Not CrossFit, But Cross-Training
Cross-Training Is and Should be the New Way for The Weekend Warrior to Train
This is no secret. Cross-training isn’t something that just dropped out of the sky and no one has heard of it before. All the top athletes in their respective sports have been incorporating at for quite some time. LeBron James has done it by adding in VersaClimber cardio training into his program (more to come on that in another post). Clay Matthews is all about it with mixing in yoga, pilates, boxing and sometimes MMA into his off-season workouts. Hell, even Joakim Noah is doing it by mixing in swim work with the legend, Laird Hamilton.
So, what is cross-training exactly? Defined by the American Council of Exercise (ACE), cross-training is “an exercise regimen that uses several modes of training to develop a specific component of fitness.” In layman terms, it pulls from all different types trainings/fitness disciplines (cardio, weights, yoga, pilates, crossfit, etc.) and compiles it all into one comprehensive program so that the user can benefit from a balanced approach.
Pushing Past Plateauing
The idea of a balanced approach is just one of the many reasons why cross-training is being utilized in fitness. The main reason, well at least my main reason for why I have started incorporating it into my program is that I want to push past my mental and physical plateaus, and challenge myself to grow.
That said, getting through those plateaus is not an easy road. For the physical side, you are taking your body which has been stuck on a single technique and school of thought when it comes to training then turning it upside by adding all these other disciplines of training that it has never experienced before. For the mental side, you need to allow yourself to let go of what you are used to and comfortable with and essentially become a student/novice all over again. For instance, when I started incorporating body weight training of front levers, muscle ups, and handstands into my program I was shell shocked at first. I couldn’t do much and any building block exercise that I did do was a struggle.
However, you need to push past it and just embrace that struggle because any new skill takes time to master. There is never going to be an easy pick up and go method. Yes, some may be able to learn it faster than others but that is because they are willing to invest their time and energy into it.
Benefits of Cross-Training
As you begin to draw exercises from a variety of disciplines and pull them into your own program, you will be able to enjoy the benefits of cross-training. Now, I am not saying that these will come 1,2,3, but they will come over time.
1. Improved Total Fitness/Condition
Through alternating disciplines into your routine, your overall fitness is bound to increase and grow. It won’t just be something as simple as becoming more muscular, but instead it will be a surround sound affect where your stamina, toning, strength, etc. will all greatly benefit over time. One area that has been boosted significantly for me has been my conditioning. By adding in running to and from the gym, rope work, jump roping, and now VersaClimber and SkiErg work, I have seen and felt the difference in and out of the gym.
2. Injury Prevention
By spreading out your overall fitness activity to additional muscles and joints, you allow your body to get adequate rest and not run into overtraining. Yes, you may get sore from utilizing other muscle groups, but in the long run it will be a huge benefit to you as you become a more complete athlete.
3. Weight Loss
Through the combination of different fitness disciplines within one workout you can get your body to start burning fat at a much faster rate especially if you mix in different levels of intensity. Now my disclaimer here is that this is not guaranteed, every person is different so you may need to experiment and play around with what will work for you. For instance, I always have been tweaking and changing up my workouts where I add in weights, sled pushes, jumping rope, ab work, etc. just to get my heart going and burning quicker.
4. Exercise Adherence
This is something that I can attest to 100%. I suffer through what I have self-diagnosed as “Workout ADD,” where I can get bored by sticking on the same 4-week, 8-week, or 12-week program. Recently, I have used one of these programs as a base and then add my own variety of exercises to it so that the boredom never sits in.
5. Experimentation/Learning
Tied directly to exercise adherence, experimentation is my favorite thing of all. When I joined Equinox this past week, I could not believe the amount of new workout toys at my disposal. It was pretty much Christmas and my birthday all wrapped into one. Now, I really get to open it up and see what I can pull into my routine on a given day and learn how it will benefit me.
How To Get Started
This isn’t rocket science, but again it won’t be easy to get started especially for those who are new to working out. The simple advice I can give you is ask questions and be open-minded to new fitness routines. Like everything in life, you need to come into it willing to learn and understand that it’s going to be a process where you need to start slow. For example, you can start your warm up with some jump rope then going into weights then ab work and if you have enough strength or time close it off with 5 minutes on the elliptical. Again, for your first time, I wouldn’t go all out. So, give it a try and let me know how it works out for you.
