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.

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