5 Physical and Psychological Benefits of Cross Trainer Exercise

We all know exercise is extremely important to stay physically and mentally fit. There are several types of exercise that you can perform. Cross training is one form in which a person does several different workouts in one session rather than focusing only on one type of exercise. Simply put, a person involved may weight lift for 10 minutes, run on the treadmill for 10 minutes and engage in some other type of exercise for another 15 minutes, rather than focusing on only one type of exercise for 35 minutes.

In this way, person does variety of exercises in one session. There are several benefits of cross trainer exercise but the main purpose is to enhance overall fitness level, increase performance and simultaneously reducing the risk of injury. A person can select any exercise outside his primary workout routine as a complementary cross training exercise.

Benefits of cross training exercise:

At one time professional trainers believed one type of exercise was necessary to focus and work on those muscles that were directly involved in particular athletic or sport activity for enhancing the performance. However, experts now have realized cross training is the best training approach. Hence, most of the sports person and athletes include cross training in their workout regimen.

Cross training is not limited only to professional athletes and sports person; it can be pursued by anyone who is into average fitness routine. Cross training is actually easy and straightforward. Here are some of the important benefits of cross training:

1. Helps to prevent boredom: You may get bored if you are doing one type of workout daily. Over a period of time, this may reduce your enthusiasm for gym work out. Cross training gives a break from the regular routine workout. A person will never feel bored when he adds different types of exercises in his workout program.
2. Reduces risk of injury: Your muscles and joints may become stressed and become susceptible to injury if one type of exercise is performed regularly day in and out for long duration. However, cross training can reduce this risk as it provides recovery time for the overworked muscles and ligaments before they are put to work again.
3. Increases weight loss: A person who wants to lose weight and burn body fat must include exercises that helps to safely burn significant amount of calories. Hence obese individuals can engage in at least two to three types of workouts in their cross training regimen. For example if you are doing 20 minutes of treadmill alternate it for two days with weight lifts for 15 minutes.
4. Keep you motivated: Cross training exercise can be more motivating as many types of exercises are incorporated from time to time. The new workout challenge can keep you motivated.
5. Increases adherence to exercise: Many people drop out from exercise program as they may get bored or injured after a period of time. However, including cross training exercise adds variety to the exercise program. This benefits to enhance adherence to exercise for long term, keeps away boredom and prevents stress to one part of the body.