If you’re curious about hybrid training but have no idea where to start, you’re in the right place. I’ve been hybrid training since 2018, and I’m here today to tell you exactly how to get started with hybrid training for your own fitness goals.
When it comes to hybrid training, the thing to know first is there’s no true definition of hybrid training. All it means is that you’re mixing together two or more modes of fitness in the same training program at the same time, with the goal of improving at all of those simultaneously or over time across a long period of time.
The reality of hybrid training is that you’re going to have to start thinking of your goals in macro or longer-scale progress than individual weeks of training where you’re executing both at the same time.
What Counts as Hybrid Training:
Right now in the sphere of hybrid training, it’s really trendy to think of it as combining resistance training (heavy weight training, bodybuilding, hypertrophy work, or any sort of strength work) with running and/or any other sort of cardiovascular or endurance forms of training. But it can apply to anything: cycling, swimming, triathlons, climbing, Hyrox, CrossFit—all those things can be dumped into the hybrid bucket as long as you’re combining two things at once in the same training program and trying to get better over time.
If you’re new to hybrid training, chances are you fall into one of these categories:
| Starting Point | Your Situation |
|---|---|
| True Beginner | Trying to get into hybrid training but has no idea how to start two different things at once |
| Experienced Lifter | Pretty strong, fit, and muscular, looking to actually add cardio into your program |
| Experienced Runner | Historically a runner looking at adding strength training to get stronger |
I want to let you know that hybrid training is here for all of you.
“Hybrid on Your Terms”: When I think of hybrid training, I think of it on a spectrum: all the pure lifters over here, the pure runners over here, and the pure hybrid people in the middle. But it’s okay if your version of hybrid deviates to one side or another. I believe in defining what hybrid means to you—maybe you want to be a little bit more of a runner or a little bit more of a lifter, but you want to still do these things in your training program.
When it comes to hybrid training, a lot of people want to start just slapping everything onto their training program at once. But for you, you have low capacity in both endurance and resistance training.
The Number One Thing to Focus On:
Resistance Training for Beginners:
This will look like simply getting into the gym 2-3 days per week and starting to do some formal resistance training, focusing on getting stronger and/or gaining muscle—but mostly gaining the skill and improving at simply moving well and better in the gym.
Strength is largely neuromuscular, which means it’s going to feel kind of wobbly and wonky at first. Gaining that skill and then gaining that strength and muscle base on top of that will set you up for success to actually refine and improve that over time.
Cardiovascular Training for Beginners:
| Variable | Beginner Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 2-4 days per week |
| Duration | 20-30 minutes at a time |
| Intensity | Mostly zone 2, maybe zone 3 moderate intensity work |
| Type | Steady-state continuous activity to start gaining baseline aerobic fitness |
| Progression | Mix in some light intervals as you progress, but don’t start with those |
Managing Your Fitness “Bucket”:
The reality is both resistance training and cardio will be fatiguing on you, and your overall bucket of fitness—what you can pull from your baseline—is a lot lower at this point in time. You might have to do less of both before you can do more of both and build that over time. Don’t feel defeated if you can’t do a ton of training sessions per week at the volume, intensity, or difficulty level of people who are further along. You will get there with time.
Starting point: Start with maybe 2 and 2 days per week and build yourself to 3 and 3 from there. The 3 and 3 split is the most general population-friendly hybrid split out there, and it works really well for all people.
Listen, I am you. I drank the Kool-Aid that “cardio kills gains.” I was the powerlifter whose VO2 max tanked, could barely run 2 miles without having to stop and breathe heavy. Even as someone who grew up being an endurance athlete, I was you at one point in time.
I’m Here to Tell You: You’re going to have to put the strength and lifting ego to the side for a little bit to dedicate some time to actually developing aerobic fitness.
The Key Strategy: Pull Back Your Lifting
The biggest thing is that you need to pull back your lifting during this time. Take 100% of what you can give in any given week, session, or day and pull that back to maybe 70-80% of what you’re currently doing while you’re adding in that cardio training.
| Why This Is Necessary | What to Expect |
|---|---|
| Cardio will be fatiguing | Your strength might feel impacted for a bit |
| It will be extra volume on your plate | Give it time for adaptation to take place |
| You’ll need more recovery | Once adapted, you can increase cardio OR bring lifting back up |
Programming Changes for Lifters:
This might mean for a short period of time—maybe 3, 6, 9, or 12 months depending on how low your aerobic fitness is—you really spend time dedicated to focusing intentionally on getting better in that cardiovascular training. If you’re lifting 4-6 days per week, pull back to 3-5 days. Consider moving from bodybuilding splits to full body, push/pull, or upper/lower splits. Keep sessions high quality but make space for cardio demands.
Cardio Progression for Lifters:
If you have a very low base of aerobic fitness, start with 20-30 minute sessions of low to moderate intensity steady-state cardio to build up that fitness base. If you have a decent bit of training history (maybe you’ve done CrossFit, metcons, or have athletic history), you might be able to start adding some high-intensity functional fitness and interval training sooner.
The 80/20 approach: Think about doing most of your sessions in that moderate to easy range each week and having one quality session as you’re building up that base.
My endurance junkies, my runners—you guys are the opposite. You have an amazing endurance base and can run, cycle, swim, do all the cardio sessions all the time. But when it comes to the gym, you’re fatigued, tired, sore, and can’t keep up with it.
The same advice I gave to my lifters applies to you, but in reverse: you have this amazing aerobic base, but you may need to pull back on how much volume and cardiovascular training you’re actually doing in order to make space to do the strength training.
The One-Year Commitment:
My advice for most people in this bucket is to spend at least one solid year truly dedicated to gaining strength and/or muscle or the skill in the gym. This means you don’t have to stop running or doing the endurance activities you love, but you may need to pull it back or simply decrease the volume temporarily so you can make space for that strength training.
Why Strength Training Matters for Runners:
The amazing thing about hybrid training is if you spend time building strength and/or muscle, it’s a lot easier to maintain that through future running or endurance training or high cardiovascular seasons in training.
The reality is most people we’re idolizing for being amazing hybrid athletes started with tremendous strength bases—that’s why they’re muscular and/or strong while still doing all these incredible endurance-based things. They have that already established, and it’s a lot easier to maintain fitness than it is to gain it.
| Programming for Runners | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Lifting frequency | Start with 2-3 days per week (maybe going up to 4) |
| Sweet spot | Three days per week is truly ideal for this |
| Endurance adjustment | Pull back by a day or 20-30% overall volume and intensity |
| Progression | As you adapt to lifting, you can bring back endurance volume |
The biggest thing when it comes to hybrid training is that it’s always going to be almost this stepwise building of your fitness over time. You’re going to be slowly and incrementally improving on both or one of those, and so your fitness floor raises with time.
Building the Pyramid: Over time, you can slowly titrate through improving strength seasons and/or cardiovascular endurance training seasons, or raising that floor up over time so you can build up your pyramid: your base of strong aerobic fitness, strong lifting skill and strength base, muscularity, your ability to do volume and intensity, refining those both at the same time and climbing up the pyramid to the peak of hybrid training.
For all of you, you can make progress simultaneously in both of these for a very long period of time before you’re going to have to specialize in one or the other.
This is what I like to call strength and/or endurance seasons of training—cycling through different periods of time where you’re focused on specific goals if needed, and then you go into seasons of refining or improving or regaining or adding more strength, or simply trying to push both at the same time so they’re concurrently increasing and improving.
Important to Understand:
That acute period of fatigue or lack of fitness when you add something new is not a true physiological loss of strength or endurance. It’s just interference of the fatigue on your system from the new thing that you’re doing while doing hybrid training. But if you keep up with it and you keep doing it, your body will then adapt to that new thing you’re doing, and you’ll be able to do more in both long-term—and that is the goal of hybrid fitness.
The goal is not necessarily being perfect at each one in any given moment as you’re gaining fitness, but improving on your weaknesses over time so that across months and years of training, you are improving and refining your fitness so it can all come together in a more holistic way.
| Starting Point | Key Actions |
|---|---|
| True Beginners | Start with 2 and 2 days per week, build to 3 and 3. Focus on skill development and basic fitness. |
| Strength Athletes | Pull back lifting to 70-80%, add 2-4 days of cardio starting with steady-state, consider changing your lifting split. |
| Runners | Start with 2-3 days of lifting, pull back cardio volume by 20-30%, commit to at least one year of focused strength development. |
Remember: There’s no one-size-fits-all version of hybrid training. It really depends on who you are, your fitness status, the time you can give each week, and your overall baseline of fitness.
Last but not least, remember that at the end of the day, it doesn’t need to be that serious. Not all of us fall exactly in the middle of that spectrum where we’re trying to optimize both and do a sub-5-minute mile and a 600-pound deadlift.
We’re just regular people looking to train in a way that allows us to promote health and fitness and also be a little bit more variable and fun. Hybrid training is amazing because it allows you to have variety and you can flex your fitness to your goals and interests across time while still improving in strength, muscle gain, and cardiovascular fitness—all things that not only improve our overall fitness status but also our long-term health.
Resources:
Hybrid training is for everyone. Define what it means to you, start where you are, and build from there.
I’m Exercise Physiologist, sports nutritionist, weight lifter, and ultra runner. I am here to bring science to your training in a no-nonsense way. I have helped thousands of women crush big lifting goals, cross race finish lines, and even do both. I’m here to help you do the same!
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