Paul B. Weber

11/25/2025

11/20/2025

One of the many advantages to mixed training is that it’s fun.

You get to face new challenges all the time, rather than just seeing different numbers on a screen.

You get to move like an athlete, doing all this fast movement.

You could also argue that the variety spreads out the mechanical loading onto lots of different parts of the body, making you less likely to chronically overload any specific tissue. There’s more to that because mixed training actually isn’t *that* varied - but if you used to be a single sport endurance or strength athlete, there’s quite a bit of variety by comparison.

All of these things can help people stay consistent with training long term - which big picture means more for athletic progress than just about anything else.

11/20/2025

One of the main advantages of hybrid training (over mixed training) is it allows for higher training loads.

With mixed training, even if you pick movements that you can do at a low intensity, the movements demand much more mechanical loading than traditional endurance modalities (with the possible exception of running).

There are only so many air squats, box step ups and walking lunges you can do in a week.

Doing lots of low intensity training with traditional endurance modalities is going to allow for a much higher training load, and makes a lot of sense for athletes who need to make big changes to their conditioning.

11/18/2025

11/17/2025

This applies to a lot of movements, not just the burpee box jump over.

The time to exhaustion even on a “light” movement like wall balls or double unders is still less than 4 minutes for most people.

You have to be insanely fit to do these movements for 8, 10 or 12 minutes.

Most people need fewer metcons and more intervals.

In those intervals most people need longer rests than the 15 seconds they get between movements in an EMOM. Think 1:3. You can go up to 1:5 if you need to.

This approach allows most people to practice race-relevant paces at submaximal RPEs.

When you do that, over time you perceive less effort with those movements at those paces.

And, since you’re training at submaximal RPEs, you can actually train more than you can when every workout is full send.

Finishing every workout at RPE 10 isn’t how athletes train. That comes from quick-fix culture’s advice for gen pop folks who claim they don’t have enough time to exercise (a conversation for another day).

If you want to approach conditioning like an athlete, then it’s going to be more low intensity training (think in hours/week), and a lot of practicing race-relevant paces at submaximal RPEs.

To do that second part, most people need (way) fewer metcons, more intervals and longer rests.

11/15/2025

Classic metcons force most athletes to exhaustion.

You have to be insanely fit to do a 12 minute metcon without your pace slowing down.

By definition, this slowing down is RPE 10, all-out, max effort, 0 Reps in Reserve.

All-out workouts are an important tool, but I only program them 3-6 weeks out from competition.

When we do all-out workouts too often, it prevents us from spending enough time at high intensities.

Instead, the best practice is to finish intense conditioning sessions with reps in reserve.

For most athletes, this means that their “metcons” have rest built in. The rest allows them to sustain their paces, and finish the workout at submaximal RPEs.

For athletes who are extremely fit, they can do full metcons (e.g. 8-12 minutes), sustain their paces, and finish the workout at a submaximal RPE.

The fitter you get, the more classic metcons you can do.

11/12/2025

I remember compressing a week of training into a single day. And wondering why I constantly felt fatigued, irritable, and in pain.

There’s no shortage of effort or willpower.

Fitness athletes have no problem with more training. We’re eager to prove we can work the hardest.

As a result, we increase training load on too short of a timeline.

We want to train the hardest and the most today, this week, or this month.

It isn’t that wanting to work the hardest is wrong. You need that.

You just need to stretch it out over months and years.

11/08/2025

Some thoughts on crosstraining for runners

11/05/2025

It’s highly likely that the core of your Hyrox program should be a 10k run progression.

While there may be exceptions for former endurance athletes, running accounts for much more separation than any other modality.

For athletes new to distance running, the first step is to build your tolerance to mileage. For context, according to data from the median for an Elite 15 athlete was 49 miles a week.

In this stage, orthopedic setbacks are more likely to derail your prep than failure to hold a certain pace, so progress your mileage methodically (5-10% per week).

Once you have built up to at least 20 miles a week, you can start to add speed to some of those miles with 2-3 quality running sessions per week.

Many of your quality sessions will be spent around your threshold pace. This is usually for 1 mile repeats with a short (1-2 minute rest) in between.

Your threshold pace is a pace that you can run without approaching sudden failure. Most people can still speak in one or a few words at a time at their threshold pace.