Building strength & endurance simultaneously

[Sixteh]

I finished SS in March after 5.5 months with some solid strength gains--at this point, I'm about as strong as the lax bros who've been lifting for years (probably with chemical assistance).

However, after a dismal track season this spring I'm looking to mix things up a bit. I'm lifting more for personal fitness than any interest in competing in powerlifting, and I'm considering trying out for my college's freshman crew team next year. To that end, I need to build both endurance and strength.

My current plan is to finish a brief SS-esque cycle for a few weeks to rebuild my strength, which should finish at about a 275x5 squat, 200x5 bench, 315x5 deadlift, 130x5 press, and 185x3 power clean (maybe? my clean technique blows) by the end of June. FYI I'm 5'7" and 165#. I want to build both strength and reach a 6 minute mile (running) and 7 minute 2k (erg) by the end of the summer. I run about an 8 minute mile right now, and I've yet to try a full 2k (1:45 500m, though, albeit with awful rowing technique).

My plan, starting in July, is as follows:
Monday - Squat, Bench, Clean
Wednesday - Run or row, maybe some assistance lifts (chins, dips, etc)
Friday - Squat, Press, Deadlift

What do you think? Can I still make appreciable strength gains lifting 2 days a week?

Thanks.

[hbriem]

Can I still make appreciable strength gains lifting 2 days a week?

Yes, I definitely think you can. I lifted twice a week for the first 2 years (I also swam 2-3x/wk) and made good gains.

[JPC]

Only doing the running or rowing once a week will not be enough to gain in that area unless you are very new to it. Cardio/endurance work requires more frequency, and you lose adaptation more quickly. If you are trying to improve, do it at least 3 times a week.

[Regin Smidur]

http://www.chaosandpain.com/content/...rance-athletes

Some food for thought.

[the dio]

http://www.chaosandpain.com/content/...rance-athletes

Some food for thought.

So, there you have it. In spite of the fact that every slack-jawed bitch on the internet will continuously and vehemently assert that you cannot get lean and strong at the same time, or train for cardio and strength simultaneously, it appears that you can, provided you bust your fucking ass inside out, lift heavy, and diet hard.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!!! That's unpossible!

[D_51]

You can see I am doing in my training log in the General Training forum. 2 weight workouts, 1 swim, 2 run/bike or combination of the two per week. I have been loosing weight, getting stronger and increasing cardio performance.

[Chewie_jrc]

I agree, need more endurance frequency.

Its very doable (building strength
and endurance simultaneously that is). Just be patient and realize things may not progress as smoothly and predictably as you would like.

I'm just wrapping up a several month Army training course. And of course, every morning we do nothing but rediculous endurance, calisthenics, and running workouts. I get into the base gym maybe 3 to 4 days a week and just workout when I can. Some weeks I cant get into the gym at all (field exercises, etc.) Ive still managed to progress on both fronts, albeit not as much as I would like. I just eat as much as possible, and sleep all weekend. Dont discredit your body's ability to adapt.



Sent from mobile device.

[Sixteh]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

My cardio training has been negligible aside from 1 season running mid-distance which involved 10-15 miles of running every week for one season.

I'm planning on eating at maintenance, which I got by on with SS for 3 months or so without any major issues (aside from the to-be-expected lack of progress). I won't be dieting as strictly as the rower you linked, but if I start doing that much cardio something ~3k kcal daily will keep me at maintenance.

At this point my main concern is recovery for squats since by the end of SS, even with a light squat day on wednesdays, PRs at 3x5 were fucking brutal, even with ~7 minutes between every set. Hopefully the endurance work won't impair recovery much--or my improved sleep schedule over the summer will compensate.

As far as frequency goes, I'm not too keen on doing endurance work the day before lifting--would I be better suited to try something like:

M F - lift
W Sat - cardio

or

M Th - lift
Tu Fri Sat - cardio

?

[ColoWayno]

One option is a split schedule like this:
M: Squat, power cleans, conditioning
T: Bench, Chins
W: Rest
Th: Squat, Deads, conditioning
F: Press
S: conditioning
Su: rest

This came from a program Rip recommended to a runner (I may have added an extra conditioning session). I believe his reasoning is that doing the conditioning right after squatting, etc, is better than the day after since the recovery process will have started by then.

You can play with the volume on your lifts, especially squats. You might recover better doing sets of 3 instead of sets of 5, for example.

[ZenGeek]

MON: 8*3 for Strength
WED: 3*15 (60%) for endurance
FRI: 8*3 (60%) DE, strength power and endurance
FRI / SAT: Some Tabatas (I like heavy bag, sounds like you'll like running)

Add weight, repeat.
Fridays workout is short so you can do your conditioning afterwards, or on saturday.

MON: Deads_____ ___________Strength Squats______ bench/press/incline
WED: Deads/bent rows_______ Rep Squats__________ Bench/press/incline
FRI: Power Clean___________ DE Squats___________ Bench/press/incline