Plenty of men can move heavy weight. Plenty can hold a pace. Far fewer can do both on the same day, and that gap is the whole argument for hybrid training. On 31st May we turned it into a competition. Around 60 members were weighed in, split into waves and scored across strength, engine and conditioning, with an award at the end for the most hybrid athlete on the floor.
Everyone weighed in on arrival so that the scoring could be scaled to bodyweight, which keeps a 70kg member and a 100kg member competing on the same terms.
Wave one was briefed and sent into a BUILD block first: bench press for reps at bodyweight, then a three rep max back squat. As wave one moved out, wave two moved in.
From there the day rolled through the sessions our members train every week. ENGINE meant accumulating calories on the echo bike, which is where the strength-first lads started to feel it. LOCK IN split the group in two, half on ski ergs and bike ergs, half on wall balls, burpees and box jumps, before the halves swapped.
Scoring across all three exposed exactly what we expected. The strongest men in the room were rarely the ones topping the engine work, and the best engines struggled to hold their score under load. That is the point.
Training that only builds one quality leaves you carrying an obvious weakness into any hybrid event you enter.
One member summed up the tactical approach to the whole thing before his wave went: asked what his game plan was, he said he was just going to send it. We closed the day with awards for the winning team and for the most hybrid athlete. Competition is part of how we train here, so club days come round regularly, though we run a different theme each time.
