Because low impact exercise involves no jumping and burns less fat and calories than high-intensity exercise, it may make you wonder can low impact exercise build muscle?
As it turns out, low-impact exercise can help people increase muscular strength and more without putting too much strain on the joints.
How Low-Impact Exercise Helps Build Muscle
Low impact exercise calls many major muscle groups in the body into play, just like high impact exercise; therefore, it also helps build muscle.
In fact, several studies conducted on older adults showed that after participating in low-impact exercise, they had an improvement in lower limb muscle strength and more.
However, low-impact strength training has been shown to target the major muscles more than any other exercise for more effective results.
Low-Impact Exercises That are Effective for Building Muscle
As stated earlier, low-impact strength training is the most effective for building muscle; however, low-impact exercises that utilize balancing postures, such as planks and yoga, help strengthen and tone the muscles throughout your whole body.
In the meantime, yoga pushups are a very effective low-impact exercise to help build muscle in the chest and shoulders, and the Warrior Pose helps strengthen the core, ankles, and hips.
The Cobra is another yoga pose, and it is considered one of the best for strengthening your spine, core, and lower body.
Squats also help activate many muscles in your lower body, including your core, glutes, quads, calves, hamstrings, and even your spine, to help improve your posture.
Some high-intensity, low-impact exercises that also help build muscle include interval training, rowing, swimming, spin, and more.
When to Expect to See Results From Low-Impact Exercise
Though any low-impact exercise can help build mass, selecting exercises that really challenge your muscles is the key to quick results.
There are two main types of muscle fibers involved in building mass, type one and type two. However, type two muscle fibers, which are the ones used during strength training, provide you with more power when exercising, which enables you to see faster muscle growth.
Therefore, if you really want to see an improvement in mass, you need to be strength training at least 2-times per week.
Switching up your routine often will also enable you to build muscle quicker, as will combining a regular strength training regimen with proper nutrition that also includes quality protein.
Adequate sleep is also important when building muscle because it helps with the recovery process, which is needed to experience a transformation.
However, on average, you can expect to see some change in your muscles after about 3 to 4 weeks, with more significant results visible after about 12 weeks.
You should also focus on working your upper body, core, and lower body on separate days instead of working your entire body all at once to allow your muscles to rest and repair in between, which is crucial to getting shredded.
How Often You Should Train to Build Muscle
In general, adults should participate in resistance training at least 2-days per week to help promote muscle building. This could involve hitting the free weights at the gym, using resistance bands, lifting light dumbbells at home, or doing yoga or Pilates strength training.
However, if you are new to strength training, it is important to start slow, and then once your body becomes adapted to the routine, gradually work your way up to higher reps or slightly heavier weights to see improved gains.
Just be sure to rest at least a day in between your sessions to enable your muscles to rebuild and transform.
On the other hand, low-impact cardio can be done every day. In fact, one study showed that doing up to 60 minutes of cardio exercise a day is safe and appropriate, especially if weight loss is your goal, which is also needed to burn fat and reveal the underlying muscle.
However, overall, how often you train to build muscle depends on your fitness level, goals, and general health.
If you are just getting back into exercise after some time or you have a current injury or illness that you are recovering from, be sure to consult your doctor before participating in any fitness routine to ensure it is safe for you.
In the meantime, if you begin to experience painful joints, lingering muscle soreness, poor sleep, or you notice that exercising is becoming more difficult after engaging in it every day, then it could be a clear sign that you are overdoing it, in which case, you should take a rest day in between to avoid hindering your results.
How Long Your Sessions Should Be to Build Muscle
When strength training, just a 30-minute workout is sufficient to build and maintain muscle strength.
However, if powerlifting is your goal, then you may opt for a longer session.
But, in the end, it is the number of reps that you do more than how long you strength train that yields the best results.
The Final Takeaway
So, does low-impact exercise build muscle? It does. In fact, it offers the same benefits as high-impact exercise but without putting stress on the joints.
However, it is important to also incorporate strength training a few times a week for the best gains.
Proper nutrition, which includes a low-calorie, high-protein, whole-grain diet, is also important to help feed your muscles for speedy recovery and maximum shred.
