We’ve all seen them: One day, they’re next to you in the gym, out-lifting you on that one rep max that you’ve struggled to hit for weeks. Next thing you know, they’re sprinting on the treadmill before transitioning to burpees, box jumps, and wall balls.
You know what they say – If you can’t beat them, join them. So if you’re looking to jump on the hybrid training bandwagon, then you’re in the right place.
Becoming a hybrid athlete isn’t easy. But it does have numerous benefits and is highly rewarding.
What You'll Find In This Article:
What Is Hybrid Training?
What Are The Benefits Of Hybrid Training?
5 Elements Of A Hybrid Training Program
3 Steps To Building A Hybrid Athlete Training Program
Hybrid Training FAQs
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What is Hybrid Training?
Hybrid training is essentially training across multiple disciplines to improve all-round performance. This usually refers to training to improve both strength and endurance simultaneously.
Whilst a powerlifter might avoid steady-state cardio and a marathon runner may flinch at the idea of a heavy bench session, hybrid athletes use a blend of training styles with the aim of improving at all of them.
Not dedicating yourself 100% to one discipline is not without its drawbacks. You’re unlikely to have the strongest 1 rep max in the weight room, the fastest sprint time, or be able to outrun a marathon runner – but could you take them all on and do a pretty good job? Most likely – and athletes such as Aimee Cringle and Ben Haldon prove that.
Through a well-designed hybrid training program, you too can combine your strength and endurance goals to build and improve your health and fitness, improving overall fitness and physical preparedness.
What Are The Benefits Of Hybrid Training?
Resistance, anaerobic and aerobic training have been shown by numerous studies to have a beneficial carryover to our general health and well-being.
Combining strength and endurance may have a more well-rounded impact on general health, from improved mobility and bone strength to better sleep and a lower resting heart rate.
You may consider hybrid training the 'best of both worlds' when it comes to body composition and re-composition.
In fact, one study concluded over a six-week period that strength and endurance training resulted in positive changes in terms of reduction in body fat and an increase in the participants' muscle mass.
Training across various intensities, loads, and distances has been shown to have multiple benefits amongst athletes, such as greater physical outputs, resilience, and protection against injury. (study).
Another huge life benefit of hybrid training is a greater level of physical preparedness.
You can't train for everything, all the time. But by training across strength and endurance, you can be ready to enjoy what life throws at you, whether it's a cycle ride with friends or a lat minute fitness competition entry.
You'll have a greater base level of fitness across a wider range, so you'll be comfortable lifting heavy and running distances.
Hybrid training allows you to develop strength and endurance through a combined approach, potentially requiring less time training while still achieving the benefits listed above.
In elite scenarios, the argument that placing a balanced emphasis on endurance and strength can have a negative impact is backed by various studies. But if, like most of us, you don't compete at a high level in sport and simply want to be able to lift heavy and endure distances on foot or bike, then conditioning yourself with hybrid training may be a rewarding and motivating way to exercise.
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So where do you start? Part of the beauty of hybrid training is that it’s flexible – there are no set rules or regulations. However, there are certain disciplines that commonly make up a hybrid training program. These are:
5 Elements Of A Hybrid Training Program
Strength training is an important element of a hybrid athlete training program, helping to build overall strength and muscle mass. We suggest including a mixture of compound exercises (think the big key lifts: squat, bench, deadlift, etc. that use several muscle groups simultaneously), and accessory movements that hone in on specific muscle groups to further develop strength and address weaknesses.
A key element here is progressive overload (increasing the intensity, load, or volume over time) and periodization (we’ll go into that more later). This is especially important for athletes who have been training for a while and need to constantly challenge their muscles to prevent training plateaus. This means keeping track of your sets, reps, and weight each week to ensure you are building week on week.
It’s no secret that many hybrid athletes are very strong runners – and they do it looking jacked AF. Running is probably the most minimal equipment sport you can get, and it’s extremely versatile, allowing you to tap into different heart zones and train for speed or endurance. Whilst the former centers around maximizing velocity over shorter distances (think: sprints, intervals, anaerobic work), the latter builds the capacity to maintain the pace for longer periods (think: long-distance runs and aerobic training).
Aerobic training was previously thought to inhibit strength gains. However, research has proved that cardio can support muscle growth and function, increasing overall fitness levels and reducing the risk of injury [1] [2]. Hybrid athletes practice both speed and endurance running disciplines, which, therefore, has positive benefits for both strength and functional training, which we’ll discuss next.
Functional training refers to exercises that improve muscle strength, balance, and mobility for the activities of daily life. This type of training does not focus specifically on training muscle groups but rather on movements that mimic what we do in everyday life – e.g., kettlebell swings, box jumps, or farmer’s carries [3] [4]. Training these movements develops core stability, balance, coordination, speed, and power – all of which are extremely transferrable to other sports and will make you a more well-rounded athlete.
A well-rounded hybrid athlete training program will include some aspect of flexibility or mobility work, both of which are essential for improving form and preventing injury [5] [6].
This can be incorporated in several ways, including:
During the warm-up: Perform dynamic stretching (active movements that stretch the muscles to full ROM) to increase flexility and reduce stiffness [7]. These should be specific to the programmed exercise in the workout.
In between sets: Long rest periods? Inter-set stretching further mobilizes the body and can enhance muscle thickness and strength [8]. For example, you could perform leg swings in between squats or during overhead press sets, PVC pass-throughs, taking a wide grip on a PVC pipe, locking out arms, and moving the pipe overhead, behind you, and then back to the front to mobilize the shoulders.
Post-workout: Passive stretching (stretches that are held for 15-60 seconds) is used immediately following a workout to reduce muscle stiffness and increase ROM [9].
Foam Rolling: This can be performed as part of the warm-up (to improve performance and flexibility) or post-workout to reduce muscle pain sensation [10].
Taking part in a focused mobility session, e.g., a yoga class, has been shown to enhance strength and flexibility and reduce stress [11].
When you’re in a routine and eager to make progress, it can be tempting to skip rest days. But this final element of hybrid training is just as important, and should not be skipped. Rest and recovery are essential for alleviating muscle pain and soreness, injury prevention, and repairing and building muscles [12].
Rest & recovery falls into two categories:
Short-term recovery (occurs in the hours following exercise, e.g., cooling down properly, stretching, and getting enough sleep).
Long-term recovery (longer recovery periods build into an exercise program, e.g., a planned rest day or a deload week – where the load, intensity, and/or volume of training is lowered for a week to allow for recovery).
When building your hybrid athlete training program, it is essential to allow sufficient time for recovery between workouts and to plan scheduled rest days. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) suggests that athletes who engage in high-intensity exercise should schedule a rest day every seven to 10 days, but this isn’t a hard and fast rule, and we would recommend at least one dedicated rest day per week.
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3 Steps To Building A Hybrid Athlete Training Program
So we know the key disciplines of our hybrid athlete program, but how do we go about training all of them at once? Let’s break it down. Here are our three steps to building a program.
1. Set Your Goals
Remember the old saying ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’? Don’t be fooled into thinking that because hybrids train across disciplines, they have a goal to be the best at each. You aren’t going to be running as fast as Usain Bolt or deadlifting like Eddie Hall – but you could get fairly good at both.
The best way to approach your hybrid program is to set one main goal. One of the best things about hybrid training is that it’s flexible – there aren’t any set rules. What do you enjoy the most? What do you want to improve on?
If you love running and want to improve your 10K time, then prioritize that and structure your strength sessions around improving your running (think: lunges, squats, calve raises). If you’re chasing a heavier back squat, then program your squats at the start of your workouts, on a day when your legs aren’t fatigued (have you ever tried testing your 1 rep max back squat after running 10K? We don’t recommend doing so). Yes, as a hybrid athlete, you are training across multiple disciplines, but by having one main overarching goal, your plan will have structure and purpose.
2. Decide Training Frequency
How often can you train? Being realistic from the start will help you stick to your plan, so don’t overpromise here!
Studies have found that for maximum muscle growth, major muscle groups should be trained at least twice a week, while aerobic exercise is recommended 4-5 days a week [13] [14]. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, hybrid programs often combine both disciplines within a single workout, with some heavy strength training followed by high-intensity functional fitness exercises. Others prefer to split the training into separate days. For example, you might do a heavy strength session on Monday and endurance training on Tuesday.
The key here is finding balance in your training and being realistic. Don't forget to plan in time for rest and recovery, too—rest days give your muscles time to repair and recover, helping you avoid injury and ultimately come back stronger.
3. Periodization & Progressive Overload
So you’ve decided what you want to train and how often, but that still leaves a big unanswered question – how do you organize your sessions?
In order to make progress, it's important to continually challenge yourself. This means keeping track of your workouts and progressively overloading by varying the reps, weights, or sets each week to continually avoid reaching a plateau and continue making progress.
Splitting your training into cycles can help achieve this by focusing long-term on your overarching goal and planning weekly sessions that build towards it. For example, you may have a goal of competing in Hyrox in 9 months (this is referred to as your macrocycle—your long-term goal). This macrocycle could then contain 3 mesocycles spanning three months, each focusing on a different discipline that works towards the overarching macrocycle goal. For example:
Mesocycle 1: Aim of increasing maximum strength.
(May include 2x lower / upper body split strength workouts each)
Mesocycle 2: Aim of increasing strength and muscular endurance.
(May include higher volume, functional strength movements, mimicking that of Hyrox, e.g., wall balls and sandbag lunges. You may also include a deload week, which is a programmed phase of lower intensity or training volume.)
Mesocycle 3: Aim of increasing aerobic engine
(May include speed work, such as interval runs, combined with longer, steady runs in zone 2/3 heart rate.)
(Note: This is just an example and will vary greatly depending on your goal and current training level.)
Periodization training cycles can be quite complex to understand. Luckily, you don't need to fully understand it because The Gymshark Training App does the hard work for you with pre-made hybrid training plans–so you can focus on training and let our coaches do the programming for you with 3, 5, or even 6-day hybrid training programs.
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Are You Ready To Become A Hybrid Athlete?
It's the type of training everyone's talking about. And now you know exactly what it is and how to build your own hybrid athlete training program – well, almost. We know it may seem complicated at first, but just remember the most important rule: Hybrid training is flexible – that’s the beauty of it! There’s no real right or wrong, but as long as you focus on progressively overloading your body each week, you will start to see results.
Start Your Hybrid Training Program With The Gymshark Training App
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WRITTEN BY: Alex Kirkup-Lee
Alex is an inhouse Content Writer for Gymshark’s Health & Conditioning categories. A qualified Personal Trainer, CrossFit Level 1 and Functional Fitness Coach, Alex is experienced in training clients from a range of sporting backgrounds. With a passion for functional training, her favorite workout is anything that includes deadlifts, rowing, or wallballs.
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References:
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