Aerobic Cross Training for Weight Loss
Do you sometimes get bored with your aerobic exercise? Do You sometimesfeel like you're not getting the resultsyou should from your aerobic exercise?If so, then aerobic cross-training isfor you.
Aerobic cross-training refers to usingtwo to three different types of aerobicexercise during an exercise session. Forexample, if you plan to exercise for 60minutes, you might start with 20 minutesof walking or jogging, followed by 20minutes of biking, and finish with 20minutes of rowing.
Now, please don't get the impression thatyou have to be in great shape to do thisor that it has to be 60 minutes long.You can start with something as simpleas a ten minute walk followed by tenminutes with an exercise video. This iscross-training too. You can graduallybuild up from there.
Here are some of the exercises you canuse in your cross-training program;walking, jogging, biking, rowing, stairclimbing, swimming, exercise videos, etc.Any combination of aerobic exerciseswill do. You simply go from one to thenext with very little time betweenthem.
Aerobic cross-training is beneficial toyou in several ways:
1. It provides variety which eliminatesthe monotony often associated with doingthe same exercise for a long period oftime.
2. If your exercise sessions are less monotonous and more enjoyable, youare much more likely to exercise moreoften and for longer periods of time.
3. You are less prone to over-useinjuries that sometimes occur fromdoing the same exercise movements overand over again.
4. You tone more muscles because you areusing more muscles. For example, walkingtones mostly the lower body muscles androwing tones upper body muscles also. Evenexercises like walking and biking thatboth tone lower body muscles, tone themat different angles and each tones somesmall muscles that the other doesn't.
5. Aerobic conditioning is very specificto the muscles being worked. For example,you can walk ten miles a day and still besomewhat breathless after climbing stairsbecause you haven't trained the musclesfor that specific movement. Aerobiccross-training allows you to developmore comprehensive aerobic training.
6. Aerobic cross-training is effectivefor weight loss because your are toningand training the fat-burning systemsof more of your muscles. It turns moreof your muscles into 24-hour fat-burningmachines! You are also more likely toexercise on a regular basis and for longerperiods of time. this also promotesweight loss and fitness.
Author and exercise physiologist, Greg Landry,offers free weight loss and fitness success stories and targeted, highly affective weight loss programsfor women, men, type 2 diabetics, and people withslow metabolisms and hypothyroidism.