Cross-Train to Outsmart Your Brain!
If you’re like me, ten minutes is all you can last on most cardio machines. Not because of the level of difficulty… but because 8 or 9 minutes into my workout my brain begins to talk to me….giving me any excuse it can think of to hit the attractive red “stop” button and move on… My brain is not telling me to do this because my body is over worked or I have met my physical exertion limit… but rather because of that all too familiar workout buddy…boredom!
If boredom hits 10 minutes into your 30 minute cardio session… use it to your advantage! Step off the treadmill and jump right onto a new machine like an elliptical for ten minutes. Ten minutes later perhaps move to a bike or the rowing machine. Before you know it, 30 minutes has passed and, WOW that wasn’t so boring!
I call this “cardio hopping”, or a more technical and correct term would be Cross-Training. This means, a workout regimen that incorporates different and exercise methods, to help you stay motivated.
In addition to alleviating boredom, Cross-Training has the added benefit of addressing different components of fitness like flexibility, strength, power, endurance, agility and balance.
Cross-Training can make your workouts even more exciting? The beauty of Cross-Training is you need to take on at least two different methods of exercise; and really it comes down to the more the better. You can do this by adding something new, or something you have not tried in a while back into your routine.
Perhaps try a new group class? Many resist taking classes because they know how sore they will feel the next day. But that is a good thing! Soreness indicates which muscle groups are underused and need work.
Just like our bodies can develop a circadian rhythm for sleep and just like hunger usually strikes at around the same time everyday, our bodies don’t like change, change means adjustment and adaption. When it comes to exercising, our bodies get accustomed to our workouts and account for that as part of our usual routine not as “work”. That is why we often stop seeing results when we have stuck with the same routine for too long. That’s why it is good to shake things up once in a while. Wake up those muscles and push yourself to get stronger, more powerful, and to be able to endure longer. Challenge your own fitness!
Cross-Training will not only reduce exercise boredom, it will reduce your risk or injury as it helps condition your entire body. This is the perfect recipe for a long lasting relationship with your healthy lifestyle.
So when motivation starts to diminish, and you begin to dread stepping on that treadmill for another 30 minutes, that’s a sign that your workout is old hat. Set yourself a goal for the next time you come in to Phys-Ed… and add something new to your workout routine. You’re body and mind will welcome the change!
by JC Chacon-Saucy
Member Testimonial:
The 8 week program was well worth the time and money. Actually the cost might sound high initially – but once you amortize it over the 8 weeks it turns out only be $18 a week for what I considered to be a kick ass One Hour Personal Training session with two of Phys Ed’s best trainers. How can you beat that?
Every week was designed to make you work hard and build strength, endurance and increase your overall fitness abilities. We’d show up each Thursday night anticipating a new routine ready to take on whatever challenge Jamie and JC threw at us. I won’t lie – it wasn’t easy. But we pushed ourselves to compete to our own limits and to give our personal best. JC and Jamie are great cheerleaders and never accepted defeat or allowed us to give up even if it looked like we wanted to. Even when I thought I would die. They didn’t push us unrealistically but encouraged us to give it our all. We competed against our own self and yet pushed each other to the limit of what we could each endure.
I highly recommend this series but would actually like to see it offered for 6 wks, 2X a week. I think the benefits of doing it 2X a week would be far greater than having it spread out over the course of 1 week. It was up to us to repeat any of the routines throughout the week in order to see increases in time or increases in endurance.
Tonight is the last night and since the only two people in the class are Randi and myself – we know we’re in for screaming quads, dripping sweat and total exhaustion but our motto has become – “bring it on, we can take it”.