Participating in a fitness program can be beneficial to your health, but choosing the correct program based on your individual limitations and fitness goals can improve or decrease those benefits, according to MayoClinic.com. Two examples of fitness programs that can be customized to match your goals are cross training and circuit training. Cross training involves using alternative forms of exercise while circuit training incorporates numerous exercises completed in sequence with little or no rest in between. Always consult your doctor before participating in cross training or circuit training.
Exercises
The selection of exercises for cross training and circuit training is one of the most important factors for each training style. Cross training simply uses alternative or complementary training methods that work different muscles or do so in different ways from your normal or primary routine. For example, a marathon runner might participate in bike riding, swimming or strength training for cross training. Similarly, a bodybuilder might participate in cardio exercise such as running, biking or swimming. Circuit training, however, incorporates a series of exercises repeated in sequence. These exercises are commonly strength-training exercises such as lunges, squats, dumbbell training or calisthenics.
Benefits
Both circuit training and cross training offer various health and performance benefits. Cross training reduces injury potential by preventing overtraining, according to MayoClinic.com. This results from training different muscle groups and developing new skills from the traditional fitness program. Circuit training also offers benefits such as improved mobility, strength and stamina. Another benefit of circuit training is the ability to change the exercises based on fitness level and fitness goals.
Features
Specific features consisting of duration, sets and repetitions for circuit training and cross training can be determined on an individual workout basis. For a cross-training workout, for example, you can perform one type of training on Monday for 30 minutes and switch to a different training on Wednesday for 60 minutes. Circuit training can vary from timed stations at each exercise or a specific number of repetitions. For example, a circuit consisting of five exercises may be completed by performing 10 repetitions on each exercises as fast as possible for a total of five rounds.
Considerations
After consulting your doctor, one of the main considerations for choosing between circuit training and cross training are your fitness goals and current fitness level. A personal trainer can help identify your goals as well as develop a workout program for circuit training or cross training. Always start every workout with a proper warm-up routine and finish with a cool-down.
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