Cross-training
refers to a combination of different methods of exercise.
Specifically, cross-training refers to the combination of strength
training and cardiovascular training in your overall exercise
program. Whether you're a 14-year-old just starting out on your first
fitness program, or whether you're a 74-year-old who hasn't exercised
in more than 40 years, cross-training will provide optimal results
for the time and effort you spend on exercise.
In
cross-training, it's not that you're doing aerobic and
strength-training activities simultaneously. Rather, you're
incorporating both methods in your weekly exercise regime. One week
you might do three sessions of strength training and two sessions of
cardiovascular activity. The next week you could do three sessions of
aerobic exercise and two sessions of strength training. The result is
that, overall, approximately half of your exercise time is devoted to
each of these two methods.
The remarkable outcome of combining
two distinctly different training modes is that both sets of results
are enhanced.1,2 Doing cardiovascular exercise on alternate days
makes you stronger. In other words, your muscular strength and size
are greater than they would be if strength training were your only
form of exercise. Correspondingly, doing strength training on
alternate days provides you with heightened cardiovascular gains.
Specifically, your stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped on each
contraction of your heart muscle) and vital capacity (the amount of
air you can take in on each breath) are greater than the results you
would have obtained by only doing aerobic exercise.
The
benefits of cross-training are automatic. There's nothing you need to
do intentionally to achieve these gains, other than engaging in your
cross-training program five days a week. When you train your heart
and lungs by doing cardiovascular (really, cardiorespiratory)
exercise, your skeletal muscles automatically participate in your
walking, running, biking, or swimming activity. When you do strength
training, exercising your chest, back, shoulders, arms, and legs (on
different split-training days, of course), your heart and lungs
automatically participate, pumping the extra blood and breathing in
the extra oxygen required for any vigorous physical
activity.
Chiropractic
Care Optimizes the Benefits of Exercise
Cross-training
places numerous physiological demands on your cardiorespiratory and
musculoskeletal systems, as well as on your digestive, hormonal, and
immune systems. These demands are necessary for your ongoing health
and well-being, following both the principle of "use it or lose
it" and Wolff's Law (bone remodels along lines of physiological
stress).
But in order to maximize our cross-training gains, we
want to make sure that our body's underlying structure is intact. Our
various physiological systems must be able to communicate with each
other efficiently, and each system must be able to receive and
transmit information to the master system, the nerve system. Regular
chiropractic care helps ensure these necessary interactions are
taking place, consistently and over time. By detecting and correcting
spinal misalignments and by removing nerve interference, regular
chiropractic care helps optimize all physiological functioning and
helps you get the most out of your cross-training activities.
The
synergy created by the cross-training format potentiates the results
obtained from each method.3 The improved performance of your heart
and lungs, derived from aerobic training, enables greater strength
training gains. A stronger musculoskeletal system, derived from
training with weights, causes your heart and lungs to become more
efficient to meet new demands. A positive feedback loop is
established from which you obtain improved health and enhanced
wellness and well-being.
The best time to begin your new
cross-training program is today. Start slowly, increase duration and
intensity gradually, and evaluate your gains at 6- and 12-week
intervals. Your chiropractor is experienced in exercise
rehabilitation and will help you design a cross-training program that
works for you.
1Fournier SB, et al: Improved
Arterial-Ventricular Coupling in Metabolic Syndrome after Exercise
Training. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2014 May 27. [Epub ahead of
print]
2Kolka C: Treating Diabetes with Exercise – Focus on the
Microvasculature. J Diabetes Metab 4:308, 2013
3Dos Santos ES, et
al: Acute and Chronic Cardiovascular Response to 16 Weeks of Combined
Eccentric or Traditional Resistance and Aerobic Training in Elderly
Hypertensive Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Strength Cond
Res 2014 May 19. [Epub ahead of print]
To Your Health
Naturally,
Dr. Joe Gitto, BA, DC, CFMP, FDN
Advanced
Chiropractic
Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner