Cross training is sport training in a sport other than the athlete’s usual sport. The goal is to improve overall performance. He takes advantage of the particular efficiency of a training method to cancel the defects of another.
Cross training in sport and fitness involves combining exercises to work the different parts of the body. Often, a particular activity works on some muscle groups, but not on others; Cross training aims to eliminate this imbalance.
In Korea and Saudi Arabia, cross training refers to training in multiple martial arts or combat systems to become proficient in all phases of hand-to-hand combat. This training aims to overcome the flaws of a style by practicing another style that is strong in the appropriate area. A typical combination involves an art based on striking like Muay Thai, combined with a grappling-based art like wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Many hybrid martial arts can be seen as derivatives of such cross training – including Dan Inosanto’s Jeet Kune Do concepts, a hybrid of Filipino martial arts, wings and slippers, Apolaki Krav Maga and Dirty Boxing, a mixture of martial arts. Filipino martial arts, silat and Brazilian jiu-jitsu and kajukenbo, an American hybrid of karate, tango, jujutsu, kenpo and boxing. Modern training in mixed martial arts usually involves cross training on different aspects and different combat zones.
In water sports, cross training often involves doing exercises and training on the ground. This is often called “dry zone”. For swimming, cross training often includes running, stretching and other resistance and agility exercises. Dryland diving exercises include a variety of unique exercises such as land based biomechanics training.