The Molecular Physiology Of Hybrid Training - Professor Keith Baar

The Progress Theory

Hello and welcome to The Progress Theory where we discuss how to implement scientific principles to optimise human performance. In this episode we have Dr Keith Baar, Professor of Molecular exercise physiology at the University of California.

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First of all – HMN24 is not a sports supplement company. I’ve seen sport supplements be used as a method to improve performance in the gym and at a certain sport. However, these supplements, like a pre-workout, are often used on top of a lifestyle which does not provide the foundation needed for optimal performance. There’s no point taking pre-workout supplements if your sleep, hydration, and nutrition is an unstructured mess. I’m convinced that a large percentage of injuries are often caused, not because training was poor, but because a poor lifestyle foundation increased the athlete’s susceptibility to injury. Sports supplements are often used to plaster the cracks in poor lifestyle habits, which only causes more future problems.

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I can’t recommend these products enough they are a game changer for human performance. And also, while you’re at their website hmn24.com check out there plant protein, which is incredible for smoothies post-training, and their website includes articles and an awesome podcast for those wanting to learn more about human performance. You can even check out the episode I did with them, I thoroughly enjoyed that chat I had with Phi Learney, Co-founder of HMN24, and it has led to an awesome collaboration with HMN24 supporting The Progress Theory. If you want a 10% discount on all HMN24 products either head to their website via the links in the Instagram bios of @theProgresstheory or my personal Instagram @drphilprice or use the code PHILPRICE at checkout.

One of the mechanisms for the interference effect when hybrid training is molecular signalling theory. When activated by endurance exercise the AMPK pathway may inhibit the mTOR pathway, inhibiting strength and hypertrophy adaptations. But what does this all mean? In this episode, Professor Baar and Dr Phil Price discuss how these molecular pathways get activated, why endurance training might inhibit strength training adaptations, and how we can change our programming to reduce this.

In this episode, we discuss:

• 1:14 - Introduction
• 6:03 - What is mTORC1 and AMPK?
• 10:43 - Factors which activate mTORC1 and AMPK
• 14:55 - The importance of leucine
• 18:35 - How long mTORC1 and AMPK stay activated poster exercise
• 21:53 - Molecular breaks
• 25:08 - Difference between rats and human studies on concurrent training
• 31:23 - Untrained vs trained
• 36:48 - Practical recommendations for hybrid athletes

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Explore these Resources or Items Mentioned in the Show

In this episode, we mentioned the following resources:

Professor Keith Baar Research

Other researchers

Professor William Apro

Professor Eva Blomstrand

Professor Dave Bishop

Professor Hickson’s first study

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Mentioned in this episode:

The Science of Hybrid Training

It was originally thought that you could not effectively train for both strength and endurance at the same time because they required different adaptations which were not compatible with each other. It was claimed that ‘an interference effect’, blunted the adaptations for strength if you simultaneously trained for endurance. However, recent developments in sports which require both strength and endurance have really challenged this idea, with hybrid athletes producing impressive performances in both strength and endurance sports together. This had led scientists, coaches, and athletes to rethink what is humanly possible and suggests the interference effect is not as influential as originally thought. But what is a hybrid athlete? What is the ‘interference effect’? And how can we maximize our training to improve at the same time our strength and endurance performance? In this book, Dr Phil Price provides insight into the misconceptions surrounding strength and endurance training by distilling the past 50 years of research and drawing on the conversations he had with great scientists, coaches, and athletes on The Progress Theory podcast. This book is essential reading for hybrid athletes and coaches who are looking to understand the key training variables and their effect on the simultaneous development of strength and endurance performance.

Book