Have you ever seen the show “Everybody Hates Chris”?
I gotta be honest, I haven’t.
Not sure how I’ve managed to miss it. It had plenty of seasons and I’m sure I channel surfed by but never stopped to watch.
In any case, I think it’s about Chris Rock which makes it hard to believe that everybody hated him. His stand up specials are legendary. But I guess I could be wrong.
What I have seen is “Everybody Loves Raymond” and I can tell you with certainty that everybody does not love Raymond.
I’m not even sure Raymond loves Raymond but that is really for him and his therapist to work out.
Truth is, it’s hard to argue that “everybody” should feel, act, look, want or be attracted to any specific thing.
Which brings me to the flawed title of this very blog post.
Because there aren’t two types of training that everybody should be doing. However, in my experience, if your goal is to blend strength, health, performance and body composition, I have found that these two types of training most efficiently, effectively and directly yield those outcomes.
They are also fun, engaging, progressive and scratch a variety of training itches.
So let’s break down these two training styles that I’m recommending and maybe one or perhaps (gasp!) both of them will be right for you.
The first is called Power Building. Which is a fun but slightly confusing name as it doesn’t have a ton to do with power. The “power” in Power Building is actually borrowed from the sport of “power lifting” which also has very little to do with power but that’s a discussion for another day.
Power Building is simply a combination of strength training using compound lifts (such as squats, deadlifts, pull ups and the like) in comparatively lower rep ranges with heavier weights and accessory or auxiliary movements that tend to lean more towards higher volume and/or isolation movements (lateral raises, incline dumbbell presses, biceps curls, as examples) to give you a very well rounded and varied exposure to strength and muscle building stimuli.
These can be organized in days that focus on specific muscle groups. Deadlifts plus single arm rows and straight arm pulldowns, for example, could be the foundation of a very solid back-focused day.
You could organize it by movement patterns where all the exercises have a pushing component or a pulling component. A “push” day might include squats (lower body push), flat dumbbell bench (upper body push), triceps pressdowns and calf raises (isolation push).
Finally, you can go for a total body approach which trains multiple muscle groups and various planes of motion which is a bit more comprehensive and, I think, is the best solution for people who train with lower frequencies, like two or three times per week.
The true unifying aspect of all of these Power Building approaches is the combination of multi-joint, compound exercises (typically done with a barbell, but not exclusively) usually done at higher intensities and low to mid rep ranges combined less demanding movements done at higher volumes. The combination of the two is what is going to set you up for an increased level of strength as well more muscle mass, improved hormonal health and an increase in bone density.
The second training type is actually a bit tough to name and even tougher to accurately define but I’ll go ahead and call it Hybrid Athlete Training.
Loosely, Hybrid Athlete Training, combines aspects of traditional strength training along with other modalities that may also contribute to strength as well as conditioning or endurance.
Again, this category is very broad but if you picture training for Hyrox, using traditional and modified strongman training implements such as sleds, kegs, sandbags and stones, a CrossFit class that starts with strength or power work and ends with a met-con, you are on the path to understanding the basics of Hybrid.
To put it another way, Hybrid combines gaining strength with building work capacity using exercises that often require some form of locomotion. This could be pushing a sled, or running sprints or carrying a loaded object for distance.
Finally, Hybrid can also be defined by combining both strength and conditioning or endurance activities but in separate workouts of the same training block. If you Power Build on Mondays, do a Hyrox class on Tuesdays and perform 1k running intervals on Wednesdays, congratulations, you are training Hybrid.
Hybrid has very specific advantages in that it will make you incredibly well rounded. You’ll become someone who feels comfortable banging out sets of back squats or going for a 5 mile run with the guy you just met on Hinge. It’s also excellent for general health and body composition outcomes, pretty decent for performance (unless you are training for a very specific event) and, I would argue, most closely delivers the combination of results that people hope for when engaging in a meaningful training program.
In addition to the positive fitness outcomes for both Power Building and Hybrid, there are other benefits worth noting. The first is that the workouts lend themselves to being easily progressed. Weights can get heavier. Reps can increase. Speeds can get faster. More distance can be covered.
Progression is the key to good outcomes. You want things that you can measure.
These workouts are also highly adaptable and varied. I was just in a hotel gym and pulled off both of these styles of training with light dumbbells, a couple of machines, a cable crossover and a treadmill.
And, while you don’t want your training to be chaotic, there is room within the structure to keep things interesting which will keep you interested.
They also really allow your training to be well-rounded while not having to spend your entire life in the gym.. Spending just three hours per week in either one of these styles can yield results that would require double the amount of time if you were using typical bodybuilding splits or going to many large group fitness classes.
Lastly, they are fun. Whether you get a rush out of hitting a heavy deadlift triple, love the low skill requirement of pushing a sled or just feel great after running a few miles, there is a bit of something to appeal to everyone that can be found in Power Building and particularly in Hybrid.
Swinging this back full circle, no training style is correct for everyone. If the only way you will get up off the couch is if there is a Zumba class on the other end of your drive or you are trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon, these are probably not the right modalities for you.
But if you are looking to improve general fitness qualities in an efficient and effective way, you will really benefit from these two approaches.
And apologies again for the title. But I gotta do what I gotta do to get you to read these things. There’s a reason they didn’t call it “Many People Might Like Raymond”.