2801: 3 Ways to Build Muscle and Endurance (How you Should Approach your Training)

What It Covers

Sal DiStefano, Adam Schaeffer, and Justin Andrews break down three distinct training approaches for building simultaneous muscle and endurance — same-workout blending, alternating strength/cardio days, and weekly block periodization — then apply these frameworks live with two callers covering postpartum fitness recovery and sustainable fat loss at 30% body fat.

Key Questions Answered

• •Weekly Block Periodization: Dedicating full alternating weeks exclusively to either strength or endurance training outperforms both same-session blending and day-alternating approaches for developing general physical attributes. Research shows equated training volume produces superior strength and endurance gains when separated into weekly blocks. This method also creates psychological momentum — spending seven consecutive days on one modality builds focus, appreciation, and skill within that training style before switching.
• •Same-Session Training Trade-offs: Combining strength and endurance within a single workout produces the weakest physical adaptations of the three methods but offers the highest consistency for people who miss workouts unpredictably. If attendance is irregular, every session delivering both stimuli beats a perfectly structured split that gets skipped. This approach suits CrossFit competitors and people who require practicing combined physical demands simultaneously as a sport-specific skill.
• •Postpartum Recovery Timeline: Women returning to fitness after childbirth should expect approximately two years before feeling fully like their pre-pregnancy selves, regardless of prior fitness level. The MAPS Starter program is the recommended starting point — not MAPS 15 — because pelvic floor integrity, core recruitment patterns, and hormonal profiles require systematic rebuilding. Pushing too hard too soon produces back pain, hip issues, and sciatica-type symptoms from compromised pelvic floor function.
• •Fat Loss Dietary Fat Floor: Men targeting fat loss should not drop dietary fat below approximately 70–80 grams daily. At 60 grams or lower, hormonal function, energy, and libido deteriorate noticeably. For a 35-year-old male at 2,000 calories targeting fat loss from 30% body fat, raising fat intake by 10–20 grams while targeting 150–200 grams of protein and settling around 2,200–2,400 total calories produces sustainable body composition change without metabolic suppression.
• •Simplified Fat Loss Protocol: Rather than tracking every macro, a sustainable fat loss framework requires only four behaviors: hit daily protein targets consistently, eat exclusively whole unprocessed foods, accumulate 8,000 steps daily, and follow a structured lifting program like MAPS Anabolic three days per week. This approach reliably moves most people from roughly 30% to 15% body fat without the psychological fatigue that causes tracking-based diets to collapse.
• •Strength Training Specificity vs. General Fitness: Choosing eight foundational compound movements and training one per day across an eight-day split — the MAPS Great 8 structure — produces disproportionate strength gains compared to varied high-volume programming. The hosts note that years of complex, varied training produced less strength and worse aesthetics than focused, minimal-movement programs. Pairing this single-lift-per-day approach with dedicated cardio sessions manages the injury risk that comes from rapid strength accumulation.
• •Addiction Pattern in Training Preferences: People who strongly favor either strength training or endurance work benefit specifically from the weekly block periodization model because it forces a structured break from their preferred modality. Strength-dominant athletes who avoid cardio must fully commit to an endurance week before returning to lifting. This prevents the common pattern where disliked training types get consistently skipped, creating long-term physical imbalances and reducing overall fitness adaptability.