Ditch Your Boring Routine and Train Hybrid!
We all know what the classic exercise routine looks like:
Monday - Chest and Arms
Wednesday - Back and Shoulders
Friday - Legs… but I’m pretty tired at the end of the week and I might just rest until Monday
For a long time this seemed like it was enough. Hell, we could even train bench twice a week if we wanted to! But after a while it got stale. Having never seen the results we wanted we tried going even more but the commute was a drag and having to wait for machines after a long day at work quickly became too much. Plus, it was boring! I mean, is this really enough? Can’t I do more?
The human body is WAY MORE CAPABLE than most of us ever find out. Of course we can be jacked and lean long distance runners who have the strength and stamina to jump into a CrossFit competition. You just have to know how to do it, cut out the bullshit and put in the work.
The Beauty of Hybrid Training
In a nutshell “hybrid” is a concurrent model of training. All this means is that you’re training to disparate athletic qualities simultaneously (think strength and endurance). Now you might think that you already do that in your exercises classes but that’s not exactly the case. You see, most exercise is tailored toward a high intensity model these days where the main goal is to elevate your heart rate and make you feel the burn! And as much as we need this kind of thing every once in a while, if done too often it’s not only a sub optimal way to train but it can also be damaging.
This is where hybrid training wins.
The Top 3 Reason Hybrid is the Best Way to Train
#1. Division Maximizes your training effort
Attempting to fit all of your exercise needs into an hour of work keeps you in the grey. You may feel like you’re working hard but for all that time and effort the results are never going to be what you want.
To optimize results the body requires a specific stimuli followed by a period of rest to create the adaptation required. So we REST in between running and lifting so that we don’t interfere with the adaptations from either and all our hard work is rewarded in the end.
#2. Hybrid training is healthier and more sustainable
Hybrid athletes are aerobic athletes and producing high levels of aerobic fitness takes a lot of time at a low intensity effort. So that’s exactly what we do.
The results of which are a stronger heart with a greater stroke volume, decreased blood pressure, a larger network of capillaries to supply your working muscles with the fuel they need to function, and the capacity to sustain aerobic efforts at higher intensities. This efficiency leads to a greater capacity for recovery which is a key component in stress management, the prevention of disease and muscular development. All of which are important and necessary to live a long and healthy life.
Taking the time to develop these athletic qualities flies in the face of the wildly propagated “high intensity model” that produces sub optimal results and leads to burnout. HTC’s hybrid training model on the other hand is a focused practice designed to reap all the benefits that others claim while keeping motivation high, injury risk low and burnout to a minimum.
#3 It delivers
Let’s face it, despite the fact that every fitness trend out there promises to get you the body of your dreams and the athletic capacity to boot, few - if any - really deliver on that promise. And the truth is simple; because they don’t actually train in a way that aligns with that promise.
Muscle and strength gain, speed, power and endurance, all of these qualities require dedicated time and focused effort. Nobody said this was going to be easy. As a matter of fact, it’s probably going to take more time than you’ve ever dedicated to your fitness to produce the results that you desire. The difference is that we’re never going to lie to you and say 3 days per week in a Crossfit gym is enough to optimize your health. Because the truth is, it never was.
But if you take the time, if you put in the effort, not only will you be stunned at your athletic capacity but you’ll be shocked by the person looking back at you in the mirror.