Cross Training for Fitness

If you are thinking about cross training to aid in your fitness and weight loss programs, here is some information you might need.

First, you might not know it, but the numbers on your bathroom scale do not indicate whether you are fit or fat.

Far more significant than your total body weight is the composition of your body tissue. If a man’s fatty tissue is bigger than 14% up to 15% of his body mass, or if a woman’s is more than 20% to 22%, he or she is overweight. Or, put more precisely, over-fat.

Now you know that a small amount of fat is needed for padding the internal organs and as insulation under the skin. But excess fat is another matter. It leads to diseases such as diabetes, gout, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and gallbladder problems. There are very few, very fat persons of any age. The reason is that the fittest, not the fattest survive.

So let's focus on how to resolve the problem. The problem with most people who want to lose weight is that they concentrate more on getting those numbers lower than what they are seeing now. What happens next is that they strive harder to achieve a lower weight, according to the “ever reliable” result of a weight scale.

Think of the human body as a heat-exchange engine that works on the basic principles of energy physics. The caloric balance equals the total calorie intake minus the total calorie expenditure.

1. Some of the calories people ingest are used for basal metabolism.

2. As people get old, their bodies require fewer calories for this basic upkeep.

3.Some calories are excreted as waste products.

4. Some go into “work metabolism,” the energy expenditure required for any physical activity.

Therefore if you are taking in more calories than are used by these functions, there is a definite caloric excess. By the laws of physics, energy is transformed rather than destroyed. Each excess of 3,500 calories is changed into a pound of fat. So once the excess body fat is there, if you want reverse this process (lose weight) you have to burn up 3,500 calories to lose that single pound.

When you think of fighting fat with exercise, you probably think of hours of hard, sweaty exertion. If this is the case, then, you may hit the proverbial brick wall. When people believe that they have to exert a lot of energy to lose weight, and set out to solve the problem that way, they tend to get bored and lose their motivation.

There's reasons for that. Experts contend that when people exert more effort than what they are capable of doing it a tendency to develop weariness and ennui is created. Then they give up, stop doing their routine exercises, and end up sulking in the corner with a bag of chips. (Okay, maybe you don't do that!)

Now, you might ask, "What should be done instead?" After some intensive studies and experiments, many fitness experts agree that the answer is: cross training. Incorporating cross training overcomes or breaks the monotony or dullness in regular exercise programs.

It refers to the integration of diverse movements or activities into a person’s conventional exercise routine. The two main purposes of incorporating cross training into an exercise program are:

1. to avoid overdoing excess muscle damages

2. to put a stop to an imminent boredom

Three of the most commonly used activities used are:

1. swimming

2. running

3. cycling

You want to have a way to increase your program as you work out. Distance is one way to extend your activity as your condition improves. For this reason, you need to traverse a measured distance. If possible, swim the course and measure the distance. If you will be using a running track, such courses usually are a quarter-mile per lap for a complete circuit.

This way of working out offers a variety of benefits for fitness and fat loss. It builds up the strength and endurance of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels. It has also some tranquilizing effect on the nerves, and it burns up calories while adding variety to your weight loss regime making your fitness program more bearable.

1. Endurance exercises to condition the heart, lungs, and blood vessels and to induce relaxation. These begin with a careful planned walking and jogging regimen, depending on fitness level.

2. Exercises to strengthen the muscles, particularly those important to good posture. These include some activities that are selected to encourage some people who are already burnt out with a particular routine.

3. Exercises to improve joint mobility and prevent or relieve aches and pains. These consist of a series of static stretching positions that are safe and effective for most of the people who wish to try to lose some fat.

Indeed, cross training is a great way to modify the concept of exercising and losing fat without having to endure monotonous activities. In fact, the idea of exercising is to like what you are doing, hence, if you engage into cross training, you will be aware of it that you have already achieve your desired weight.

Indoors or outdoors, cross training is certainly one way of having fun while achieving your health, weight loss and fitness goals.