Many people who want to lose weight take up a workout regimen based around running, just as people who want to build up their bodies do a weight-lifting regimen. So, these people run and run for miles and miles many days out of each week. And they often do lose weight, and they feel energized. But there are problems with the distance running method for training to lose weight.
*Even though the need to hold up the arms while running for many miles does strengthen them above the average sedentary person's (in a pound-for-pound comparison), distance runners' arms are often quite underdeveloped compared to other athletes' and not as developed as the runners would like them to be.
*Runners' upper bodies don't get any workout from running. So, for instance, take a distance runner specialist and invite him to go skiing with you or play volleyball with you and in spite of how fit he is, he will probably not make out very well.
*Because they melt off fat but tend to put on little muscle other than some in the backs of their legs and their buttocks, distance runners run the risk of becoming underweight.
*Some people who take up distance running find they are not losing weight like they want to. They become highly frustrated.
*Distance runners, especially men, often would like more sculpted bodies but aren't getting them from running.
*Running for miles and miles all the time puts tremendous strain on the knees, shins, feet, and lower back. These areas are commonly injured, and when they are injured there is no running--but there is some pretty bad pain.
*Running can become terribly monotonous. If this happens, motivation is lost due to boredom, the runner stops going for runs, and fitness deteriorates.
The purpose of this article is certainly not to bash running. It's one of the greatest fitness exercises in the world and it can give you a huge psychological lift, too. Certain so-called "health experts" today like to bash distance running, and they are wrong to do so. But--the problem here is, it's too specialized. That's why the problems listed above happen with those who run to lose weight or otherwise get fit.
Cross-training is the best way to get fit--and the best way to lose weight, too. Cross-training is so called because you are training physically "across the board". You aren't specializing in any one exercise. You do an array of different exercises, either together or on different days (or both). Some of your exercises are aerobic, some are anaerobic, some are about strengthening muscles and tendons rather than about cardio, some are about increasing flexibility.
While doing the same exercise over and over again for months does make you become super-efficient in that skill, it also puts great wear and tear on the muscle groups and joints involved, leading to a higher probability of injury or inflammation (which is the root of cancer, they now know). It also doesn't develop any other uninvolved area of the body, which could leave you weak or inflexible in areas where you don't wish to be. Your cardio-vascular health will be underdeveloped because either it won't be taxed enough or it won't be taxed for a long enough period. Consider the bulky weight lifter who can't move well, and who has poor core strength, and who turns into the Blob during his "off season".
Especially for someone who is looking for weight loss and fitness, not mastery of a sport, cross-training is the ideal way to fully develop the cardio-vascular system and tone or strengthen the entire body, not just a few muscles. Your strength and agility will both increase, and these are great benefits in and of themselves; but how does this make efforts to lose weight and keep it off more successful?
*Muscle burns more calories faster than fat does. The more of your body that is nicely muscled, the more calories you are burning even in your sleep.
*Since the cardio-vascular system becomes better developed, your body's metabolism becomes more efficient, and hence more calories are burned with greater ease and speed.
How does the cardio-vascular system become more efficiently trained with cross-training? It's due to the inclusion of both aerobic and anaerobic activities. Anaerobic activities mean pushing yourself as hard, as all-out, as you can for only a very, very short period--usually less than one minute (because you can't sustain it longer than that). Anaerobic activities would include:
*Wind sprints
*Sprinting uphill (either as a runner or on a bicycle)
*Running up and down stairs as fast as you can
*Lifting free weights "to failure"
Pushing yourself to your physical limits for very short but super intense periods revs up your cardio-vascular system more than long, sustainable aerobic activities and pushes it to new levels of efficiency. But because these events must necessarily be very brief, aerobic activities such as distance running or cycling are needed to keep your body at a high cardio-vascular level and keep your muscles from atrophying from too little use in between intense bursts.
Cross-training also keeps you away from the enemy of all fitness: boredom. When you're going to face some different challenge today than you did yesterday, you automatically take greater interest in today's workout. Your subconscious mind isn't saying, "Oh, it's the same old thing again." You push yourself harder without even realizing it, out of instinct. This greater intensity naturally leads to greater results.
In addition to running, sprinting, and cycling, cardiovascular events to make part of your cross-training schedule can include:
*Swimming
*Racquetball
*Volleyball
*Skiing
*Jumping Rope
*Rowing
For your strength training, try:
*Hindu push-ups
*Hindu squats
*Bridges
*Lifting Kettle-bells
*Pilates
Finally, don't forget stretching (yoga is great for this) and plyometrics. Once again, keep the whole body and mind involved in your weight loss and fitness endeavors through holistic cross-training.
Exercise is important, you should never ignore anything that so directly affects your bodies. Television commercials as well as a multitude of other media sources try everyday to pull you into their profit margins by disregarding your health. Fight their tactics with proven techniques that not only allow you to lead a healthier life but repair all the years of damage that your body has suffered through at the hands of corporations.
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