Cross-training: Variety is the Spice of Sport

Could Bikram yoga make you a better tennis player, as Andy Murray has claimed? Can running make you a better soccer player, as running-shoe giant Asics asserts in its magazine ads? While the latter may sound like a marketing ploy, Andy Murray was able to defeat Roger Federer and credits yoga for the win. Cross-training has grabbed a share of the exercise market for decades, but today, its value is more widely appreciated. Cross-training is also becoming more creative as new and lesser-known sports make their way into the mainstream.

As Lucia Cockcroft writes in the Guardian, working at more than one sport is beneficial to anyone, whether you’re Maria Sharapova or a 10K runner. Cross-training will “stop boredom setting in, a common problem when you're over-familiar with the gym treadmill.” Varying your athletic routine exercises more muscle groups, increases flexibility and reduces the chance of injury.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the triathlon is booming. Even the toughest form of competition, the Ironman, is receiving record numbers and filling up quickly. Membership to USA Triathlon increased from slightly over 20,000 in 2000 to more than 80,000 in 2006. The pleasure of the triathlon, many converts explain, is simply the opportunity to keep one’s routine both challenging and unpredictable. While each sport presents its own unique hurdles, many see cycling as an antidote to running, and swimming as an antidote to both. A triathlete can easily get away with saying, “I don’t feel like running today,” and still improve his fitness level by riding a bike or swimming.

Similarly, avid marathoners and road runners needn’t feel they’re slacking off by practicing yoga once a week. Runners tend to neglect their core, a surprisingly dense area of back, shoulder and stomach muscles. Yoga teaches better posture and improves flexibility. Surprisingly, runners also generally do not pay sufficient attention to their feet, other than enclosing them in fancy shoes. Yoga “teaches that the foot should be engaged and considered as a weight-bearing tripod,” according to Run The Planet, a running resource created by The North Face.

The growing number of shows on cable television that share secrets from the pros are making amateur athletes aware of the advantages of taking on new sports. Discovery’s FitTV offers in-depth coverage of professional athletes’ lives, including their training regimens. The channel’s “Art of the Athlete” explores the lives of icons like Kristi Yamaguchi and Dominique Dawes. “Insider Training,” hosted by beach volleyball champion Gabrielle Reece, “goes to the places the crowds never see—the training pool, weight room, yoga studio or secluded beach—and reveals how world-class athletes train for perfection.”