seconds of the slower warm-up, then we'll pick up our pace if you want into some more walking cardio. If you want to take those arms up, get a little bit of chest opener. We all need that because we spend a lot of time sitting at our desk, at our computers, looking at our phones, driving. So open it up. Back to just those little taps right here. Tap. Anytime you need water, you can grab it. We'll have a few quick little breaks, but again, it's a quick 20-minute warm-up workout. Uh, back to that march. All right, so as you can tell, going a little quicker now. Pump those arms. And again, this is home. You can always come back to this. If you are here and you are moving your body today, you are succeeding, you are winning. That is all that we care about. Keep that march, pump those arms. Just going to add a little bit of arm movement as we go up and down right here. Up and down, up and down. And if your march is slower, that works too. You can go half time or here. Up, down. Feeling those shoulders, right? Up, up. And if you want to speed up the arms, you can do it. Up, down, up, down, up, down. Totally up to you. And again, maybe you're starting to get tired and you want to just do the arms, take the legs out of it, give your legs a little break. That works too. Anything goes in this workout. Here we go, march it up. Keep breathing. For 4, 3, 2, we're gonna push arms out to the side. Halftime right here. Out and in, push and pull, push and pull. There we go, keeping the shoulders open, chest open for that good posture. Keep it this pace, a few more. Reach out and in, squeeze, push and pull. Core engaged, so really making sure we're standing up nice and tall. Wall. Push and pull. Do you want to pick up the pace? Here we go. Push, pull, push, pull. Oh, that's fast! I know, not as easy as it is with the overhead. 4, 3, 2, back to home to your march. Breathe. Yes! Now we're gonna get a little bit of biceps and triceps, so we're gonna bring the arms down by our side. Coming up and down as if you're doing a bicep curl. Up and down, just with the march. You want to take the march out, just do the arms, or take the arms out, just do the march. Up and down. You can even watch me from the side. Contract if you need to. Up and down. Do we want to pick up that pace? I don't know, what do you think? I think we can do it on this. 4, 3, 2. Here we go. Up, down, up, down. I know. 4, 3, 2. Back to home. Just your march right here. All right, just the opposite. Watch me. We're going to turn them this way. We're going to push back. You don't have to lean over, but we're pushing back to get the back of the arms right here. Push. And here. And again, if it feels better to just push the air with a flat hand, or if you feel like you get a little more contracting, keep the march if you want, or just do body weight upper body. You're still going to get your body moving, heart pumping. Double time, here we go! Push, push, extend to the back. Back of the arms, they're working hard. Go the pace that's good for you. Not too much. Keep it going. 4 eights. 7, 6, and 5, 4. Push. 3, 2, and breathe. Shake it out. Ah, roll those arms. Let's grab a quick sip of water. I know I need a little sip right here. Up to you, you can get it whenever you need to. Let's take our feet a little wider. Just tap, tap, tap. So within this, a little tap, a little more of that floor cardio. But again, you can always come back to here if this is better for you. But tap, tap. Right here, let's move those arms. Tap, arms are going in front. You can take those arms a little bigger if you want. I know, maybe they're feeling it from that last round. Keep the tap, bringing the knee up a little bit more. We're going to work our way into some knee raises. We're going to start half time, and then we will take it up to speed, or up to speed of the music. But you're going to feel it both ways, so you pick what is best for you. Finish out those taps. All right, watch me here. Half time. Knee and down, knee and down. You can do it without the arms, you can just do the arms like we did before with just a little tap, or together here. 4 more. Slow, keep it here if you want, thinking about that core working too. Up to speed if you want. Here we go, up, up. You can keep it slow and low or pick them up right here. Arms can be big, arms can be small, or no arms. You do you. Here we go. We get a lot of core when we bring the knees up, right? We feel those hip flexors too. Really good for mobility and flexibility in our hip joints that get a little tight. You can always take it back to that tap, right, if you're feeling it. We're almost done with the knees. Can we get 2 on the right, 2 on the left? Right here, start with the taps. Tap, tap, tap, tap. If you want, knees up or halftime. Yes, bring them bigger if you want. Huh, doubles again. If you used to take step class back in the day Here we go for 4, 3, 2. Just your taps. Tap. Breathe. Back into that march. Up, right. All right, hear the music. Shake out those arms, whatever you need to do. All right, this time we're going to tap them back. Tap, start with just a tap like we did before, but instead of bringing them forward, we're going to tap to the back. Arms can go back like this. So again, chest opener, mobility, flexibility, good posture, but also working the back muscles, working the back of the arms. I know you came for the walking cardio but you're getting the strength work as well. We all need that strength for our muscles, for our bones, for our hearts. Watch me, hamstring curl. Down, up, and down. You can also tap, tap, or coming up and down. Good for our knee joint. Keep it here if you want, or up to speed. Up, up, just your lower body is here. Add the arms if you want. Back, back. And again, I do not care if you were on the beat or off the beat, if you're doing the same speed as me or slower or faster. As long as you are safe and you are moving, you are succeeding, you are winning. Tap it back if you want, or hamstrings right here. Arms can go across, cross, cross. If that feels a little quick, up, down, up, or even here. Breathe. That is still movement, that is still working hard. I know for a lot of us the barrier to exercise is feeling like we can't do it. But it feels hard. If it feels hard, it's because you are doing it. If it feels hard, it's because you're working hard. So do not let anybody, especially your own brain or that little voice in our head, tell you it's hard because you're out of shape, it's hard because you can't do it. It's hard because you're working hard. It's hard because you can do it. Back to those taps right here. Tap, tap. 4, 3. Can we get 2 hamstrings to the right? Up, up. If 2 feels too fast, just do 1 and down. 1 and down. Or 2. Hands can be up or here. We got just about one more minute, then we're grabbing water again. Last 5 minutes of this workout, keeping it simple. I do have a lot of other walking cardio. I have a box and walk, I have a walk and tone, I think. Lots of options if walking cardio is your thing. I like it low impact, also lots of low impact. Low impact, high intensity, that's a thing. Back to your taps. Tap, tap, tap. Can you get a little lower? Working the legs a tiny bit. You can keep your tap here, or can you get up? There's those legs also moving in the knees and the hips. Yes, keep it moving. 4, 3, 2, march it right here. Grab a quick sip of water. All right team, this is it, we are so close. Heart rate should be up. I hope you're feeling it, I know I am. Up. All right, let's move across the floor a bit. March it. So back to home, whatever home is for you. If it's halftime, tap tap tap, or tap tap march right here. We're going to walk it up for 4, back for 4. Here we go, up, 2, 3. You can bring that knee up or not. You can just tap it. I like to bring it up. I'm pumping my arms, but if you want to take them over, up and down, up— totally optional. If you want to just move and just march in place If you don't feel as comfortable going up and back, or you don't have the space for it, that's okay. And up, cross, up, down. Don't overthink it, right? That's what my brain does. I'm going to have to go back to home. Here we go, home. Always ways to mix up the walk, but you don't have to. We're here to move. We're going to step touch right and left. Start slow. Here we go. Step, tap. Step, tap. Small or big, slow or fast, right here. Step, touch. Here we go. Step, you pick, up to you. Step, touch, step, touch. Can we go do two steps? Here we go. 1, 2, 1, 2. Now again, if you're one of my old school aerobics girlies, feel free to make it a grapevine if you want, or just step it. Grapevine. Woo! Who remembers that? Even if you're not doing it, you might remember it. You might want to just do the step, that is okay, or grapevine it. Here we go, right here. Back to that step touch, we're going to make it a little slide. Step, slide. Step touch or step slide. We're going to take it at a diagonal. Up, up, watch me here. Step, slide, step, slide, step, slide, step, slide. Take it back and up. Can we just be a little step or slide, slide. That doesn't feel right for you, keep it here. Always fine to keep it grounded in one place. Again, as long as you're moving, right here. Take it up, up, up, and back. Here we go, right here. It's up and back. Take it up and back, back to home right here. Just march. Yes, team! Again, I have longer workouts just like this. All of them have options. A lot of them— a lot of my cardio workouts all have low impact options but walking cardio is always low impact. And sometimes I'll give you an option to take it up or down, but you do you. We can still get high intensity, we can still work our hearts, work our lungs without having to get super high impact, right? As in jumping or running or even going fast. You don't have to go fast. And of course, don't forget to check out all the strength training as well because that we all need. Let's cool it down right here. Little tap, tap. So quick little cool down just to shake it out. Take it in front, open up the chest right here. Open wide, stretch. Right here, take it up, tap, cross behind, tap, tap. Nice and slow and controlled. 4, 3, 2, big stretch over right here, reach. If If you need to grab onto something for balance, that's okay too. Back up, other side, reach over. Good. Take it right here, hands on top of the legs. If you need to grab onto something, you're just rolling through your back right here and feel that stretch to the back of the legs. It can be super small, whatever you need to do for you. Slowly bring it up. Thank you for being here with me today. Don't forget to check out my full beginner programs, all of my other walking workouts. Like, subscribe, all of the things, and I'll see you for your next workout. Let's get one big deep breath in, in and out. You did it! That was your low impact walking workout. Great job, everybody!