Is Cross Training Important for Runners?
Many serious runners put in between 40 and 80 miles a week. This can be very taxing on the body and sometimes can lead to injury and burnout. A great way to prevent this is to switch up some of your longer less important runs with sports like cycling and swimming, which utilize the same muscles and systems but are low impact.
If you’re serious about running and want to reach your full potential then you don’t want to switch your speed workouts with cross training sessions. Speed work is important and targets muscle groups and systems that can only be improved by running fast. Instead, if you have two long runs or tempo runs a week you could replace one of those. Cycling is great if you want to get the heart rate up but reduce the pounding. Also, if you cycle at a high resistance or on hilly terrain it can greatly improve your strength. Since your main sport is running you’ll want to stay away from high intensity cycling, in other words speed work on a bicycle, because your muscles likely aren’t adapted to this kind of training and you’ll run a high risk of injury. In fact, it’s even recommended for people who are concentrating solely on cycling to bike for at least two years before getting into high intensity workouts.
Swimming is a viable cross training workout for runners as well. Swimming takes a lot of upper body strength, which is also necessary in running, so you might get a bit of a leg workout but more importantly you’ll build upper body strength. If you’re not keen on swimming then you could also try pool running. You’ll need a pool with a moderate depth in order to perform this correctly, but if you only have a lap pool then you can try it with weights in order to make it a bit more challenging.
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