CALIBR Performance Journal
Training questions, answered from the evidence
Strength, running, recovery and fuelling — what the research actually shows, what it means for your week, and where the answer genuinely depends on you. Every claim links to its source.
Strength & muscle
All 7 →Sets, reps, rest, proximity to failure, progressive overload and how a lifting week should actually be organised.
How long should you actually rest between sets?
Short rest does not make training more efficient if it quietly removes the work that drives the adaptation.
How many reps actually build muscle?
Muscle grows across a surprisingly wide rep range. Strength is far fussier about the load you use.
How many sets per muscle group per week?
More sets do more — until they cost more than they return. The useful question is how much you can recover from, not how much is optimal.
Progressive overload is more than adding weight
Load is the most obvious way to progress, and the first one to run out. There are five others.
Running
All 3 →Easy pace, intervals, long runs, mileage progression and what strength work does for a runner.
How many days a week should you run?
Frequency is a way of distributing volume, not a goal in itself. Three well-placed runs beat five rushed ones.
Why your easy runs might not be easy enough
Easy should feel almost too easy. The point is not the pace — it is what it protects.
Running for lifters: conditioning without losing size or strength
How much cardio you can add before it costs you — and how to make it cost less.
Recovery & fatigue
All 5 →Rest days, soreness, sleep, deloads and why your capacity is different from one week to the next.
Deloads: when and why to take one
A deload is a planned reduction in training stress so adaptation can catch up. It is not a week off.
How many rest days do you actually need?
Rest is dose-dependent. The number of days you need follows the load you are carrying, not a rule.
Should you train when you're sore?
Soreness is a response to novelty, not a score. Most of the time you can train — just not the same way.
Why your best training weight changes week to week
Your capacity is a moving number. Good programming works with the variation rather than pretending it away.
Fuelling
All 4 →Protein, carbohydrate, energy availability, and how what you eat should change with what you are training.
How much protein do you really need?
The honest number is lower than supplement marketing suggests and higher than most people actually eat.
What to eat before a long run
The pre-run meal is mostly a question of timing and volume, not of finding the perfect food.
Why your calorie needs change on training days
Protein stays flat. Carbohydrate is the nutrient that should follow your training day.
Fuelling for hybrid training: carbs, protein and session timing
Daily targets, session timing, and the under-fuelling trap that quietly stalls hybrid plans.
Hybrid training
All 6 →Running and lifting in the same week: interference, sequencing, session placement and realistic weekly structures.
What is hybrid training? A complete guide for runners who lift
The definition, the physiology, and an honest look at what you can and cannot progress at the same time.
Hybrid training for beginners: your first eight weeks
Three sessions a week, eight weeks, and the habits that make week nine possible.
A 12-week hybrid athlete training program
Three blocks, twelve weeks, four sessions a week — with the progression rules written down.
Running and lifting on the same day: which comes first?
The order that protects your priority quality — and the gap that makes both work.