Stop Choosing Between Strength and Conditioning
Workout of The Week
If you can only train a couple hours per week then you need to maximize the intent of every exercise you’re doing. Stack your joints in proper position, feel the movement properly, and load it heavy enough to drive adaptation.
The template is simple.
Do something athletic, lift something heavy, get a nasty pump, jack up your heart rate, go home and recover.
A lot of fitness advice online is geared soley to muscle gain and disregards cardiovascular and neurological adaptations. Having a larger network of mitochondria and capillaries, jumping higher, and sprinting faster isn’t just important for a competitive athlete.
If you want to improve your odds of not just living longer, but living a high quality life into old age, it’s imperative to train the cardiovascular and nervous system. Hybrid training accomplishes this goal by combining all these adptations into a single session so you can reap benefits beyond just muscle gain.
How To Structure A Session
Athletic
Jumps, bounds, hops, plyometrics, throws, sprints
Heavy
Compound lift for 1 to 6 reps
Pump
6 to 12 reps, chase the pump, get in some volume
Conditioning
Jack up the heart rate
Giant sets or circuits
Recovery
Eat, sleep, mobilize
The Workout
Below you’ll find some examples of workouts designed with this structure.
Upper Body
Warmup
A1. Band Dislocate 2 x 10
A2. Band Pullapart 2 x 20
B1. Medicine Ball Rotational Throw 5 x 3 each side w/ 30 sec rest.
Warmup for bench and rows with warmups sets of 1 x 15, 1 x 12, 1 x 8 that build up to your 4 x 5-7.
Strength
A1. Bench Press 4 x 5-7
A2. Barbell Row 4 x 5-7
Hypertrophy
B1. Barbell Bench 3 x 10-12 60 sec rest
B2. Barbell Row 3 x 10-12 60 sec rest
B3. Dips 3 x 10-12 60 sec rest
B4. Barbell Curl 3 x 10-12 60 sec rest
Conditioning
12 Minute Assault Bike for max calories.
At minute 3, 6, and 9 do 25 pushups then hop back on the bike. Keep the clock running.
Recovery
6-8 oz of lean meat w/ salt (preferably a blend of sodium and potassium), 50-75g Carbs, Water, 5g Creatine
Lower Body
Warmup
A1. Bodyweight Squat 2 x 15
A2. Wide Stance Kettlebell Swing 2 x 15
B1. Broad Jumps (consecutive, as bounds) 8 x 3 every 40 seconds
Strength
A1. Work up to a heavy set of 5 pause squats in 15 minutes. Use a 22X0 tempo. Then, hit a backoff set of 20 reps with less weight.
Hypertrophy
B1. Romanian Deadlift 3 x 8-10 60 sec rest
B2. Hanging Leg Raise 3 x 15 Reps (accumulate them, rest as needed) 60 sec rest
Conditioning
Alternating E2MOM for 12 Min (every 2 min on the minute)
First 2 minutes: Kettlebell Complex
Complex: Kettlebell Clean x 1, Front Rack Lunge x 3, Front Rack Squat x 5
Next 2 Minutes: Jump Rope
Recovery
Deep Squat / Yoga Squat x 2:00
W Sit x 1:30
Hamstring Stretch (toe touch) x 1:00
Protein, carbs, water, all that good stuff.
Split Modifications
Strength & Hypertrophy Bias
Warmup 5-10 min
Strength 15-20 Min
Hypertrophy 15-20 min
Conditioning 10-15 min
Conditioning / Fitness Bias
Warmup 5-10 min
Strength 15-20 min
Hpertrophy 10-15 min
Conditioning 15-20 min
Conditioning Finishers
There are ways to make finishers or conditioning into a system. However if your goals are general, just set a timer for 10, 12, or 15 min and just hit it. Have fun designing these, I’m a nerd so i like coming up with circuits and conditioning finishers. Here are a few you could try.
