How to Improve Squat Strength While Doing Endurance Training
Balancing strength and endurance training can seem like a difficult task. When you’re focused on improving your endurance for running, cycling, or any other aerobic activity, you might feel like your squats or weightlifting performance might suffer. However, with the right approach, you can improve your squat strength while continuing to build endurance. Here’s how to manage both effectively:
1. Understand the Balance Between Strength and Endurance Training
First, it's important to understand that strength and endurance training involve different energy systems. Endurance training primarily uses aerobic energy systems (long-duration, low-intensity activity), while strength training primarily engages anaerobic systems (short bursts of high-intensity effort). Balancing both involves ensuring that neither one hinders the other too much.
Strength training for squats requires maximum force production, and overloading your muscles with heavy weights causes microtears in your muscles that need recovery time. Meanwhile, endurance training requires prolonged periods of activity that don’t allow for the same level of recovery. So, your approach should focus on managing fatigue from both types of training.
2. Prioritize Recovery
Recovery is crucial when juggling both squat strength and endurance. Fatigue from endurance training can affect your ability to lift heavy weights, so it's essential to schedule sufficient rest. Ideally you do your strength and endurance sessions on separate days, and ensure that you are getting at least 48 hours between your strength sessions. However, if you are doing both on the same day then get them as far apart in that day as possible from each other. eg. run in the morning before breakfast, then strength train in the afternoon after work.
On top of this it's also important to double down on your recovery work, ensuring that you keep foam rolling and stretching regularly.
3. Train Squats with Lower Volume but Higher Intensity
When you are also focusing on endurance training, it's best to adjust the volume (sets and reps) and intensity of your squat workouts. While endurance training requires more volume and consistent, longer sessions, squat training should focus on strength, which requires lower repetitions with higher weights.
For example, instead of doing 4-5 sets of 10-15 reps, you may want to reduce the number of reps (e.g., 4-6 reps per set) and increase the weight to create a greater overload on the muscles. This will improve your ability to generate more power and strength without taxing your body too much.
Additionally, prioritizing compound movements like squats can maximize muscle activation in fewer sets, allowing you to save energy for your endurance work, as opposed to doing multiple sets on different machines where you isolate your muscles.
4. Utilize Cross-Training
Cross-training is an excellent way to maintain and build endurance while still working on your squat strength. Instead of running every day, consider cycling or swimming for your cardio sessions. These activities tend to be less taxing on your legs than running, which will allow you to preserve energy for your strength workouts.
5. Fuel Your Body Properly
The importance of nutrition cannot be overstated when you're balancing squat strength and endurance training. Both require a different type of energy, and you need to fuel your body appropriately to meet those needs.
For Strength: Ensure you’re consuming adequate protein to repair muscle fibers damaged during weight training. A ratio of 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight is recommended for athletes who engage in strength training.
For Endurance: Carbohydrates are your best friend here. Endurance training depletes your glycogen stores, so you need to replenish them to fuel your workouts and recovery. Make sure you're eating enough to support the energy demands of your training.
For Recovery: Post-workout meals should combine protein and carbohydrates to facilitate muscle recovery and replenish glycogen stores. Hydration is equally important, especially with endurance training, to maintain performance and muscle function.
6. Be Patient and Monitor Progress
Balancing two goals, strength and endurance, takes time. It's normal to see fluctuations in both performance areas as your body adapts. When you first start combining both, you might see a dip in one while the other improves, but over time, both will progress.
Keep track of your progress and adjust your training based on what works best for your body. It’s helpful to periodically assess your squat strength, as well as your endurance performance, to ensure you're making progress in both areas. Build testing into your training every 12 weeks, as well as keeping a track of your training numbers each week.
Conclusion: Building Strength While Endurance Training
Improving squat strength while doing endurance training is definitely possible with the right planning and approach. Prioritise recovery, schedule training sessions wisely, focus on intensity over volume for strength work, and fuel your body adequately to support both. With time, you'll be able to build strength and endurance simultaneously, helping you become a stronger and more well-rounded athlete.
By balancing these two types of training, you'll improve not only your squat numbers but your overall athletic performance, setting you up for success both in strength training and endurance events - making you a better hybrid athlete.
Good luck with your training,
Max
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