There's an old saying that says 'you can't chase two rabbits at the same time'. This means you should only focus on one major goal at a time. Find out how this applies to your cardio workouts.
You can't design a workout program that "does everything" - I don't care what any of the trainers say.
You're not going to design a workout program that allows you to increase maximal strength,
maximal power, cardio, different kinds of endurance, etc. If nothing else, this can't be done (most of the time) becuase all these goals require different kinds of training.
However, there are certain training modalities that accomplish several different types of goals, if that wasn't the intention. In other words, you can train one thing, and still be indirectly targeting other physical qualities.
For example, you could do bodyweight circuits or dumbbell complexes. This would be not only a great way to get in a good cardio workout, but would also train other conditioning qualities (strength-endurance, power-endurance, muscular endurance, etc.) as well as increase your work capacity.
But as good as that sounds, and as much good that it'll do you, it still won't be a "be all, end all" workout.
This kind of program won't do much in the way of increasing your maximum strength or power. It might allow you to keep those levels constant, but don't think you're gonna add any weight to your max bench press. Is it a good cardio workout? Sure. A good maximal strength workout? Not really.
Another example would be steep hill sprints. This is a great cardio workout. At the same time, it's phenomenal for muscular-endurance and power-endurance of the legs. In fact, depending on how powerful you are (in relation to how strong you are), hill sprints could even be a way to convert your strength to power (power is merely strength applied quickly), thus increasing your maximal power.
Too bad it won't do much of anything for your upper body, though.
I’ve said this before, but there are no real effective quasi “all-encompassing” programs that supposedly do everything. Instead, pick a workout program that brings up some weak points while maintaining everything else. After you've done that, pick another to bring up other weak points, while maintaining everything else. Keep rotating this through your different weak points, until all your weak points have been raised, and you are at a higher level overall.
As for these programs (and there are some VERY popular ones out there – I’m not naming any names, but look around – you’ll find them) that promise to make you strong as a powerlifter, as powerful as an Olympic lifter, as fast as a sprinter, etc., well….you know the old saying about “If they say it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.”
Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.
