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Easy workouts might be more appealing than HIIT workouts, but real talk alert: I often struggle to motivate myself to workout full-stop. Even though I’m well aware of the myriad reasons I should exercise – the physical benefits, the mood-boosting mental perks, the good example it sets my daughter etc – sometimes the call of the sofa is just too strong.

However, here at WH HQ, fitness challenges are something of a tradition, and it wasn’t long until fitness editor Bridie was knocking on my door. For inspiration, I began by looking long and hard at those killer workouts online. You know, the ones which bill themselves as ‘the toughest workout on the planet’, most often accompanied by an image of a shouty PT pointing at you and promising to torch about a million calories an hour. Just the thought of those sessions sounded stressful TBH.

So, I decided to take the opposite route. What if I only did "easy" workouts for two weeks? We’re talking the kind of exercise that anyone could manage even on those most CBA of days.

Before you write me off as horrifically lazy, here’s the deal. 15 months ago, I gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl but unfortunately, my bladder also tried to follow her out. It took a year for me to get my bladder prolapse properly diagnosed, and since the birth pretty much all exercise has been off the cards. The only things I can manage? Walking, yoga and Pilates – basically the lowest of low impact activities – and even those need to be pretty gentle for this leaky vessel. So in a bid to finally start training again, I wanted to dip my toe in with some easier, pelvic floor-friendly workouts. Thankfully, Rosie Stockley, Women’s Health Collective panellist and founder of Mamawell, came to the rescue.

Rosie's Mamawell programme is devised for pregnant and postpartum women, so it's a great example of low impact exercise that's designed to strengthen and heal rather than stress the body, including some fairly "easy" workout routines for me to follow.

Each workout she prescribed me is roughly 40 minutes and broken down into four sections: a warm-up, cardio, strength and toning, and a cool down, and I aimed to do two or three workouts per week. So far, so easy, right?

Let’s get one thing straight: ‘easy’ is a relative term and what one person will find easy another will find challenging. But, for the purpose of this challenge and to make it as inclusive as possible, the workouts Rosie put together are low impact and body-weight only - all you'll need is an exercise mat and a resistance band.

Do they seem ‘easy’ in comparison to a hard-core HIIT or weights session? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean they won’t still raise your heart rate and help build strength.

What’s more, there are plenty of ways you can progress with them to make the moves that tiny bit harder if you want to push yourself a bit more. (Full disclosure: I didn’t). These include adding weights to the moves, increasing time under tension (for example, you might hold down in a squat position for longer, before coming back up to standing), or increasing the number of reps or sets you do.

'Low impact means that the body isn't impacting the equipment or floor heavily, for example low impact cardio won't have running and jumping in it,' says Rosie. 'However, low impact doesn't necessarily mean low intensity, a workout can be low impact but still get the heart rate really high and the muscles burning.'

'I think a lot of people think low impact workouts are easy - they don't have to be at all! You can do fast hard cardio that might have a low impact on the leg and pelvis, but still feel an amazing burn. So it's great for strengthening your body, working on key techniques and staying cardiovascularly fit.'

The good news? Pretty much everyone. While Rosie’s workouts are designed with pregnant and postnatal women in mind, they're great for anyone who wants to increase energy and build strength without stressing their body.

So, they’d be great for anyone starting their wellness journey or returning to exercise. And, provided you’ve had sign off from your doctor (also a must for any postnatal women), they’d also be ideal for anyone looking to start working out again post-surgery.

'Low impact may suit women at certain stages of their menstrual cycle too, when they are feeling like they don't want to be leaping around,' adds Rosie,

Of course, "easy" workouts such as these low intensity workouts are also a useful tool to have in your arsenal anyway - even if you are a regular exerciser. For anyone whose training plan includes active recovery days, these would be a good option.

Or, if like me, you simply can’t bring yourself to do a killer session, these are a useful tool to help persuade you off the sofa and into your gym kit. Repeat after me: 'Just an easy workout today, you can do it…'

If we take the low impact element of the easy workouts I'll be tackling for this article, the real selling point is that it's not going to stress your body out like it's more high octane counterparts. 'High intensity workouts are great for building fitness and endurance, but they can produce a lot of cortisol,' explains Rosie.

'This is great for 'burning' as it puts us in fight or flight mode, but it's not necessarily healthy every day, particularly if we have other stresses in our life. Mixing it up with low impact workouts or something more remedial and slow can be so helpful to keep us balanced.'

It’s easy to assume that you won’t really see any results unless you push yourself with either a super sweaty or heavy weightlifting session. But these workouts made me realise that I needed to reframe what I meant when I think ‘results’.

'Low impact does not necessarily mean low intensity,' explains Rosie. 'A workout can be low impact but still get the heart rate really high and the muscles burning.'

I certainly felt this after every workout - I was sweating and, after particularly hard sessions (I know I said they're easy, but I mean the hardest of these easy sessions), my muscles were genuinely shaking. After my two-week challenge was up, I can safely say I felt both fitter and stronger. In fact, where strength is concerned, I'd go as far as to say that I felt stronger than I have in the past after doing more intense workouts, which is probably down to the fact that the slow nature of these easy workouts meant I could really focus on my mind-muscle connection, rather than losing form as I picked up pace.

After years of gruelling HIIT sessions, I’ve conditioned myself into believing that unless your workout makes you feel like you’re about to pass out, you’re not really exercising. Which, of course, is ridiculous. But after years of pushing my body to achieve its peak performance for various fitness challenges, it’s an easy mindset to slip into.

So it came as a refreshing surprise to see so many of the benefits without having to beast myself. After every single one of my ‘easy’ workouts, I felt energised, my mood improved and I still got that satisfied feeling you get from knowing I done something good for – all that without breaking a sweat. On the other hand, after the HIIT workouts I used to do, I'd often finish and feel a little wired, before completely crashing with exhaustion - as Rosie mentions, this is likely down to the spike in cortisol (the stress hormone) that these workouts can cause.

It’s an obvious one, but this challenge really drove home that I’m much more likely to stick to a routine when it doesn’t feel like punishment and it's just "easy" workouts on the horizon. Motivating myself to do a HIIT session packed with burpees, high knees and mountain climbers is always going to be hard because sometimes you’re just not in the mood for what my mum calls ‘all that jumping around’.

As mentioned, I had originally committed to doing these workouts two or three times a week, but without the dread hanging over me, I ended up slipping on my gym kit more often and notching up four sessions each week in total. Proof, I found, that by taking it slightly easier I actually achieved more hours of exercise in total than if I’d carried on with my regular HIIT.

Maybe I’m just a cocky chicken, but I’ve always rated my strength and stamina as being pretty decent. So it was slightly humbling to realise that I was finding these supposedly ‘easy’ workouts quite challenging at times.

For example, my third round of deadbugs definitely had me feeling the burn, and the walkouts took me by surprise when their speed left me breathless.

It was a shock for sure to find these sessions weren’t always easy, but it also helped me feel like I’d achieved something more from my session than if I’d simply opted to do my usual vinyasa yoga practise. I’m counting that as a win.

Truthfully? It’ll depend on your goals. If you’re in the market to torch fat, then these kinds of workouts probably won't going to help you get there as efficiently as HIIT workouts or more intense strength training would. But, if you’re looking for some form of exercise that will help you build strength and boost energy without stressing your body, these workouts are a great place to start.