We all know exercise can benefit anyone, but what type of exercise should you do? Everyone has different goals with exercise: some want to lose weight, some aim to improve athletic performance, and others simply enjoy the process of growth and development. While goals may vary, cross-training is crucial to help achieve the results you want and reduce your risk of injury.
If your goal is to boost athletic performance, then chances are you spend much of your time practicing a sport or sport-specific skill. If you want to lose weight, you may be focusing mainly on burning more calories. Regardless of your goal, concentrating solely on one skill, muscle group, movement pattern, or energy system can lead to fatigue, overuse, or a plateau. To prevent these negative effects, incorporating cross-training into your routine is essential.
Put simply, cross-training should add a form of training or movement to your routine that complements your existing exercise modality by incorporating new and different patterns and intensities. If you do a lot of exercise at high intensities and short durations, try complementing that with lower intensities and longer durations. If your preferred mode of exercise involves movements in the sagittal plane (front to back), make sure you incorporate frontal-plane (side-to-side) and transverse-plane (rotational) movements in your cross-training. These different movements and intensities should limit the likelihood of overuse injuries associated with repetitive use and help overcome potential plateaus due to adaptation.