Sports science
Concurrent strength and endurance training: what the evidence says
A practical reading of current meta-analysis evidence on combining strength and endurance training for hybrid athletes, with limitations made explicit.
Combining strength and endurance training can improve both qualities, but interference is not a simple yes-or-no effect. A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis found small lower-body strength interference in males but not females, while training status also influenced some endurance adaptations. Highly trained athletes remain under-represented in the research.
What to know
- The 2024 review included 59 studies and 1,346 participants.
- Average effects differed by outcome, sex and training status.
- The evidence does not support the blanket claim that endurance training automatically destroys strength gains.
- Study populations and protocols do not map perfectly onto a specific HYROX athlete.
What the newer meta-analysis found
The review compared adaptations in strength, power, hypertrophy and maximal oxygen uptake during concurrent strength and endurance training. It reported blunted lower-body strength adaptation in males on average, but not in females. It also found impaired maximal-oxygen-uptake improvements in untrained endurance athletes, while that pattern was not observed in trained or highly trained endurance athletes.
Those are group averages, not a prediction for an individual athlete. The authors also noted that highly strength-trained and endurance-trained athletes were under-represented.
What this means for a hybrid athlete
The useful conclusion is not to avoid concurrent training; hybrid sport requires both qualities. The practical question is how volume, intensity, exercise selection, recovery and training status interact for the individual athlete.
Athvaro therefore treats this research as context, not as an automatic prescription for weekly programming.
Sources
Athvaro source review: 2026-09-13. If a source or rule can change over time, verify the original source before acting on it.