Hybrid athlete training

How to Balance STRENGTH and Endurance Training

Training for a high level of both strength and endurance? Congrats, you are taking on one of the more difficult challenges of the human body. Balancing strength and endurance training is a delicate ballet, requiring careful observation of total training volume and recovery. It is a task tackled by the military, first responders, CrossFit athletes, and everyday gym goers with varying levels of success. So how can we intelligently handle it?

Before we get into training specifics, it is helpful to understand the individual impact of each modality of training on human physiology. Unfortunately for the Hybrid Athlete, bodily adaptations to strength and endurance training occur via antagonistic pathways - meaning training for one can slightly inhibit progress in the other. That said, each training mode may also provide synergistic benefits to one another.

STRENGTH TRAINING ADAPTATIONS - Muscular Adaptations Simplified

• Neuromuscular Efficiency (Strength).

  • Improvements in strength happen primarily (at least initially) through proper synchronization of neurons; thus, muscles are firing. Without overcomplicating it, this is what happens as a lifter becomes more well-practiced with a particular lift. The technique improves, the lift feels more "well-grooved," and strength improvements occur as the lifter can comfortably handle more loading.

• Increases in Muscle Cross-Sectional Area (Size)

  • During resistance training, Mechanical Tension is applied to skeletal muscle, recruiting Type II (fast twitch) muscle fibers. As a result, a protein kinase called "mammalian target of rapamycin," or mTOR for short, signals muscle cells to undergo more significant levels of Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS). Consistent elevation of MPS leads to muscular hypertrophy - more giant muscle cells, finally giving us the gainz we are all after. While increases in muscle size do not directly lead to improvements in muscle strength, a more significant muscle has the capability to be a stronger muscle, with all other variables equated.

ENDURANCE TRAINING ADAPTATIONS - Cardiovascular Training Simplified

• Central Adaptations (Heart, Lungs, Blood)

  • Endurance training increases the total cardiac output of the heart, the red blood cell content of the bloodstream, and the alveoli density of the lungs - all allowing more oxygen to be inhaled, pumped, and transported to the working muscles.

• Peripheral Adaptations (Muscles)

  • Endurance activity preferably recruits Type I (slow twitch) muscle fibers. Within these fibers, mitochondrial density increases, allowing for greater levels of cellular respiration and, thus, more ATP (energy) used by the working muscles. This will enable you to sustain a higher level of effort for longer. Cellular signaling occurs via the AMPK pathway, which is responsive to levels of cellular energy available.

MECHANISMS OF INTERFERENCE BETWEEN STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE TRAINING

• mTOR vs. AMPK Cellular Signaling

  • Unfortunately for the Hybrid Athlete, the mTOR and AMPK pathways are antagonistic and compete with each other. This may be blunting training adaptations when both modalities of exercise are combined.

• Overtraining

  • Balancing Strength and Endurance training can be very taxing due to the high degree of diverse demands placed on the body. Athletes trying to combine a comprehensive lifting program with an extensive running program may need help to balance the total training load. Over time, if the body cannot sufficiently adapt to the excessive training demands, the athlete may experience "overtraining," failing to recover correctly, and thus, see a drop in performance.

• Muscle Fiber Adaptation

  • To a limited degree, muscle fibers can undergo conversion between Type I and Type II in response to different types of training. With a Hybrid Athlete training program, both fibers receive preferential recruitment at other times, possibly reducing preferential conversion. However, I have yet to see this specifically studied.

HOW TO PROPERLY MANAGE STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE TRAINING

So by now, you may be thinking: great, your body is conspiring against you, and you can never be both strong and fast simultaneously. Luckily, it is absolutely possible to train and improve at both simultaneously! As with anything, dividing your attention between multiple goals typically will lead to slower results than focusing on one individual, but for many, this is a worthy (or necessary) trade-off. So how do you do it?

• Recovery is Absolutely PARAMOUNT

  • Recovery is king, particularly for the Hybrid Athlete. When training for performance in multiple challenging activities at once, you must ensure you are correctly recovering between training bouts. Nutrition must be on point, and calories should be at LEAST at maintenance, if not a slight surplus, to meet energy demands. Adequate sleep is essential to ensure your body is prepared each day. Neglecting nutrition and sleep is a surefire way to reduce your body's recovery capacity for such a difficult task.

• "Goldilocks" Training Dose

  • Regarding training volume, the Hybrid Athlete must train not too little, not too much, but just right. Overtraining becomes particularly easy in the attempt to accomplish too much. The lifting volume should be lower than a regular lifting program, and the running volume should be lower than a regular running program. For example, I have found it helpful to count running volume as leg volume and balance training this way.

  • Exercise Selection. Acknowledge the recovery cost per exercise. Running requires more recovery than an incline treadmill walk, just as heavy RDLs impose a greater recovery demand than biceps curls. Strictly analyze your training goals and select exercises in accordance with those goals. Trying to achieve too much at once will only cause you to spin your wheels and become frustrated. You do not want to allocate training volume and energy to activities not as vital to your primary goals.

SO YOU WANT TO SQUAT HEAVY AND RUN FAST

The holy grail. You'll be told it is impossible to do both. The reality is, using these tips, it is certainly possible. Particularly at lower levels of advancement, you may advance at both rather quickly. If you are more advanced, it may be intelligent to prioritize one at a time. Alternate between periods where squat performance is the priority and running is transitioned downward to a maintenance level, 1-2 times per week. Run this for roughly 3 months. Then transition to a period of maintaining squat strength while reducing squat volume and increasing run volume to bring those times down. Rinse and repeat as desired and required.

ARE THERE ANY BENEFITS TO TRAINING STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE SIMULTANEOUSLY?

In short, absolutely. Lifting can make you a better endurance athlete, and endurance training can make you a better lifter.

• How does lifting improve endurance activity?

• Lifting improves the resilience of the muscles, joints, and connective tissue, allowing the body to move more optimally and safely, and reducing the incidence of injury.

• How does endurance training improve lifting performance?

• Via increased work capacity. With all else equal, you will be able to handle more training volume and recover faster, both between sets and between training sessions, than if you were in worse cardiovascular shape.

THAT'S A WRAP

The Hybrid Athlete mentality is one of a warrior, cultivating a body capable of all tasks in its path. For a well-organized Strength-Endurance program, check out SWOLBIUS MAXIMUS, an intelligently organized run/lift training program now available in our store.