How cross-training can prevent injury

Vary your workout by cross-training

Balancing your overall fitness or running plan through cross-training in other activities like cycling or swimming can reduce the risk of injury and get rid of some of your running stress. Here's our quick introduction to why cross-training could be right for your running training.

Yes it can! Anyone who is intent on maintaining a programme of aerobic exercise can find benefits from cross-training. Runners find that substituting activities such as cycling or swimming for some of their workouts will diffuse the physical stress of running, thereby reducing the risk of injury.

Not only are cycling and swimming low-impact activities compared to running, but each can condition different muscle groups as well as exercising some of the same muscle groups but in different ways. In endurance workouts, injuries may result when one muscle group becomes stronger than an opposing group.

Doing a greater variety of exercise reduces the chance of getting this kind of imbalance and thus the chance of suffering pulled muscles and knee injuries. If you do get an injury, you can still maintain your aerobic fitness by training in another activity that exercises different muscles.

No more excuses for stopping training!