Is Hybrid Training Just Segmented Crossfit?”

Imagine it. Being able to run long distances. Lift heavy. Build an aesthetic physique. Feel like you’re capable of tackling any physical challenge thrown your way. These are all things that get sold to people if they pursue Hybrid training. If you’ve been on social media or YouTube in the past year you have likely seen the meteoric rise in popularity of this “new” style of training. Today, we are going to break down what this Hybrid training movement is truly, where it comes from, and the differences between Hybrid training and CrossFit. Before we dive in there are two disclaimers I must put out for the sake of honesty. First, while I am a CrossFit coach through and through I am 100% PRO any movement or modality that increases people's physical health and well-being. Second, I AM a CrossFit coach and CrossFit purest at the end of the day. At the end of the day I believe in most situations CrossFit training is the most appropriate style of training for people who wish to live a longer, healthier, and more capable life. Now that we’ve gotten my initial biases out of the way let’s dive in. 

Hybrid training really seemed to start making a big push on social media with the rise of influencers and business owners such as Nick Bare and Fergus Crawley several years ago. Fergus and Nick both train for long or ultra distance endurance events as well as a mixture of bodybuilding and powerlifting for strength and size. Their dedication and time commitment to training in this manner has led them to impressive feats of both strength and fitness such as Fergus running a sub 5:00 mile and a 500+ lb back squat. Wildly impressive no doubt. Hybrid training has continued to grow in popularity and become all the buzz on social media and a staple for content creators to talk about. It’s worth noting however that hybrid training isn't new. Alex Viada, who is to my knowledge one of the original hybrid athletes, wrote a phenomenal book on hybrid training in 2015 that I own and take a gander at to this day. It is worth noting in this book that even ten years ago Alex discusses ways to use a hybrid style of training to combine many different modalities of training such as Olympic Lifting and IronMan training as an extreme example. There are many different ways to combine opposing training goals to create a hybrid program outside of the long running and powerlifting/bodybuilding style we typically see on social media today. 

Understanding a bit of the history of hybrid training training and what the aims are give us a place to evaluate and compare hybrid style training to CrossFit training. First however, let's start with the similarities between the two. Hybrid training and CrossFit training both strive to increase someone's broad capabilities in multiple modalities. Second, they both generally lean toward using large compound movements that are well understood at this point to give trainees the best return on investment in the gym. Third, they both experienced a wildfire rise in popularity. That last one isn’t a relevant training similarity, but something I noticed and feel like should be stated and understood. 

Now let us break down some of the differences between the two. Hybrid training RARELY combines any sort of weightlifting and aerobic training in the same training session. We see a general lack of gymnastics movements outside very simple bodyweight movements such as the push up and strict pull up in hybrid training. There is a massive lack of emphasis on flexibility and mobility in hybrid training compared to CrossFit training. The variety of movements and implements used in hybrid training vs. CrossFit is much more limited. As an example I rarely see hybrid athletes using an axle bar, sandbag, kettlebell, or sleds. Hybrid training DOES seem to have a much larger emphasis on swimming and biking than most CrossFit programs which I think is a positive for the training method. 

I’m sure there are more small differences we could tease out between the two, but what is listed above gives us enough information to deduce a few things. Hybrid training has similar means, but trains in a segmented way, something CrossFit has always told athletes to avoid. There is much less variety in training so you better love to do the few things you pick in your hybrid program or you will likely end up bored quickly. Intensity isn’t quite as important in hybrid training as in CrossFit (I will refrain from going into this today for the sake of the reader's time and mine). Hybrid training does have more emphasis on much longer training efforts and endurance than a typical CrossFit program.

Additionally, any and all nervous system adaptations gained from performing high skill gymnastics movements are lost for the hybrid athlete. 

Everything to this point has been mostly informing and breaking down the differences between the two training styles. Before I briefly give my opinion I am again going to state I love any training program that gets people off the couch and moving, doing something hard, and becoming a better, more capable version of themselves. Now, in my professional opinion as someone who has been coaching and working in CrossFit and the fitness space his entire adult life I feel confident in saying hybrid training is simply CrossFit with things taken out and an emphasis on things someone likes to fit their specific training goals without training multiple modalities simultaneously in the same session. When we look at it objectively though, that's it. Hybrid training IS CrossFit, just not as CrossFit was truly meant to be done. It’s JV CrossFit. It’s CrossFit for people who don’t want to learn to handstand walk and do muscle ups. It’s CrossFit for people who don’t want to spend time working on their flexibility and mobility. It’s CrossFir for people who don’t want to know and experience the feeling of Fran, and all of that is okay. 

Hybrid training is part of CrossFit but not the whole. CrossFit is the WHOLE of hybrid training. That has always been CrossFit’s aim and mission. Jack of all trades, master of none. So do I think hybrid training is an inferior way to train compared to CrossFit? Yes I do. Do I think hybrid training will make you a fitter and healthier human being? Yes I do. It’s okay if people don’t want to do CrossFit. CrossFit is for anyone but not everyone. However, objectively we can also evaluate the data and conclude that hybrid training is not as effective as CrossFit for training a human to be prepared for all tasks known and unknown.