This free 12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program is a continuation of my very popular beginner hybrid training series. In all my years of experience, I’ve found that it takes about 3 months to make a big change to your fitness, especially when combining cardio and lifting. This portion of the training program will bring the total program length to 3 months, effectively completing the hybrid training cycle. Keep reading for more.
As I alluded to, this is a continuation of the 6 Week Beginner Hybrid Training program. Just like that program, I’ve included a free PDF download for this portion of the training cycle. I highly recommend starting with the first 6 week section.
Like most new hybrid athletes you need to work on building your aerobic base, with a lot of Zone 2 work. The first 6 weeks of the program does exactly that. In this second 6 weeks, we work on building muscle mass, as well as more anaerobic conditioning. Take a look at the overview below.
12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program: Overview
- Fitness Goals: Build top end endurance, and generate muscle growth
- 4 sessions per week, with an optional 5th conditioning workout
- Requires safe form on standard compound lifts like: Squat, Bench, Deadlift
- Can be done with any type of cardio
- Ideal transition plan to an intermediate hybrid program
This isn’t a complicated program to execute, but there is quite a lot of thought behind it. One of the biggest challenges in writing a great hybrid training fitness plan, is to manage volume, so you can make progress with resistance training, and with your endurance work.
In the next section I’m going to cover some general tips that will help you find success with this program. I will also explain some of the reasoning behind it, so you know what to expect. If you like awesome fitness programs, and tactical training, then you should join the email list below. We’ll send you the latest articles, plus a few bonus guides on fat loss, and gaining strength.
Hybrid Training Tips
If you’ve done any of my other training programs you know that I like to leave a lot of flexibility in scheduling the workouts. I’ve found that most athletes can reliably hit the gym 4 times per week. While serious athletes can do 5 times per week. This is why I favor 4 and 5 day splits.
The 12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program, is designed to allow you to accomplish these workout as you like. You have a minimum of 4 workouts that you need to get done in any 7 day period. If you have the time and energy, you can add in the 5th conditioning session. Next we’ll talk about workout frequency.
Hybrid Training Workout Frequency
The most important consideration for Hybrid athletes is the frequency of workouts, as well as the sequencing. Research shows, time and again, that heavy weights should generally precede cardio. Moreover, you can make faster progress with your specific goal of strength and hypertrophy, if you separate your cardio from your weight training, by a minimum of 4 hours.
I recommend trying to do two workouts a day, one to two times per week. This will allow for adequate rest. I also encourage you to plan your rest days a week in advance. This program does not mandate rest days. I simply want you to work the program sequentially, getting the 4-5 workouts done in a 7 day period. Next, let’s talk about some nutrition tips.
Nutrition for Hybrid Athletes
The hybrid approach requires that you get the right nutrition. Specifically, you need to eat a lot of carbohydrates. While you can use this program for weight loss, I think you’re better off focusing on increasing your performance. This means you should eat at maintenance levels or above.
Check out this nutrition article, for some great info on eating like an athlete. You can also download this calculator to get an idea of how much to eat. In general you should eat about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, favoring animal sources of protein. Next, eat around 60-90 grams of fat.
The remainder of your calories will be carbs. This is a number you’ll have to play with to get right. Ideally you’ll maintain your weight or very slightly increase it across the final 6 weeks of this hybrid training plan. The best way to get a more in depth estimate is to check out the calculator. Next we’ll cover some recovery tips.
Recovery Tips for Hybrid Training
In all my years of coaching, I’ve only found a few reliable methods, backed by research, to aid in your recovery. Nutrition, and sleep will always be the biggest factors within your control. Focus on those first.
Once you get a handle on them, you can focus on these recovery methods, that are less important. First, you should end each workout with 10min of walking, cycling, or other low impact cardio, at an easy Zone 1 pace. If you’re note sure about training heart rate zones, head back to the first 6 weeks of this program, for a refresher.
Secondly, you can engage in hyperventilation breathing on big sets of compound movements. Research shows you can increase your reps by about 30% if you do this correctly . Check this article out for tips on that.
Lastly you can wear exercise tights, during, and after workouts. Research shows that you can decrease delayed onset muscle soreness, and get back to full function more quickly. Check out this article for info on that topic.
Moreover, I would advise against any ice baths, or cold therapy. The research is clear, it drastically limits your ability to build muscle, because of its inflammation blunting response. Check this article out for the full story on cold therapies. In my opinion, you should only do this when you don’t care about building muscle or strength, such as a big competitive event.
Now that we’ve covered some important preliminary info on nutrition, recovery, and workout scheduling, let’s get to the 12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program. Don’t forget to download your free PDF below.
Click Here to Download the Free 12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program PDF
Free 12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program
The weight room portion of this program is fairly clear. For most movements I have you select the weight by using the reps in reserve method. This allows you to pick a weight which generates the stimulus your muscles need. Don’t be afraid to go a little heavier or lighter, depending on how you’re feeling that day.
For your cardio, you should continue on with what you were doing in the first 6 weeks of this program. This will allow you to build efficiency with this movement. I highly recommend cycling, or assault bike. Read this article, or this one, for the full reasons why.
In general, I find them to provide a great cardiovascular benefit, with limited interference with weight lifting. I would also ask you to read through all weeks of the program, as I cover different aspects of the lifts, and cardio on each week. Let’s get to the first week of this cycle.
If you want a really awesome follow on hybrid athlete program to this then you’ll find that below.
12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program: Week 7
If you’ve completed the first 6 weeks of this program the overall layout will look familiar. In session 25 we start with dumbbell bench press, and follow up with weighted pull ups for the upper body. You can substitute strict pull ups for these if you can’t yet do weighted pull ups. You can also check out this article on increasing your pull up strength for future training sessions.
After the primary lifts, you then switch to accessory work, with the close grip bench press, and EZ bar biceps curl. Again, you could use a straight bar if no EZ curl bar is available. Check out this article on making substitutions, and modifications to workouts.
For the cardio you will start with 40min in Zone 2. You’ll then increase to 10 min in Zone 3. Remember Zone 3 is just fast enough that you can’t nasal breath. You’ll finish the cardio with 5 min at max effort in Zone 5.
As a reminder, you need to separate the cardio from the lifting by 4 hours. You can do the lifts or the cardio in the morning and then the other in the afternoon. Let’s get to the next week.
12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program: Week 8
Session 30 is a heavy lower body day. I have you starting out with the good old barbell back squat, and the sumo deadlift. Make sure to take several minutes of rest between those challenging sets. You’ll also notice that this week should be heavier than last week, leaving 1 rep left in the tank.
Once you finish the primary lifts, you will finish with a banded KB swing. This is where you stand on an elastic band to anchor it to the ground. This allows you to put a lot of energy into the kettlebell. It’s a great power exercise for athletic performance.
You’ll finish the workout with Abwheel rollouts. You can substitute barbell rollouts with smaller plates if you like. Go from your knees and really challenge yourself. Let’s get to week 9.
12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program: Week 9
This week we start to touch on max effort sets, with some as heavy as possible sets (AHAP). If we look at session 35 we see that we start with seated barbell shoulder press. I’ve found this to be great way to work the shoulders quite hard. You’ll follow that up with T-bar row. You could substitute bent over barbell rows if no T-bar is available.
For the accessory work you have rear delt fly’s which can be done with dumbbells or cables. You’ll then finish the gym workout with biceps curls. You didn’t really think I would write a program without some curls did you?
For the cardiovascular fitness training, we will be working on sprint intervals. You’ll start with 30 minutes in Zone 2, followed by a 5min break. For the Tabata you will be doing 8 intervals at max effort with very short 10 second rests. If you’re cycling or assault biking its self explanatory.
If you’re running, I recommend doing this on a treadmill. Set the belt speed at your 5k race pace, and the incline at 10%. You will then hope on and off (carefully) to complete the intervals. If you’re running outdoors, you’ll need a really long hill. Let’s review week 10.
12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program: Week 10
This week marks a rotation of exercises. You’ll notice that we keep the same muscle groups on the same days, with a change in movements. If we take a look at session 44 you can see that it’s a big plyometric day. I include this type of training because combining cardio and strength training can impair your ability to produce power. Plyometrics help to combat this.
Make sure that you jump with max effort on each rep. If you’re new to plyos then I would recommend reading this article on them, and scaling them down. This will help you avoid injury.
Most athletes will choose to do the 90 min Zone 2 session on a separate day, but some of you will do it on the same day as the plyo work. Just make sure you’re separating the sessions by at least 4 hours. Now let’s cover the penultimate week of this program.
12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program: Week 11
This second to last week of the program is quite challenging. The weights are fairly heavy with low reps. Simultaneously, the cardio is very hard. By now you should be well acclimatized to this program, and I bet your conditioning is through the roof.
If we look at the cardio in session 41, we can see that the aerobic training Zone 2 session is brief, followed by a short rest. The main portion of the workout is the 5×4 min on / 4min off at 90% effort. This is a subjective feeling. Your power output should be whatever you feel like a 9 out of 10 is on that day.
Don’t go max effort for the first couple of intervals, otherwise your last two will be really challenging, and probably too slow. In a perfect world, each 4min interval would be the exact same as the last. Now let’s cover the last week.
12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program: Week 12
This is the last week of the program. You should expect that it’s also one of the most challenging. The weights are very heavy, and the conditioning is about a 60 / 40 split between aerobic capacity and anaerobic training. For the gym workout routine, it’s a good idea to maintain proper form. This will reduce your risk of injury, which tends to happen towards the end of a program. Let’s take a look at the cardiovascular conditioning on session 47.
This is still sprint interval training, with even shorter intervals. Just like the Tabata, I would recommend doing this on a treadmill with 10% incline if you’ve been running for cardio. Otherwise, you can do this as you did previously.
Lastly, we’ll look at those optional 5th sessions. These provide a potent Zone 5 stimulus. Don’t feel like you have to do these each week. If you find that you don’t have the time on some weeks feel free to skip it. Otherwise don’t be afraid to add these in.
Now that you’ve finished the last week of the 12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program, you need to find your next program. Wouldn’t you know it, that’s just what we’re covering in the next section.
Finding Your Next Program
It’s not secret I’ve written a lot of great programs. I also have a lot of premium programs that have even more information than I can add here. You’ll find things like coaches notes, percentages, and technique tips. You can find those program by clicking here.
The best follow on program to this is one is my most popular hybrid premium program. You can find that bellow.
Otherwise I would recommend checking out some of these programs. They are great follow on options after this hybrid program. Click around until you find something that matches your goals. Some workout programs focus more on functional fitness, where as others are more similar to this hybrid program.
Your Next Program
- 8 Week Hybrid Strength and Endurance Training Plan
- 12 Week Apex Hybrid Performance Program
- 6 Week Muscular Growth Program
- 8 Week Hybrid Hypertrophy Program
- 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program
We’ve covered a lot of information in this 12 Week Beginner Hybrid Athlete Training Program. In the last section I’m going to provide some good general advice to make sure you get the most out of this free training plan.
Final Thoughts
This program is challenging, so I give you kudos if you’ve finished it. I expect that you’ll have to modify portions of this program to fit your life. If you get it done with 90% accuracy you will see a great improvement in your endurance and strength training.
If you have any comments or questions about this hybrid fitness plan, then put them in the comments section. It allows other athletes to see the responses, and I can get you an answer quickly. Now get out there and get training. Don’t forget to join the email list below.
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Thank you! This is awesome
You’re one of the athletes I made this for. Enjoy!