5 Reasons You Need to Cross-Train

Maybe you've just started out on your fitness journey, or maybe you've been working out for years. 

You've either just started to figure out what works well for your body, or you're still rocking that tried and true routine that has kept your body fit for some time now. You've gotten into a nice groove with your workouts. 

You get in and you get out quickly, putting in your sweat equity and checking off another task on the old to-do list for the day.

Here's the trouble: You're in a rut. Maybe you don't even know it. Even if you're not mentally tired of the routine you've created, your body is almost certainly physically tired of it. 

You just may have missed the signs: You're not losing weight any more. You're not building muscle mass. You're not improving on your speed or your distance when you work out.

It's time to add some cross-training into your routine. Here's what cross-training can do for you:

Challenge Your Body

When you keep doing the same old exercises day in and day out, your body starts to adapt. Your muscles learn the routine relatively quickly. They stop being challenged by it, and that means that they stop developing.

In order to make your body stronger, more flexible, and better able to endure long periods of hard work, you have to constantly challenge your muscles. Doing different exercises helps to challenge your muscles by subjecting them to different movements or to variations in intensity. 

Works Out New Muscles

It's a no-brainer : Different exercises work out different parts of your body. You can't do bicep curls everyday and then wonder why your hamstrings are weak. Cross-training allows you to work out different muscles so that you can develop your whole body and create muscle balance.

Trying new exercises can help you to work out muscles you didn't even know were there. One reason is that new exercises activate stabilizing muscles, helping you to get a total body workout.

Lowers Risk of Injury

When you strengthen more muscles throughout your body and improve your flexibility through cross-training, you also lower your risk of injury. Your body is used to performing a variety of movements, helping it to adapt to a diverse range of experiences. Cross-training allows your body to become stronger and better capable of handling change -- thereby reducing your risk of injury.

Improves Performance

When your body is stronger and better capable of adapting to new situations, it performs better in a variety of exercises. Cycling improves your endurance for running. Strength training improves your stroke in swimming. Yoga improves your flexibility for cycling. Cross-training has a cyclical nature that helps your body to become stronger, faster, and more efficient no matter the workout you choose.

Breaks Up the Monotony

Let's face it: Working out can be plain out tedious sometimes. It can be hard to face another three miles on the treadmill -- staring ahead at the wall or watching reruns on the TV. Even a heart-pounding zumba class can start to seem old-hat when you know all the steps already. 

Cross-training provides you with a variety of exercises so that you don't become bored with doing the same thing all the time. 

When you aren't excited by exercise, it can make it harder (if not impossible) to get to the gym. Finding ways to make exercise fresh and fun is vital to your long-term fitness success.

Cross-training isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone should incorporate it into their workouts to help keep their body in top shape, reduce the risk of injury, and keep exercise interesting.

What do you do to cross-train? Share your routines in the comments!

Tara Spenser is currently the resident writer for workingcapital.org, where she researches the most affordable business capital available. In her spare time, she enjoys blogging, swimming and being a mom.

 

 

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