Podcast Summary

The Art of Manliness – Episode: "Strong, Conditioned, and Ready for Anything — How to Become a Hybrid Athlete"

Release Date: January 6, 2026
Host: Brett McKay
Guest: Alex Viada, coach, physiologist, and author of The Hybrid Athlete

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the concept of hybrid training: combining both strength and endurance modalities to become a well-rounded, capable, and adventurous athlete. Brett McKay interviews Alex Viada, a coach famous for his own feats of deadlifting over 700 pounds and running ultramarathons the same week, to explore the logic, programming, and benefits behind becoming a "hybrid athlete." They discuss how to balance and program strength and endurance training together, test progress, recognize and manage both types of fatigue, and implement practical approaches suited for everyone—from powerlifters and runners to busy parents wanting all-around fitness.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Alex Viada’s Hybrid Journey and Why Hybrid Training?

• Alex's Own Story:
  • Began as an all-sport, active youth (football, boxing, swimming), lost shape in college, regained it with powerlifting, then challenged himself to run a 5K with humbling results.
  • Sought a way to combine lifting and running efficiently, eventually building a method for "all-around capability" without burning out in any modality.
  • Quote: “All my fitness that I had for most of my youth was gone. I was a one trick pony and I hated it.” (04:27)
• Benefits of Hybrid Training:
  • Health: Avoids drawbacks of single-modality focus—better cardiovascular health, muscle size, bone density, coordination.
  • Access to Experiences: “Allowing yourself as an individual to say, well, there's some exciting stuff out there. I want to try that. I want to feel like I can dip my toe into any activity and at least give it a credible shot.” (07:01)
  • Enhanced Recovery & Performance: Strength improves running durability; cardio aids recovery for lifters.
• Memorable Example:
  • “I realized today that when I wrap my knees for squats, I'm not winded afterwards.” (20:13) – About lifters noticing improved training density through endurance work.

2. Challenges When Crossing Over

• Lifters Trying Running:
  • Body type, tightness, gait inefficiency, soreness. Plyometrics recommended for improving running mechanics and efficiency.
  • “One of the biggest things is just getting lifters kind of loose, limber and feeling good about running.” (09:45)
• Endurance Athletes Trying Strength:
  • Requires different mindset—momentary aggression, full-body strain, handling intra-abdominal pressure.
  • “Lifting is an inherently straining activity...it's a completely different mindset.” (11:25)

3. Testing and Progress for Hybrid Athletes

• How to Benchmark:
  • Not about constant maxing out or doing both a marathon and powerlifting meet on the same day.
  • Use sub-max benchmarks (triples, controlled intervals) and gradually increase training loads/intensity as those become easier.
  • “You're not actually retesting your one rep max. What you're doing is you're re-estimating your peak performance and seeing how all of this sub max training matches up to it.” (13:41)
  • Rarely disrupt training for maximal tests; progress can be measured through improving ease of submaximal efforts across modalities.
• Smart Progression:
  • “My thing with benchmarks is they always disrupt the training. And my whole thing is just keep doing quality work as long as you can until you actually need to test it.” (16:43)

4. Hybrid Strength Training Approach

• Treat Strength as a Skill, Not Just Volume:
  • Focus on heavy, low-rep work (max effort), speed/velocity (dynamic effort), and skill (form/bracing) training for main lifts.
  • Complement with higher-rep hypertrophy/isolation work.
  • Training split: Upper/lower split (stimulate a muscle every 3 days ideal), e.g. two upper, two lower days—vary focus (strength vs. hypertrophy).
  • “Strength training is all about getting stronger at a specific movement.” (22:38)
• Progressive Overload:
  • Don’t add weight weekly. Instead, adjust the estimated 1RM/peak metric upward when submaximal loads become easier, and recalculate training percentages.
  • “As long as you're increasing that metric...if you're increasing it steadily, like month to month, you're making progress.” (29:26)

5. Hybrid Endurance Training Approach

• Balancing Intensity and Volume:
  • High-intensity work gives "more bang for your buck," but can only be done in limited amounts weekly; fill in with lower-intensity (Zone 2) work.
  • “High intensity and low intensity work the way I consider, like protein and carbs in a diet...They can probably only handle two to three hours of high intensity work before they start breaking down. So to get in, all the work that their body can actually adapt to, like low intensity work is volume dependent.” (35:27)
• Sample Hybrid Week (Endurance):
  • Three workouts:
    • One speed or threshold interval session (e.g., 3x8 min at 5K+30s pace)
    • One shorter interval + zone 2 cooldown
    • One longer steady-state Zone 2 (e.g. 1.5 hrs on weekend)
  • “Mix it up and go crazy. Do four by six minutes at that same pace.” (42:52)
• Progression in Endurance:
  • Gradually nudge up threshold paces (e.g., 1-2 sec per week), track ranges for pacing to accommodate daily fluctuations.
  • “You’re just setting...guardrails on your performance...that is more than enough to continue to make progress.” (44:52)

6. Managing Fatigue in Hybrid Training

• Types of Fatigue:
  • Peripheral Fatigue: Muscle soreness/acute tiredness. Managed by not overtaxing the same muscles before important sessions.
  • Central Fatigue: Neurological, CNS-driven—not always "felt." Can limit output for up to 48 hours after maximal/lots of eccentric work, hard intervals, long runs.
  • “What your brain is doing is telling your muscles, okay, let's turn down the power a little bit. We're running out of energy stores...We can't sustain this...We’re going to put a brick under the gas pedal here and stop the body from injuring itself.” (47:26)
• Programming Around Fatigue:
  • After long run, stick to hypertrophy/upper body work until central fatigue recedes; save max effort/velocity for later in the week.
  • “If I do a really long run today...what lifting sessions can I still do on Monday and Tuesday that I know I can benefit from? That's probably going to be hypertrophy work.” (53:45)
  • Avoid "chasing fatigue"—don’t force progress just by making every session harder.
• On Deloads:
  • Only program full deloads if truly necessary; otherwise, just reduce everything by 10% for a week if metrics (like broad jump test) indicate accumulating fatigue.
  • “If your program is well constructed, you should never be pushing and blowing past their thresholds. You should be just pushing on it...” (55:53)

7. Recovery and Real-Life Application

• Recovery Tips:
  • Avoid ice baths/NSAIDs unless needed—attenuate inflammation, slow adaptation.
  • Emphasize frequent easy movement (walks, hourly breaks), adequate calories, and never train starved, especially when doing both modalities. Compression devices and mobility work help.
  • “If you work a desk job, get up every hour and walk for two to three minutes…feed to fuel your workouts.” (59:05)
• Time Commitment for the Busy Person:
  • 45 minutes a day, 5x/week is enough: upper/lower hypertrophy, one full-body strength, and three short cardio sessions, with a longer easy session on the weekend (which could be a family ruck/walk).
  • “That is enough. Because right there, as long as you’re training with intent...that minimum effective dose, as long as it’s targeted, is probably less than you think.” (61:56)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Readiness:
  “You're training for different sports, but you want to train to be capable at any moment.” (13:41, Alex Viada)
• Challenge vs. Lifestyle:
  "If you need to decide, if you think, okay, what should I train for this year? Think about the kind of person and the kind of athlete and the kind of individual that you’ll become while training for it. And if that's what you want to be, then it's a good event." (18:55, Alex Viada)
• On Progressive Overload:
  “Overload refers to the general physical principle that if a stimulus exceeds the body's current capacity, the body will adapt to that stimulus. That's the overload principle.” (29:26, Alex Viada)
• On Fatigue:
  “Fatigue always masks fitness. The lifting you're doing might make some of your fast runs feel a little bit harder. The running you're doing might make your lifting feel a little bit more challenging.” (16:43, Alex Viada)
• On Easy Progression:
  “You don't ever have to test your max. So that way when you're finally ready for an event, you can say, cool, all right, well you know, my threshold is now this. Let me test it. There should be no question in your mind which you can hit.” (13:41, Alex Viada)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 04:27 – Alex’s background and transition to hybrid training.
• 07:01 – Hybrid training’s benefits for health, longevity, and lifestyle.
• 09:45 – How lifters can start running; challenges and fixes.
• 11:25 – Endurance athletes learning to lift; mindset differences.
• 13:41 – How hybrid athletes should monitor and test progress.
• 20:13 – Hybrid benefits: Strength helping endurance and vice versa.
• 22:38 – Programming strength as a skill, not just for fatigue.
• 29:26 – Rethinking progressive overload in strength and hybrid contexts.
• 35:27 – Balancing high/low intensity in endurance training.
• 39:49 – Sample endurance programming week for hybrid athletes.
• 45:48 / 47:26 – Two kinds of fatigue: peripheral vs. central.
• 53:45 – How to program around fatigue (consolidation of stressors).
• 55:53 – Deloads, when and how to use.
• 59:05 – Recovery strategies and importance of fueling.
• 61:56 – Hybrid for busy people: what the schedule can look like.

Resources & Guest Info

• Alex Viada’s Instagram: @alexviada
• Website: Complete Human Performance
• Book: The Hybrid Athlete (Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kindle)

Takeaway

Hybrid training means you don’t have to choose between being strong and having endurance—you can do both, safely and effectively, without burning out. The key is programming with intent, respecting different types of fatigue, and focusing on skill and sustainable progression. Even a busy parent can fit it into a week, and the benefits go beyond competition—hybrid training prepares you to live a more adventurous, capable life.

For more resources, check out the episode show notes at artofmanliness.com/hybridathlete.