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Friday, 08 November 2013 06:10

Variety is the Spice of Training

By Jason Gootman and Will Kirousis (for usatriathlon.org)

Should you go rock climbing? Should you go snowshoe hiking? Should you play soccer every once in a while? Or should you swim, ride, and run all the time? After all, the principle of specificity states that you get better at what you specifically do. Can cross-training actually up your triathlon game or is swimming, cycling, and running inherently enough cross-training? Enough of our 20 questions—let’s get to four truths about cross-training....

Cross-training reduces repetitive stress.
Anything you do over and over again has the potential to cause a problem as a result of repetitive stress. Swimming, cycling, and running impose specific demands on your body. These demands are not “good” or “bad”—they just are. And done repetitively, they stress specific structures of your body.

When you do something different, you change how you stress your body giving the parts of you that are used a lot while swimming, cycling, and running a bit of a break. This helps to prevent injuries and also prevents other recovery-related problems such as the inadequate-recovery syndrome (a.k.a. the overtraining syndrome). And when you recover better, you improve at a greater rate (workout stress plus recovery from workout stress equals improvement).

A great way to mix things up to reduce repetitive stress is to play game sports like basketball, ultimate Frisbee, soccer, flag football, tennis, racquetball, and/or similar sports. You’ll move faster, more reactively, and in a much larger spectrum of movement when you play these sports.

Cross-training maintains body balance. READ MORE