I’ve found 2-3 days a week of strength training and 2-3 days of running/conditioning, each workout done on a separate day, to be a sustainable mix. I’m currently running a program from r/tacticalbarbell and that might be up your alley if you need a structured way to program the two. (It’s targeted towards a military/first responder audience, but it can be used by folks in general.) I find the emphasis on two-a-days from other hybrid programs to be unrealistic as well.

Thanks! I do have the tactical barbell 3rd edition and the conditioning book. I have looked at that. My only concern I guess is that it’s purely strength training on the lifting day. I do like accessory work and didn’t see a good way to add that in without doing too much. Which program are you doing and how has your progress been?

Running basebuilding at the moment. Honestly there’s no reason you can’t add accessories to the strength training days. The programs just keep it minimal and state they’re not strictly necessary. If you stick to a minimal set of 2-3 main lifts you should still have time for accessory work. The only problem will be if you try to focus on multiple goals at once. Strength, hypertrophy, and conditioning are all complementary fitness modalities but it’s hard to see progress in all three and once and how well you progress in any domain will vary with nutrition. Choose one domain to focus on for every 6-8 week block while maintaining the other two, then rotate to another focus on your next block.

Awesome info. I appreciate it. I have considered doing operator/green protocol and that may be the direction I go. What’s re you hopping on after basebuilding?

Still feeling it out, but I'm trying to do more seasonal training where I focus on running/conditioning in the spring and fall when the weather is optimal, and then strength/anaerobic in the summer and winter when working indoors is nicer. Probably going to do Operator/Black when I finish up in \~2 weeks and then switch to a 3 day/week running program in late August and scale back the lifting to 2 days/week. The 3 day/week running program I'm going to do will be based off this guide: [https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/runners-world-run-less-run-faster-become-a-faster-stronger-runner-with-the-revolutionary-first-training-program\_bill-pierce\_ray-moss/257994/#edition=6718812&idiq=4829065](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/runners-world-run-less-run-faster-become-a-faster-stronger-runner-with-the-revolutionary-first-training-program_bill-pierce_ray-moss/257994/#edition=6718812&idiq=4829065) \- it boils down to 1 tempo run, 1 interval run, and 1 long LSS run per week with training guides and progression based on distance. Lines up with the Black template really well.

So I will 2nd the tactical barbell recommendation. The beauty of their programming is the flexibility - you can easily add accessories or change rep ranges, depending on your goals. No exaggeration, but I went from being an overweight dad bod to running half marathons and deadlifting 500 lbs. I am not a big guy either. 3 lifting days and 3 running days will make you a powerful generalist. I found it worked even better as a program than my days in CrossFit when I completed locally.

Thanks! Would you mind sharing more details about you routine? Still struggling to figure out what I want to do.

It’s the basic base building phase, followed by Operator Black Pro (3 strength days, 3 cardio days). Typically my strength blocks are 4-6 weeks with retests and sometimes forced progressions. But I will also add 1-2 accessories (hamstring focus and shoulders/arms) per strength session. Basically trying to bring up any parts I feel need extra attention. I do back squats, bench press, weighted pull-ups, and deadlifts (once per week). I also do ab work 2x a week. For cardio, I find LSD gave me my life back. Following the talk test (can you talk while you are doing your cardio?) improved so many areas of my fitness. Once a week, I’ll do a HIIT workout to keep myself honest and build up some lactate. Since I do strength work a lot, I tend to under prioritize HIIT - I don’t seem to recover well doing 2+ HIIT sessions a week. You can manipulate calories to lose weight (deficit) or gain muscle (surplus). I’ve done keto, low-carb, and moderate carb cycles with this program. Low carb seemed to help the most with fat loss, but moderate carb kept me sane and allowed for the most progress with lifts and running. That’s about it. Modify the variables as needed and most importantly, stay consistent. I had shit workouts but made myself do them anyway - I usually ended up breaking PRs in the following sessions!

I recommend 2-3 weights and 2-3 running depending on the goal. Stick with more zone 2 cardio than not so you don’t lose muscle.

> Stick with more zone 2 cardio than not so you don’t lose muscle. This isn't really the case. Preserving or improving size of muscle mass is mostly a function of adequate protein (and calorie) intake and sufficient stimulus from weightlifting. Losing it is usually due to people doing too much aerobic volume and outstripping recovery resources in the absence of enough calories.

As the others said, 3/3 split is a really good balance of the strength and conditioning. Just as an example (I don't know what race distances you would be wanting to train for, if at all): Bench + Full Upper Quality Run (short interval work) Squat + Lower Body Quality Run 2 (Long Interval Work / Tempo-Threshold Running) DL + Full Body Long Run Off or Recovery Run With a split like this, you can follow whatever strength progression you want and strive for high RPE on your accessories (maybe 2-3 sets per movement, or more depending on goals).