|
Aerobic Cross Training for
Weight Loss
Do you sometimes get bored with your aerobic
exercise? Do You sometimes feel like you're not getting the results you
should from your aerobic exercise? If so, then aerobic cross-training
is for you.
Aerobic cross-training refers to
using two to three different types of aerobic exercise during an
exercise session. For example, if you plan to exercise for 60 minutes,
you might start with 20 minutes of walking or jogging, followed by 20
minutes of biking, and finish with 20 minutes of rowing.
Now, please don't get the impression
that you have to be in great shape to do this or that it has to be 60
minutes long. You can start with something as simple as a ten minute
walk followed by ten minutes with an exercise video. This is
cross-training too. You can gradually build up from there.
Here are some of the exercises you
can use in your cross-training program; walking, jogging, biking,
rowing, stair climbing, swimming, exercise videos, etc. Any combination
of aerobic exercises will do. You simply go from one to the next with
very little time between them.
Aerobic cross-training is beneficial
to you in several ways:
1. It provides variety which
eliminates the monotony often associated with doing the same exercise
for a long period of time.
2. If your exercise sessions are
less monotonous and more enjoyable, you are much more likely to
exercise more often and for longer periods of time.
3. You are less prone to over-use
injuries that sometimes occur from doing the same exercise movements
over and over again.
4. You tone more muscles because you
are using more muscles. For example, walking tones mostly the lower
body muscles and rowing tones upper body muscles also. Even exercises
like walking and biking that both tone lower body muscles, tone them at
different angles and each tones some small muscles that the other
doesn't.
5. Aerobic conditioning is very
specific to the muscles being worked. For example, you can walk ten
miles a day and still be somewhat breathless after climbing stairs
because you haven't trained the muscles for that specific movement.
Aerobic cross-training allows you to develop more comprehensive aerobic
training.
6. Aerobic cross-training is
effective for weight loss because your are toning and training the
fat-burning systems of more of your muscles. It turns more of your
muscles into 24-hour fat-burning machines! You are also more likely to
exercise on a regular basis and for longer periods of time. this also
promotes weight loss and fitness.
Author and exercise physiologist,
Greg Landry, offers free weight loss and fitness success stories and
targeted, highly affective weight loss programs for women, men, type 2
diabetics, and people with slow metabolisms and hypothyroidism. http://www.Landry.com
|
