To crosstrain or not to crosstrain?

When it comes to crosstraining, keep in mind that the ACSM guidelines recommend it for overall health--not for sport-specific performance. This is crucial because it reconciles what sometimes seems like conflicting evidence.

If you want to be a better runner, you have to run--regularly, consistently, and with a training plan that forces you to gradually increase your distance and speed. If you want to be a better cyclist, you have to ride and train according to the same principles. Whether you crosstrain or not depends on your goal.

The American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine encourages it as a total body tune-up. They also say that you may experience less overuse injuries. This makes sense. Giving the knees, feet, and other heavily taxed body parts a rest one or two days a week by taking up low-impact crosstraining activities can save you from injury. However, this is a way to reduce repetition injury, overuse, and excessive loading. It won't necessarily make you faster.

Still, for most of us, exercises that increase heart rate like weight lifting, stretching, and balance exercises are a great way to build lean muscle mass and contribute to overall fitness. It's only if you are forsaking necessary distance running for these other activities that you may be compromising your training. This is one reason why few coaches recommend weight lifting in the weeks leading up to a marathon or other major race.

Each sport uses highly specific muscles and nerves. Using an elliptical crosstrainer may feel as if it is exercising your running muscles, but it is not giving you the same kind of training that running does. Nor does it train the muscles you need for cycling.

Specificity of training is a principle always worth keeping in mind. But among the general running populous, weight training and some other low-impact crosstraining on a regular basis are appropriate and contribute to overall health. The harder you run and the longer your running distances, the more likely you are to get injured. Among the factors not associated with running injuries is participation in other sports.