VARIANCE AND VARIETY

Last weekend, during my CrossFit Level 1 certification, one very important point of training was strongly emphasized: constantly varied.


This allows for the body to be constantly challenged and skip the dreaded plateau, it also makes you a better overall athlete.

One thing one could include in training, is long cardio days: an hour of Zumba, a long run, bike ride or rowing session. Anything that brings your heart rate up, where the effort remains manageable and you stay in that heart rate zone for some time.
Another important thing to include is high intensity metabolic conditioning. Something like Kettlebell swings drills, burpees, the program Insanity or the Plyometric DVD from P90X. Anything that will be very challenging and push you into that "very out of breath" state. Remember those workout are shorter.

Those 2 types of training fall in the category of metabolic conditioning. A third major component of your training involves weight!
In CrossFit, we use Olympic Weight Lifting, which works wonders. Any of the weight DVDs from P90X or ChaLEAN Extreme are wonderful choices. Remember, it is good to work with low weight had high reps for muscle endurance, but you also want to go heavy. That's where the STRENGTH is at!

Finally, you also want to make sure you work on flexibility, balance and are able to work with your own body weight. Yoga is fantastic for this, CrossFit uses gymnastic drills.

Keep varying what you are doing, from day to day and especially from week to week. If you start thinking of what you have available, you will realize that you can mix things up a lot.  And this makes you a better rounded athlete.
If you need any help building a program, I'd be happy to help.
You know you can always email me.