Hybrid Training

What is is, what it isn't, what to pay attention to, and how to do it.

*If you’re already convinced of my expertise on this topic, feel free to scroll to the What and How sections.

Hybrid training is seemingly at an all-time high in terms of notoriety and public discourse. The concept is novel to some, but is a well-worn path for others. Hybrid training and specific training sit on either end of the spectrum and I’ve toggled between both for the last 25 years or so. The peak of my specific athleticism was probably between 2002 and 2012, when I was largely a one-sport athlete (rowing) and competed at two Olympic games. Prior to that I rowed, but also played rugby and skied at a reasonably high level as a junior. Weight training, running, cycling and other forms of cross-training complemented these sports throughout this period.

After the 2012 Olympics I flirted with the idea of another Olympic quadrennium, but ultimately decided to continue my athletic pursuits on my own terms. In 2013 I was half of the 2-man team that broke the 24 hour indoor rowing, but I was also beginning to lean into my first love - lifting weights. Given that I was paid by the government to row it seemed prudent to focus on being the best I could in that domain, which required that I relatively deemphasize work in the gym. My strength was my strength, so it made sense at the time to pay more attention to the endurance and technical aspects that would amplify my capacity as an oarsman.

Hybrid Barbarian Training

Post 24 hour record I didn’t want to spend much time on the rowing machine at low intensity, but I was eager to run and enthusiastic about lifting more earnestly. When rowing, not only did I not focus on getting stronger, but I was also unable to gain any size as efficiency was the priority. With that no longer the case I was able to train to get strong and to let my mass be what it wanted to be. Accordingly, as I leaned into my natural abilities, I got bigger, stronger and my running gradually got slower!

Because I no longer had any teammates or coaches I was free to experiment with my training for the first time in a long time. I achieved lifetime bests in the gym, but was also doing a fair amount of cardio on the Schwinn Airdyne and had started to reintegrate some work on the RowErg. It was during this time I coined the phrase Hybrid Barbarian Training to describe what I was doing. I won’t say that I created the concept of hybrid training, but I hadn’t heard it before and I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere prior to this (2014). To me, hybrid meant concurrent and non-complementary. The barbarian element sounded cool and reflected the wild and combative nature of my approach.

Eventually I dropped the running as the juice didn’t feel worth the squeeze, but I started to notice that I was getting way more performance on the erg with less volume and more strength. When I achieved my lifetime best for 2000m (5:49) I was three years out of the elite system and none of my erg sessions were longer than 30 minutes. I lifted weights, did my aerobic volume on the Airdyne, a fair amount of yoga, lots of walking and specific sessions on the erg. Later that year I broke the 1000m SkiErg world record with a similar approach.

I spent 6 weeks preparing for the SkiErg 1k and haven’t properly touched the machine since. The purpose of that block of training was a lower-stakes research mission for the 1000m RowErg World Record, which would be a bigger mountain to climb. In order to set the psychological tone I shed some of the #hybridbarbariantraining connections because although the goal would involve a hybrid preparation, I was singularly focused on that specific objective.

Realistically, the training was just as hybrid as it had been, and the distinction was more to do with creating my own sufficient focus rather than any great evolution in specificity. I still kept doing the Airdyne, the yoga, the walking, the specific ergs and was as strong as I ever had been. I eventually broke the 1k WR and applied the same methodology to 500m World Record, where I ended up falling short and was only the second fastest ever at that time.

After this time, as I’d gotten stronger, and with 20+ years straight of erging under my belt, I delved more into powerlifting as my competitive outlet. Nonetheless, I never fully left the hybrid way of life as I also climbed literal mountains and pursued various other adventures on foot. Currently I am pursuing a 300kg deadlift AND sub-3-hour marathon. All of which is to say, I know hybrid training better than most.

What is Hybrid Training and What Is not?

What constitutes Hybrid Training is a matter of opinion, and this is mine. Hybrid training is the concurrent development of divergent energy systems in the pursuit of non-complementary goals. The textbook example of hybrid training is training for, and having specific aspirations in, both strength and endurance. A key element is that the simultaneous training of differing attributes limits the optimal expression of either. Hybrid training is a compromise and the extent of that compromise is up to the athlete. A person could pursue strength more than endurance, or vice versa - both are hybrid.

What isn’t hybrid training? This may surprise some and not others - Hyrox is not hybrid. A person may choose to train kinda-hybrid for Hyrox, but the event itself (and training specifically for it), is not. Hyrox is roughly a 60 minute effort. Like a 60 minute run, it is aerobic. The modalities within Hyrox that may appear as strength - the sled stuff, burpee broad jumps, farmers carries, sandbag lunges and wall balls - they all occur within the context of an aerobic event and are therefore aerobic. Lactate tolerance and aerobic efficiency are larger limiters than strength despite these modalities being strength-limited in other circumstances.

So, some people believe that certain activities are hybrid that aren’t. Others have issue with the term itself. They believe that hybrid training is “just training” or “being an athlete”. But what about a baseball players? They’re an athlete. They train. Are they hybrid? They are not. Rugby players are an interesting paradigm. They run, they lift weights, they do skill work. They certainly have non-complementary elements in their preparation. The main differentiator is their goals. They are not divergent. They are not in conflict. A cyclist must be very aerobically fit and sufficiently strong - just the same as rowers, runners, cross-country skiers and lots of other athletes. Their training, while varied, is a means to an end and not the end itself.

If anything General Physical Preparedness (GPP) is the closest thing to hybrid training, but it’s still not the same thing. The distinction is that GPP is aimed at the general development of various elements, usually as part of a phased approach that culminates in more specific training and eventually, performance execution. If GPP were pursued in perpetuity the difference then becomes the lack of divergent goals. GPP is focused on the concurrent development of various traits which differs from the deployment of those traits in competition.

The discussion of what is and isn’t hybrid training is nuanced, but it’s also boring. I’d rather have skipped straight to the how-to, but I see this conversation fucked up repeatedly online, so it was worth clarifying.

How to Hybrid

Some important concepts to understand when thinking about and executing hybrid training are as follows.

Some training sessions you need to be more fresh for than others

For most hybrid athletes their training will fall into 3 buckets. Strength, aerobic and specific training based on their goals (a marathon will require different specific sessions as compared to a mile). The aerobic sessions you can arrive with some amount of fatigue, whereas the strength and specific sessions ought to be done in a relatively fresh state. I say relatively because as part of the training process there’s almost always an amount of ongoing fatigue, but within the microcycle there are times when there is more fatigue than others.

I often see training arranged in a way that does not observe this reality, which impacts the ability for the athlete to develop certain attributes. For example, a solid T2/T3 session in the morning and a strength session in the afternoon. That strength session is almost certainly in a sub-standard state. I’m not saying sub-optimal - hybrid training in always sub-optimal - I’m saying that training organized in this way limits the ability of the athlete to properly train their strength and therefore express it. What is common is that these athletes typically do a sufficient amount of strength work, but they generally don’t get any stronger.

The consolidation of stressors

Because certain sessions require that we be relatively more recovered than others it behooves us to be mindful of when in the microcycle we create stress and when facilitate recovery. One of the challenges of hybrid training is that there’s only so many times in the week we can go properly hard, and yet a certain amount of hard sessions may be required in the pursuit of multiple goals.

The only workaround is to stack some of your harder training elements together, not because it’s ideal, but because it’s the best option of the available compromises. For example, you could do a heavy lifting session that leads into a specific performance session. If done correctly the lifting serves as a warm-up and provides some Post Activation Potentiation (PAP). You’d have to be mindful of the lifting volume and include only what’s needed, but that’s part of the hybrids equation no matter how you slice. Things to avoid here would be too much hypertrophy work. You don’t want to deplete glycogen too much and chasing strength. hypertrophy and a specific endurance goal is a little too much to ask unless you’re fairly untrained.

Some interferences are worse than others

Post lifting you can include most things - be it endurance work, specific work, yoga or anything low-intensity. The obvious consideration is that some of these options are more demanding than others and require both additional willpower and nutrition. There’s also additional compromises. Doing any form of conditioning post-weights likely compromises strength and power development, but as I’ve discussed, being hybrid is about compromise.

Weighted aspirations and individual deficiencies

What hybrid goals you want to pursue are up to you, as is how you pursue them. What’s also true is that the value you place on any particular goal is specific to your preferences. Additionally, your relative strengths and deficiencies will influence how you pursue those goals. For example, my current goals of a 300kg deadlift and sub 3 hour marathon — for me the marathon is a greater stretch than the deadlift. I still have to observe the above training principles, but I also need to arrange training in a way that leans more toward improving my running relative to my deadlift.

Take a classic hybrid goal. A 500lb squat and sub-5 minute mile. Two people could have this goal and yet prepare for it in different ways because one is more inherently strong in the squat and other in the run. The implications are that you need to pay attention to your strengths and your relative distance from each goal.

What This Looks Like For Me Currently

*As always, my training is subject to change and viable for ongoing tinkering. I’ve tried many variations of this recently, but keep coming back to a some variation of this microcycle.

**SS = steady state

Monday - 1) Secondary deadlift session 2) A shorter, moderate run or x-training

Tuesday - 1) Run at faster than target pace 2) SS cardio/x-training

Wednesday - 1) Lower-limb strength & SS echo bike 2) Rucking 3) Hot yoga

Thursday - 1) Active recovery

Friday - 1) Primary deadlift session 2) A shorter, moderate run or x-training

Saturday - 1) Run at slower than target pace (tempo, intervals or long run) 2) SS cardio 3) Steady state echo bike

Sunday - 1) Active recovery

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I don’t love writing conclusions as I’ve already said what I needed to say. What I will add is a thank you. Thank you for reading and for supporting my work. I hope it helps inform your perspective and amplifies your ambitions. If you believe my writing may be of value for others - please share it. I want to spread the good word, and more readers helps support my writing.