One of the biggest misconceptions about exercise is that there
is “one” program that works for someone all the time. People
think that they need to get on a particular workout program and
just keeping doing that program over and over again. Although
getting on a good program IS a necessary first step, ensuring
that your body doesn’t adapt to that program is critical to
ensuring that your results don’t slow down or stop!
In order to maintain the effectiveness of your workouts over the
long term, you have to employ a concept known as cross training.
Although there is no hard and fast definition of cross training,
the basic idea is that you continually change your exercise
program to work both your muscular and your cardiovascular
systems in a variety of ways, forcing your body to adapt to a
new stimulus. Remember that the whole idea behind exercise is to
make your body do things that it is not used to doing. In
response to that effort, your body naturally adapts in order to
meet the changing energy demands of the activities that you
engage in. This process happens with your muscles, as well as
with your heart, lungs, and circulatory system - collectively
known as the cardiovascular system. To ensure you get the most
out of your cross training efforts, you should make changes to
the activities that challenge your muscles as well as your
cardiovascular system.
Challenging Your Muscles
When you are putting together the muscular training part of your
exercise program, remember that the primary mission of the
activities is to challenge your muscles and connective tissues -
tendons and ligaments - beyond their normal boundaries. For
example, if you were to pick up a suitcase that only weighed 5
pounds, it would probably not be very difficult for you.
However, if that same suitcase had 50 pounds worth of items
inside, it would be significantly more difficult to pick up and
carry. In response to that increased demand, your body would
recruit additional muscle fibers to assist with the work, and in
some cases would even recruit a different type of muscle fiber.
Although we won’t get into the details about the different types
of muscle fibers in the human body, you do want to take away the
fact that the number and type of muscle fibers recruited for any
given task is proportionate directly to the difficulty of the
task.
Let’s apply this concept to weight training - or resistance
training, as it is often called. If you were going to do a basic
bicep curl with 5 pounds, your body would engage a certain
number and type of muscle fibers. Doing exactly the same
exercise with a more challenging weight would cause your body to
need additional resources in order to handle the increased
demand. However, is that only true of picking up a heavier
weight? What would happen if you used the same weight, but did a
higher number of repetitions? The same basic concept applies -
your body will recruit additional resources in order to
accomplish the task. What can be determined from that fact is
that in order to change the stimulus on your body, two easy ways
to do so are are to increase the weight and/or increase the
number of repetitions.
However, there are other ways to challenge a particular muscle
group in addition to simply adding weight or repetitions. What
about changing the position of your body when you do the
exercise? Using the same example as above - the bicep curl -
most people do the basic version of that exercise standing up,
with their arms extended, elbows at the side, and palms facing
forward. What if you were to do the same exact movement, only
this time, you turn your palms to face the center of your body
throughout the entire exercise? Do you see how that would change
the stimulus? You would still be engaging the biceps of your
upper arm, but you would also engage the muscles of your
forearms in a different way, just because of the position of
your palms.
Further, what if you were to change the speed at which you did
the exercise? Most resistance exercises should be done as a
basic count of 2 seconds during the initial phase (also known as
the concentric phase), and then a count of 3 to 4 seconds during
the second phase of the movement (known as the eccentric phase).
What if you were to reverse that process? Count to 4 during
phase one, and only count to 2 during phase two. Do you think
your body would need to react differently to handle the
different stress? Of course!
There are many, many different kinds of exercises for the
biceps. If you normally do bicep curls, hammer curls, and cable
curls, what would happen if you started using 2 or 3 of the
bicep curl machines instead? Your body would have to adapt to
the new stimulus! By sitting down in a bicep curl machine, you
are no longer using your leg, back, and abdominal muscles to
stabilize yourself like you were when you were standing up doing
a bicep curl. However, by locking your body into a certain
position on the machine, you are isolating the biceps, allowing
you to focus more on the contraction of the bicep muscles during
the movement. Does that mean that the machines are better than
the dumbbells? No. It also does not mean that the dumbbells are
better than the machines - it just depends on what your goal is.
What you need to take away from this section is not that one
exercise is better than another - just that they are different,
and that is cross training.
To summarize, here are but a few of the ways that you can cross
train your muscles:
* Heavier Weights * Higher Number of Repetitions * Change the
Position of Your Body * Modify the Speed of the Exercise * Use
Machines as well as Free Weights
Challenging Your Cardiovascular System
Just like the muscular system, your body will find ways to adapt
to the cardiovascular training that you do, and before long you
will stop seeing a high degree of results. Let’s try to use some
of the same concepts that we applied to resistance training, and
see if they also apply to cardiovascular training!
Heavier Weights
How can you make yourself heavier? Most people are trying to
make themselves LIGHTER when they exercise! However, if you are
able to find a safe way to increase the total amount of weight
that your body is moving during cardiovascular training, don’t
you think that the activity would be more difficult, and force
your body to adapt? Sure it would!
A common method that people use to do this is one that you
should NOT do, and that is strap on wrist weights or ankle
weights, or to carry dumbbells while you are doing cardio.
Although this does increase the total amount of weight being
moved by your body, it also puts a stress on your joints that is
not natural, and therefore, not a good idea. However,
alternatives that DO work include putting on an adjustable
weighted vest, or even just strapping on a backpack with some
weights or books in it! The idea is to keep the additional
weight as close to your body as possible, away from easily
damaged joints.
Higher Number of Repetitions
Although you don’t normally count repetitions when you are doing
cardio, you DO take a certain number of steps, have a certain
number of revolutions per minute on the elliptical or the bike,
or you take a certain number of steps on the stair master. Do
you think that increasing those numbers would help? You bet!
Whether it be by staying on the equipment for longer, or just
working out harder to get a higher number of steps or
revolutions in the same amount of time, either way you have
changed the stimulus on your cardiovascular system (not to
mention your legs!), and by reacting to that new stress, your
cardiovascular system will burn more calories while adapting to
the new program.
Change the Position of Your Body
You may be asking yourself at this point just how many positions
can the body be in when you are walking on the treadmill? The
answer is PLENTY! Changing the incline of the equipment is an
obvious way to change the position of your body, provided you
continue to STAND UP STRAIGHT. If you hunch over, or grab the
machine for support, you are defeating the purpose. What about
leaning backwards or forwards when riding a bike, or peddling an
elliptical? By changing the angle at which your legs are pushing
on the machine, you are most certainly changing the stimulus,
forcing your body to adapt!
Modify the Speed of the Exercise
This one pretty much goes without saying! Go faster, and you’ll
burn more calories, and elicit a new adaptive response from your
body. However, what about going slower? What if you are used to
the Cycling class where your instructor seems to be made of
steel, and can spin his/her legs around 80,000 times a minute
for 30 minutes straight? Can slowing down be as effective as
that? Sure it can! Trying reaching down to tighten up the
resistance knob on that bike past your normal comfort level, and
it’s guaranteed that your body and your legs will have to find a
new way to provide energy, even though you are actually going
slower than you were a few minutes ago.
Use Machines as well as Free Weights
Other than what we discussed above with weight vests/backpacks
vs. ankle/wrist weights, you really don’t use free weights
during cardio. However, you DO ride a treadmill or an exercise
bike or a stair master on a regular basis, right? Trade those
machines in for the real thing! Go outside and go for a brisk
walk or a jog. Use a REAL bike and get out for some fresh air
and an invigorating ride around your area. Find a tall building
in your area and walk up and down the stairs. It’s a safe bet
that after a few flights you’ll be wishing you were back on the
stair master with it’s motorized movement assistance!
The examples above have been just a few ways that you can cross
train your body. There are many different training protocols,
and literally thousands of different exercises that the human
body is capable of. You should research as many different
training protocols as possible, and even enlist the aid of a
personal trainer if you need help setting up a program for
yourself, or to change the program that you are already on.
Remember, the key is to make your body ADAPT to new stimulus as
often as possible!
Now get out there and get some exercise!
