You’ve faithfully trained five days a week for two years to successfully complete the New York City Marathon. You feel great and can run 20 miles with relative ease. Then your date asks you to join her at yoga class, during which you find you can’t come close to touching your toes. The next day your calf muscles are painful and you can’t run.
Or, perhaps you love going to the gym to lift free-weights and use the machines. You look and feel great; your muscles are well developed and cut. But when you decide to join in on your niece’s basketball game, you find yourself too out of breath to keep up, and after 10 minutes of play you drag yourself panting to the sidelines to rest. The next day you are too tired to go the gym.
In each of these scenarios, the athletes have become adept at their respective sports; however, are they truly fit and healthy? The marathoner has built his leg strength and aerobic capacity at the cost of becoming stiff and relatively weak in the upper body. The weight trainer is physically quite strong but has a low capacity for aerobic exercise.
The Importance of Cross Training
It is a misconception to deem yourself “fit” and think you are deriving all the benefits of exercise if you routinely focus on a single activity. It is vital to equate the concept of “fitness” with health in terms of injury and disease prevention. To do so, you need to train your entire body so as to become a better, healthier athlete.
To illustrate the importance of varying your fitness program by combining different types of exercise activities—also known as cross training—consider the following:
• Achilles tendonitis and rupture are common sports-related injuries (especially in running) that may be up to five times more likely to occur in men than women. Stretching the back of the leg can reduce the chances of this injury.
• According to the Centers for Disease Control, heart disease is still the leading cause of death in men. As such, it is important to remember that the most important muscle in your body is your heart.
To properly train your heart, you need to engage in activities that involve sustained activity for 20 to 30 minutes, three to four times a week. It doesn’t matter what sport or activity you pick, such as basketball, fast walking, running, a class at the gym, etc. Doing so will increase your capacity for aerobic activity by making your heart a more efficient and powerful pump. This will, in turn, decrease your risk for developing high blood pressure, lower your cholesterol and help you lose weight, which in the end may lower your risk for heart attack and stroke.
Tips for True Fitness
Here are a few recommendations for you to exercise smart:
• Participate in varied activities that include cardio, strength training and stretching.
• Always warm up before stretching or doing a high-impact activity.
• Vary your routine. Play different sports according to the season, or periodically modify your routines at your gym.
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