CROSS TRAINING FOR A LIFETIME OF FITNESS

By Cara Zaller

Cross Training is the key to Injury Prevention, Motivation, and Results. Too often we see participants getting injured, aerobics attendees dropping out of class or people just stop working out altogether because they’re not seeing the results they want.

INJURY PREVENTION

Injury Prevention through Cross Training can easily been exemplified by a typical runner. In order for a runner to prevent injuries, he/she must include strength exercises, non-impact cardiovascular training, as well as lateral and flexibility training in his/her fitness program.
Strengthening the quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles will protect the knees and ankles from a great deal of stress, which is endured while running. Biking and swimming are examples of non-impact cardiovascular exercises, which give the body a chance to recover from the impact of running. Lateral training such as slide and box aerobics are ways to balance running which is just a forward motion, with exercises that move side to side giving a runner better overall balance.
Flexibility training allows a runner to maintain full range of motion throughout the body, which in turn prevents injury.
As you get older your muscles tend to shorten. By stretching your muscles you can prevent this occurrence and allow your muscles to retain their full range of motion.

MOTIVATION

Motivation is needed each time you begin an exercise. What is your motivation to do a particular activity, and why do you suddenly stop participating in a particular activity? Let’s use a cycle training student as an example. Why would a student after coming to cycle class each day decide not to take class any longer? Boredom is usually the number one reason. When cycle training first came out, everyone wanted to try it and became addicted to it. Every day, sometimes twice in one day, students would rush to take a cycle class. We are seeing now a significant drop in cycle class attendance. Students are tired of the same routine that the cycle class offers.
How do you prevent becoming bored, and stay motivated to attend new classes and new programs? Cross-Train!
Cycle Training is a very intense workout. This type of workout should only be done once or twice a week. The same applies for Step Classes, Box Aerobics, Yoga, Sculpting, Etc. To stay motivated you need variety. Create a schedule which incorporates one of each type of class per week and you’ll never get bored. You will look forward to each class each time you go.

RESULTS

Positive changes in your body, achieving goals and seeing those results are what you are trying to achieve. Doing the same type of exercise repeatedly, such as 30 minutes on the stair master at the same level every day, defeats your purpose.

This repetition makes your body very efficient at completing that one exercise. This means your body can do the same exercise and expend fewer and fewer calories each time you perform that exercise. These efficiencies are what cause diminishing returns. The result is you do not reach your fitness goals. What if you did a different type of exercise each day or each week? Your body would never be given the opportunity to become accustom to any one exercise. Once again, Cross Training is the solution.

Cross Training challenges your body in different ways each day and allows you to achieve your fitness goals and provide you with overall balance. More muscles have the opportunity to be trained with different exercises, which prepares the body for almost any activity. Do you remember what it was like when you first tried a new exercise? You got that feeling like you just found new muscles. By varying your workouts, you can find and use new muscles almost every time which leads to amazing results in your body.

Cross Training allows you to stay motivated by allowing you to feel like you’re doing something new and exciting each time you workout. Would you miss your workouts if you began to see results and even had fun while doing it? Not a chance! Right? Make your workout fun by adding variety. Cross-Train! You’ll stay motivated, you’ll prevent the likelihood of injuries and most importantly, you’ll see positive changes in your body! You will be able to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle for a lifetime!!