While members of the Hillsdale women’s basketball team warm up before games, shooting from the line and stretching, junior guard Ashlyn Landherr separates from her teammates to complete a unique warm up.
Landherr arrives at the gym about an hour and a half before each game to do a short Tae Kwon Do routine.
“I have to find someone to hold a paddle for me, and then I do a variety of kicks to get me warmed up and loose,” Landherr said.
Landherr uses Tae Kwon Do as a form of cross-training to get her ready for game time. When Landherr was younger, she did Tae Kwon Do competitively before she became serious about basketball. She tried this routine before a few home games last year, and felt that it prepared her well for the game.
“There are quite a few things I think kicking helps me with,” Landherr said. “It gets me loose, especially after sitting on a bus for hours before an away game. It works out the tightness in my legs. It also gets a good stretch in and works on my quickness, which helps a lot defensively. On top of getting my blood pumping and my body ready for the game, it also just pumps me up and gets me excited to play.”
Many athletes have unique ways of preparing their bodies for games in and out of season. Cross-training has become increasingly popular as the benefits and positive results have begun to show in their performances. There are many different ways that an athlete can cross-train. Whether it is a football player running track or a cross-country runner doing a pool workout, athletes tend to cross-train to focus on their bodies as a whole rather than just the muscles specific to their sport.
Athletic trainers encourage their athletes to cross-train.
“It is good because it allows muscle confusion so the body doesn’t plateau,” said Pete Benjamin, assistant trainer at Hillsdale.
By using different muscles beyond those that are dominant in a specific sport, the muscles are able to strengthen and grow as a whole to both increase performance and decrease the potential of injury.
Redshirt sophomore Steven Mette, placekicker for the Charger football team, is a big proponent of using yoga as his cross-training, both in and out of season.
“Doing yoga is one of the most beneficial things athletes can do while training,” Mette said, “It maximizes flexibility and has always been my key to preventing injuries and keeping my body ready for game day.”
Another common cross-training method is getting in the pool for those athletes that put lots of strain and miles on their muscles. John Wierenga, a senior on the cross-country and track teams, uses swimming as a recovery workout.
“The benefits of getting in the pool is that you are not pounding like when you run, or get on the elliptical, or bike. It’s easy on your muscles and is really good for recovery,” Wierenga said.
Wierenga said using the pool as cross-training is also a great way of getting an aerobic exercise.
“You get your heart rate up. You are not putting the stress on your muscles and your legs. That is the benefit of it.”
Cross-training has proved effective in many different ways, across various teams. After the success of her routine last season, Landherr has kept the tradition for each home game, as well as at away games. Not only is this a good warm up, it is a real intimidation factor for the other team.
“It’s fun to do it on the court in front of the other team as they warm up,” Landherr said.
From yoga to swimming to Tae Kwon Do, each athlete can find ways to strengthen, build, and enhance their athletic performance through cross-training.
