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Spring is finally fast approaching. It is time to not only shed the winter coats, but maybe the few extra pounds acquired during this unusually long hibernation called winter. Nothing beats getting back to tip-top shape and many of you may reach your fitness goals by putting on the running shoes, filling those bike tires with air, or maybe by heading to the gym to move some weight. As summer quickly approaches, you do your best to make sure your body is beach-ready. When you begin to notice some aches and pains, maybe in your low back, knees, or shoulders, you keep on running, biking, or lifting, ignoring those aches and pains to continue to do what you know best. However, using just one set of muscles can put you at risk for repetitive injury. What can be done to reduce injury risk? The answer is simple, Cross-Train!
In the Webster dictionary “to Cross-Train” is a verb defined as follows, “to engage in various sports or exercises especially for well-rounded health and muscular development.” “The harder you train your body for just one activity, the more stress you put on all the muscles and bones involved in that one activity, so the more you do and the better you get, the more you risk overuse — and the greater your risk of injury,” says Todd Schlifstein, DO, a Sports Medicine Rehabilitation Doctor at New York University Medical Center’s Rusk Institute. Cross-training is not something only the elite athletes do – cross-training makes the average Joe/Jane superior to those who dwell in one single area of fitness.
Let’s take running as a specific example. Most runners think it is only important to build their leg musculature. This would be a mistake. To be a better runner, it is important to have upper body strength, hip stability and core control. You may not realize it but your arms pay a big role in leg drive. Have you ever noticed that when running, the faster your arms move, the faster your legs move? This means it would be important to strengthen your biceps, triceps, and shoulders. Also, the lateral or outside hip musculature is important for pelvic control. Strength in the hips is important to running because when running, time is spent in single leg stance, and weakness in the hips can place excessive load through the pelvis, placing the runner at risk for further injury. Lastly, you cannot run if you cannot breathe, and for this reason core strength is crucial for postural control throughout your run. By establishing a comprehensive and well-rounded workout plan, a runner decreases risk of injury and improves performance.
A secondary benefit to implementing a variety of activity into your fitness program is you become a more functionally fit person. You no longer become short of breath when you take the stairs to your office, mowing the lawn is no longer as taxing, rearranging the furniture in a room, or lifting a heavy box is a piece-of-cake. So don’t just become a good runner, biker, or lifter – become a better, faster, stronger, functionally fit individual