Muscles Neglected By Your Regular Workouts Are Picked Up By Cross Training Workouts

Cross Training Workouts help me to "even-out" my Physical Ability and Strengthen any of my Weak Spots

What is cross training?

Technically, cross training means you'll be doing 2 or more types of exercises in one workout routine or you'll be alternating types of exercises in successive workout routines.

But basically, cross training simply means mixing up your workout routine a bit to get a better overall workout.

You'd resorted to cross training workouts because you want to get plenty of exercises without the risk of over-training , pain, injuries and boredom of doing the same exercise routine day after day.

Let's take my toning exercise routine to discuss here.

The entire routine, by itself, is already a cross training workout per se.....

Hee....Hee...Hee...

Ah! Take a look at the mix-up in my toning routine:

• Toning
• Cardios
• Strength training
• Stretching

Besides the warm up and the cool down which I must do to warm up/cool down my muscles before/after exercise, the 4 exercise components provide some degrees of mixture in my exercise routine!

I'll cardio for about 20-30 minutes, toning and strength training my muscle groups for 15 - 20 minutes and stretching for another 10 minutes or so.

That's about 60 minutes of exercise routine and I'm doing 4 types of exercises!

Of course, if I'm doing this routine day after day, I'll feel bored and may even hit a plateau.

So I practise a little bit of cross training workouts here!

How?

Be a bit creative.

Let's say if you exercise 4 times per week -

• For the toning and strength training routines, you can choose to do different muscle groups on alternate days. You can even choose to tone and strength train one single muscle group or a few muscle groups at one time
• For cardios, if you're into walking , alternate it with running or jumping on a trampoline or exercise in water or cycling or......

  Hey, the choice is endless. What you need to decide is to alternate the cardios based on exercises that you like and enjoy to do

• For stretching, you can choose to do whole body stretching or specific stretching on the muscles you've just toned and exercised
• And then, add some sparks and varieties by increasing or decreasing your exercise intensity, varying your exercise duration or even change the exercise venue - if you usually do it in your home gym , create the excitement! Exercise outside in the open!

How does that sound to you?

Look! Isn't this a very simple, basic cross training workout at work.....?

Ahem..........at its best......?

• You avoid staleness and find yourself using new muscle groups and employing new movements
• You reduce the risk of injury by toning and exercising all muscle groups, not just a few areas of your body.

  Of course, if you're toning specific troubled areas, then concentrating on these areas is priority. But after fixing the problem, it's best to train and exercise all your muscle groups

• You improve your leanness as cross-training helps you to burn more calories per week, and any fat you lose can make a difference in your performance
• You tone and condition your muscles, joints and tendons that are neglected by your regular workouts, thus helping you to "even-out" your physical ability and strengthen any weak spots you may have
• You take BOREDOM out of your exercise routine by creating sparks and excitement

Swell, huh?

Back to top

Perfect Body Blog | About Me/Contact Me | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer




Cross Training Workouts - back to exercise injuries
Cross Training Workouts - back to home page