The Benefits of Cross Training
"I
go to the gym every day and use the [fill in the blank –
treadmill, bike, stairmaster or whatever] for [30-60 minutes].
I lost weight for the first few months but haven’t been
able to keep losing weight. What am I doing wrong?"
What often
gets lost in our understanding of exercise is why it all works.
Exercise works through an amazing phenomenon called adaptation.
Your body recognizes something it hasn't ever seen before (or
hasn't in a while) and attempts to adapt to it. Your entire
system improves in various ways depending on the type of exercise
(more efficient heart, less body fat, more lean muscles mass,
improved performance, etc) to allow you to adapt to this new
activity.
Unfortunately,
this basic principle is often forgotten. After doing the same
exercise for months, the body just isn't impressed anymore.
The adaptation has occurred and no more occurs.
This is
usually the point of frustration for most. The solution? Vary
your routine in what is known as cross-training, or using multiple
cardiovascular exercises instead of only one. By doing this,
you are forcing your body to adapt to something new all over
again.
Studies
support this as well. People who engaged in cross-training
using a bike, walk/jog and arm crank routine vs. people just
walking/jogging showed a much better ability to utilize oxygen
after 10 weeks compared to people who used only one piece of
equipment. The cross-trainers showed that their cardiovascular
system had to adapt to a much higher degree than those doing
just one activity (1).
The best
way to continue progressing is to keep your system guessing
all the time. Switch every three weeks - walk, ride an
elliptical trainer, hit the stairmaster, join an aerobics class,
then repeat the process all over again. This breaks the
monotony of doing the same thing over and over again.
But more importantly, it forces your body to have to constantly
adapt to something new.
Steve
Daisey M.P.T., CSCS
REFERENCES:
1.
J Sports Med Phys Fitness: Dec 1990; 30(4):382-8
