Cross training provides many health benefits. It can increase the likelihood you stick with your exercise program, reduce the risk of injury and provide diverse health benefits. It’s also a lot more fun!
The Benefits:
- One of the biggest reasons that people stop working out is because exercising is no longer interesting to them. It happens often, but is easily fixed. The great thing about cross training is that it is versatile and so you can get creative with it. You can take exercise classes, do high intensity interval training, and even learn how to box. If you start to get bored, just give another type of exercise or sport a try.
- Cross training also reduces injury. Doing the same activity wears down the body because the same parts are being used over and over again for the same exact exercise. Cross training helps reduce the risk of injury because the same muscles, joints, and bones are not being used continuously.
- Finally, cross training gives allows you to develop diverse health components. You can run to improve your cardiovascular system, do yoga to improve your flexibility, lift weights to improve your strength, and/or stand up paddle board to improve your balance. Try to choose activities that provide different benefits. If you live near a beach, a stand-up paddle board could be a great method to stay fit, improve balance and flexibility. However, you may have to look into other necessities such as basic tools like an electric pump, especially if you are using an inflatable paddle board (which you can get through websites similar to pumpupboats.com/inflatable-sup-pumps).
Taking up any form of physical activities, be it swimming, dancing, yoga, or HIIT workout, everything can put a positive impact on your health and fitness.
Conclusion:
If you’re a competitive athlete, then most of your time should be spend training in your sport of choice. One review of cross training found that it can benefit athletic performance, but not more than spending more time training in the specific sport. For everyone else, cross training will improve your overall health. Variety really is the spice of life!
Citation:
http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/healthy_living_fit_facts_content.aspx?itemid=2547
http://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/american-council-on-exercise/4-ways-to-vary-your-workout/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/health/16best.html
