Sometime the greatest danger an athlete faces is overtraining while doing the same thing over, and over again. The risk of injury is often too great. On the other hand instead of running, an athlete could zoom through a hellfire bike workout without much worry about the pounding the knees into the ground. This increase in intensity makes the heart bigger and stronger; increase blood volume, which means that more fuel and oxygen travel to the muscles; and improves the muscles' ability to deal with lactic acid.

Greater Strength

Many cross-training activities such as resistance training, stair climbing, step aerobics, cycling and aqua running build stronger leg muscles. Building greater strength helps develop save energy under stress - it improves your economy, a key indicator of fitness and ability. When your economy increases, so does speed.

Fewer Injuries

For any athlete it is always important to consider muscle trama - the pounding your muscles can take during a typical workout, particularly a hard one. The more workouts you do, the more often you do workout when sore, the more likely you are to get injured. Injuries will certainly derail your training program. By cross-training, you can get in an intense session with out beating yourself up.

Improved Leanness

Cross-training can help you burn more calories per week, and any fat you lose can make a difference in your performance.

Improved Mental Toughness

The more you learn to cope with a difficult bicycling, skiing or stair climbing workout, the better you will deal with intense workouts in your own sport.

Tips to Get the Most Out of Cross-Training

• Don't add. Substitute. Use cross-training as a substitute workout, not as an additional practice session.

• Do minutes, not hours! Just because you are in great shape doesn't mean you have to do hours and hours of aerobic work. Start with 20 minute session and build up slowly.

• Pay attention to muscle groups. Avoid activities that might aggravate injuries.

• To achieve maximum fitness, go for the burn. Once you are comfortable with cross-training activities, you can go at them hard. You can do interval training to help you improve cardiovascular fitness without stressing your legs.

• When you feel over tired, stop. Fatigue is a sign that your body needs rest. Period. No way around it. Cross-training will never be any help if it only contributes to overtraining. Use it to give your legs a break and to increase your strength - but don't exhaust yourself.