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How Much Variety Do You Have in Your Workouts?

If you are doing the same workouts, exercises or sport movements too frequently without enough variation - you can actually hurt your performance and yourself! Overtraining otherwise referred to, as overuse is one of the leading causes of injuries today - in both athletes and adults.

Think about it, if you are just going for a run for your workout, you are taking a pounding for between 1500-2000 times each mile you cover.  If that is the only thing you are doing, you aren't teaching the other muscles in your body to contribute.  Without developing complementary muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and power in your muscles, the repetitive pounding will eventually break you down.

This is why marathon preparation always incorporates a cross-training element.  The same thing occurs when all you do is play the same sport year-round or just do the same workouts.  The whole idea of reaching a "plateau" is directly tied to this concept.  Not enough variation and the body will just stop adapting and essentially, it will get lazy!

Good news is that it doesn't have to be this way.  Just one or two properly designed cross-training workouts each week can make all the difference.  Just make sure you are varying your workouts or training enough to keep your entire body fresh.  And being in season is no excuse not to train.  For example, at CATZnedham we lift two days each week with our professional, college and high school teams throughout their entire season.  We focus primarily on strength and power maintenance, and areas of the body that daily movements tend to neglect. This is the best way to help preserve your strength and prevent overall breakdowns throughout the competitive season.

Stay tuned as I will discuss and provide you with more information on cross training and what to do when you reach plateaus.

Stay Active, Stay Fit!

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