I Officially Started Cross Training

I have always enjoyed weight training, but learned how to run this year because my endurance SUCKED big time. Now I enjoy running. I'm not trying to the be the fastest person, (I am quite s-s-s-s-low) but I want to have fun with it. Plus, I find it a good way to reach my goal of reducing body fat and creating lean muscle. My clothes fit better now! (pats self on back) 

You've probably heard the term, but what is cross training?
Per the Encarta(R) World English Dictionary

NOUN
cross train-ing
training in different sports: fitness training in different sports, e.g. running and weightlifting, usually undertake to enhance performance in one of these sports.

I have been following the Turbulence Training creator Craig Ballantyne on twitter, reading his newsletters, visiting his site and watching his videos on youtube. I really like his attitude, techniques and simplicity of his workouts. I was first introduced to interval traing with one of his videos. It just made sense. I don't want to spend 2hrs working out as I have in the past. I used to to enjoy going to the gym, but that's before I had a family. Now I want to be home more. As you have probably read on here, I am slowly putting my home gym together. And with Craig, it doesn't take much at all. You can still get fit in a small space.

Having watched Craig's youtube videos and such, I started doing some of the workouts. But I never stuck to the workouts. I would do planks here and there, do some bicep curls every now and then, bird dogs on occassion...blah blah blah. I realized that I needed some structure - a plan to follow. And I think that's why Couch-to-5k worked really well for me. There was a detailed schedule to follow.

Finally I decided enough was enough. I needed to start cross training in order to work on the rest of my body, and possibly improve my running. I've been reading that a strong core helps runners. Running does work your whole body, but it works some parts more than others. My other body parts are feeling a bit jealous. I purchased Turbulence Training and started the program early this morning.

This morning's workout went as follows....

Treadmill:  
(barefoot of course, duh)

     2min walk

     10min run  (2% incline @ 3.5)

     2min walk

Then I jumped into the first workout.

It felt GREAT to do a full body workout. Gosh, what the heck took me so long? Scheduling. I already run 3 times a week.

How the heck was I going to fit in another 3 days of working out?

Well I decided that I had to mesh my running with my workouts. First I'll run and then I'll do my Turbulence Training workouts right after. That's what I kind of did when I was younger. Cardio first, then weight training after. So far that's the plan Stan (gosh I've been watching too much Spongebob with my son)

So there you have it. This is day1 of my cross training journey. I know there are other cross training programs, but so far this is the program that called out to me.

Do you cross train?

If so, what program are you using?

Do you recommend your current program?