HEALTH The benefits of cross training

The benefits of cross-training


Personal trainer
Paul O'Brien

A friend of mine once owned a pet hamster. In its cage, the hamster had one of those wheels. It had hours of fun jumping up on the wheel and going nowhere. Then my friend noticed that the hamster hadn’t used the wheel for a couple of days. Was he ill, tired or just fed up? My friend decided to introduce another stimulus into the environment, a small barrel with tiny bells inside. Sure enough, the hamster took to it straight away. After a few days he was back on his wheel as well, spoilt for choice.
As an athlete training for an event, there is something you can learn from my friend’s hamster.
Giving yourself a break from your normal training routine by introducing something new will help alleviate mental boredom. Constant repetition of a routine can become very tedious. To shake things up a bit, include cross training in your schedule – simply pick a different mode of exercise and perform that instead of one of your usual training sessions. If your chosen sport is mainly cardio in nature, your cross-training session should still offer a good cardiovascular workout. Go for a swim instead of a cycle for example, or a cycle instead of a run.
Another reason to introduce cross training is to help avoid injury. Let’s say you are training for your first half-marathon. You’ll be on the road a lot during training, placing stress on your muscles that your body is unaccustomed to. As soon as you feel a niggle, take an extra rest day and ease back into training with a cross-training session – for example, a cycle. You will seriously decrease your chances of injury by taking this advice. Cross-training can also be used when you are recovering from any injury.
It’s also useful for maintaining your base level of fitness. If a lot of your training is done outdoors, an indoor cross-training session can be performed in very inclement weather.
Finally, cross training, when properly used in your training schedule, can lead to more rounded fitness.
Start by introducing a cross-training session into your training once every two weeks. If you are training six days a week, once a week could be a good starting point. Your regular sessions will still form the bulk of your training, but the benefits you’ll gain from your cross training will make your sessions all the more worthwhile.

Next week Peaking for your event

Paul O’Brien is a certified personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise and a qualified life coach. He runs his own business in Westport and is the creator of Bootcamp West, an exciting and challenging exercise programme in Westport. For details of upcoming classes, visit www.bootcampwest.com or e-mail paul@bootcampwest.com or telephone 086 1674515.