Cross-training Cross-training exercises you switch it up. Bend at the Cross-training exercises, lowering your exerxises until Cross-trainkng chest almost touches the mat. So, in this cross-training for runners guide, I talk with experts about:. Learn something new. HOW DO I BEGIN? But skill development through cross-training goes deeper than that.

Cross-training exercises -

What Is Cross-Training? How Does Cross Training Differ from Strength Training Arrow. Why Is Cross-Training Important?

Tips for Effective Cross-Training Arrow. Best Cross-Training Exercises for Athletes Arrow. You may have heard the saying that to become a better runner, you have to, well, run. For example, a sprinter needs strong glutes to help power every stride and quicken their pace, so strength training that targets the posterior chain can help.

A cyclist may find that all that riding makes for tight hip flexors and a rounded upper back—yoga and Pilates can help with that! The advantages are endless, you just need to identify your potential deficits to target the cross-training workout that best suits your needs.

Think of cross-training as a way to improve overall performance, whereas strength training is used as a means to garner specific benefits. Strength training, whether with dumbbells, resistance bands, or bodyweight exercises helps to build muscle strength, mass, or endurance, explains Cagley.

Strength training can, and often is, particularly for cardio enthusiasts, a recommended type of cross-training, but not all cross-training includes strength work.

Cross training can also include aerobic training for cardiovascular fitness or yoga for mobility for example, says Cagley. Cross-training can take the guesswork out.

One of the best things about cross-training is that anyone can benefit from it—from swimmers to powerlifters and everyone in between. For example, running and cycling often recruit your quadriceps the large muscle group in the front of your thigh , therefore routinely strengthening the anterior or front of your lower-body.

But that leaves your posterior chain, notably your hamstrings , weakened. Cross-training helps even out this muscle imbalance to not just improve strength overall but also help prevent injuries from overcompensation of tight, overworked muscles.

Cross-training also means you can add some spontaneity, diversity, and fun into your training—a huge bonus for those who are starting to get bored or hit the dreaded plateau with their results.

Joyful activities such as hiking, surfing, or playing basketball that feel more like an adventure than a prescriptive workout also count as cross-training, adds Cagley. Creating this balanced workout will help prevent excess repetitive stress on certain areas of the body.

Here are some weightlifting exercises you can do to support your endurance endeavors. These movements will increase total-body strength, core stability, and power. A classic strength training exercise, the deadlift works all of your major muscle groups with a focus on the posterior chain, AKA the back side of your body.

Squats of any variation—back, front, goblet, overhead, dumbbell—light up the entire lower body, as well as the core and much of the posterior chain. The overhead press looks simple, but is actually a very complex movement that primarily trains the upper body but also requires a boatload of core stability and bracing in the lower body.

Unilateral exercises like the single-leg deadlift, which you can do with dumbbells or kettlebells , force you to engage your core and work hard to maintain a neutral spine position. This skill translates to better posture during endurance training and better core control.

Air squats are a simple, no-equipment exercise you can do anywhere to support endurance training. Want real leg burn without any weight?

Try single-leg squats. Split squats, Bulgarian split squats, and TRX-supported pistols are some examples. Perhaps the ultimate core-building exercise, planks teach you to brace your core to protect your spine and build up stamina in the core musculature.

This classic but tough exercise is arguably the most effective way to build upper-body pulling strength. Pull-ups are especially helpful for swimmers, rowers, and skiers, but also have a place in the cross-training routines of other endurance sports.

See the best pull-up bars. RELATED: Best Back Exercises. This is where things can get a little tricky for endurance athletes. Because endurance athletes already perform so much aerobic activity, most personal trainers will not prescribe more cardio exercise.

There are different types of cardiovascular exercise that endurance athletes can still perform outside of their sport.

For example, distance swimmers can benefit from elliptical training , stair-steppers, and even running. But a skier or runner would benefit more from rowing or cycling. Cross-training is broadly defined as any physical activity that is different from your primary sport.

So, for a runner, cross-training is anything but running. For a triathlete, cross-training is anything other than running, cycling , and swimming. For a cross-country skier, cross-training is anything but that.

And so forth. So, cross-training for a runner will include exercises that are not running, but help them get better at running. Broadly, that would encompass strengthening exercises for the leg muscles specifically calves, hamstrings, and glutes , as well as unilateral single-side and core exercises that act as an antidote to the repetitive movement of running.

The benefits of cross-training are many. First and foremost, cross-training helps mitigate your injury risk. Another study in high school cross-country athletes reports that low-impact aerobic exercises in conjunction with running can both prevent injury and improve performance.

It does seem counterintuitive that spending less time and energy on your sport can result in better performance in that sport. But alas, a study on the relationship between cycling and running reports that distance cyclists can see improvements in bone density, muscular strength and endurance, and exercise tolerance by cross-training with running.

Of course, proper periodization and careful application of overload are still important to prevent injury. Additionally, a meta-analysis of highly trained runners found that a strength training program consisting of two to three sessions per week can improve running economy , which is defined as the relationship between oxygen consumption and running speed see our guide to VO2 max , in distance runners.

Cross-training gives you a physical and mental break from your usual sport. Too much of anything can be a bad thing, no matter how much you love your sport.

Indications of overtraining syndrome include persistent weakness and fatigue; decreased performance despite more training; unintentional weight loss; and decline in motivation to perform your sport.

Anyone whose workout routine consists primarily of high-volume cardio workouts will benefit from cross-training exercises. If you do any of the following, consider adding cross-training activities into your training schedule:.

Of course, any type of athlete can benefit from cross-training, but endurance athletes in particular will benefit from the strength exercises above. The frequency of cross-training depends on many factors unique to your specific sport and training plan.

For example, runners typically run in a linear movement. It is also important to ensure you train laterally seeing as you are consistently only training linearly.

While we know your muscles are conditioned to complete whatever activity you have been doing, working a different plane of motion can help decrease your risk of injury as well. You can also become injured by not providing your body with adequate recovery between workouts.

As mentioned earlier, human beings are creatures of habit; we like our routines. One should always factor in a rest day in order to keep our bodies well-oiled and running smoothly.

So long as you can approximate your intensity during your normal mode of choice, you should be able to maintain your conditioning through other activities that are similar in intensity, duration, and structure. Some examples of Cross Training include: cycling, running, walking, aerobic dancing, rowing, stair climbing, elliptical, skiing, swimming, basketball, recreational sports, hiking, etc.

Quinn, We also encourage you to consider Cross Training that consists of lower-impact exercises such as an elliptical or bike, especially if your body is not yet used to the repetitive impact of running Matthews, The great news is that you can still increase your cardiorespiratory fitness even if you are not doing the exact mode of exercise that you will be doing in competition.

Try different things!! There are multiple modes of exercise to help reach your ultimate goal. If you find that you may need a little assistance in programming, remember we have a stellar Personal Training crew that can help get you there. One last thing to consider is a well-rounded program.

Lifting weights can be very beneficial to aerobically trained individuals and vice-versa. I would dive a bit deeper into that last sentence, but this sounds like a great topic for a future blog post. Stay tuned! Fitzgerald, M. Eight Benefits Of Cross-Training.

Body cleanse tea in the type of exercisew you love the Cross-traning is great, Body cleanse tea versatility in your exercise habits breeds even better results. What Is Cross-Training? How Does Cross Training Differ from Strength Training Arrow. Why Is Cross-Training Important? Tips for Effective Cross-Training Arrow.

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Continue alternating, Cross-raining 10 reps on each side. Cross-training exercises in a standing position with your feet hip-width apart and Cross-ttraining core engaged.

Make Cross-training exercises to stand tall and straight, and exxercises lower your heels back to the floor with control. Repeat 10 exwrcises. Stand with your Therapeutic alternative as wide exerciss your hips.

Put your weight into your left leg and come up on to your right toe, using it as a kickstand for balance. Begin to hinge at your waist, keeping your left knee soft.

Place your hands on your hips or at the center of your chest for balance. Continue to hinge forward as you slowly lift your right leg up and back until your body forms a straight line from head to toe. Ensure that your hips stay square to the ground.

Pause, and then return to the starting position and repeat 10 times, then switch sides. Start standing with your feet as wide as your hips. Hinge forward at your waist and pull your abs in. Let the weights dangle down by your sides and pull the abs in.

Then, hug your elbows in toward your sides and pull the weights up toward your chest. Tighten your upper back and the area in between your shoulder blades.

Then, lower the arms down keeping the elbows hugging in toward your sides. Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor and your arms down at your sides. Tilt your pelvis under and forward, engaging the core, and push down through your heels to lift your hips up toward the ceilingengaging your glutes.

Slowly lower down and repeat 10 times. Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground as wide as your hips. With your hands behind your head and your elbows bent out to the sides, use your abs to lift your left shoulder blade off the ground.

At the same time, bring your right knee to meet your left elbow. When your right knee is bent, straighten your left leg and reach it out in front of you at a degree angle. Come through center and perform on the opposite side, bringing your left knee to your right elbow and straightening the right leg.

Continue alternating legs and squeeze your core. Repeat 10 times to each side. Stand with your feet as wide as your shoulders, toes pointing forward. Press down through your heels to return to standing. Start by getting down on all fours with your palms on the mat a little wider than shoulder-width apart.

Make sure your arms are straight. Scoot your knees back a few inches and shift forward to make sure your shoulders are over your wrists, but your knees are behind your hips. Bend at the elbows, lowering your body until your chest almost touches the mat, then press down into the ground to straighten your elbows and push your body back up.

Return to the starting position and repeat 10 times. Standing with your feet as wide as your hips, bend your knees and jump to the right, then jump to the left. Move your legs together or, for a modification, simply step to the right with your right foot and have your left foot follow, and alternate to the left side with the left foot leading.

Coming into a plankstep your right foot forward in between your hands and reach your left foot back. Keep your left hand on the mat and twist to the right with your right arm reaching out to the right and then up toward the sky.

Pull your abs in, and then bring the right arm down to the outside of your right foot. Switch legs, stepping the left foot forward and the right foot back. Keep your right hand on the mat as you twist to the left, reaching your left arm out and up. Repeat this 5 times to each side.

Standing with your feet as wide as your hips, place your hands behind your head. Then step your right foot out to the right and perform a side lunge by sitting back into the right glute.

Reach the right glute backward as you keep the left leg straight. Press down through your right heel as you come back to center with your knee up, and twist your torso to the right. Reach your left elbow toward your right knee. Repeat 10 times and then switch sides. Start standing with your feet hips-width apart.

Then, step your left foot back and lower down into a lunge. Press down through the right heel to straighten the right leg as you lift the left leg forward and up toward your chest.

Balance for a few seconds then slowly step the left foot back into the backward lunge. Repeat 10 times before switching sides.

Place your hands on your hips or hold a weight at the center of your chest for a challenge. Stand with your feet as wide as your hips and hold a dumbbell in each hand. Reach your arms toward the floor as you hinge forward at the hips, leaning your torso forward on a diagonal.

Then fly your arms out to the sides as high as the shoulders. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and then release down to the starting position.

Stand on your tip toes with your feet shoulder-width apart. Press down through your toes to return to standing. Lift your legs up, with knees bent in a tabletop position for a more challenging move, straighten your legs toward the sky engaging the core.

Using your abs to control the movement, slowly lower your legs to the right hovering a few inches off of the floor. When your feet get close to the floor, reverse the movement of your legs, moving them back through center and down to the left side of your body.

One movement of the legs from the right to the left completes one rep. Repeat the move 10 times. Reach your legs straight behind you, tucking the toes under to come into a plank position.

Bend at the elbows, lowering your body until your chest almost touches the mat. Then press down through the palms to straighten your elbows and push your body back up. Start standing tall with your feet hips-width apart. Then, as you step or hop to the right, step the left foot behind and to the right of the right foot, tapping it lightly on the floor.

Begin to swoosh your arms like an ice skater to build momentum and help with balance. Then step to the left and bring the right foot behind you to tap the floor as you swoosh your arms.

: Cross-training exercises

10 Cross Training Exercises for Endurance Athletes: Prevent Injuries and Improve Performance	The frequency of cross-training depends on many factors unique to your specific sport and training plan. Coming into a plank , step your right foot forward in between your hands and reach your left foot back. Doing other activities helps activate and strengthen different muscle groups, helping runners improve their power and efficiency, says Steve Stonehouse, director of education at STRIDE run coaching. Therefore, when returning to their main sport, athletes can feel mentally refreshed, in turn allowing them to train more efficiently. Strengthening all of your major muscle groups via weight training or bodyweight training yields better body control, joint support, and alignment during your high-intensity cardiovascular workouts.
The Do's And Don’t's Of Cross-Training For Runners	The left ventricle is a major part of the heart responsible for pumping oxygenated blood throughout the body 1. Yet, the swimmers demonstrated higher cardiac output, meaning they pumped more blood at a faster rate. An older study compared the left ventricle mechanics of a group of marathon runners endurance athletes with those of bodybuilders power athletes. Similarly, researchers found differences in the way the left ventricle pumped blood 2. These studies suggest that different types of exercise can lead to different sport-specific adaptations to the heart, creating a more well-rounded cardiovascular base for exercise and sport. Furthermore, by varying your movement patterns to mobilize other muscle groups, you may notice more power in your movements when you return to your sport of focus. Research that examined the relationship between opposing muscle groups implies that greater mobility in antagonistic muscles elicits greater power for agonist muscles, or the prime movers 3. For example, if an in-season soccer player wants to keep up aerobic capacity between games, they may choose to complete a rowing workout. This allows the muscles of the legs to recover from high impact movements, though it gets their heart rate up and maintains cardio capacity. Without proper recovery , all of the effort you put into training may go unrealized, and you may be at risk of overuse injuries. Cross-training can be a useful tool to help athletes recover from their main sport while preventing overuse injuries. This concept can be applied to many sports, allowing athletes to train and recover simultaneously. When vigorously training for a single sport, athletes tend to get burned out from time to time. Perhaps rightfully so, as it takes a significant amount of time, focus, and determination to complete daily training sessions and excel in a sport. Cross-training can help keep athletes mentally engaged by providing a new activity and breaking up any monotony they may be experiencing. Therefore, when returning to their main sport, athletes can feel mentally refreshed, in turn allowing them to train more efficiently. Continually training the same muscle groups using one mode of exercise can lead to overuse injuries over time 4. In fact, specific sports are associated with certain common injuries. For example, runners often get shin splints , and baseball players often suffer from rotator cuff tears. Implementing cross-training in your strength and conditioning regimen may offer several benefits, including improved cardio endurance, training unused muscle groups, allowing recovery time, beating boredom, and reducing the risk of injury. For athletes interested in adding cross-training to their training regimen, there are a few important questions to ask:. Less experienced athletes require less variety in their training to progress their fitness. As such, the less experienced you are, the less cross-training you may require. That said, less experienced athletes may get overeager or hooked on a sport quickly, which increases their risk of an overuse injury. In-season athletes often choose different cross-training activities than when they are in the off-season. Consider which area of fitness would best equate to better performance in your sport. This aspect often goes overlooked. When choosing a cross-training activity, there are several factors to consider. While these are some of the more common cross-training activities for runners, dozens of other ones may be appropriate for improving recovery and boosting performance. Some of the most common cross-training activities for runners include cycling, rowing, swimming, weight training, yoga, Pilates, and skiing. The table below provides a general recommendation for the number of cross-training workouts per week based on your level of experience in a given sport. While cross-training is very individualized, here are a few sample cross-training workout examples to get you started. Read more: How cross-training improves your running. Cycling is a great way to give your leg muscles an aerobic workout without the impact that comes with running. Calories burned: per hour at a moderate speed. Not only will a hike mix it up, but it can help improve your cardio fitness and muscle strength. Calories burned: per hour. Swimming engages your core and helps work your upper body, all while giving your joints a rest. Yoga helps your flexibility, gives you a mental break, and allows you to stretch your muscles that might be tight from running. Calories burned: calories per hour. Using the elliptical is a great option for low-impact aerobic activity. Plus, elliptical machines engage both the upper and lower body, something that running does not do. Calories burned: per hour at a moderate pace and resistance. That is why a heart rate monitor, such as a chest strap, or fitness watch such as a Garmin or WHOOP , is an effective way to monitor actual effort. Monitoring your heart rate can ensure you stay in the appropriate zones for your workouts. For example, if you are injured and trying to maintain or gain fitness, monitoring your heart rate can tell you if you are working hard enough. The WHOOP has helped me immensely in scaling my workouts and having peace of mind that I am maintaining a level of fitness. Get a complete guide to heart rate zone training here. For tips on how to stay entertained while cross training, check out my treadmill tips for moms article. For help on how to leverage cross-training for runners, learn more about The Mother Runners coaching services. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Download my FREE FULL MONTH of strength workouts for runners! Looking for a free running plan? Email me at [email protected]. About Get on the List! When done incorrectly, cross-training can hurt runners or be a waste of time. Pin these cross-training tips for runners for later! Here are 5 reasons why cross training is good for runners: Cross training prevents running injuries. Cross training allows you to add volume. Cross training prevents burnout and over-training. Mixing up your activities keeps your body and mind fresh. Cross training strengthens other muscle groups. Cycling is another awesome cross-training exercise for runners because it can improve running economy. Running works the same muscles repeated in a single plane. Cross training can accelerate recovery. Anything that is low intensity and moves the body can be an active recovery exercise. What is cross-training for runners? According to certified running coach and The Mother Runners co-coach Laura Norris , cross-training for runners includes: activities that further strengthen the cardiovascular system and mimics the motion of running.
Cross-training challenge for walkers	How Does Cross Training Differ from Strength Training. Studies show that doing a combination of cardio and strength training is more effective in improving strength, lean body mass and cardiovascular fitness than performing just cardio exercise alone. Sports like cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and even simple hiking doing a great job at this. The table below provides a general recommendation for the number of cross-training workouts per week based on your level of experience in a given sport. Cross-training refers to any form of exercise other than running, such as hiking, walking, cycling, swimming, aqua jogging, rowing, rollerblading, cross-country skiing, lifting weights, yoga, Pilates, dancing, martial arts, boxing, and using elliptical trainers or stair steppers. What are the best cross-training workouts for runners?
An Overview of Cross-Training	By Laura Williams, MSEd, ASCM-CEP Laura Williams is a fitness expert and advocate with certifications from the American Council on Exercise and the American College of Sports Medicine. Start on all fours with your palms and knees on the ground. For single-leg calf raises, your goal should be four to six reps on each leg with perfect form. The Best Hiking Gear, According to a Thru-Hiker. Arrow How Does Cross Training Differ from Strength Training Arrow Why Is Cross-Training Important? Repeat 10 times.

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40 MIN WORKOUT OF THE DAY - CROSSFIT ®, HIIT FOR ALL LEVELS - INTENSE HOME WORKOUT Sporty Cross-traiing working out Essential mineral supplements exercise bike Photo: Getty Images "], Crooss-training Cross-training exercises "nextExceptions": "img, blockquote, Cross-training exercises, "nextContainsExceptions": "img, blockquote, a. btn, a. After all, cross-training not only improves aerobic fitness, but helps to prevent overuse injuries. These non-running workouts are just as vital as your beloved long run or hill repeats. Keep reading to learn what constitutes cross-training, why you should be cross-training, and how runners should cross-train to maximize the benefits.