Sale, D. G., Jacobs, I., MacDougall, J. D., & Garner, S. (1990). Comparison of two regimens of concurrent strength and endurance training. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 22, 348-356.

Alternating strength training on one day, with endurance training on the other, was compared to doing both types of training on the same days per week. Young men (N = 7) experienced strength and endurance training together for two days per week for 20 weeks. A second group (N = 8) performed strength and endurance work two days per week but on different days. Strength training consisted of six to eight bouts of 15-20 RM on a leg press machine. Endurance training consisted of six to eight 3-min bouts on a cycle ergometer at 90-100% VO2max.

Both groups improved similarly in strength measures except that the strength-alone training significantly increased the leg press 1 RM more. The reactions to endurance training were similar between the groups with the exception of citrate synthase increased significantly more in the combined training group.

Generally, there was little that differed between the groups indicating that the training volume was possibly too low to produce differentiation, although both groups did improve across the duration of the study.

Implication. Mixed and separate strength and endurance training has mainly similar training effects when the volume and frequency of training are low.

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