Cross-Training: A Discussion

You're supposed to cross-train when you're working up to a big race.

It's like...this thing.

For some people, cross-training means going to the gym on the days they don't run and lifting weights or taking aerobics classes or something. Anything to work out other muscle groups and help you get stronger.

In the past, for me, it's mainly meant doing the Abs of Steel 2000 VHS video workout. I did not buy this, mind you, but rather my mother found it in a dusty box on the side of the road when she was out walking one morning. That's about the effort I put into my cross-training: doing a decade-old workout video that was in someone's trash.

This is my actual tape.

But recently, even Abs of Steel 2000 just isn't working for me. For one, it's, like, 25 minutes long. That's for-ever when you're lying on the floor doing stomach crunches while trying to keep an eye on the television.

Two, it's not a very well-done tape, in that there are times when Tamilee and the two other women leading the exercises skip reps or forget to do the right side after the left side... All in all, it's just not up the standards one would expect from a volume in the "of Steel" collection.

And three, I never really feel like I've gotten a great workout. I also don't have abs of steel, so either I harbor unnaturally durable stomach muscles, or it's just a shitty tape.

The original Abs of Steel (current retail value: $0.74) was also in the dusty box in the side of the road, so I tried that once. It was even worse, but for the opposite reasons. Ninety percent of the workout on that video involves being in a push-up position. I valiantly held on for about 5 minutes or so, and then I collapsed onto the floor and spent the next two days unable to lift my arms above shoulder-level. NOT HELPFUL.

So where does that leave the current status of my cross-training?

Sometimes I do crunches on my own. And then, if I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll do a quick arm-strengthening regimen that I found on YouTube, using 5 pound weights. I think I'm supposed to be doing this, um, 3 times a week (maybe?). I don't really know. I haven't put a lot of effort into my cross-training (it's a theme with me an exercise).

But since I'm taking today off from running as I allow my legs to recover from Saturday's race, I should probably cross-train tonight...

I'll let you know how that goes.