Lift and run in one week, without them fighting.

You follow a lifting program and a running plan. Each one was written as if the other did not exist. This page is how to make them one week.

1. Hard days hard, easy days easy

Heavy legs and hard running both draw on the same legs. The mistake is spreading them out so every day is a little hard and none is properly easy.

Put your heavy lower-body lift and your hardest run on the same day, or on days with an easy day between. Never a hard run the morning after heavy squats or deadlifts.

• Same day? Do the one that matters more first. If you can, leave six hours between them.
• Easy runs stay easy. You can hold a conversation. Most of your running should feel like this, so the hard sessions can be hard.
• Upper-body days are free days for running. Pair them with an easy run or strides.

2. An example week

Five or six days. Bold is a hard day. On four days: keep Monday, Thursday and Saturday, and fold upper body into Monday.

3. When you miss a day

1. Drop the easy run first. It is the cheapest session in the week to lose.
2. Never stack two hard sessions to catch up. A heavy lift and intervals crammed into one tired day costs more than it gives.
3. Move it, or let it go. One missed day costs nothing. Start again from the next session, not from the start of the week.

4. How to tell it is adding up

• The weight on your main lifts goes up over four to six weeks, even slowly.
• Your easy pace feels easier, or gets a little faster at the same effort.
• You start the hard days fresh, not already tired. If you never do, cut volume before you cut a session.

General training guidance, not medical advice. If something hurts, stop and see a professional.