So you run three days a week and believe yourself to be pretty fit. A friend invites you to a low impact aerobics class and you find yourself exhausted and cant keep up?

Maybe youve been faithful with your strength training program at the local gym but youre winded after running around the park with your grandkids?

Or perhaps youve been circuit training for years and believe your cardio and strength are that of a high performance athlete but one day you bend over to lift something up and end up with a back injury that lasts for weeks?

Most people stick with a sport or exercise program they enjoy and train year after year to improve their skill and ability. However, experts in the fitness field recommend cross training (participating in more than one sport or activity).

Using just one set of muscles repeatedly can also increase your risk of repetitive injury. The harder you train your body for just one activity, the more stress you put on all the muscles and bones involved in that one activity, so the more you do and the better you get, the more you risk overuse and the greater your risk of injury.

Cross training can help minimize injuries and muscle imbalances.

Some other benefits of cross trainingare:

Relieves boredom and keeps you interested by adding variety to your workout

Renews motivation and adherence to exercise program

Develops your entire body rather than just specific parts or energy systems (aerobic vs. anaerobic )

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Kittle: Cross training and core strengthening for older adults

They count steps and calories, offer nicotine patches and aerobics classes.

Employee wellness programs are becoming the norm in the American workplace, implemented in hopes of leveling health costs and improving overall employee health. Research shows the programs are popular with employers -- but largely unused, or at least under-utilized, by employees.

"Nine out of 10 people want to be healthier, but it has to be convenient and ideally on-site," said Aubrey Worek, owner of Wellness Solutions at Work, a corporate wellness company based in Pittsburgh. Ms. Worek and her team work with clients to implement programs and incentives.

Monetary benefits work, too. And a little praise can go a long way.

"People love recognition," she said. "To be member of the month, to be in the newsletter, you made their day."

Recognition for lost weight or improved blood-pressure levels come after the fact, though. The trick is getting employees to participate in wellness programs to begin with. While about 40 percent of small companies and more than 90 percent of large companies offer employee wellness guidance, certain types of programs perform better than others.

According to a 2013 Rand Corp. study, sponsored by the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services, participation rates for completion-based programs, such as clinical screenings or signing up for a health reimbursement account are much higher than intervention programs, which include lifestyle and disease management.

Around 50 percent of employees in the Rand survey completed wellness screenings, while lifestyle and disease management program participation hovered around 20 percent.

Cost- and health-effectiveness of those programs is mixed. Employees whose companies offered a wellness program lost only 1 pound per year on average, were not associated with significant reductions in total cholesterol level -- and the companies' financial savings were negligible. The Rand study found any benefits health or financial benefits "statistically insignificant," yet said employers with wellness programs overwhelmingly view them as positive.

So employers continue turning to incentives, and sometimes penalties, to motivate employers to complete assessments or reach lifestyle goals.

Read more here:
For employers, wellness programs are a question of carrot vs. stick

3:48pm, Sat 26 Apr 2014 Emergency services called to 'plane crash' in Docklands Last updated Sat 26 Apr 2014 UK Hundreds of tonnes of rubble were used for the simulated exercise. Credit: ITV News

Emergency crews are tackling a simulated plane crash in London's Docklands, in one of their biggest exercises ever. A real fuselage from a Boeing 737 aircraft has been partially covered using 400 tonnes of rubble, for the three day training drill.

The last letter known to be written on the ill-fated Titanic sold for a world record 119,000 at auction today.

A man has been sentenced to twelve years in jail, more than twenty years after he assaulted a woman in West London.

Weather: Early rain, then brighter. Scattered heavy showers. Strong coastal winds.

Two hundred and twenty emergency services personnel have been called to a simulated plane crash in London.

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Emergency crews tackle simulated plane crash