The Hybrid Athlete

by Alex Viada

Genres: Fitness, Health, Sports, Nonfiction, Self Help

239 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Tiago F · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good book about trying to optimize hybrid training, excelling at both strength and endurance. Alex is both incredibly knowledgable and very experienced both as an athlete and a coach, so there are few people I trust most. The book analyses the stressors involved in each training modality and plans accordingly to try to minimize interference, recovery always being a top priority.

It has a pretty good theoretical foundation of exercise science in the beginning, which I enjoyed, but it feels misplaced, and much of the theory is close to irrelevant in practical terms to how he talks about training being structured. But the main goal of the book is achieved, you get a good grasp of how to combine strength and endurance training.

I think the book is a bit overpriced, but the templates at the end really improve the value and balance it out a bit. Probably what I disliked the most is that hybrid training has so many forms that for each specialty there is very little attention. I was hoping for much greater detail.

Below are the notes I took that I found the most important for me. Of course, these are very short text passages that in no way reflect the true value of the book, and if any of this sounds interesting, definitely get it so you can have all the contextual and more in-depth information which will certainly be helpful.

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Either way, “increasing lung capacity” is not an endurance adaptation, and “getting enough air in the lungs” is not ever a limiting factor for endurance exercise- it is the downstream factors that matter more, like getting inhaled oxygen to the working muscles and clearing metabolites, that truly matter. Therefore, it is the circulatory system causing shortness of breath, not insufficient lung capacity.

In sum - stronger heart with better endurance, better blood flow, more efficient muscles, better capacity to use fat and glucose for fuel

General/systemic work capacity is simply the ability of the organism to produce work over time. The modality itself is irrelevant. What is important here is general recovery - durability, energy stores, cardiac output and cardiac perfusion, and other general components of overall endurance that essentially provide the foundation for an athlete to train and compete for longer while recovering better

What we must then do is loosely define the various components of “strength” that can be trained independently - in other words, every different kind of strength training protocol is designed to increase “strength” of some sort - further dividing these up, we like to use the following individual components:
1. Maximum Force – the level of peak force that can be exerted to move the heaviest possible load
2. Rate of Force Development – the speed at which a muscle can go from rest to maximum force production.
3. Strength-endurance – the ability to repeatedly produce sub-maximal force with minimal drop in performance
4. Hypertrophy – an overarching indicator of strength, as contractile force is absolutely limited by muscular cross sectional area.

1. Aerobic base building – long, slow, relaxed pace training that is done at a lower heart rate and for a longer distance than the athlete would target for competition.
2. Tempo work – moderate intensity, moderate distance work that is done primarily for practicing and improving on competition distance and competition pacing.
3. High intensity threshold/interval training – short distance bursts of 1-4 minutes that improve speed, power, and recovery from high efforts
4. Alactic/power training – extremely short distance work lasting less than a minute- primarily work for sprinters, or endurance athletes who wish to improve sportspecific muscular strength (in conjunction with resistance
training)

There are two absolutely key takeaways from this section - if you remember nothing else, remember that:
1. aerobic base building needs to stay aerobic, and
2. alactic/power training is far less necessary for a hybrid athlete than a specialist.

Certainly high intensity intervals work - going back to endurance adaptations, they are excellent for improving lactate clearance/tolerance, local vascularity, oxygen utilization, and lowering insulin resistance. The issue, however, is that they simply cannot be done at a particularly high volume (certainly not enough to be considered “sport practice” for most endurance athletes, where there is simply no substitute for putting miles on the road), and they absolutely do compromise strength performance (due to being a similar stressor). Low intensity aerobic activity conveys certain similar benefits (though more systemic; overall adaptations such as improved stroke volume, improved fat utilization for fuel, etc. are more marked than lactate clearance, for example), yet without the same cost.

In general, in the author’s experience, high intensity work should represent 5-10% of the athlete’s total cardiovascular conditioning, tempo work 15-20%, and low intensity long duration the balance. Alactic work should be considered as a “resistance” component and tracked/programmed as such

If there is a single way to sum up this segment, it is this: Avoid distraction. The more sports or movements an athlete wishes to excel at, the less room there is for deviation. One of the biggest pitfalls is the thinking “well, this could help”. There is no room for could- a given exercise at a given prescribed intensity and frequency either definitely improves performance to a level that exceeds its recovery and opportunity cost, or it does not. If it does not, scratch it.

If the Powerlifter is looking for an improvement in aerobic capacity, he or she should engage in aerobic activity that overlaps the least with the muscles and energy systems they require in sport specific training and competition. In other words, a slow jog or extended elliptical workout
will not heavily recruit type II fibers, over-stress tendons and ligaments, and otherwise hinder the body’s attempts to recover and adapt to heavy lifting. Not to mention that this complex movement introduces absolutely unnecessary risk into the training program!

Yes, if a powerlifter wishes to complete a 5k or marathon, running should certainly be the cornerstone of his/her training, but it does not have to be the entirety. In fact, the generalized lower intensity work, with its systemic adaptations, can in fact be everything but running - the minor loss in running fitness due to lack of specificity will be outweighed by the overall lighter load on joints, connective tissue, and eccentric loading that can be detrimental to strength.

What is good for performance in the sport is not necessarily good for longevity in the sport, however (or for health in general). Repetitive motion, by nature, causes the development of imbalances, and certainly restricting movement to a single plane of motion can result in
underdevelopment (or atrophy) of many muscles. The core musculature responsible for torso rotation, back extension, and scapular retraction, for example, are often underdeveloped in cyclists and runners, which can certainly result in a “glass cannon” sort of athlete (excuse the blatant misuse of an RPG term) - an individual who seems extremely high performing, robust and durable while engaged in his or her chosen activity (on the offensive), but where even the slightest accident or miscue while training or racing could result in season-ending (or worse) injury - i.e. no true defense against injury.

Running: 0.66 calories per mile per pound.
• Swimming: 2.9 calories per mile per pound
• Cycling: 0.29 calories per mile per pound

Please note that weight training requires comparatively fewer calories- the relative work to time ratio will typically put weight training at around 1.5 calories per pound per hour for the individual, and recovery from weight training will typically be about 10% of calories beyond that. (Therefore a
200 pound individual who lifts for an hour will need 330 additional calories to fuel their session)

The ideal glucose concentration used in Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT - for patients with cholera or other diseases affecting the GI system whose lives depend on absorbing water and electrolytes, but who may not have access to an IV)- about 7 grams of carbohydrates per 8 ounces of fluid.

Intra workout nutrition?

PER 24 OUNCES OF WATER
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp no-salt (potassium chloride). Sub 3 squeezed
lemons if you can’t find this
• 3-4 tbsp honey or table sugar
• 3-4g BCAAs
• 2g glutamine
• 100-300mg magnesium
• -12g waxy maize

The basic principles are very well established: consolidation of stressors, understanding and monitoring all components of recovery, and breaking down and targeting the various components of performance individually

[Buck Wilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

A scientifically backed functional workaround for the "cardio kills gains" myth. He provides a starting point for every kind of athlete, then explains how to cross over into every other field of athleticism without short-circuiting your CNS and breaking all your bones. He also suggested I don't need to eat so much goddamn protein, which is reassuring to hear.

It sounds like fun, and I'd like to get a marathon off the bucket list. Let's give her a go.

[PJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong overview of what concurrent training is. Gives you a better understanding to implement in your own routines. Weak explanation of how to program on your own, you’ll have to interpolate from the example routines. Overall, 5 stars because it is informative and a difficult subject to clearly explain.

[Weylin · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is some really good stuff here, especially how the book covers the basics. I think this book would be great for people wanting to learn more about training, strength, and conditioning. I know I picked up a few things for sure. I also think this book is a great trailhead to the notion that weightlifting and cardio can be combined. Not to mention beer pairings!!! I like Alex Viada already!!

It’s funny that a few reviews on here state that this book is backed by science when there are a ton of heuristics, which Viada admits, in this book. Viada quips if you disagree with him that you should write your own book. I’d just recommend reading the NCSA’s Essentials of Strength and Conditioning and make your own conclusions.

I wish there was more in the book regarding his
programming. I really wanted to learn a lot more about his ideology on stacking recovery between disciplines. Also, where are all the updates?? There are a lot of TBDs in the back of the book and nothing else. It’s like this guy dropped off the face of the earth after 2017.

[Ryan Ard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book and gleaming a few interesting nuggets of information. The author’s main premise is you can run really fast and still be pretty strong. It’s possible to squat 500+ and still run a sub 18 5k. Obviously we are talking about very elite and dedicated athletes but everyone can use the hybrid model to improve things they are not good at.

Quick summary of the book:
Take out the training fluff (do only what’s necessary to be successful). Make sure you rest and recover and eat very well. You will be surprised what your body can do.

[Sebastian Langan · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all, a straightforward and comprehensive overview of the physiology and programming concerns underlying concurrent strength, hypertrophy, and aerobic training. As other reviewers have mentioned, this book wasn't so much a list of training programs with some commentary on exercise selection; it was more of a discussion of the overall philosophy of hybrid/concurrent training and how to approach it from the right angle. Topics covered included: recovery management, streamlining of programming for recovery maximization and injury prevention, debunking the "cardio makes you lose your gains, bro" mentality, etc. At the end, there are a couple good training program outlines.

[Rory Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, but it relies way too much on ancedotes.
The training plan examples at the end include tempo runs during a training week which I don't think is a good idea (at least for me) as from memory they really take it out of you.

Was hoping for good advice on balancing cardio in with strength training but the only takeaway is keep it LISS, no longer than 40 minutes, and with a 6+ hours between the cardio and stength training.

[Nick Urban · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but nothing too out of the ordinary for classic hybrid training. Though I'll cut Alex some slack since this is an old book in the fast-paced field of athletic science.

[Ravi Sinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could've been structured better - hidden beneath layers on work capacity and recovery there's a paragraph that says 'e.g. if you're a powerlifter, better cardiovascular health and therefore better ability to metabolize glucose and fat for energy is a potential benefit of hybrid training, so you should run more', and there's another that says 'if you gain muscle but don't improve cardiovascular fitness in proportion your work capacity and VO2max will decrease'. So the raison d'être of the book, the benefits and reasons for doing a hybrid training program, is hidden in corners in there when it should have been a front and center chapter (or several) of its own. It's written more like a term paper, with the assumption that you're modestly well-read on exercise science. All that said, health and fitness is always a feel-good topic for me and I still got a good amount out of knowledge, tips, and tricks out of it, as well as some 'technical details' about the motor units of musculature and the 'redlining' of the cardiovascular system. Could be used as a reference book when programming for hybrid 'gainz'.

[KNCHNGL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good primer on a topic with comparatively less information available, since most people fall into either the endurance or the strength bucket.

1. Design your program splits between strength and endurance by volume day, recovery day, intensity day. The goal is to avoid doing the same exercises again and again; repetitive exercises by will inevitably create physical imbalances that lead to injury.

2. Joint & ligament recovery times are longer, since muscle = weight, resulting in more issues with everything endurance. More stressful on joints from running, more issues with buoyancy during swimming... go for ultra-efficiency in form and execution.

3. Do as little as possible because the body has limited ability to recover and will quickly become overwhelmed; avoid overlap between exercises. Cut out that extra exercise if it's not totally necessary.

"What is good for performance of the sport does not necessarily mean it is good for the longevity of the sport"

[Naurif N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read for an intermediate bro! You'd think Dom Mazzetti knew his stuff.

Alex does a good job of communicating the actual science behind what's going on - things we suspected but weren't really sure about.

You know how when we're in bulk mode and absolutely afraid of a whim of cardio - so we extend the durations between sets just to ensure we don't accidentally do a form of HIIT? ;)

Turns out the muscle we build during the bulk, if not supplemented with cardio doesn't exactly allow us to fully utilize them to the athletic threshold we'd like to fall within. I think we've all been there - lethargic during a cut but at peak performance when called on if we're supplementing the cut with cardio.

You'll learn a handful of things and Alex goes into training plans as well as incorporating a few chapters on dietary requirements.

Good read. As always, tren hard, eat clen, annavar give up!

[Levan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book teaches you how to combine strength and endurance training in a smart and effective way. The author is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and a competitive athlete who has achieved impressive feats in both domains. He explains the physiology of exercise, the challenges of pursuing multiple goals, and the principles of hybrid programming. He also provides workout templates and examples for different types of athletes, such as powerlifters, runners, triathletes, military personnel, and more. The book is well-written, informative, and practical. It will help you optimize your performance, avoid burnout, and become a more complete human being. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their fitness and health in a holistic way.

[Chuck Kechter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on concurrent training! There's very little I didn't like in this book (only a couple of parts in need of an editor, and a couple of programs missing - like for MMA fighters. Theory, programming, nutrition, all were covered very well - even though all of them could have been a book on their own...

The section on beer choices was an added bit of gold!

Highly recommended!

[Chuck Kechter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on concurrent training! There's very little I didn't like in this book (only a couple of parts in need of an editor, and a couple of programs missing - like for MMA fighters. Theory, programming, nutrition, all were covered very well - even though all of them could have been a book on their own...

The section on beer choices was an added bit of gold!

Highly recommended!

[Nebogipfel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent text on combining heavy weight training and endurance training. I have learned what GPP/cardio really is, why it is not the same as conditioning and why it is useful even if you don't intend on doing a marathon. The book also has a chapter on drinking craft beer after training. How can you not love it?

[Carlos Eduardo Madureira Trufen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written/edited book, mixing basic scientific knowledge with the author's experience. What surprised me most was the inclusion of a Pareto Optimality triangle between 'skills required', 'specialization' and 'recovery needed' for many exercises, to find the hybrid sweet spot. On the other hand, I'd rather skip any nutritional advice from any non-expert. A good read.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opening my mind up to the benefits of endurance training, building aerobic capacity, and how it can enhance my strength training. Good explanation of the physiology, but I wish the author dove deeper into how to build aerobic capacity.

[Brent Eritou · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive text if you want to train for & compete in strength & endurance sports at the same time, or if you coach athletes with such aspirations.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

very promising beginning, it fizzled out towards the end
proposed interesting principles but I wanted a more in depth application o

[Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illuminating on the whole cardio kills your gains topic.

[Thai Son · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a Beer Pairing section in the Appendices.

Also the nutrition section is money.

It will take some more time to test the programs out.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Viada has a great sense of humor. This books makes a lot of common sense recommendations, but talks about the processes and reasoning behind them.

[Ytse · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's easy to read but not oversimplified.
Good balance between being practical and academic.
I was missing some more solid tip to bridge the theory with practive.

[David Roesener · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decent book for those who are trying to combine both heavy strength training and endurance goals

[Ethan Moehn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Free PDF version online. Just Google the title. Great overview of concurrent training. Not the kind of book where you need to read every single page. Will reference in the future!

[Tuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Training a client for strength and marathon now, great information

[Ricardo Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m back!!

Great read , time to elevate my training

[Momchil Kolev · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is knowledgeable about the topic, has good arguments for his recommendations and includes practical advice in the form of programs at the end of the book.