30 Days To “The Best Me Ever” - Day 18 - Mix It Up With Cross-Training
Submitted by Fit and Female Blog
Bored with the same old workout? Taking the same class day after day? Doing that same 30 min 3.6 mph walk on the the treadmill? It’s not just boring — it’s also responsible for causing a fitness plateau.
One way to avoid getting stale and to keep on making improvements is to mix-up your workout choices with cross-training.
The dictionary defines “cross-training” as training”in different sports, mainly by alternating regimens”. The benefits of cross training, include:
Prevents staleness and exercise boredom
Provide plenty of options depending on each day’s circumstances (can’t get to the gym, bad weather, feeling a little tired…etc.)
Produces a higher level of all around conditioning
Conditions the entire body, not just specific muscle groups
Reduces the risk of injury
Allows some muscles to work more while others can rest and recover
Allows for training, even when one area is injured
Improves skill, agility and balance
I can’t tell you how many people have told me with pride that either they (or someone that they admire) runs “5 miles a day”. As if that was a good thing. That’s a little bit like saying…”I each spinach everyday”. Spinach is good for you…but if that was all you ate you would have a very unhealthy diet, deficient in other essential nutrients. Fitness works the same way.
In that example, certainly, that kind of mileage could be fine if you are training for a specific long distance running event, for a finite amount of time. But, if that is all that you are doing for exercise day after day, year after year — you are going to have some issues.
In fact, can pretty much guarantee that if you show me a person who runs 5 miles a day (and does nothing else), I’ll show you someone with:
a lot of muscular imbalances
a lot of nagging injuries, aches and pains
a person who is very weak in certain area
a person who is very inflexible in certain areas
The truth is the body does not “like” to do the same thing, day after day. Doing one kind of activity over and over puts the same stress on the same areas of the body without allowing enough time for recovery and repair.
This means that other areas of the body (or other energy systems) are NOT getting worked out, while areas are getting far too much exercise and are put at increased risk for injury.
The body responds best to varied activities, the more different the better. In designing a fitness program, always try to choose activities with movements that look very different from one another, activities with different levels of impact, activities that move at different speeds, some activities which tone muscles, some which stretch and lengthen muscles and some which make you good and sweaty.
Here are some examples of workout combinations which compliment and balance each other well:
Running or walking and yoga
Swimming and kettlebell training
Boxing and cycling
Elliptical machines and rockwall climbing
Roller-blading and boot camp training
Ballroom dance and free weight training
Cross country skiing and gymnastic “rings” training
The fact is “exercise boredom” is one of the most common reasons that people stop exercising. Unusual fitness combinations keep exercising fresh and interesting, by preventing the drudgery that can come from doing the same things endlessly. Pick a couple of activities that strike your fancy, mix and match ‘em — and get to it!
Now if you’ll excuse me…I’m gonna go run on the treadmill while watching Season 4 of Nip/Tuck (a guilty pleasure!) — and then practice some combinations on the heavy bag.
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