The Interference Effect | Why You Keep Burning Out When Balancing Running & Lifting

So, I think a big issue that I've

experienced when stepping into the world

of hybrid training and something that I

hear a lot of people speak about,

especially my clients before they come

on board with me, is striking up this

balance and trying to find this balance

between

running and lifting

and kind of this crossover effect that

people seem to suffer with of if they're

doing some of their longer or harder

runs, then they can't push as much in

their lift. lifting and then when they

have big sessions in the gym, they find

it hard to then go out and do some of

their runs.

And it's something that I'm going to

talk about in this video and it's

something that I've called the

interference effect. So basically how

these two worlds of hybrid training that

probably don't mix very well and what

people on either world would tell you if

you're going to do long distance running

or that's your big goal. Don't focus so

much on the gym and vice versa. But

that's the that's the

gold golden pot at the end of the

rainbow um with hybrid training is

trying to find a balance between the

two. So that's why I think what I'm

about to talk about here and finding a

balance and making sure that that line

between the two worlds um isn't as noisy

and this interference effect isn't as

noisy and you're able to yeah you got to

prioritize one sometimes if that's your

big goal but somewhere where you can

find a balance. So that's what I'm going

to go into. So if we jump straight into

the screen and what I've called the

interference effect. So, in this video,

I'm going to teach you how to handle

this interference effect and balance

running and lifting

and hopefully do it without completely

burning out on either end. So,

not completely tanking in your running

and not completely being exhausted and

not being able to recover within your uh

lifting sessions. and then hopefully

again do it without completely

neglecting one discipline for another.

And just a quick side note of what I've

just said before is you will always be

prioritizing one aspect over the other.

And that's completely normal. Just

because you're getting into hybrid

training and you want to get the best of

both worlds. It doesn't mean that you

won't have certain goals. You won't have

like a race that you're going for or you

want to get stronger, for example.

So, one of them may take a bit of a

front seat and one may take a bit of a

passenger seat, which is completely

fine. But in this video, you'll find out

how to blur some of that interference

and hopefully get a better balance.

So, what is this interference effect

that I've been talking about? And in

simple terms, it's basically how much

are you burning out on either end of

this hybrid stick. So,

there's going to be a crossover and

we're trying to make the crossover as

quiet as I possibly can, like I said

before, but also not burn out on either

side.

So, when you run, how much does it take

away from your lifting and vice versa?

And that's the kind of line we tread

across and that's the line that I want

you to be aware of and find a better

balance with.

So that gap between the two disciplines

is this interference effect and is the

main thing that we have to try and

manage when it comes to hybrid training.

If you don't, your running will become

if you don't, your running will make you

weaker. So you'll put all your eggs in

the basket of running and become weaker,

not look like you go to the gym and

become like a wet lettuce basically.

or

you put all your eggs in the basket of

your strength and your gym work and you

become a lot slobber. You become

heavier. You become lethargic. You're

not able to push in your harder sessions

or you just become too heavy for your

longer runs because you can't spend a

lot of time on your feet.

So, like I said, I'm going to show you

how to do this without taking away from

those hybrid training principles of

being the best of both worlds.

So before we do that, we first have to

identify what your main mission is and

what your side mission is. So I'm a big

gamer and if you play games like GTA for

example, you will have a main mission

which will be all in part of your story

line and then you will have a side

mission which is something that won't

affect your big thing but plays a role

in it.

And we want to try and do this without

spinning all your plates and trying to

do everything. Cuz like I've just said

here, if you try to do everything, you

end up with nothing. If you try and spin

all these plates in one go, get good at

running and lifting and your cardio and

your eggs and your skill work and your

high rock sessions. If you try and do

all them in one go, you will end up

getting not. And so we need to identify

first of all what is your main mission

and then what is the side mission that

hopefully complements that main one.

So the main mission and how to identify

it.

Well, we first have to identify what end

of the spectrum is your main mission on.

Is it more sitting on the side of

getting better with your running and

your cardio? Or is it sitting more on

the side of getting better with your

strength and building muscle?

So like I said, is it a cardio goal? Is

it a strength goal? Or if you're doing

something like a higher rock, is it a

skill acquisition goal? Do you have to

get better at certain skills like a war

ball or get better on the eggs? Do you

have to get better at a certain skill

because that's the goal you have? You

have to find out where you sit on the

spectrum first of all.

Now, you can live with the interference

effect in the main mission. That's where

you want or that's where if you're going

to have some sort of crossover, you want

it to come from your main mission, i.e.

If you're focusing on running a half

marathon, for example,

and that is your main mission for this

part of your life, then yeah, 80% of

your training may consist of running

different types of runs, different

intensity of runs, different distances

of runs. So, your strength may take a

backseat or be in the passenger seat for

a while. And your legs may be sore

afterwards. Um, your energy may be lower

after these big sessions obviously.

Therefore, it may interfere with some of

your lower body strength workouts, for

example.

So, you may find that your runs are your

hard sessions and then your gym work

becomes some of your easier sessions,

which obviously is not ideal if your

goal is to add muscle. Um, you can't

really train that far away from failure

and make sessions easy in the gym if you

want to add muscle. So, that's where

this interference effects interference

effect may come in.

But we can kind of live with that if

that's your main mission for that goal.

Now, like I've just said, obviously this

isn't ideal. Obviously, if you are

getting into this world, it's because

you want to be stronger, you want to be

fitter, but you want to look like you go

to the gym as well. So obviously it's

not ideal to

if your goal is to run a half marathon

to spend all your time running or 80% of

your training week running and only 20%

in the gym and them being easier

sessions because you want your side

mission to complement your main mission.

So there is a bit of a trade-off here

that you have to learn and you have to

deal with.

Um

then you can use your side mission like

I've just said to balance the scale. So

if you have a hard session, which is

your main goal, i.e. a tempo run,

interval run, a long run, you want to

balance the scales out by when you go to

the gym, you want that to be an easier

session. So almost like a traffic light

system. If you think you're going your

um

running sessions are like red line

sessions. So these are red on your on

your traffic light system. These are

really hard, tough sessions. You want

your gym session or your side mission

to be a green almost to kind of

complement and balance these scales out.

Obviously, like I said, if you also want

to look like you go to the gym and add

muscle, then again, you have to find a

balance and you have to prioritize,

which is more important. But in this

instance, we're going to say that your

main goal is to run a half marathon.

So, you just want to keep yourself

ticking over with your strength while

you're prepping for your race.

Now, I put a bit of a caveat and a

warning here. Make sure that side

mission doesn't interfere with your main

one. So, when you go into the gym, make

sure that that side mission stays a side

mission. So, make sure that it does feel

like a green. Make sure that you're not

pushing that close to failure. Make sure

that your programming is done in a way

that you can recover for your main goal.

Like I said before, you want your main

mission to be where some of your

interference comes in. and you don't

want that at all if you can from your

side mission.

So, here's some things that I would

consider for for those side missions to

make sure that it it goes hand inhand

with whatever your main goal is. Make

sure that it complements your main

mission. So that might means that some

of your strength sessions, especially if

you have one very big goal,

in this instance is a half marathon.

Make sure your

other sessions, so your side sessions

complement that. So

maybe more recovery work, maybe more

mobility work, maybe more stuff that

isn't going close to failure, but will

help you with, for example, single leg

exercises to help you with your running.

You want it to kind of complement

whatever your main mission is. Make sure

that it doesn't take away from your main

mission. So, you don't want to go into

the gym, batter yourself on legs, and

you have a long run the next day, but

it's taking you three days to recover

from that. So, make sure that it doesn't

take away from your main mission. And

also make sure that it doesn't require a

lot of mental and physical energy.

So you don't want to have to psych

yourself up every time you go in to do

your side mission because you already

have to do that for 80% of your week. So

you want this to kind of be something

that tick ticks you over, something that

you can maybe go and be social with or

go with your friends or just again

something that will actually help you

with your main mission.

Now please don't think that you can do

everything at this time. Please don't

think that you can do everything at the

same time. I'm sorry. Better people than

you have tried and they've failed.

Better people than you have tried to run

a half marathon and do a higher rocks

and add muscle and lose body fat.

There's people who've probably tried to

do that. And I guarantee you, they would

have had to sit down and prioritize what

at what phase is the most important

thing.

And you have to work and see what end of

the spectrum you're on, like I said

earlier, and pick what your main goal

is. Because the good thing with hybrid

training is you always have a challenge

that is relatively close to the one

you've just finished. So you can do a

high rocks for example, acrew all of

this skill, have all of this capacity

work that you've done, potentially not

add any muscle in that space of time,

but then you finish a high rocks and you

can carry some of those principles into

this phase now where you're building

muscle

and you can kind of have like a cleaner

crossover and have less interference.

But you have to identify what is the

main goal and what is the side goal. And

that's why I'm saying you can't do

everything at the same time. And there's

people who have tried.

So to stop this, I use this bullseye

system. So in the bang center here,

you've got your main mission. So in this

instance was your half marathon.

Just outside there you have your

training go training load, sorry. So for

this instance, it's 80% running and 20%

of it will be gym work. The tradeoff

here though, so the second to last one

on the outside. Your trade-off here is

you may lose some strength, you may lose

some size in terms of muscle. You may

become, yes, leaner because of the

expenditure, but you may now not look

like you go to the gym as much as you

did because your main goal is a half

marathon. So the trade-off is you will

become lighter, you become fitter, you

become leaner, which will help you with

your running and your main goal. But if

you also want to look like you go to the

gym and have muscle and add muscle,

that's the tradeoff unfortunately that

you may have to endure in this time. And

then once you're done, you can just go

back to either being in this phase where

you're just waiting and ready for your

next challenge. And then you can kind of

be a bit more flexible or your next goal

may be right, I want to spend the next

six months adding muscle and maybe my

running takes a bit of a back seat,

which is completely fine. And that's the

the positives of hybrid training.

And then lastly on the very on the

outside of this is your side mission.

And you're lifting to try and keep hold

of this muscle. So you're not lifting to

add muscle. You're lifting to basically

give your body an excuse to keep what

you have. Hopefully that's the goal.

And through all of this you have a

mental side to juggle

and manage. So thinking that the side

missions are not as import thinking side

missions are not important or are null

sessions is also a negative thing. So I

don't want you to think that these side

missions now are something that don't

really matter like you're going to the

gym and you're just going through the

motions. Yes, they're important but you

don't want them to take away from

whatever your main goal is. You also

don't want to get head up about how much

stronger you used to be or how much

muscle you used to have. Cuz yeah, you

can get that back and you can spend

after this prep, you can then say,

"Right, I want to spend the next six

months adding muscle and you can get

that back." But you have to juggle this

expectation you've got of yourself of

what it used to look like because you

now have a new goal.

Now, last thing I want you to remember

here is you can't remove this

interference effect completely. All you

can do is reduce the noise. And what

I've told you there is how to prioritize

certain things, how to work out your

main mission and your side mission, and

how to work out how to identify and

manage each one and the mental side of

things because unfortunately you cannot

remove this interference.

And if you want a little bit more help

with this, if you want a little bit of

more information about this bullseye

effect that I've just spoken about and

the system that I use with my clients,

then just comment the word formula below

and I will send you some more

information over to you.

And that is it for this video. Hopefully

it helped. If you did enjoy it, like,

comment, anything that you didn't get,

write it below. I reply personally to

all the messages below and I'll see you

on the next one.