Crosstraining

I am always the first person to admit that I'm one of the luckiest people I know....and I've written about being able to ride coattails to my brilliant husband, Master RKC Mark, to every Cert he is scheduled to teach at. One most recent occasions was Level 2 RKC last Feb. in San Jose, and because I was lucky enough to be "a fly on the wall" during that Cert, I decided to, myself, train and attend Level 2 in St Paul later that same year. The rest of my "Level 2" story is yet to be told, but that's for another time....

The inspiration for this blogpost is that during Level 2 RKC, I saw how relevant some of the skills taught could cross over into some of the other physical parts of my life, especially my yoga practice. At my Level 2 Cert, I learned a hamstring stretch that has changed my yoga life.

I'm lucky enough to have the time to train kettlebells, and yoga, and really whatever else I could have an interest in. I currently don't make enough time to go for walks, but I have added in a Vinyasa Flow yoga practice that is very challenging for me, as it requires strengths that I have yet to develop. I do believe in "crosstraining", but it's all about priorities! If I could only do one thing it would be the kettlebell swing...period.

Back to the point of this blogpost. Because my hamstrings are as tight as a drum, I have always had difficulty in forward folds, whether standing up or sitting down. Everything I do, except for yoga, tightens up my hamstrings. So when Pavel showed us a hamstring stretch that "creates space", and I tried it, I knew a whole new world just opened up (literally) for me.

Here are a few pictures of my practice in one of the first poses in a Bikram's yoga practice...the last part of "half moon", which is a forward fold. In this pose the full expression is when your forehead touches your shins with your legs "locked out", and then your forehead touches your toes....OK, so the forehead to the toes will take a bit of time. These pictures were taken after my 9:30am practice...9:30am is way different than 7:30am for this old gal!

My point is that I think it's important that one choses a variety of training skills to deveolp well rounded physical abilities. But as I witnessed while working in a high end Fitness club too much variety make one a "Jack of all trades, but Master of none"!

Most people take "crosstraining" way too far. What is it that your body needs? Pick a couple of things, if time and motivation allow, and work towards "deep skill"..."mastery"..."full expression", etc. You get the idea.

The concept of "crosstraining" is to pick a couple, or a few, different genres that compliment each other. Not do something new until you get bored and then pick something else.

In my perfect life this is the order of physical exercises I chose....for me (you decide what you need)

kettlebell ballistics

kettlebell grinds

yoga (Bikram's...I explain soon in another blogpost)

yoga...any other style, besides Bikram's

walking

clubbells

spinning

Lucky for me I don't have to do anything I don't like, and I "like" all of these for different reasons.

What do you "crosstrain"?