There has been a lot of discussion how to combine cardio and strength training on the same day. This type of hybrid training has become very popular for obvious reasons. Who doesn’t want to be strong with great aerobic capacity? In this article we will review some practical methods of combining cardio and strength training to ensure that you build muscle mass, strength, and conditioning, in the most efficient manner possible. Keep reading for more.
Readers of this website will know that I’ve written quite a bit about weight training and aerobic exercise. However, I find that when I look for the latest research on this subject it seems to change. This is expected. As scientists conduct more studies, we begin to see a clearer picture of how to combine cardiovascular exercise and strength workouts, in order to reduce the dreaded interference effect.
For those of you new to combining cardio and strength training, the interference effect is the slowing of your muscle gains or strength gains, due to the addition of cardio training. For many years, coaches, and researchers, thought that combining these two types of exercise at all was a waste of time. Luckily research has clarified that there are certainly some do’s and don’ts when doing a cardio workout session and strength training together. Here are some key points below.
Key Points: Combining Cardio and Strength Training
- Strength training should generally precede cardio
- Better gains can be obtained when sessions are separated by 4 + hours
- Recent research indicates High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) running works well with lifting
- Hard to recover from training should be separated on different days
- Practical considerations in your training program are paramount
In the next portion of the article we will review some recent research on combining cardio and strength training. As you’ll see, it shows us some valuable methods to make sure that we build as much lean muscle mass, and explosive power as we can.
Before we take a look at the research, don’t forget to join the email list below. You’ll get the latest articles sent to you as soon as they’re released. I will also include my bonus muscle strength and weight loss guides.
Concurrent Training Research for Hybrid Athletes
In research parlance, combining cardio with strength training is called concurrent training. As I mentioned above, this has become a popular topic for researchers, and as a result, we’re finally getting some useful papers. In this article we will review a new piece of research entitled, “Comparative efficacy of concurrent training types on lower limb strength and muscular hypertrophy: A systematic review and network meta-analysis“
This study is a systematic review or meta-analysis. It’s a type of research paper that is of particular use to us, because the researchers have spent many hours reviewing and performing statistical analysis on all available research on a particular subject.
The goal of these researchers was to determine the effects of different types of cardio when paired with strength training. They paid particular attention to HIIT style running versus continuous cardio training. Moreover, they also compared running to cycling to see if one was superior to the other for muscle growth. Here are their results.
Different endurance training types have an impact on the effectiveness of concurrent training, particularly on lower limb strength. Adopting high-intensity interval running as the endurance training type in concurrent training can effectively minimize the adverse effects on lower limb strength and MCSA (muscle cross sectional area).
Comparative efficacy of concurrent training types on lower limb strength and muscular hypertrophy: A systematic review and network meta-analysis
I would encourage you to read the paper as there was a lot of detailed information that is useful to everyone, no matter your fitness level. It’s also important to note that there needs to be further research on certain topics to see which are the best practices for athletes in the real world.
In the next section I’m going to cover some more practical considerations on how to combine cardio and strength training in the same day. If you want a great hybrid program that takes the guess work out of combining cardio and strength training then check this out below.
Practical Considerations for Athletes
If you’ve read my other articles and hybrid training research you’ll know that while there may be disagreement about which training methods yield best results, there is quite a lot of agreement on other matters. That’s important for those looking to gain both cardiovascular fitness and muscle tissue.
I don’t want you to think that a certain type of training is always the best way to build muscular strength or generate higher aerobic performance. As you’ll see, there are quite a lot of ways to build a good training session.
Separation of Workout
As a coach and writer of fitness programs, I’ve found it best to separate your aerobic activity from your resistance training workouts. Most research indicates 2-6 hours is sufficient separation to nearly eliminate interference effects.
If you must combine these types of workouts into one session, lift first, then do your cardio. This increases interference somewhat, but it’s clearly superior to cardio then lifting.
Ideally, hard training sessions using similar muscles should be done on separate days. An example would be heavy deadlifts and sprint intervals. Both tax the legs and create muscle soreness. Either lift then run in the same session, or separate them by a day, for best results.
For novice hybrid athletes there is almost no interference effect when combining cardio and lifting in the same session, provided you lift first. As the athlete becomes more experienced, the interference effect increases, unless separation of workout types is implemented.
If you’re an intermediate or advanced athlete then you should try doing an AM / PM split otherwise known as double sessions. This will guarantee that you’re fresh for each type of workout. Next we’ll talk about total workload.
Total Workout Volume
This is really the most important thing for hybrid athletes. If you’ve read any of my other research reviews you know that higher training volumes almost always lead to better gains in fitness. This is true for aerobic capacity, muscle mass, and strength.
The problem for hybrid athletes, is that you do not have unlimited time, nor recovery capacity. This means you must be very careful when allocated your training time. It’s absolutely crucial that you have concrete fitness goals in mind when performing concurrent training. This is why.
You cannot realistically increase cardio volume and intensity, while lifting more, and heavier, in one training cycle. Sure a new athlete could, but if you’re intermediate or greater, then this will yield very little gains in either.
I always recommend that you pick a weakness and hammer that for a few months. For me, I’m much more advanced in my strength than I am in cardiovascular endurance. That means for cycles where I want to push my VO2 max or aerobic capacity, I only do enough lifting to maintain my muscle mass in a given strength session. That’s it.
This allows me to prioritize gains in an area I’m weakest, accomplishing my main goal. Because I don’t just want to do cardio for 2 years until it’s up to snuff, I will change my programming goal about once a quarter. I recommend the same thing for all my athletes. Now let’s talk about training intensity.
Concurrent Training Intensity
This is one area where experience as a coach matters, when creating a good program. The research we highlighted earlier in the article indicates that high-intensity interval training, via running, creates the least interference effect.
I’ve read other research that indicates that high heart rate running intervals also causes the most gains in VO2 max, and increases in fat loss. That seems to make it clear right? Just do hard sprints, and other running intervals to lose body fat, while increasing your metabolic rate. Not so fast!
If you’ve ever done hard interval training you know it’s about the most taxing type of training you can do. Furthermore, it leaves you very sore in the legs, requiring several days to recover muscle strength in those muscle groups.
How well do you think you can perform heavy squats after a hard sprint session? Moreover, you cannot perform much training volume at these high running intensities, compared to jogging. This is where the art of programming comes in.
The best endurance programs incorporate a lot of easy aerobic training year round. You cannot be a good endurance athlete without building up your overall aerobic capacity. If you just do hard anaerobic run intervals, you are completely neglecting this crucial portion of your fitness.
A good hybrid program has just enough volume, paired with the correct intensity, to meet the specific goal of the training cycle. This means that you will do things that might be sub optimal in terms of intensity, because you can build much more volume, which will drive your fitness higher, in the long term.
Now that we’ve covered some practical considerations on how to combine cardio and strength training on the same day. Let’s take a look at some of my best hybrid training programs that have taken care of this already.
Fitness Programs that Combine Cardio and Lifting
As I mentioned earlier, I have quite a few programs that combine cardio and strength training. If you’re new to hybrid training then I would recommend checking out my beginner programs like this one, or this one.
For those of you looking to gain strength and endurance, then the program below is clearly your best bet. It’s been one of my most popular hybrid programs for a few years now.
If you’re looking for a long term training series for hybrid training, then you should check out this training series. I’ve taken the liberty of sequencing my best hybrid programs in an order that makes sense to give you 36 weeks of hybrid programming. These programs are great for all types of training goals. Now let’s finish this article up.
Final Thoughts
As a research minded coach, and athlete, I think it’s very important to stay current on the latest scientific literature. This should certainly inform your exercise routine. However, it should not limit it.
As you’ve seen, there are times when your program might contradict the research but it actually works better because of the specific programming goal.
The bottom line is that I would rather have an athlete work hard with a good program, than someone who half asses a perfect program. In the end, your total time spent working hard will always be more important than the minutia of a single program. If you have any questions put them in the comments section below, and don’t forget to join the email list. Now get out there, and get training.
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