Cross training is basically doing a form of exercise other than your sport of choice to strengthen your muscles and decrease your risk of injury.

The purpose of cross training is to not only give your body a break from the repetitiveness of your sport of choice, but also to create muscular balance.  For you as a runner, the cross training exercise you choose should help build strength and flexibility in muscles that running doesn’t use.

Because your sport is running, ideally you will want your cross training to be low impact while maintaining your cardiovascular endurance.  Depending on your sport of choice, the number of recommended cross training days varies, but, as a certified personal trainer, I typically recommend two to three days per week.

The three most popular cross training exercises for runners are swimming, biking, and weight-lifting or resistance training.  Some other examples of cross training activities are walking, rowing, elliptical and running in the water.

I hope you’ll give cross training a try and find it improves your overall fitness!