AHA
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GNCMy summer fitness goals are turning out the way I want them to 🙂 which is always always s good thing. Been going to they gym
4-5 days a week and incorporating alot of weight lifting. The high intensity workouts also help with the weight loss. Some examples of my high intensity workouts are:
- Sprint intervals, jogging for 1 minute and sprinting fast for 30-45 seconds,
- Walking up stairs and then running up them
- 30 second air squats, 30 second jumping jacks-30 second pushups, 30 seconds jumping lunges.
Alot of the high intensity workouts helps to speed the heart rate and burns fat. I have noticed that my runs have improved drastically since I have been doing the high intensity workouts.
I am getting ready for another half marathon next month and a full marathon in October. I really think that doing other workouts besides running (Cross training) helps get you in better shape for the run.
Benefits of Crosstraining
- Reduces exercise boredom
- Allows you to be flexible about you training needs and plans (if the pool is closed, you can go for a run instead).
- Produces a higher level of all around conditioning
- Conditions the entire body, not just specific muscle groups
- Reduces the risk of injury
- Can continue to train while injured
- Improves your skill, agility and balance
Exercises that make up a good cross training routine?
Cardiovascular Exercise (Think about adding three different exercises from the list below):
Running
Swimming
Cycling
Rowing
Stair Climbing
Rope jumping
Skating (inline or ice)
Skiing
Racquetball / basketball / other court sports
Strength Training
Calisthenics (push ups and crunches and pull ups)
Free Weights
Machines
Tubing and Bands
Flexibility (stretching, yoga)
Speed, agility, and balance drills
Circuit training, sprinting, plyometrics and other forms of skill conditioning
Maintain a proper nutrition regimen and try some of these workouts today and improve your running, and overall endurance!
Thanks for reading -LJAY HEALTH
L-Jay Health 
You have a very well balanced approach to your fitness. One of the worst things in fitness is dogma. The one way or the highway stance. Good luck on your running endeavors. TG. trainmyfingersforbattle.com
Thanks Tony! You do the same.
Does Pilates count as strength training????
Sure does. Pilates work a lot of the muscles. Muscle resistance is key for Pilates too.
Thanks.
I love Pilates. Great for building lean muscles as flexibility
I do, too (Well, most of the time ;-D
Hi L-Jay! Thanks for stopping by and following my blog. I do kettlebell training. Which half marathon are you doing? And which marathon? I’m training for a marathon myself.
Love this cross training list!
nice post! it’s always good to mix things up and make sure that you vary your routines! i usually do a combination of basketball, weight lifting, and circuits; though now i’m currently doing insanity which doesn’t leave much time (or energy) for much else!
thats awesome man! I love insanity especially the abs workout. I do it about 3-4 times a week. Only takes 20 minutes.
Hi there, I nominated you for the Very Inspirational Blog Award. I think it’s a way to get exposure and circulation. If you wanna play, you choose 15 inspiring bloggers and link to them from your blog and say why you are nominating them. Then put in 7things that most people don’t know about you. You can look at mine if you need a format type thing, although I just winged it. Good Luck!
I couldn’t agree more. I have been cycling with my husband as a cross-training activity for my running and weight training. The cycling AND the running are both better as a result.
Hello! Just wondering how long you do sprint intervals as a whole to get an effective workout?
Usually at least 20-30 min. 30 sec sprints, 1 min jogs for 20 or30 min.
Hey There! Thanks for the recent likes on my post! I envy your discipline! For me, working out alone gives me the ability to push hard, but working out with a friend motivates me to get my butt to the gym! lol. Cross-training is a great style and really amplifies the calorie burn you get from the workout! Great post. I hope you’ll continue to follow my blog and look forward to reading more of yours!
Mrs. B
Hi, There is a handy app for the iphone, called IntervalTimer, helps with timing your training. Nice post!
Thanks for that! I am going to look the app up now!
Keep up the good work, I dig your posts.
Thanks Arney! You have great post too! Good stuff!
Thx for following my blog http://runningwithkids.wordpress.com
Agree on all the benefits of cross-training, have experience w/ my 10yr old running 4x wk, Taekwondo 4x wk, swimming or tennis 1x wk. Martial arts is a great Xtraining sport for running b/c it focuses on strength (esp core), flexibility, balance. And it is non-impact.
Have you tried Tabata intervals? (4 minutes of 20 second intervals with 10 second rest periods.) I’be heard good things about them, especially since you can use any exercise or machine to do them, but I haven’t tried them myself.
I haven’t but sounds like a good interval workout. I am going to try it sometime this week! I’ll def let you know. Thanks a lot for sharing! Let me know when you try it out as well:)
It’s so nice to hear someone post about cross training! I have been running for a little over a year and I was continuously getting right hip pain after my long runs. I began weekly tennis lessons as a form of cross training, and within TWO weeks I no longer had any hip pain!! It is SO important! Great post!
That’s awesome that you are cross training!!! How is your running going? Any races in the bear future?
I am a big fan of kettlebells. We have a certified RKC instructor at our local gym. She kicks my butt! Since I run so much, this builds upper body strength as well as cardio. It’s greatly helped my right shoulder rehab from a repetitive-motion injury due to all the volleyball I played as a kid 🙂