The Sprightly Spud

‘Hybrid’ is the ultimate buzzword at the moment. From cars to dog breeds to work schedules, there are very few people who haven’t started to blend things up in at least one part of their lives.

Of course, the fitness industry have jumped on the trend with gusto, and ‘Hybrid Training’ has been catapulted into the limelight. Influential figures such as Nick Bare, Fergus Crawley and Lucy Davis have all become household names amongst the fitness community, thanks to their pursuit of fitness goals, that involve a fusion of multiple disciplines

What Is It?

Basically, if you’re trying to build up your biceps, whilst also working towards your first half marathon, you’re probably a hybrid athlete. 

The overall idea is based on combining different training approaches in order to reap the benefits of both. This can be anything from callisthenics and cycling, to marathon running and CrossFit. In general, the training styles tend to include one strength based discipline and one endurance based one, but this is not a given. 

Alternatively, you could look at hybrid training as a way to negate the potential downsides of intensive effort in one area. It has been found, for example, that swimmers present lower bone mineral density than athletes who practise high impact sports, therefore also including a sport like CrossFit in a swimmer’s program (which will involve bone strengthening free weights and plyometrics movements), may benefit the athlete’s longevity in swimming, and their general health. 

Ultimately, the objective is to become the most ‘well – rounded’ athlete and human you can be. Balance is the key word.

What’s more, there is no requirement that you carry out both session styles on the same day, it’s totally ok to do back and bis on Monday, and a 10km run on Tuesday, so just because your developing a range of the components of fitness*, you don’t have to be grinding out 6 hours of training each day. 

*the components of fitness are the eleven health and skill related areas that comprise ‘fitness’; muscular endurance, strength, body composition, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness, speed, agility, coordination, power, balance and reaction time. 

The Benefits 

Aside from the aforementioned injury prevention and 

1. A holistic health approach

Are you ‘fit’ if you can deadlift twice your bodyweight, but cannot make it up the stairs without feeling breathless? 

Practicing multiple exercise disciplines is highly likely to lead to better general health and overall longevity, thanks to training multiple bodily systems. The basic NHS guidelines suggest completing ‘strengthening activities’, and a mix of moderate, vigorous and very vigorous bouts of movement, so a hybrid lifestyle would certainly seem like an ideal way of achieving this. 

By doing both cardio and strength training, you keep your heart healthy, whilst priming your muscles for all the strains of everyday life (lugging your shopping up eight flights of stairs, for example). 

2. A bit of everything 

Variety is the spice of life, in case you hadn’t heard. Personally, I am a sucker for mixing things up, and love giving new sports and activities a try. Hybrid training may allow you the opportunity to sample a whole range of activities that you enjoy, rather than focusing on just the one that you are best at, or have been doing for years. 

What’s more, constantly providing the body with different stimuli will help prevent the dreaded fitness plateau, by providing consistent progressive overload, and therefore facilitating all round progress in the gym.

3. A boredom buster

There comes a point when pounding the pavements in pursuit of a half marathon PB becomes slightly repetitive. So why not add some diversity, and start slipping in a Pilates class or two each week? Not only will this reinvigorate your fitness regime, but you could reap the flexibility, strength, muscle control and relaxation benefits attributed to this slower paced activity. Additionally, frequenting some group classes will inevitably help widen your social circle, combating the loneliness faced by many endurance athletes.

4. Improved body composition

Whilst aesthetics, muscle mass, or fat loss are by no means the primary goals of many fitness junkies, its perfectly acceptable to set targets around body composition and appearance. Endurance runners, for example, may crave the ample, toned glute muscles of the girls they see in the weights section, hence combining their typical training with heavy strength sessions may aid in achieving these aims. 

Furthermore, muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than fat tissues. Consequently, by those seeking a leaner physique may benefit from hybrid training, as it allows them to both increase daily expenditure through their increased cardio output (EAT), and boost their calories burned at rest (NEET), making fat loss more attainable. 

5. Efficiency 

For the majority of us, work schedules, day to day life and the need to sleep limit the amount of time we can realistically spend in the gym. Consequently, if your pursuit of athletic perfection involves a 32km run and 2hr legs session on the same day, you may not be targeting a sustainable fitness regime. 

Hybrid workouts (think Hyrox), however, which roll cardio, resistance and functional movements into one exceedingly sweaty hour of work, may make your dream of becoming an all round fitness goddess possible, without quitting your day job. 

7. Injury prevention 

There is a reason why most sportspeople spend countless hours in the gym on top of their standard practice routine. When your livelihood relies on a healthy body, injury prevention is vital, but its also pretty important for us mortals. 

Overspecialising in one training area leaves you prone to overuse injuries caused by repetitive stress on one muscle, joint, bone or ligament. This is why footballers are susceptible to ACL injuries, and runners are often plagued by shin splints. Hybrid trading not only reduces the amount of time spent placing stress on this one body part, but it can also facilitate development of the muscles, ligaments surrounding the ‘risk zone’, increasing resilience to damage. For example, developing hip and thigh strength can help footballers keep their ACL’s damage free.

For the more mature exerciser, supplementing any cardio activity with resistance training may be even more beneficial. Research suggests that lifting weights can have a positive impact on arthritis pain, as stronger muscles stabilise and reduce strain on joints. 

Are there any downsides?

Sounds too good to be true, right?

Well, as with anything, hybrid training isn’t perfect for everyone. If your targeting optimal performance in one very specific area, such as marathon running, undoubtedly completing multiple powerlifting sessions each week will result in sacrificing your time available to run. This particular combination may also mean that you are carrying more muscle than is ideal for maximum speed over the marathon distance. Furthermore, the muscular fatigue after a powerlifting session will likely reduce the amount of effort you are able to put into your run, and vice versa, consequently hindering performance in both areas. This is known as the ‘interference effect’.

So, if you’re shooting for the olympic trials then it may be worth keeping your focus a little narrower, but for the majority of us, this wouldn’t really be so much of an issue. 

So its just CrossFit, Right?

Not quite. CrossFit, the brainchild of Greg Glassman, is a community-driven fitness approach, which prioritises variation, intensity of movement and functionality. It combines weightlifting, gymnastics, and cardio based training into a selection of ‘WODs’, ‘AMRAPs’ and ‘EMOMs’ that have gripped around 4 million people worldwide. 

Although CrossFit’s variation of movements, and focus on adaptability to life’s daily challenges certainly seems comparable to hybrid training, the terms do have slightly different connotations. The latter tends to have specific goals (eg. Training to cycle 100km, and be able to do five weighted pull ups), whereas CrossFit is considerably more randomised, with athletes striving for general optimal fitness, rather that individual events. 

CrossFit could absolutely form part of a hybrid training regime, as you may want to join a ‘box’ in order to develop strength, mobility and gymnastics skills which would only serve to improve your performance in triathlon, perhaps. 

Essentially, CrossFit is its own sport, whereas hybrid training is the idea of combining multiple sports or sporting ambitions

Hyrox Mania

If you haven’t heard of Hyrox, then where have you been? 

Dubbed; “The Sport of Fitness Racing”,  the German event, launched in 2017, has become somewhat of a global phenomenon in the past few years. Whether you choose to compete in the open, pairs, or pro category, the format involves eight workout stations, with a 1km run to be completed between each one. This may sound like your idea of hell, yet more than 90,000 athletes took part in the race in 2023. 

Founded by Christian Toetzke and Moritz Furste, the Hyrox concept blossomed from a desire to make fitness racing accessible to all, not just elite athletes. It does this through an absence of qualifying time and finishing time restriction, allowing all competitors to run at their own pace. 

Furthermore, the event is structured in waves, each starting in 10 minute intervals throughout the whole day. This not only stops the course becoming overwhelmingly crowded, but eradicates the fear of ‘coming last’, as even total beginners could finish at the same time as an elite, sub 60 minute athlete. 

Events are held all over the world, in cities all the way from Melbourne to Mexico City. Not only does this facilitate universal participation, but it also allows those of a more competitive nature to compare times to others in their age group on a global scale. 

Why haven’t we thought of this before?

Funnily enough, somebody has. 

For the majority of sportspeople, particularly those who are part of a relatively senior level team, the idea of completing strength and conditioning sessions in addition to their regular practices is not a radical one.

It could be said, however, that a true hybrid programme goes beyond supplementing your primary sport with a strength programme. Whilst athletes, such as football players, may hit the weight room in hope of increasing their power and explosive output on the pitch, a purely hybrid athlete is more likely to be pursuing two, seemingly contradicting goals, with equal commitment. (For example training for a marathon, whilst aiming to achieve a bench press PB, therefore striving to improve both strength and endurance simultaneously)

High level endurance athletes are likely to strength train too, predominately to help decrease their chance of injury through improved tissue tolerance however, for the elite in these fields, there may be a point where weight training actually hinders their running performance – there is a reason why marathoners don’t look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Essentially, training in multiple disciplines is nothing new, but it is the balance of goals in the ‘hybrid approach’, which seems to make it unique. 

Cardio Kills You’re Gains?

Despite being tatooed across the knuckles of hundreds of hardcore body builders throughout history, this iconic phrase may not be technically accurate. 

In reality, it is perfectly realistic to be able to engage in both strength training, and aerobic exercise (within reason), without shedding significant amounts of muscle mass, providing your nutrition is adequate to sustain your efforts. Taking in enough calories and protein to fuel your training will mean that the body does not have to resort to using energy stores from your muscles as training fuel; allowing you to keep your cardiovascular systems healthy without saying goodbye  to that hard earned physique.