Humans are creatures of habit. We tend to find routines that stick to it and stick to it. It’s fine for daily coffee orders, but when it comes to exercise, one type of workout is a surefire way to shorten your fitness.
There is no single discipline that can provide everything you need to fit physically. One form of exercise that offers cardiopulmonary benefits may be lacking in mobility, while another focused training will not pump the heart. Plus, isn’t it a bit boring to move your body exactly the same every day?
To round out our fitness routine (and keep our heads in the game), we paired popular workouts that complement each other, offering a holistic approach to exercise and cross training when done in tandem.
Here are six “yin-yang” combos to try.
1. Yoga and Cycling
Jaclyn Alterwein, senior manager of music and content at Bodi, combines indoor cycling with a yoga personal workout routine. Yoga helps to strengthen many of the muscles used in cycling.
“It also helps to open your whole body and improve your posture. This is an advantage in carrying out the right riding form,” she says. And yogis who have not tried cycling yet may find that saddle time brings more to their practice.
“Cycling helps with lower body strength and yoga postures that require aerobic exercise, as it improves both cardiovascular health and lower body strength,” says Alterwein.
Aside from the physical benefits of this pairing, the combination of yoga and cycling can provide a sense of energy balance. “It’s great to balance the gentle energy that cycling and yoga practice offers,” says Altervine.
Bodi’s Yoga52 is a series of practices led by four world-class trainers at home. With descriptive clues and accurate instructions, you don’t need to look up from the mat so that you can focus on your breathing and body.
2. Cycling and running
This combo was designed for aerobics. Both cycling and running are great options for building endurance and maintaining heart health, but running has a greater impact, while cycling is a relatively low impact activity.
Alternating between the two can prevent injuries and minimize break times, explains Brett Durney, certified personal trainer and co-founder of Fitness Lab.
Cycling and running pairing provides the ability to train on consecutive days, allowing body parts such as ligaments and tendons to recover from the impact effects of running,” says Darney.
“As we get older, shocks become very important to bone health, but they are also something that we need to watch and monitor. We can also use a combination of cycling and running to help us manage the amount of impact we put on our body by meaning that we can exercise frequently and recover,” he adds.
3. Running and strength training
If you want a balanced athlete example, find a runner who will regularly strengthen your training. Or a running lifter. This pairing offers a “Strength + Cardio” combo that seeks the “Strength + Cardio” combo, which is often considered the gold standard for training regimens.
“There are so many reasons why runners run into strength trains, and this is all great benefits for runners, especially since strength training prevents injuries, improves muscle endurance and promotes strong bone health,” says Alterwein. Plus, the stronger the lute, core and leg muscles, the faster the mile is chopped.
And if your happy place is in the weight room, it makes sense to occasionally swap your lifting shoes for running sneakers, as pounding the pavement will increase cardiovascular capabilities in ways that strength training doesn’t do, says Alterwein.
4. Strength training and cycling
Combining cycling and strength training is one way to maintain your body (and brain) guess, says Alterwein. “Mixing workouts is not only a great way to prevent boredom in your fitness routine, but it also forces the various requirements placed in your body to adapt and leads to consistent change and growth,” she says.
Pairing strength training with cycling can lead to improvements in both areas. “The cardiovascular benefits of cycling help in moments when breath is extremely important to lift weights,” says Alterwein.
For cyclists, strength training can help improve posture and efficiency.
“An efficient ride improves your strength,” she says. “Strength training improves the cadence, or the speed at which you can remove that pedal in and out of the saddle. I often recommend that you struggle to maintain a faster pace from the saddle to strengthen your feet and core.”
With Bodi Bike you can access hundreds of heart pumping rides. This includes cycle and strength classes that incorporate strength training into your cycling workout using a bike swivel screen monitor.
5. Cycling and Pilates
Like yoga, Pilates helps balance high-energy sweat sessions on your bike. Pilates workouts are challenging, but can focus on breathing, shape and control. Conversely, cycling raises your heart rate in a way that Pilates simply cannot.
Plus, Pilates workouts can improve your flexibility, posture and core strength. “All of these improvements can be used to improve the form on your bike, which provides a more efficient ride and prevents injuries,” says Alterwein. “Pilates can ‘fine-tune’ the muscles needed to maximize bike performance. ”
If you want to start practicing Pilates, Lisa Hubbard’s Beginner Pilates is a three-week program designed to teach you the basics of Pilates exercise and breathing work. Based on what you learned in your previous classes, it creates a strong foundation of movement and stability that can be incorporated into all other types of training.
6. Pilates and running
For avid runners, Pilates can bring foam and techniques to the next level, especially as it builds strength and stability throughout the body, especially at the core, back and hips.
“If your sport or hobby is running, being strong and stable will provide you with optimal performance, optimal fun and, most importantly, healthy joints that promote health and longevity,” says Darney.
For Pilates fans, time on the trail, tread, or sidewalk can help “fill in the gaps” in their fitness routine. “People who use Pilates primarily as their primary form of exercise should consider running to build and optimize fitness at aerobic and anaerobic levels,” says Danny.
