|
Home
WEIGHT
LOSS
Aerobic
Cross Training for Weight Loss
Do you sometimes get bored with your aerobic exercise?
Do You sometimes feel like you're not getting the
results you should from your aerobic exercise? If so,
then aerobic cross-training is for you.
Aerobic
cross-training refers to using two to three different
types of aerobic exercise during an exercise session.
For example, if you plan to exercise for 60 minutes, you
might start with 20 minutes of walking or jogging,
followed by 20 minutes of biking, and finish with 20
minutes of rowing.
Now,
please don't get the impression that you have to be in
great shape to do this or that it has to be 60 minutes
long. You can start with something as simple as a ten
minute walk followed by ten minutes with an exercise
video. This is cross-training too. You can gradually
build up from there.
Here are
some of the exercises you can use in your cross-training
program; walking, jogging, biking, rowing, stair
climbing, swimming, exercise videos, etc. Any
combination of aerobic exercises will do. You simply go
from one to the next with very little time between them.
Aerobic
cross-training is beneficial to you in several ways:
1. It
provides variety which eliminates the monotony often
associated with doing the same exercise for a long
period of time.
2. If
your exercise sessions are less monotonous and more
enjoyable, you are much more likely to exercise more
often and for longer periods of time.
3. You
are less prone to over-use injuries that sometimes occur
from doing the same exercise movements over and over
again.
4. You
tone more muscles because you are using more muscles.
For example, walking tones mostly the lower body muscles
and rowing tones upper body muscles also. Even exercises
like walking and biking that both tone lower body
muscles, tone them at different angles and each tones
some small muscles that the other doesn't.
5.
Aerobic conditioning is very specific to the muscles
being worked. For example, you can walk ten miles a day
and still be somewhat breathless after climbing stairs
because you haven't trained the muscles for that
specific movement. Aerobic cross-training allows you to
develop more comprehensive aerobic training.
6.
Aerobic cross-training is effective for weight loss
because your are toning and training the fat-burning
systems of more of your muscles. It turns more of your
muscles into 24-hour fat-burning machines! You are also
more likely to exercise on a regular basis and for
longer periods of time. this also promotes weight loss
and fitness.
|