The Importance of Cross Training
I’ve always been a fan of cross training for a few reasons. For one, I like the idea of being able to do multiple things and not just one and two, it always seemed more natural to do various activities instead of just doing one. It turns out that my like of cross training is well grounded, with this study on cyclists now coming out.
[Cycling is a great activity...but should be done in conjunction with other things as well.]
Basically, what the study says is that bone density in competitive cyclists is lower than a normal person. That means that the bones of these professional athletes that 100% concentrate on cycling are weaker than a normal person’s!
That means that while these guys might be amazing at racing the Tour de France, if you put a 50 pound pack on a cyclist and asked him to hike a mountain, he would, in my opinion, be at serious risk for a bone fracture. This of course, brings us to the point of this article:
Train For What You Want To Be Able to Do…By Doing It
This concept may seem simple, but it took me years before I really internalized it. I always felt that if you were really amazing at body weight exercises, then automatically you’d be good at weights, or that if you were a good long distance runner, you could be a sprinter. Of course, that’s completely wrong, but that’s what I thought and what a lot of people still do think.
The reality though is, that whatever you’re doing, that’s what you’ll be good at. So if your a professional cyclist, and all you do is cycle, your entire body will meld into a cycling machine. That doesn’t mean you’ll be healthy, or have overall strength, or even feel good. All it means is that you’ll be able to cycle well.
Training For Life Means Doing Different Activities
If you want to train for life, the best way to go about it is doing different activities. You want to be able to do everything well, not just one thing exceptionally. In my opinion, this is also the healthiest approach for the body, since we’re built to be able to do a multitude of different activities (weight bearing, swimming, sprinting, climbing) and not just one.
Just Because Humans Are The Most Adaptable Animal Doesn’t Mean We Should Push It…
I once read that human beings are the most adaptable being on the planet. We can train ourselves to be exceptional sprinters, or train in stamina to run for a longer period of time than any other mammal (or maybe we’re the only mammal stupid enough to actually do it…) and we have an uncanny ability to survive and adapt to all kinds of situations.
But that doesn’t mean we should put ourselves into situations that require that kind of adaptability, nor does it mean that being able to adapt means living well, it might just mean living. It certainly doesn’t mean we should train our bodies to do one unnatural activity exclusively and to compete in it. There’s a reason that in certain sports athletes get injured so often, and that’s because the body is saying “Hey, I’ll do my best to get you through this, but this is not a good activity for me.”
Basically, to all the cyclists and “one sport only” people out there… in my opinion it’s time to mix it up and add some cross training to your routine.
There You Have It…
There you have it. Do you agree that cross training is important and doing only one activity is not ideal for the body? Leave a comment and let me know!
September 4th, 2009 at 6:55 am
I came to the same conclusion after my half marathon. Avoiding the risks of repetitive risk injury, plus reducing muscle imbalances just makes sense. Toss in reducing boredom and I’m in!
September 4th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
The reason professional cylists have a lower bone density than normal people is that they avoid any activity that is not cycling to prevent injury. I read a interview with an olympic cyclist who would’nt go shopping because they would have to walk round the shops putting strain on their joints so some are even unwilling to walk when they do not have to. I think it’s important not to do too much weight lifting because you do not want your muscles to be visiable when you are wearing clothes. As a general rule people who are muscular to the point of it being obvious that they do a lot of weightlifting are not the brightest people. You can actually make yourself look worse if you overdo weight lifting.
September 4th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Greg – Glad you came to the same conclusion!
Henry – That may be what they have done until now, but I understand that now doctors are telling them to avoid injury they should do the opposite, and train in some other activities as well. Even Olympic swimmers use weights in their training so why can’t cyclists?
Also, most people can benefit greatly from weight lifting. If you don’t want to get too big, just train with less weight and more reps. I also don’t think it’s right to say that people who are big and do a lot of weightlifting are “not bright”. I really don’t see what the relation is between the two.
-Rafi
September 4th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I don’t know anything about competitive cycling I mentioned something I read in a interview not sure how many cyclists do it.
Sorry if I offended anyone, of course people who lift weights are not any less intelligent than people who do. I was referring to people who overdo it to a level where it gives them a strange walk and effects their mobility.
I read all the fitness black book articles and therefore think that lean and defined is best rather than big. Of course it’s up to the indivual and matter of personal opinion over what body size they wish to aim for
September 4th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Henry – Rusty has an interesting take on things. Personally I think that different people have different builds that work for them (some people naturally are bigger and some people are naturally leaner) and the main thing is to to work out in order to enhance your life instead of making your life all about working out.
-Rafi
September 9th, 2009 at 3:09 am
Hi Rafi! I think its also important to do differant activities if you want to lose weight or have a great body. There’s this guy in my office who plays about an hour of badminton 5 days a week and has been doing so for years. While it must be good for his cardio vascular health he is not in very good shape i.e. he does have a paunch and looks flabby. He moans about this but will not do anything actively about it though I have tried to tell him to vary his work outs i.e. lift weights, swim etc. I had also read this study about cyclists. This is probably because cycling is a non weight bearing exercise right?
September 9th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Sangita – Yeah from what I understood it was because cycling is a non weight bearing exercise although I don’t completely understand it. And yeah, the guy in your office is a good example of why doing multiple activities (and having a good diet!) is important for overall fitness!
-Rafi
September 10th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Rafi, you’re so right. I really got sold on the benefits of cross training this summer when I added bodyweight exercises to my workouts. Well, despite being an avid running and lifting free weights, I could barely move my own bodyweight around! But after a couple of weeks of diligent practice, I began to get better. Now I do a mix of running, cycling, free weights, and bodyweight exercises. Also, this summer I haven’t had any periods of burnout, whereas last year, I burned out twice because I was trail running far too much (4-5 times a week). I guess that’s one benefit of the cold rainy summer we’ve had here in Ontario, Canada – it got me to try and actually like different things! Now if I could just learn how to swim…