When Nike—or one of the other shoe companies—first invented the “cross trainer” shoe, it sparked awareness in most of us that there were types of exercise beyond lifting weights and running. There was a sudden rush of weightlifters to the exercise bikes and aerobics classes, and a dramatic surge of beyond-aerobics group fitness classes offered at gyms around the country. In general, this increase in variety was good. Like many things, there is a trickle-down effect when it comes to exercise. Someone comes up with something new, it finds a small following among elite trainers and athletes, and gradually—if it’s effective (or appears to be)—it works its way down to the rest of us, until we’re all attending a fitness kickboxing class. With fitness, the cream falls.

Cross training is a necessity for most competitive athletes. Without a solid fitness base, it is impossible to effectively specialize for a sport. For example, let’s say you want to play soccer, but you’ve never seen a game. All you know is that you have to be able to dribble the ball with your foot, and kick it into a goal. You become the greatest dribbler and shooter who has ever dribbled and shot, and you get a spot on the team. It’s time for your first game, and suddenly it’s time to run. Defend. Cut. You need to be agile. You need to be quick. You need superior muscular endurance and cardiovascular fitness. You need powerful bursts of speed to break from defenders. Yet you possess none of these things, and within minutes your exceptional dribbling and shooting skills are worthless in the face of physical fatigue. You collapse on the bench and, as you watch the game from the sidelines, the necessity of a fitness base hits you with the force of a corner kick to the forehead.

As true as this is for soccer, it’s just as true for basketball, football, baseball, softball and tennis. Any sport. And for life. So what’s the best way to achieve this fitness base?

CROSS TRAINING

When I refer to cross training, I refer to more than lifting weights and running. I refer to a range of activities designed to improve strength, speed, agility, reactive capability, endurance, coordination, flexibility and adaptability. Life—and competition—is made easier the higher your fitness level.

The goal of The Fitness Camp is to deliver the means to an exceptional base fitness level to our clients. This higher fitness level will translate to better health and appearance, more energy and stamina throughout the day, and sharper mental acuity. Over time it will also maximize strength, agility, reactive capability, endurance, coordination, flexibility and adaptability. We deliver the means through strength training, plyometrics, interval training, Olympic movements, sprinting, mental and physical endurance workouts, boxing, jousting, swimming, agility drills, reaction/coordination segments, and water-based plyometrics and sprints. The more “exotic” methods are not simply “change it up” workouts interspersed among the dumbbells and jump ropes. All methods are part of our continual program, and are integrated in a ratio to deliver maximum results and enjoyment with minimum time commitment and zero boredom.