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With all of the workout classes and trends out there, everyone is doing high intensity workouts! Whether it is HIIT classes, spinning classes, doing sprints, or lifting weights, we are all basically doing some sort of intense classes often.

To be honest, we always felt like we needed a good sweat to feel like we got a good workout in, but in the last 6-7 months, we have been incorporating more lower intensity workouts, and haven’t felt better! We wanted to share some reasons why we think you should add some lower intensity workouts into your routine!

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1. Decreases injury risk and allows you to recover quicker

We have all taken a tough HIIT class or something that is more vigorous. It feels great when you’re finished and all sweaty, but over time, it can be tough on your body. This can also lead to more inflammation in your body and higher cortisol. Especially if you’re doing high intensity workouts several times a week, specifically all in a row, it can increase your risk of injury, among other things!

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You definitely want to make sure you are giving your body days to rest and recover in between, and adding in those lower intensity workouts!

2. Overtraining can actually work against you

When you overtrain, you can actually destroy your adrenals and mess up your hormones! You really need to monitor how much you’re sleeping, if you’re refueling properly, and that you are taking rest days and doing less intense workouts to mix it up!

3. Actually can still burn calories

We all want a good sweat, but even if you are not dripping with sweat, or feel like you were just put through the wringer, you can *actually* still get in a good workout! We sometimes will burn more calories jumping on our rebounder, or during a pilates class, than we would running outside! Crazy, right?! More sweat doesn’t always mean more calories burned.

4. Builds muscular endurance

Sounds odd, but the more you train at a lower intensity, the better it can be for you in the long run! There have been several studies performed on athletes where when they trained at a lower intensity, the better they performed on their race day.

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5. A lot more enjoyable to do repeatedly

If you are like us, doing a workout, specifically if it is tough, it can get kind of old. We have been doing lower intense workouts, like pilates, yoga, and walking, and really look forward to those over going on a long run! Of course, getting in a sweat can feel good sometimes, but you want to do something you truly enjoy doing over and over again.

Some of our favorite lower intensity workouts

Some of our favorite workouts that we have been doing on a continuous basis are reformer pilates, yoga, and p.volve. We love the results our bodies have gotten from pilates, especially and are hooked for life!

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In partnership with Betsey Johnson.