- Cross-training offers runners many benefits including injury prevention, improving cardiovascular fitness, and enhancing muscle strength
- Injury prevention
- Reduces impact: running is a high impact sport, cross training helps reduce stress on your joints, bones, and tendons while still providing many of the benefits running and helping to improve your running
- Addresses imbalances: other forms of exercise can help strengthen muscles that don’t get as much work by running and correct muscular imbalances that contribute to injury
- Allows for recovery: provides a way to maintain fitness while giving your body a break from high impact and prevents overuse injuries
- Improving cardiovascular fitness/muscle strength:
- Boosts cardiovascular health: low impact aerobic exercise improve your overall endurance and aerobic capacity without the repetitive stress of running
- Cross training helps build strength in key muscle groups which can lead to improve running economy and efficiency
- Supplementing runs with cross training helps build muscular endurance, allowing you to maintain good form for longer.
- Injury prevention
- Cross training can also help keep your training routine fresh and reduce burnout from running
- Examples of cross training exercises: cycling, swimming, walking, yoga, group sports (soccer, tennis, etc.)
