Ever looked at your worn out trainers sitting in the corner and hated the thought of putting them on and going for a run. Ever wished you’d drown rather than look at that incessant black line on the bottom of the pool for one more second. Sounds like your suffering from a serious case of repetitive training.
Continuous training of one sort or another will inevitably become boring eventually resulting in us stopping that activity. The secret is to break up your exercise routine, and try something new that you enjoy. By doing this you will stay interested and break the monotonous cycle that often ends in dropout. Exercise is great for our health and well being, but only if it is continuous.
Summer is a great time to introduce a mix of exercises into your program; instead of jogging on your treadmill in front of the TV, get outdoors and experience some fresh air on one of the many running tracks. As a substitute for pounding the pavement for another 30km this week; take advantage of the improved weather and swim a few laps.
This system of including many different modes of exercise in your program is called Cross Training. The changes you make to your program could be day to day, or minute by minute; you could incorporate some short sprints into your endurance run to keep you on your toes; or do a cardio session instead of pumping iron. Cross Training also allows you to be flexible; if the pool is closed, go for a run.
Not only will Cross Training break the boredom and allow you to be more flexible, it also has its physiological benefits as well.

Cross Training -
Conditions the entire body, not just specific muscle groups.
Reduces the risk of acquiring an overuse injury.
Allows you to work some muscles while others rest and recover.
Allow you to continue training while injured.
Improves your skill, agility and balance.
When you continue exercising in one style your body becomes very efficient at this type of exercise; while this is good for specific competition, it limits just how conditioned you can become and may leave you susceptible to injuries of the joints, bones or muscles. By combining different types of exercise some of your muscles and joints can rest while the others are working.
Making the switch to new forms and intensities of training can be difficult, and the new muscles that are working are more vulnerable. So start out slowly and build into it. Keep the intensity lower and the time shorter for your new exercise than you would for your old one, and give yourself time to learn the new skills or techniques.
All exercises have their good and bad points, so when mixing it up it is important to chop and change your program to suit you at your specific point in time. For example cycling is a non weight bearing activity so it is easy on your joints; however we need weight bearing activities to help build the strength of our bones. Running on a treadmill is good for increasing cardiovascular fitness; but it doesn’t challenge our balance and kinesthetic awareness like running on an uneven path.
It is all well and good to be doing 30 different types of exercise every week, but the key is enjoyment. Try many, find the ones that you enjoy, and integrate these into your training. That way you will be looking forward to your workout every day. It may take some time to find and perfect the right mix, but the hard work will payoff in the form of increased enjoyment, less boredom and results.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 7th, 2007 at 11:34 pm and is filed under Exercise Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.