This article contains examples of how to periodize training programs to help aerobic endurance athletes reach their peak condition at the appropriate time of the year.

This article discusses overtraining risk factors in endurance athletes and provides strategies for optimizing effective programming. Visit NSCA online to learn more about athletic performance.

This excerpt from NSCA’s Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition discusses the research surrounding the timing of hydration and its impact on sport performance for those participating in aerobic endurance exercise.

This excerpt briefly discusses components of interval workouts, including recommended volume and intensity, to increase overall endurance in athletes.

This article highlights some of the benefits, components, and training methods involved with time-efficient training.

Hybrid fitness competitions such as HYROX have rapidly gained popularity, blending aerobic endurance running with a variety of high-intensity resistance and ergometer-based stations in a globally standardized format. The sport’s unique structure, comprising eight 1-kilometer runs interspersed with diverse workload stations, presents distinct physiologic, biomechanical, and technical demands. This review synthesizes existing research on hybrid fitness events to identify the key determinants of HYROX performance, emphasizing aerobic capacity, anaerobic power, local muscular endurance, and maximal strength. The aerobic system is foundational, enabling recovery between high-intensity efforts and sustaining performance during the event’s prolonged duration. Conversely, anaerobic capacity is critical for executing the high-intensity efforts demanded by each fitness station. Local muscular endurance supports repeated submaximal contractions, while strength and power underpin performance in movements such as sled pushes and running economy. Technical proficiency and injury prevention strategies are also discussed, alongside targeted programming recommendations, including high-intensity interval training, circuit training, and blood flow restriction methods. Despite its growing popularity, limited sport-specific research exists, necessitating further investigation to refine training and performance strategies. This review provides a comprehensive framework for athletes and coaches to optimize preparation and performance in HYROX, contributing to the broader understanding of hybrid fitness competitions.

When isolating aerobic capacity as a determinant of performance, traditional interventions have focused on increasing an individual’s VO2max. Based on the large acute improvements from a single positive psychology research study, investigations into the application of integrated psychophysiological strategies to optimize performance should be explored.

A sound year-round aerobic endurance training program should be divided into sport seasons with specific goals and objectives designed to improve performance gradually and progressively.

Understanding how the body adapts to the overload of aerobic exercise is critical to designing effective exercise training programs, monitoring exercise responses and progress, and assessing training outcomes.

This excerpt from NSCA’s Essential of Tactical Strength and Conditioning explores the neural and muscular adaptations to training over time.