Want to jump tall buildings in a single bound, be more powerful than a locomotive or be faster than a speeding bullet? OK, so we may not all be superheroes, but it doesn’t mean we can’t train that way. Despite your fitness goals, utilizing a continually varying program can help you achieve goals more quickly, reduce boredom and the potential for injury, develop a more well-rounded physical state and help avoid performance plateaus. “I use cross-training with the majority of my clients,” says San Diego-based Todd Durkin, M.A., 2004 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year and 2005 ACE Personal Trainer of the Year. “It provides them with more diversification, which keeps them mentally and physically challenged.”

Durkin works with people from all walks of life – from newbie exercisers to older adults to professional athletes such as LaDainian Tomlinson, running back for the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints quarterback, Drew Brees. “I find that cross-training not only keeps clients challenged, but it helps them stay fresh mentally.”

Originally developed to help athletes maintain a physical edge while recovering from injury, ACE describes cross-training as “a method of physical training in which a variety of exercises and changes in body positions or modes of exercise are utilized to positively affect compliance and motivation, and also stimulate additional strength gains or reduce injury risk.”

Cross-training may be as simple as alternating types of cardiovascular exercise such as running on Monday and swimming on Wednesday, or can include different types of training methods within a single session. “One day we might focus on functional training,” Durkin says. “The next day may include plyometrics and flexibility. I often request that my athletes take a Pilates class once a week to shake up the routine. It makes them better all-around competitors.”

Let’s face it. This isn’t a one-dimensional world, so why train that way? Here are five reasons you should use cross-training to amp up your current program.

When I was growing up, my mom discovered one of those “just add meat” ready-made dinner products. Total preparation required about 10 minutes, which was perfect for her as cooking wasn’t one of her favorite activities. So for weeks on end my dad and brothers would sit at the table and find some variation of this boxed dinner. To this day, I can’t choke down another bite. Exercising is the same way. Sure, some people might find one method of training to be entirely satisfying and don’t need variety to stay focused. But if you’re like me, you prefer more of a cornucopia.

“People get bored performing the same routine over and over again,” Durkin says. “Adding different challenges to the program during each session prevents that.”

Spend time in the weight room of any gym, and you’ll most likely hear someone complain that they just can’t seem to get bigger, lift more weight or run faster. Performance plateaus are a common nuisance amongst regular exercisers, and breaking through them can be quite difficult. Cross-training can help decrease the body’s natural tendency toward adaptation by forcing its systems to be challenged in different ways. So instead of hitting the bench press on “chest day,” grab a pair of dumbbells, lie back with the shoulders and head resting on a stability ball (don’t let those hips drop!), and perform the exercise. Along with the activation of the core to maintain stability, the muscles required to perform the movement will be recruited differently than with the bar. Both the stabilizing and primary muscles involved will then work hard to adapt to this new movement pattern and voila! You go back to the bench press and are now able to lift a bit more weight.

Repeatedly performing the same movements during training sessions can make the body more susceptible to injury. Overuse injuries (think Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or shin splints) are common among exercisers of all abilities, as repeated stress placed on the same structures over and over can lead to premature deterioration. More and more, elite runners are spending less time running and more time on strength and flexibility training. A forward-tilting pelvis due to inactive abdominal muscles can disrupt efficient running mechanics, placing excess stress on the ankle and knee joints. To combat the potential for injury, runners have employed more core stabilization training to help reduce the tilt and decrease imbalances. For everyday exercisers, the goal should be to increase functional capacity. Rarely do we perform the same movements over and over during activities of daily living. We climb stairs, rotate to grab a jacket from the back seat of a car and pick Timmy up out of his stroller. These movements require strength, mobility, balance, flexibility and a host of other functions in order to remain injury free. Instead of focusing solely on isolation exercises (such as a bicep curl or tricep pushdown), perform a movement pattern that requires activity over multiple joints such as a dumbbell bicep curl to overhead chest press.

There’s a reason triathletes are considered to be some of the most physically fit individuals in the world. “Cross-training simply provides people with greater physical balance,” Durkin explains. “This leads to greater function and the ability to perform a variety of tasks.”

Big hulking dudes with huge muscles may have the appearance of physical fitness, but ask the Hulk to grab a can of soup from the top shelf and he might fall short. He most likely spends a great deal of time focusing on pumping up his pecs and biceps, which leads to a weak upper back and inflexibility in his shoulder joints. Cross-training can help improve the body’s structural balance making you more capable of performing a variety of different tasks with ease. It is also essential to those who enjoy participating in more than one sport.

Cross-training can also help speed up fitness goals. Instead of performing eight biceps curls and having a seat on the bench for a minute or two of rest, try spending your down time performing crunches on a stability ball or BOSU Balance Trainer. You might even add in three minutes on the treadmill to keep a decent heart rate. This forces your body to continually attempt to adapt to a variety of different situations, which taxes the body more and leads to an increased number of burned calories during a single session. Recent research found that exercisers have a greater potential for losing weight if they include both strength and cardiovascular training in a program.

Whatever your fitness goals, adding variety to your workout regimen can include a host of benefits. From drop-kicking plateaus to helping prevent injury, cross-training can mean the difference between mediocre and rock-solid results. Who knows, after a six-week program, you might be more like a superhero than you thought.