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Have you ever heard something like “build strength AND endurance AND lose body fat AND build muscle AND improve your vO2 Max AND AND AND … with this ONE EXERCISE!” …?
I get it — most people have limited time to train and they want it all, all at once. So, the idea of one workout/exercise/piece of equipment that will give transform your strength, conditioning, and physique simultaneously is pretty enticing (and a great marketing strategy).
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of over-promising and under-contextualizing in the fitness industry.
Yes, you can technically build strength and endurance with the same exercise/workout style (think: KB circuits, metcons, pilates, etc) — but only to a certain point. The ceiling of potential for both strength AND endurance, without distinction/separation, is limited.
You will never maximize your strength, nor your endurance, if you are not willing to do dedicated PURE cardio or dedicated PURE strength work.
STRENGTH is determined by how hard your muscle fibers can contract. As you can imagine, something like a 1RM requires harder contraction than a set of 8-12, which requires harder contraction than a 30 second sprint, which requires harder contractions than a 30-minute jog…
ENDURANCE is determined by perfusion – in other words, how efficient is your body at pumping blood (oxygen) to your muscles & how efficiently they’re able to utilize it. Basically, does your body know what to do with the fuel it has to delay fatigue for as long as possible?
Now we start to see there’s a difference between the systems and adaptations at play! So, it would only make sense that the training required to maximize strength vs. endurance would look pretty different, right?
SO… CAN YOU BUILD STRENGTH & ENDURANCE WITH THE SAME WORKOUT?
Yes and no…
It depends on the level of fitness you already have. A beginner will absolutely see improvements from just doing metcons, kettlebell circuits, etc. There’s still a strength component and a cardiovascular component, but this kind of training will never be as potent as pure cardio (running, swimming, cycling, rowing, etc) for building endurance, or pure strength (lifting heavy & resting adequately between sets) for building strength.
If you’re someone who just wants to be generally healthy and you just want your workouts to be fun so that you actually do it, circuit workouts are certainly better than nothing and there is absolutely no shame in the game. But, if you really want to optimize your strength/endurance, it won’t cut it. You’ve got to do some separate training for each.
One of the biggest mistakes I made early on in my career in fire was doing metcon after metcon, thinking it would have excellent transfer up on the hill and make me the most well-rounded athlete I could be. I need to be strong and I needed to have great endurance. It all checked out!
It wasn’t until I allowed for separation of the two that I really saw my ceiling for strength AND endurance improve.
Peace and Love,
Sofia