No, this isn’t a Dominos offer although that does sound like a plan for dinner…actually it’s Pancake Day – I’m gonna put myself in a Treacle filled hole of despair!
Anyway, moving on…
I was asked the question
‘How would it effect performance if I trained for 2 goals? One being endurance and one being strength? Would they combat each other?’
The long and short of it – No, they won’t combat each other they will help each other greatly. IF, done correctly!
Here’s a few things to consider first
- Overall Volume of your training
- Recovery methods
- Nutrition/Dietary Habits
Firstly, this ain’t a Nutrition post so I’ll crush this first…
Nutrition
DO NOT see this as a diet – you shall fail and performance will definitely drop.
Stick to 1.5-2g of Protein/Kg of Bodyweight this will support muscle growth and reduce muscle breakdown during periods of intense training.
After this when it comes to Fat and Carbs, it totally depends on the athlete/competitor so I can’t really say…this is Trial and error. See how you feel day to day, if you feel good during a run/bike session, full of energy etc then see what you did.
Make sure you’re getting many multivits in and magnesium, with high training loads you want as high micronutrient density.
*NB – you can’t necessarily overeat here but you can easily under eat!
Recovery
To start with, Aerobic Conditioning has been proven to be a form of recovery due to the multiple low level contractions and relaxations of the targeted muscles.
After this, the single most important recovery method is sleep! Let your body rest and repair itself whilst you dream of winning that IronMan event.
Lastly, SMR (Self Myofascial Release) this includes stretching and self-massage. The increase of training will tighten muscles and inflame joints. If you don’t actively have a counterproductive method for this you won’t be training like this long before you become injured!
Training
Aerobic training is just like weight lifting, if you do the same thing week in, week out – you’ll see zero progress whatsoever!
You must have progression, whether this be as simple as doing a week of long, slow bouts built around pacing yourself (low intensity), a week of moderate intensity training such as tempo runs – varying the speed of running/biking from mile to mile or done for time. Finally looking at high intensity, short almost sprint/interval days. The latter can be done on the same day as Squat day for example, whereas the first two (low and moderate) should be done on their own training day.
You have to revise that it is quite easy to overload yourself when training for various goals and to do ‘too much’ is easy when the first 2 areas (Nutrition and Recovery) are ignored.
How about lifting?
Well, I know the person who asked this so its easy to answer but generally you have to look at what’s important to you!
If you’re doing an Ironman, spending 5 days/week in the gym lifting big ass heavy weights aint gonna help you get around a 26mile run after a swim and bike ride…
Likewise, spending your time only lifting light weights for many-a-million reps aint gonna help either…
What will help is taking an overview of the whole macrocycle and looking long-term, understanding that strength training will help reduce/minimise muscle deterioration from purely doing aerobic conditioning.
Conclusion
Personal recommendations would be to lift 2-3x each week (this can vary, 2 one week, 3 the next etc.) whilst incorporating a proper aerobic conditioning programme as well rather than just ‘going out for a run’ or ‘I did 10miles last Monday, so this Monday I’m going to do 12…’
Eat Smart, Train Intensely, Compete Easily!
Remember that Nutrition and Recovery are arguably more important than the actual training itself…