Combining Strength and Endurance Training Successfully

Whether you're training for a marathon, building strength in the gym or preparing for your next football match, your programme probably includes more than one type of exercise. Most athletes don't focus exclusively on either strength or endurance — they combine both to become fitter, faster and more resilient.

This combination is known as concurrent training, and while it offers many benefits, it also presents some unique challenges. Strength and endurance training stimulate the body in different ways, and if they aren't planned carefully, they can compete with each other, reducing some of the adaptations you're working hard to achieve.

In this guest article, former international sprinter and sports scientist Craig Pickering explains why this happens and shares practical advice on how to organise your training to get the best from both strength and endurance exercise.

Two Types of Exercise Training

Two of the most common forms of exercise are strength training and endurance training. Depending on your goals, you'll naturally spend more time focusing on one than the other, but most serious athletes will include elements of both.

As a sprinter, for example, the majority of my training centred on explosive power — short, high-intensity sprints combined with heavy resistance training. Even then, endurance work still had its place through tempo runs and bodyweight conditioning circuits.

At the other end of the spectrum, marathon and ultra-endurance runners spend most of their training covering long distances. However, many also include resistance training to improve strength, reduce injury risk and enhance overall performance.

Team sports such as football, rugby and hockey demand an even greater balance. Modern athletes need explosive speed, strength for physical contact and enough endurance to maintain performance throughout an entire match.

Whatever your sport, combining different types of training is often essential — but it also introduces an important consideration.

What Is Concurrent Training?

When you regularly perform both strength and endurance training as part of the same programme, you're taking part in concurrent training.

Even recreational gym-goers often follow this approach, combining resistance training with running, cycling, rowing or other forms of cardiovascular exercise.

The challenge is that the body doesn't respond to these two training methods in exactly the same way. In fact, the adaptations stimulated by endurance exercise can partially reduce the strength gains normally achieved through resistance training. This phenomenon is known as the interference effect.

Understanding why this happens can help you plan your training more effectively.

Why Strength and Endurance Training Can Compete

Resistance training and endurance training place very different demands on your muscles.

Strength training relies largely on mechanical load. When you lift weights or perform other resistance exercises, your muscles experience stress that stimulates repair and growth. This process is supported by adequate nutrition and sufficient energy availability within the muscle cells.

One of the key regulators involved in muscle growth is a protein known as mTOR, which helps drive muscle protein synthesis and muscular hypertrophy. When energy stores are sufficient, mTOR activity increases following resistance training, allowing the body to adapt by becoming stronger.

Endurance training works differently.

Longer-duration exercise places significant metabolic demands on the muscles. During endurance exercise, energy stores decrease, oxygen availability changes and a number of cellular signals increase, including lactate and reactive oxygen species. These changes stimulate another important cellular pathway involving an enzyme called AMPK.

AMPK promotes many of the adaptations associated with endurance performance, including:

• increased mitochondrial production
• improved capillary density
• better energy utilisation within the muscles

These changes help improve endurance and aerobic fitness.

The difficulty is that these two systems don't always work together. Elevated AMPK activity can reduce the activity of mTOR, meaning the body may prioritise endurance adaptations over muscle growth when both training methods are performed too closely together.

This interaction forms the basis of the interference effect described in concurrent training research.

Bodyweight strength training can complement endurance exercise when included as part of a well-planned training programme.

How to Reduce the Interference Effect

Fortunately, concurrent training doesn't mean you have to sacrifice strength or endurance. Careful planning can help maximise improvements in both.

Separate Your Sessions

Where possible, avoid performing strength and endurance training in the same workout.

Instead, consider:

• strength training on one day and endurance training on another
• or two separate training sessions on the same day

Keeping the sessions separate allows your body to focus on the specific adaptations required for each type of exercise.

Allow Time Between Workouts

If you need to complete both sessions on the same day, leaving a sufficient gap appears to reduce the interference effect.

Research involving amateur rugby players found that strength gains were lowest when resistance and endurance training were completed in the same session. Improvements became greater when around six hours separated the sessions, with even larger improvements observed when the sessions were approximately 24 hours apart.

Of course, practical considerations such as work, family life and overall training volume often make a full day's separation unrealistic. Even so, allowing several hours between sessions is likely to be beneficial.

Should You Do Cardio Before Weights?

One question athletes frequently ask is whether endurance training or strength training should come first.

Craig's recommendation is to perform endurance work earlier in the day where possible, followed by resistance training later.

This approach may allow endurance-related cellular signals to diminish before the strength session begins, while also giving mTOR more time to support muscle growth following resistance exercise.

If you choose this approach, aim to refuel after your endurance session by replenishing carbohydrate stores before beginning your resistance workout.

Good nutrition and hydration help support recovery and maximise the benefits of both strength and endurance training

Nutrition Plays an Important Role

Training is only one part of the equation.

According to Craig, nutrition can also help support the adaptations you're trying to achieve.

Following endurance exercise, consuming carbohydrate helps restore muscle glycogen, creating a more favourable environment for later strength training.

Around resistance training, essential amino acids (EAAs) can also help stimulate the processes involved in muscle protein synthesis.

Good nutrition won't completely eliminate the interference effect, but it can help create better conditions for recovery and adaptation.

Practical Tips for Concurrent Training

If your weekly programme includes both strength and endurance work, these simple guidelines may help:

• Separate strength and endurance sessions whenever possible.
• Leave at least six hours between sessions if training twice in one day.
• Refuel properly after endurance exercise.
• Consume adequate protein or essential amino acids around resistance training.
• Plan your training week rather than simply fitting workouts in wherever possible.
• Remember that recovery is an essential part of progress.

Recovery Matters

One of the biggest lessons from concurrent training research is that adaptation doesn't happen during the workout — it happens during recovery.

Giving your body sufficient time to recover between demanding training sessions, maintaining good nutrition and prioritising quality sleep all contribute to long-term progress.

Many athletes also choose infrared-responsive sportswear as part of their overall recovery routine. While clothing cannot replace good programming, nutrition or sleep, ABSOLUTE360®'s infrared-responsive technology is designed to support comfort during training and recovery. Whether you're looking for men's infrared clothing or women's infrared clothing, our garments are designed to help you stay comfortable and ready for your next training session.

Final Thoughts

Balancing strength and endurance training is both an art and a science. Understanding how your body responds to different types of exercise allows you to structure your training more effectively, minimise unnecessary interference and continue progressing towards your goals.

For most athletes, the answer isn't choosing between strength or endurance—it's learning how to combine both intelligently.

Whether you're training for your first 10K, preparing for a marathon, competing in team sports or simply aiming to become stronger and fitter, thoughtful planning, good recovery and consistent training will always outperform simply doing more.

As we continue to explore recovery and performance on the ABSOLUTE360® Blog, we'll look at more ways to optimise your training, recover more effectively and help you perform at your best.