So you want to get FASTER, but not at the cost of losing your HARD EARNED MUSCLE. You want to GET STRONGER without losing mobility. Or, maybe you want to GROW bigger without becoming slower and less athletic.
If these are your problems – The Performance U Hybrid Strength Training & Conditioning system is your solution!
What is Hybrid Training & Conditioning?
Put simply, Hybrid Training integrates the most effective training methods (classic and modern) into a more effective, efficient and well-rounded fitness system that’s battle-tested effective for giving you a more functional body that’s got the hustle and the muscle!
Hybrid fitness training recognizes the strengths or various training methods and seamlessly integrates them into one comprehensive program, which provides superior results than exclusively using only one method since certain forms of training benefit specific fitness components that other exercise methods miss.
The way we design and teach our Hybrid Training concepts does not interfere with your specific training goals or reduce the effectiveness of the various methods we use. Creating hybrids workouts using proven training methods allows us to give our clients more divers and interesting workouts that get fast results!
Who can benefit from using Hybrid Training?
The beauty of our Hybrid training approach is that it’s a flexible system, which can provide anyone with the best tools to reach the goals they’re after by using the best means available.
Bodybuilders, physique and figure athletes use our Hybrid training concepts to stay mobile, functional and pain-free while they focus on building build muscle, getting lean and ready for an upcoming photo shoot or competition.
Our Professional, College and High-school athletes use our hybrid training concepts to improve their speed, power and conditioning without losing their muscle size and strength!
Exercise enthusiasts and weekend warriors use our hybrid training concepts to get a safe, fun, challenging and dynamic workout experience that helps them to build muscle, lose fat and become more athletic!
The Power of Hybrid Training and the State of the Industry!
In the fitness world it seems “you’re either with us or you’re against us.” In other words, something is either “good” or it’s “bad.” If it’s bad, we never use it. And if it’s good, we use the heck out of it.
“There’s much crossover between many methods of training especially between the foundational modalities (e.g. Yoga, Pilates) and between the various strength and bodybuilding methods (e.g. bodybuilding training, strength training, powerlifting, machine-based training, free weight training). Yet, there is much alienation between professionals aligning themselves with different philosophies.” JC Santana
We share our Hybrid Fitness Training philosophy with our great friend Coach Juan Carlos Santana, who has inspired many of the Hybrid Fitness concepts & techniques we use.
JC has already done a great job of describing the problematic state of the fitness industry:
“Due to different schools of thought among industry leaders, functional training is often pitted against other training modalities, like bodybuilding. The result is gang-like environment where the strength coaches think functional training is a circus act, and the functional training advocates think strength training is for “no-necks” just interested in aesthetics and/or lifting heavy stuff. Then, of course you have the Yoga and Pilates crew that look at the other two groups and think they are nuts.”
“Function vs. Strength, Pilates vs. Bodybuilding, Yoga vs. who knows what. These comparisons are not ever accurate; they are like asking what do you think is best to eat for optimal nutrition; apples or broccoli? Of course, “both” is the right answer. Eating only one or the other, although each is nutritious, leaves one without the nutrition of the other. Bringing this simple example to the world of physical training drives home a very important point. Every training method has its benefits (i.e. nutrition), and combining the most effective training methods (i.e. combining the apple and broccoli) will provide better training than exclusively using any one training method. Now, this may sound logical and sensible to us, but the battles and claims rage on between different training camps.”
“It is time to understand that ALL training modalities are tools, and like tools, they are very effective for specific jobs. Using the right tool for the right job, and not one tool for ALL jobs, is what make training safe, effective and fun.”
With JC’s wise words in mind, one of the biggest flaws we see with the way many fitness professionals and exercise enthusiasts train is that their workout program is single-dimensional, but their goals are multi-dimensional.
Put simply, it all comes down to the principle of specificity! Your training should match what you’re training for (aka – your goals). If you want to be faster, use sports performance oriented concepts. If you want to be bigger & stronger, use some bodybuilding, powerlifting and/or bodyweight training concepts. And, if you want to be more mobile, flexible and better able to relax, then yoga concepts are in order.
What most fail to realize is that there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t train to improve multiple aspects of your health & fitness at once. The most common reason we’ve found for why most fitness professionals and enthusiasts don’t integrate different training disciplines into one training model is because they simply don’t know how to seamlessly blend multiple aspects of training into a comprehensive program without reducing the effectiveness of each of the various methods used.
I can assure you that if Hybrid Fitness Training is used in the same smart, systematic and progressively planned manner that we practice at Performance U will get you the results you’re after and be the most powerful training method you’ve ever used. I know this because it’s how we’ve trained our clients & athletes for over 10yrs now.
Hybrid Training is the Secret to Our Success!
Our Performance U hybrid strength & conditioning training concepts have become know as some of the most innovative in the industry.
“Hybrid forms of training not only provide more diverse applications, but also provide a conceptual model for making other modalities more effective and diverse.” JC Santana
Furthermore, the techniques and concepts we’ve developed and shared through our articles, workshops, DVDs and Mentorships are used successfully by high-performance athletes, physique competitors and fitness enthusiasts worldwide.
We believe the reason we’ve been able to celebrate so much universal success with such a wide range of individuals is because our Hybrid Training approach has evolved from the simple philosophy we’ve adopted from Coach JC, which is, “to improve human performance by using the best means available.” Or, as JC would put it in a more affirmative context, “we improve human performance by any means necessary.”
At Performance U, we keep an objective, open-minded approach to training. And, we don’t allow ourselves to be limited by emotional attachments or personal biases towards specific training methods. This empowers us with the ability to clearly understand the difference between OUR FAVORITE training applications, and the BEST applications for the job.
We embrace the unique benefits (and limitations) various aspects of fitness training offer. Which is why we don’t marry ourselves to any single school of though, or pledge our allegiance to anything but the success of the clients and students we’re lucky enough to work with.
Why Hybrid Training is the ultimate tool for Fitness Professionals?
By now you can see why we’re so passionate about Hybrid Training. And, hopefully you realize that a Hybrid training approach is not only a more effective and efficient style of training for the fact that all methods have their pros and cons, but also from the reality that most training situations can be as unique as the people training. So it makes sense to be able to recognize the strengths of various training methods and have the ability to incorporate them because you never know which you’ll need to take your client to the next level!
Hybrid training is not just a training approach. It’s also a solutions based concept that helps fitness professional to see through the confusion created by conflicting opinions and industry claims. And, empowers them with the ability to clearly and objectively find the best modalities available for the attainment of your client’s training goals.
There are also potential business and marketing benefits to Hybrid Training, which Coach JC Santana points out:
“The integration of proven effective training modalities not only makes sense from an efficacy perspective, it also makes sense from a business and marketing perspective. Although exercise physiologists, and those that think they are “hard core” coaches, don’t want to even consider the value of the fun factor in training. Personal Trainers know about making training appealing, they starve if they don’t. Having many different methods of training available to choose from allows the coach and personal trainer to engage the athlete or client on a different level.”
I’m going to give JC the floor one more time, so he can take us home with these wise words for fitness professionals:
“Any fitness professional or coach that still thinks optimum performance can be achieved by fanaticizing one school of training will soon be in the back of the Neanderthal line. Optimum performance, whether in the senior population or in the athletic arena, is a multi-faceted phenomenon. Optimum performance requires many different components and no single modality or training method will be able to address its complex demands. Integrating various training philosophies is the only way to maximize the physical qualities needed for excellence in any physical or performance endeavor. Therefore, it behooves the fitness and conditioning professional to learn as many different training disciplines as possible, keep an open-mind, continuously re-examine the efficacy of one’s training philosophy and continuously develop a “systemless system of training. ”
