Kris Kross’ll Make You…Cross Train!

By: Taylor Lucas- Dancer, Runner, and Student Physical Therapist at East Carolina University

Sports are fun! Whether its dance, running, pickleball, or golf, sometimes we just can’t get

enough play time. When we play one sport excessively, it can lead to overuse of a structures in

our bodies. These overuse issues can present as tendinopathies, muscle strains, stress

fractures, and in worse cases, muscle and ligament tears, and bone fractures.

How do we decrease the risk of these overuse injuries but still enjoy our sport? Cross training is

how that is done! Cross training is a way to add variety into your exercise activity to decrease

the overuse of the main muscles used when you are repetitively only playing one sport.

Cross training can look like implementing different aspects into your fitness program such as

aerobic training, flexibility and mobility training, and strength training. These different

programs can be done on days not participating in your main sport or added as a warm-up or

cool down.

It is recommended that we get 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week. Try

incorporating a new program in on a day off your main activity. Try walking around the

neighborhood as your aerobic training, or yoga for flexibility and mobility, or a quick body

weight work out from YouTube for some strength training. That’s cross training!

References:

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