How can I balance endurance sports and build muscle

Any advice helps please.

Are you looking to be half as strong as a bodybuilder?

Nick Bare
Hunter McIntyre

Carrying some mass and running has been a movement for some time. Check out those two guys YouTube channels.

No, I’m just trying to gain like 20-30lbs of muscle in a few years to fill out.

Just 20 to 30 pounds of muscle. That is a very long, very difficult project. Like 5 to 7 years of serious lifting. Maybe more. And it might not even be possible to gain that much. I would recommend reading some studies on the amount of lean mass lifters can gain each year. It is shocking how hard it is to do.

Half ironman? Half marathons?

The old muscle building ads used to say "Don't be half a man".

Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. Buy the book or if you're too cheap, watch the youtube videos.

Basically the plan is just alternating squat/bench press/deadlift and squat/overhead press/power clean. You lift 3x per week. It's probably true that you won't put on weight/muscle quite as quickly if you are also running while doing that, but you will still get stronger. I started about a month ago and put on about 10 pounds (obviously not all of that is muscle, but you get the idea) while still running 40 miles per week.

Focus more on triathlon, cycling will build your legs and swimming will build your upper body. Make sure you eat alot also.

Focus on the shotput for arms, stomach, and twistability. Focus on the 400 meters for optimized shin shifting. Start flying kites. Racewalk against flamingos. Focus on learning how fancy cheese is made. BUILD A BEEFY NECK!!!!!!

Crosstrain rowing.It builds strenght,a bit of upper body muscle and endurance too.

Probably the question you have to ask yourself is which is more important. Is it endurance sports or getting stronger? If you want both equally then stick with your regular endurance race training and focus on the big compound movements 2-3 times per week for your strength training - these being the squat, bench press and deadlift. You can add some extra single joint exercises in there too but don't overdo it. Also possibly look to bump up your protein intake slightly - 0.8-1.0 grams per pound of body weight is a general good rule of thumb.

It’s better to focus on one or the other, rather than two sports that are working against each other.

Athletes bodies tend to take the optimal size and shape for best function in their sport.

Why the need for an arbitrary number of muscle pounds to gain, rather than the ideal amount to best perform your sport?

20–30lbs of muscle will take many years. Don't look at jokers like Hall And Barre. While there's a million different ways to skin a cat, the crux of the issue is:

- You need to lift weights more often, 2–3 times a week, with an emphasis on compounds. If you set up a proper periodization scheme, isolation workouts are totally cool as accessories and will help you gain some mass.

- You need to EAT. A lot. It's very hard to gain muscle mass while burning so many calories doing an endurance sport.

I love to use myself as an example. I went through a 4ish month periodized lifting program while running 40ish mpw for most of it. I was pouring heavy cream in my protein shakes, slamming chicken breasts, drinking glasses of milk after dinner, guzzling beer and ice cream, and even ate a few healthy foods too. I got A LOT stronger, my sprint performance went through the roof, and I gained a whopping 2lbs.

Ironmans and half marathons are totally different beast bro.

If you're serious about gaining strength, focus on 5k/10k since training for those tends to be more HIIT-like (which is more compatible with strength training). Keep weekly mileage to 25MPW. Something like:

- 6-7miles progression/tempo

- an interval/repeat session

- 10mile easy long run

During a half marathon buildup, add a fourth easy run (6-8 miles) and bump up the long run to 12 miles. 6-8 weeks should be good.

Eat a lot. Hit the gym and focus on compound movements. PPL is a good starting place. Seriously, eat a lot. If you want to look trim/muscular, 130lbs ain't gonna do it.

Note that you probably won't excel at either. You could be a decent runner and pretty good lifter, but it's had to be excellent at both.

And people who happen to be really good at both,and own a supplement company in which their image sells the product, are likely using PEDs.

Don't fall for the lies of the social media fake nattys.

Op is 18 and 130lbs. Putting muscle on at that age and when starting that skinny is very different from a 170 pound 25 year old putting on my muscle. It will depend on genetics, but op getting up to 150 in a year is hardly unrealistic.

Op the key is to eat a lot, lift weights and have good genetics. Eating a lot is mandatory.

Lift heavy! I’m 5’11, 195lb and could squat 300, deadlift 405, and ran a 10k in 36:55 within a 2 week span.
I did my lifts Monday/Wednesday (heavy weights, low reps) and speed workouts Tuesday/Friday.
speed was CV intervals and tempos. For lifts, look into cluster sets.