How to train for strength and endurance

Yes, it can be done. But it’s not easy.Perhaps you have an interest in participating in both types of sports. Or, maybe you play a sport which requires it like hockey or rugby. Regardless of your reasons, knowing how to train for both gets a little trickier as we are asking for two opposing physiological systems to improve simultaneously.Let’s look at some things you need to consider when training for both.

Concurrent Training

Training for strength and endurance at the same time is known as “concurrent training”. The fact that it has an actual term should make you feel better in knowing that this is something athletes actually do.First thing is to understand that you will sacrifice some progress on both ends when training for both. However, you can still progress, just at a slower rate. A meta-analysis on concurrent training found that hypertrophy, strength, and power can all be improved significantly more than when just doing endurance alone, yet less than just doing strength alone.The second thing to understand is that you will need to choose your primary interest and/or which one is more important for you to develop. This will help with deciding what one to focus on. Whatever training variable is more important should always have priority.The third thing to understand is that generally speaking, endurance athletes will get more benefits from strength training rather than the other way around.

Order Of Training

Ideally, you can completely separate your training sessions so that they do not interfere with one another. An example would be doing your strength training in the morning and your endurance training in the evening.There are still things to consider. If your main focus is strength, it is always good to schedule your strength training before your endurance training. This is true if you must do them in the same session or can spread them out throughout the day.  Studies have shown that performing strength training before endurance training is much more advantageous as there is less of a detrimental effect to either variable.This makes sense if we consider that performing endurance before strength training will greatly fatigue the muscle and damage it, causing a decrease in strength training performance. Still, some endurance coaches will even use strength training before endurance training as a plan to pre-fatigue the muscles.If endurance is your main focus, it is reasonable to think that order is less of a concern. Some studies show that performing circuit training after endurance could even yield better results. However, it is important to note that I have only seen studies with this using circuit training, and not true maximal strength training.Further, some studies have suggested doing endurance training in the morning to take advantage of fasted training. If you are attempting to improve fat oxidation and your body's ability to use fats for fuel in a fasted state, morning endurance training a must. This falls back to what I spoke of earlier as to choosing what your main goal is.Depending on your program split, if you must your sessions are on the same day, a good idea is to do your endurance training on the same days as your upper-body strength days. This is pretty obvious as to why, but studies have shown that there is more interaction with lower body performance than upper body.

Type of Endurance Training

If the mode of endurance training is not a factor, it may be wise for you to stay away from running. Running has been found to be more detrimental to strength improvements when compared to other modes such as cycling.One of the reasons for this is more muscle damage is accrued from long distance running. The other is that modes such as cycling and rowing have higher muscle recruitment which may transition better to strength development.Therefore, pick a mode of endurance training such as cycling, rowing, or swimming if you are able to. Studies, such as this one, that used low-velocity rowing have found endurance training to have no interference with strength gains.

Duration

Endurance training for a prolonged amount of time can greatly increase the amount of stress your body is put under. When strength is your main goal, keep your endurance training to the minimal amount of time required to get the job done. If improving VO2max is simply the goal, use other available modes of training that may not require the same amount of time, such as interval training such as HIIT. An example of 3 running endurance sessions could look likeDay 1: Faster medium distance (4k)Day 2: Interval training (100m repeats)Day 3: Long session (10k)

Fueling

Eat and drink…a lot! This is especially true in between sessions. To minimize the interaction of the two, you must be adequately fueled. Even when not doing concurrent training, going into a training session dehydrated or with depleted glycogen stores will diminish your performance. This will result in a lack of progress. The risk of being inadequately fueled is exaggerated when participating in concurrent training. Therefore, be sure to follow your proper hydrating and fueling protocols in between sessions AND after your last session.

Remember Your Goals

Concurrent training is a viable means for training. In fact, the vast majority if professional athletes use it to some extent. Keep some of the above variables in mind and you’ll improve. Just keep in mind what your end goals are. You are not training to lift the heaviest deadlift or run the fastest marathon. You are trying to improve your athletic performance and concurrent training is a great way to do just that.If you need more help or guidance for your goals right now, let us help you so you can reach your goals faster! Set up a Succes Session here!