Cross Training Workout For Runners

If you are training for a marathon or are just an avid runner, you would have heard that cross training workouts are a must as part of your training regime. Try adding this gym cross training workout for runners into your weekly training plan and enjoy the results!

Warm Up

Before you begin, it's important to do dynamic stretches to prepare your body for exercise. Complete 10 leg swings forwards and backwards on each leg and then perform 10 side to side on each leg. Perform a few torso twists to warm up your body and then you're ready to start!

After completing your dynamic stretches, walk for 5 minutes on the treadmill at a brisk pace to get your heart rate rising and your muscles warm. After 5 minutes, jog steadily for 5 minutes and then walk again at a brisk pace with a low gradient of around 2%.

Main Set

Your main workout is a Tabata workout. Tabata is a type of HIIT which is intensive and will condition your body well. This is the perfect type of cross training to do when training for an event like a marathon as it increases your fitness as well as your stamina and will target the full body so that you can tackle any challenge the race throws at you.

Tabata training consists of 8 rounds of exercises, each of which are completed for 20 seconds with 10 seconds rest in between. As such, the workout only lasts 4 minutes but is done at almost 100% intensity. If you are more advanced, you can complete this workout twice with a longer rest in between.

Click or tap on an exercise to learn how to do it and what benefits it has. 

1. Skipping
2. Burpees
3. Inch Worm
4. Kettlebell Swings
5. Dumbbell Thrusters
6. Jumping Squats
7. Crunches
8. Tuck Jumps

Each of these exercises will target a different part of the body and will improve your cardiovascular fitness, power, and strength.