Cross-Training for Walkers

Walking is pretty awesome, right?  You probably wouldn’t be here if you didn’t believe in the power of walking to keep you happy and healthy.  For many of us, it’s become a part of our regular routine—if not daily, at least weekly—to stay healthy and upbeat and ready to take on the world.  Sometimes, though, it’s good to change up your walking routine with a little cross-training.

“Cross-training” is a fancy term for using different exercises to improve your health and fitness.  For athletes, it can aid in recovery or even boost performance by strengthening different muscles—which is why it’s a common feature in most marathon training programs.  If a marathon runner takes a day each week to do something different—like biking, for instance—it gives the main muscles used for running a break while still working different leg muscles (and still giving the runner a good cardio workout).

Maybe best of all, though, cross-training just keeps you from getting stuck in a rut.  If you’re tired of walking the same trail, day after day, it’s good to change things up every once in a while to keep you from getting bored and giving up.

So if you’re looking for fun (and still low-impact) ways to introduce a little bit of cross-training into your weekly walking routine, here are some suggestions for different kinds of exercises that will help you build things like strength and flexibility while keeping your workout routine fun.

Biking

Like walking, bike riding is a low-impact workout that strengthens your leg muscles.  It’s a good way to change up your regular workout routine while keeping those leg muscles moving and building your overall strength. 

There are so many options for getting in a good biking workout—whether it’s taking the kids out for a bike ride, hitting a mountain biking trail for more of a challenge, or hopping on a stationary bike.  We have an old stationary recumbent bike in our basement workout room that I’ll use on cross-training days—and I also have an under-desk style bike (which, unfortunately, doesn’t actually fit under my desk) that I’ll use for some extra pedaling while I’m watching a movie. 

Rollerskating

Workouts don’t have to be boring!  If you want to change it up and have a whole lot of fun doing it, grab your kids and a friend or two and head to your local roller rink!  Rollerskating will give you a great workout—and it comes with all of the lights and music and fun of the skating rink.

Kristin and I took our girls rollerskating a while back, and we impressed the other moms by staying out on the floor the entire time while our girls came and went to and from the arcade.  We definitely felt that workout the next day, and we had so much fun in the process!

Ice-Skating

Or, if ice is more your style, head to the nearest ice rink and lace up your skates!  Considering I’m the only one in our little family who doesn’t play hockey, I tend to spend a lot of time at the ice arena—though I’m usually shivering in the (metal) bleachers.  I’m not nearly as good on skates as my husband and daughter, but when I do lace up the skates to join them on the ice, it’s definitely a great workout.

Dancing

You don’t need any special equipment—and you don’t even have to leave the house—to get a good cross-training workout.  Just put on your favorite playlist and have a dance party!  You can mix in your kids’ favorite playlists, too, and make it a family workout.  And if you want to make it even more fun, add some colorful decorations—maybe some LED lights or balloons to make it more festive.  You’ll be getting your kids off their screens and getting a good full-body workout in the process.  It’s a win-win!

Swimming

Swimming is an excellent form of exercise.  There’s no impact, so it’s easy on your joins while working all of your muscle groups.  Of course, swimming requires some kind of body of water—whether that’s a natural body of water or a pool.  But if you have a membership to a gym or recreation center with a pool—or if you just happen to be staying in a hotel with an indoor pool—swimming laps is a great way to change up your regular workout.

Weight Training

Weight training may not give you a great cardio workout, but it’s a great way to strengthen the muscles that will help improve your regular cardio workouts.  Athletes use weight training to give more strength and power to the muscles they need for their sport—and, for walkers, lower body workouts can help strengthen those walking muscles (and might even help you walk faster for longer periods of time).  But adding in some upper body strength training will help build muscles in the places that get less attention during your daily walk.

Yoga

If your muscles tend to get stiff and sore, yoga can help you recover.  It can also build strength and flexibility—which is great for boosting your regular workouts, but it also gets more and more important as we get older.

Strength and flexibility aside, though, the movements and breathing are incredibly calming—and that’s something that most of us could use at least once a week (or, if you’re a mom…maybe once a day).

If your regular walk is starting to feel a little monotonous—or if you just want to work some different areas of your body—introduce some cross-training workouts into your regular routine.  It will keep you from getting stuck in a rut—and it might just improve your walking, too!

Do you incorporate cross-training into your regular workout routine?  What are some of your favorite cross-training exercises?