It used to be that runners, particularly long-distance runners, are mostly the lean lanky types. Think Eliud Kipchoge.

With all that steady state cardiovascular work, strenuous endurance exercise can cause muscle damage that can further grow as running distance increases. Such muscle damage inhibits hypertrophy or the increase in muscle mass. This was conventional wisdom.

Which is why weightlifting jocks have traditionally avoided prolonged aerobic training. Extensive cardiovascular work not only burns fat but precious muscles as well.

Enter the hybrids.

Nowadays, social media is teeming with muscular bodies not just excelling but winning long distance races.

The term “Hybrid Athlete” can be traced to the 2015 book of Alex Viada, a strength and conditioning and triathlon coach, entitled, The Hybrid Athlete.

In it, he debunked the notion that “strength” and “endurance” are physiologically opposed.

Years later, the concept has spawned hybrid training evangelists like Nick Bare, David Goggins, Ken Rideout and Lucy Haldon, whose Instagram profile says she is “HYBRID AF.”

Nick Bare, a US Army Veteran and bodybuilder ran the California International Marathon last year and finished with a sub 2:40 time. This would have been less remarkable were it not for the fact that he is a very chunky six-foot tall guy who weighs 202 lbs.

Ken Rideout won the 155 mile Gobi desert race and last year ran a 2:28 marathon at age 51. He too has the body of a lumberjack.

Alex Viada said he wrote “The Hybrid Athlete” after years and years of trial and error, “with a very large emphasis on the error.”

He said his program “utilizes components from various conjugate programs, block periodic action, daily undulating periodization… combining the most relevant components of each to create a style of programming that develops strength, strength-endurance, sport skill, and aerobic conditioning simultaneously.”

Indeed, combining strength and endurance training is not that easy. However, they are actually complementary in some respects.

Dr. Mike Nelson, a Human Performance Professor, explained that since running increases VO2 Max or aerobic capacity, it allows an athlete to do more volume of strength training work.

“Running builds capacity, so you’ll have more gas in the tank to do more sets, more reps, and more volume when you’re lifting. And all that adds up to more muscle.”

Another reason is that an athlete who runs would have grown more capillaries — i.e., blood vessels that deliver blood, nutrients, and oxygen to cells throughout the body. More blood flow to a muscle translates to more work that muscle can perform, which helps hypertorophy.

This complementarity was confirmed in a meta-analysis published in 2022 in Sports Medicine.

The conclusion was: “Concurrent aerobic and strength training does not compromise muscle hypertrophy and maximal strength development. However, explosive strength gains may be attenuated, especially when aerobic and strength training are performed in the same session.”

One can imagine that a hybrid athlete may be more at risk of overtraining or getting injured.

In an interview with Men’s Health magazine, Bare said one should carefully balance load and volume. An athlete should be continually adjusting based on ability to recover.

Fueling for both undertakings is also important. One cannot be on a calorie deficit because if not fueled properly, the body may tap into the muscle cells to break down amino acids for fuel, again preventing hypertrophy.

There are skeptics of the hybrid trend, of course.

National Football League coach Deventri Jordan said the hybrid training employed by Bare and others could never work for high level athletes. Such athletes, he argues, should specialize to leverage every physical aspect they can to gain every possible advantage to accomplish a goal.

This point is well taken but for most ordinary folks who will never be a champion in a major sport, being well rounded, as opposed to being a “specialist,” is more important.

For ordinary mortals like most of us, the goal is longevity, that is, to be strong and agile for as long as possible with the bonus of having a solid physique.

For us, going hybrid is the key.