What is Cross-Training and Why is it Beneficial to My Running Fitness?
The guiding theory behind what is known as ‘cross training’ is simple; your overall fitness benefits from a wide range of movements. In practice, this means doing exercises that target all of your muscles and give your whole body a workout, rather than focusing on one area.
By subjecting the various parts of your body to different stresses, loads and motions you help to avoid muscle imbalances and injuries caused by overuse. And it makes you fit all over.
Runners have strong legs, because that’s what we use most of the time. But the principles of cross-training tell us that we should also work on our arms, our shoulders and all of the various other parts of our body that aren’t used as much while we run. This makes us fitter overall, improves cardiovascular strength and promotes mobility and flexibility.
Five Exercises to Improve Your Running Fitness
1. Pickleball
Pickleball, the blend of ping-pong, badminton, and tennis that seems to be everywhere these days, is popular for a reason. It’s not only super fun and accessible to almost everyone, it’s also a highly valuable low-impact workout.
On those days off from your normal running workouts, try a session on a pickleball court. You’ll find that it’s fantastic exercise for your forearms, biceps and triceps and all that bending over will also stretch your hamstrings and quads.
Playing pickleball demands short, sharp bursts of movement in all directions, and being quick off the mark is essential. This is great for your cardio and helps to build your stamina. And the best part? You’ll be having so much fun you won’t even notice the workout.
2. Rowing
Rowing is a great low-impact exercise that will benefit your running fitness no end. As we all know, running can take a toll on the joints, which can lead to poor performance and eventual injury. Rowing is easier on the joints, while providing a whole-body workout.
As runners, it is easy to overlook upper body strength. This is a mistake, as a strong core makes for a better runner. Rowing not only strengthens the core, it also promotes stability and stamina, two crucial qualities of a great runner.
3. Cycling
Cycling is an excellent activity for those days that you’re not running. It exercises all the major muscle groups in the legs and gives you a great cardio workout. All while giving your joints a break from the impact of running.
Whether you go out for a ride or use a static bike, the action of cycling on a recovery day is great for ‘flushing out’ the legs. It increases blood flow to the hamstrings, glutes, calves and quads and flushes out the lactic acid, thus helping those tired muscles to repair.
4. Swimming
The benefits of swimming for runners are impressive. The idea of cross-training is to improve endurance, speed and recovery, so that you can perform your best at your chosen discipline. Swimming nails all three.
By swimming on your days off from running, you allow your joints to rest and your muscles to recover, while still getting a full body workout.
But maybe most importantly, swimming is fantastic for your lung volume and strength. The ability to process more oxygen is absolutely essential to your performance as a runner, and swimming is a surefire way to condition your body to handle more air.
5. Strength Training
Last but not least, strength training is an excellent way to improve your running fitness, reduce injuries and improve your overall health. Dumbbells, kettlebells, weight machines and any other number of exercises that put your muscles under a load all qualify as strength training.
Your body receives quite a pounding when you’re running regularly. Strength training makes your muscles and connective tissues much better at handling the stress of running, thus reducing the load on your cartilage, joints and bones. The stronger you are overall, the better your body can deal with the demands of running.
Strength training also helps your body to create better neuromuscular connections. The neuromuscular system is the entirety of your nerves and muscles, all working together to make the body move as you want it to, while controlling vital functions like breathing.
Heavy lifting has been proven to strengthen the neuromuscular pathways, thus making your body better at any kind of physical exercise.
Add Variety to Your Exercise Regime for the Best Results
There’s no doubt that diversity in your training regime is the most effective way to boost performance. Repeating the same exercise without working on your overall strength and fitness simply leads to burnout, fatigue, and injury.
Take a holistic view to your running fitness by mixing up your exercise regime, and you’ll soon see the benefits.