Busting the myth of combining running and strength training.
Exercise not only helps us become fit, but it also helps us to look and feel good about ourselves. There are various exercises which help us achieve that. Exercises can be broadly divided into two categories, cardio-vascular and strength training. Cardiovascular exercises are done by those who want to lose weight and increase their metabolism. This is usually done by those who or on the heavier side of life or those who are professional athletes, and their sport includes a lot of running. One of the most common types of cardiovascular exercise is running.
On the other hand strength training is done by those who want to gain their muscle mass, by lifting weights. They believe that running or cardiovascular exercises reduces the muscle mass, hence they hardly do any cardiovascular exercises.
Usually people consider these two types of exercises poles apart, as one aims at gaining muscle mass and the other to reduce it. However, these days’ people have started to opt for running as well as strength training to reap the benefits of both the types of workouts. Since it targets not only the cardio aspect of it, but also the strength of the body, mixing running and strength training is one of the best things to do if you want to become fit as well as have a lean and a mean body.
To reap the maximum benefit from cross-fit training, it is really important to schedule your work out in a most efficient manner. You can always combine your running and weight training. In case you have a packed schedule, then you can do your running in the morning and strength training in the evening.
Tips to remember-
: Make sure you have eaten something, before you go for running or strength training, especially before strength training.
: To avoid any kind of injury to the muscles, target different set of muscles. For example, if you have done a fair amount of running in the morning, then you can skip them in the evening, allow the muscles to rest. This will help in avoiding the muscles being overworked and in the process getting injured.
: Always warm up before you start your exercise. It is really important as it increases the blood flow to the muscles and prepares them for more workload. It also increases the oxygen supply to the muscles, which leads to better efficiency.
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