Cross-training has become quite popular lately, and with good reason. No matter what sport or discipline you are practicing, you can gain a lot of benefits from cross-training:

• Reduce chance of injury
• Increase performance from muscles that are difficult to target with your main training program
• Help motivate you with new exercises
• Discover new sports that you might also enjoy
• Reduce specialization of muscle training

Regardless of what your main training program is, you can gain an advantage by participating in some cross-training. Particularly with martial arts, it is important to have a rounded exercise program and training plan. In some martial arts programs, it may be possible to specialize so much that certain muscles and skill sets are entirely left out of the training program. Cross-training can help eliminate gaps.

Beyond training in different types of exercises, another important factor to consider is how training is done. By training only in a studio, you may be missing out on some potential ways to increase your training:

• Times of day – when do you train best?
• Days of week – train on days when the studio isn’t available or you can’t get to it.
• Duration – do you feel limited by the length of a training session?
• Focus – work specifically on the exercises that you need most

An easy way to start customizing your work out is to have access to material at home. While we may intend to get motivated at home, it can be difficult. A few things get in the way:

• Not remembering at a convenient time time to practice
• Not having a good plan for what to work on
• Not feeling any pressure from self to push harder

The net effect is, even with a desire to train at home, the results may not be stellar. One solution to this is to find technology to assist you. An app for your smart phone can help resolve all three of those pitfalls. If you can be reminded to work out by your phone, would you be more likely to start? If you had a training plan queued up and ready to perform would that increase your motivation? And finally if your phone is holding you accountable to specific intervals and to keep working until the training plan is complete, wouldn’t you be more likely to complete the training plan?

Beyond the individual motivation, the technology path can help keep you connected with others training with you even if you are physically separated. Using social networking to keep yourself motivated is a great way to keep your momentum.

What other benefits of cross-training can you think of? Send us an email!