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Developing both endurance and strength is essential for human fitness. Those who posses it are less injured, have more energy, reduced body fat, have a higher quality of life, and a lower risk for illness and disease. In addition, the much sought after balance of endurance and strength can lead to great competitive performance in the mile, ultra-marathon, Tour de France, swimming the English Channel, trekking to the North Pole, and everything in between.

Endurance and strength are often discussed as mutually exclusive conditions, which have resulted in separate workout plans and philosophies. In this article I want to emphasize how one could combine both successfully into a single session, once, twice or more weekly.

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The Question of Balance

Throughout my career I have emphasized the importance of aerobic conditioning when training for endurance, the proper anaerobic workouts for strength, and, most importantly, finding the balance of both. Too much aerobic training often leads to diminished strength, and too many anaerobic workouts can impair endurance. Carefully planned, both can be incorporated into a fitness program without negative consequences.

The response of one person’s training session is uniquely different from that of another’s. This is because the brain can decipher each workout enabling the body to benefit, recover, and be ready for the next one. While this is how it should work, it is a question of balance. Exceeding the body’s capabilities can result in harm. The brain regulates this balancing act, and the details of response and recovery have much to do with hormones.

When we workout, the brain, through its pituitary gland, oversees changes in specific hormones, which take place depending on many physical, chemical and mental factors. For example, the anabolic steroid testosterone increases during a workout, although after two hours of running or cycling it may begin diminishing.

The catabolic steroid hormone cortisol changes little during an aerobic session, while it can increase significantly with anaerobic training. Too much cortisol can impair both endurance and strength development. This hormone is released in response to any stress, not just a hard workout; this includes pre-race tension, personal issues, emotional strain and others.

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Hormone imbalance can also trigger secondary changes such as high cortisol reducing sex hormones and aldosterone (the latter regulates water and electrolytes).

Another important hormone, insulin, changes little during training, but it can rise too much before a workout in response to refined carbohydrate intake. This can reduce the utilization of fat for energy, impair endurance and possibly elevate cortisol.

There is no question that endurance and strength training can help each other. But obtaining these states must be done without undue stress. An important aspect of combining endurance with strength in one session is the order of these two events. The workout should begin with endurance activity, followed by strength training, and end with more endurance.

Despite the complicated orchestration of a seemingly simple workout, there are some basic guidelines to help develop both endurance and strength even when the goal is to improve both in one workout.

Three Steps

When building both endurance and strength, the order of workouts discussed below helps assure proper preparation, avoids overtraining from excess fatigue, and encourages adequate and quick recovery so training can continue unimpeded the next day if desired. This involves an important three-step process. Here are the details:

1. Warm-up

The onset of physical activity should involve preparing the body for what is to follow—a more robust workout.This means first increasing the lung’s capacity to take in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, increasing flexibility in the joints, elevating blood fats to make more muscle energy available, and improving blood and lymph circulation in the muscles. This is accomplished with a properly executed warm up, and it should be part of every workout. It is particularly important before strength training.

A minimum of a 15-minute warm up is done with some type of endurance training—walking, jogging or running, cycling, swimming, or combinations are good examples. Many people require a longer warm up. They sense this by an improved gait, increased energy, and overall “getting the kinks out.” A longer aerobic workout, such as 30 to 60 minutes, would also help build more endurance. The important aspect of a warm up is to very slowly raise the heart rate from rest to near or at the aerobic maximum heart rate. Following the endurance part of the workout, one can start strength training.

2. Training

The middle part of the session is strength training with weights, which, when properly done improves both muscles and bones. Endurance training, even hard running or riding up hills or performing intervals, does not produce near maximum muscle contractions to accomplish this task. The result is that many endurance athletes have poor strength, even in their lower limbs.

The goal of the second part of this program should be increased full body strength without impairing endurance, and be able to continue training the next day without pain, fatigue, or the risk of overtraining. This is accomplished with higher weights, lower repetitions, without significant fatigue, and resting three minutes between sets. This approach is discussed in detail in Strength Training.

Traditional weight workouts highlight the importance of a 48-hour recovery before training is resumed. This is due to excess muscle fatigue and associated stress hormone responses. Even performing an endurance workout within this 48-hour window can add to an already stressful condition, with the real potential of impairing the aerobic system and pushing one toward overtraining. Some studies show that adequate recovery from traditional weight training could takemore than 48 hours. This type of routine, which includes high reps, little rest between sets and lifting to fatigue, should be avoided.

This second step can vary in length. Even a short strength session of 10 to 15 minutes can provide significant strength benefits. A longer period of up to 30 minutes can be accomplished without undue stress but recovery between sets is a key.

3. Cool-Down

The third step in the process of training for endurance plus strength is too often neglected: active recovery, also called a cool down. This also adds to ones aerobic development. Just the opposite of a warm up, this step involves performing endurance activity of descending intensity. Reduce the heart rate and pace over the final 15-minutes of the workout to approach the resting rate. If your heart rate is not very high after the strength training part of the workout, maintain or even increase it to a moderate level initially, then slowly bring it down over the last 15-minutes. (Don’t underestimate the power of walking for the last five minutes.)

The total time of the entire endurance plus strength workout can be as short as 40 minutes, or longer if the schedule permits. As the months pass, aerobic progress should continue as measured by the MAF test.

This three-step program of endurance plus strength can help avoid excess stress hormones and undue fatigue, speed recovery, and allow the option to effectively train the next day. When properly done, it can help keep the body balanced and improve performance.

The next post will give you examples of excellent strength training exercises, and will help you understand how to organize your strength training in relation to your endurance training. Click the button below to continue:

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Linda Curran, BCPC, LPC, CACD, CCDPD, is president of Integrative Trauma Treatment, LLC, in Havertown, PA. She provides clients an integrative approach to trauma, and treats PTSD in adolescent and adult populations, including clients with eating disorders, sexual trauma, and self-injury. An international speaker on the treatment of trauma, Linda has developed, produced, and presents multi-media workshops on all aspects of psychological trauma.
Linda is the author of the best-selling Trauma Competency: A Clinician's Guide (PESI, 2010) and 101 Trauma-Informed Interventions: Activities, Exercises and Assignments to Move the Client and Therapy Forward (PESI, 2013). She is the producer of the best-selling Interview Trauma DVD series in which she collaborated with the world's leaders in Trauma: Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.; Peter Levine, Ph.D.; Babette Rothschild, MSW, LCS; Stephen Porges, Ph.D.; Janina Fisher, Ph.D.; and many more.
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