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Can you really have it all?

Here are the Trade-offs of mixed training; explaining the interference effect

📖 2 minute Read

For most people, either strength or endurance is not enough, they want both! And rightfully so! Of course it depends on what sport you practice and especially as an athlete you need to set your priorities, but most of the time you’ll find yourself in need of both.
There’s only one slight problem. By training both directions, you can’t reach each’s maximum. Meaning, as you divide your focus to strength and endurance training, your maximum output of each divides too and thereby your achievable capacity decreases.

This is the interference effect.

The following should explain it a little better:

Here, the decrease in maximum output is shown by the size of the muscle and cells at the bottom.

Now, why is this important to know?
First of all, by bing aware there is an effect like this, you can make training and exercise changes depending on what sport you practice and goals you have. You may divert your focus more to one of each because that is where your priorities are or say you leave it 50/50 because you want or need both.

Here’s how you could go about practice with this in mind:

1. Periodization: cycle between strength and endurance phases to optimize both qualities over time. E.g. train more strength this week and more endurance the next.

2. Priority Training: Focus on one goal while maintaining the other to prevent regression. E.g. prioritize strength training during the off-season and shift to endurance-focused workouts closer to competition. That way you can train both and still focus on important times (season).

Of course, as mentioned a couple times already, it always depends on your goals and needs if this effect even is of interest for you. It’s something to keep in mind tho and might help you explain certain situations a little better.

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