Are you really in good shape?

You consider yourself to be in better than average shape. You run several times a week for health and fitness and maybe do an occasional fun run on the weekend. Some friends come into town for the holidays and you decide to go skiing. "No problem", you think, "I'm in great shape." After a day on the slopes, however, you feel like you've been run over by Santa's sleigh and all his reindeer. What's going on?
You may think you're in great shape, but if you focus solely on one activity, you may not be in as great of shape as you think. You may, in fact, be setting yourself up for injuries, overuse syndromes, or worse still - staleness and drop out. What to do? Simple. Cross train.
Cross training is a great way to condition different muscle groups, develop a new set of skills, and reduce boredom that creeps in after months of the same exercise routines.
Cross training as allows you the freedom to vary the stress placed on specific muscles or your cardiovascular system. After months of the same movements your body becomes extremely efficient performing those movements, and while that is great for competition, it limits the amount of overall fitness you possess and reduces the actual conditioning you get while training. Rather than continuing to improve, you simply maintain a certain level of fitness. Additionally, cross training is extremely helpful at reducing the risk of injury from repetitive strain or overuse.
The term cross training refers to a training routine that involves several different forms of exercise. While it is quite necessary for an athlete to train specifically for their sport if they want to excel, for most sports enthusiasts, cross-training is a beneficial training method for maintaining a high level of overall fitness. For example, you may use both biking and swimming each week to improve your overall aerobic capacity, build overall muscle strength and reduce the chance of an overuse injury. Cross-training limits the stress that occurs on a specific muscle group because different activities use muscles in slightly different ways.
Benefits of Cross Training
Reduces exercise boredom
Allows you to be flexible about you training needs and plans (if the pool is closed, you can go for a run instead).
Produces a higher level of all around conditioning
Conditions the entire body, not just specific muscle groups
Reduces the risk of injury
Work some muscles while others rest and recover
Can continue to train while injured
Improves your skill, agility and balance
What exercises should make up a good cross training routine?
Cardiovascular Exercise (Think about adding three different exercises from the list below):
Running
Swimming
Cycling
Rowing
Stair Climbing
Rope jumping
Skating (inline or ice)
Skiing
Racketball / basketball / other court sports
Strength Training
Calisthenics (push ups and crunches and pull ups)
Free Weights
Machines
Tubing and Bands
Flexibility (stretching, yoga)
Speed, agility, and balance drills
Circuit training, sprinting, plyometrics and other forms of skill conditioning
With cross training, you can do one form of exercise each day, or more than one in a day. If you do both on the same day, you can change the order in which you do them. You can easily tailor cross-training to your needs and interests; mix and match you sports and change your routine on a regular basis.
Exercise can strengthen the cardiovascular system, bones, muscles, joints, reduce body fat and improve flexibility, balance and coordination. But if you want to see all of these benefits, you'll need to start cross training. What better time to start than this Winter. Hurry, I hear your friends have taken up snowboarding.
source- about.com