While doctors often recommend moderate to high-intensity exercise, that type of strenuous activity isn’t recommended for everyone. Either a sedentary lifestyle, medical conditions, or age might increase the health risks associated with high-intensity workouts. As you begin a more active lifestyle, starting with low-intensity cardio workouts can help you build up strength and endurance, so your body can tolerate more advanced workouts in the future.

Burn Calories

The number of calories you burn will vary, depending on your weight and the time you spend engaged in the activity. However, even a short daily workout of just 30 minutes can help you maintain your weight or drop weight by burning the calories you consume throughout the day. For a person weighing 180 pounds, walking 2.5 miles in an hour can burn up to 257 calories. If you weigh more, you’ll burn more calories by walking at that same pace.

Build Muscular Endurance

You might know that short high-intensity workouts are best for building muscular endurance, but that’s not to say that a more extended low-intensity cardio workout won’t produce similar results. This is because a longer low intensity cardio workout involves more repetitions, which make up for the faster pace of the high-intensity workout. While the low-intensity workout won’t build as much muscle mass, it will strengthen your muscular endurance, allowing you to take more steps or to go through more cycles.

Better Appetite Control

High-intensity workouts can actually increase hunger because they involve lifting heavier weights and engaging in more strenuous activities. A low-intensity cardio plan, on the other hand, gives you the exercise you need without wearing you out or increasing your hunger. The hormone activity caused by a longer low-intensity workout will dull your hunger pangs by decreasing the particular hormones that cause hunger. In this way, a longer low-intensity workout may be more beneficial than a shorter high-intensity regimen.

A low-intensity cardio workout can help you get in shape by providing the previously mentioned health benefits. Additionally, it’s a great introduction to exercise for anyone ready to ditch their sedentary lifestyles. Following a low-intensity cardio plan, which may include walking, bicycling, or elliptical workouts, can help you get the daily exercise you need to stay fit.