long distance runners and heavy lifters

FFfitgirl

Can you do well in both or should you focus on one?

patentguru

Yes you can do both well. I ran six marathons, while being able to bench almost a hundred pounds over my weight. Barely affected my upper body strength. However, I kept eating large quantities of protein while I was training.

RunHardBeStrong

In to watch replies. I just began marathon training and I'm a heavy lifter. Everything I've read says to lift light weight, high reps when doing long distance running but I'm wondering since I was lifting heavy before upping the running if I'd be ok keeping the heavy lifting??

FFfitgirl

Yes you can do both well. I ran six marathons, while being able to bench almost a hundred pounds over my weight. Barely affected my upper body strength. However, I kept eating large quantities of protein while I was training.

wow!
That's what I want to hear

kill3rtofu

You can absolutely do both. Who says you can't? Just remember to put back all the calories you burn from both (a lot!) and take rest days regularly to let your body heal and grow.

Hexahedra

There's no question that you can do both, but whether you can do both competitively is a different matter.

Heavy lifters tend to have more muscle, it's unavoidable. Those muscles become redundant weight when you're running long distance.

If you're dedicated enough into long distance running and routinely deplete your glycogen stores, your body will routinely burn some of the muscle (and the strength along with it).

FFfitgirl

Thanks for all the replies. I'm thinking of doing cross fit to build strength. What do you guys think of crossfit 3days a week and running 3 days with one rest day?

Suggestions on workouts/schedules?

cwolfman13

Yes...that said, I did have to switch from a 3x weekly full body strength routine to a periodized routine. My legs were jello squatting every workout and dead lifting every other workout, then trying to get in mileage on my non-lifting days. I've had to back off a bit on leg days as well.

ksy1969

In to see where this one goes. I have read the opposite of what is being said and my trainer said as well that if you want to lift to bulk up and get stronger I needed to back off on running. He said I could do it 3 days a week for cardio but to back off on the long distance. I have been running half marathons but now want to build some muscle and bulk up some. Turns out I was basically a skinny guy under my fat :laugh:

cwolfman13

In to see where this one goes. I have read the opposite of what is being said and my trainer said as well that if you want to lift to bulk up and get stronger I needed to back off on running. He said I could do it 3 days a week for cardio but to back off on the long distance. I have been running half marathons but now want to build some muscle and bulk up some. Turns out I was basically a skinny guy under my fat :laugh:

bulking muscle is different than strength training. You can get very strong with a good strength program and not bulk anything. Hypertrophy and strength are two different things. One of the difficulties of achieving hypertrophy and doing a lot of running is that it already requires a surplus of calories to bulk muscle...now you're doing **** tons of cardio and running and burning even more...so you end up having to eat like 4000 calories per day just for a little bulk. Not really doable for a lot of people on a routine basis.

In that RE, when I want to actually put muscle on, that becomes my focus and I do pretty minimal cardio. But lifting for strength and running isn't as much an issue...though as someone else stated, it may be difficult to do so competitively. Not too many power lifters also running marathons or vice versa.

patentguru

Further to my earlier post, when I was running long distance (15-20 mile runs) training for my marathons I was also lifting heavy three days a week- Monday chest/back, Wed- legs, and Thur-biceps/triceps/shoulders. I did not run on leg days and day after leg weight lifting. You do not have to run every day to get in shape for a marathon. I ran sub 4 hours (not fast but OK). My calorie intake was huge, 5000 calories day. No problem keeping strength and some size. I did this type of training from 40-48. Now at 51 I switched to road biking to avoid kneed/hip problems. I still lift heavy and plan on lifting until I am buried. I weigh 170lb and bench 250 easily, which I could also do during my marathon training. I do not like looking or feeling weak.

Azdak

In to see where this one goes. I have read the opposite of what is being said and my trainer said as well that if you want to lift to bulk up and get stronger I needed to back off on running. He said I could do it 3 days a week for cardio but to back off on the long distance. I have been running half marathons but now want to build some muscle and bulk up some. Turns out I was basically a skinny guy under my fat :laugh:

The problem with the debate is that it too often is shaped by the positions at the far ends of the continuum, rather than what is appropriate for the average person.

The facts are that:

Running will inhibit MAXIMUM gains in mass.

MAXIMUM gains in muscle mass will impair peak distance running performance.

However, most average people will not notice much of a difference. In fact, most will find that heavy (ish) lifting will improve their running performance and many will find that running (or other cardio) augments their heavy lifting.

It is those at the more advanced/elite level that will find the most interference from concurrent training.

Your trainer is repeating the conventional wisdom, but he is falling into the same trap that I described in my first sentence.

GiddyupTim

Yes...that said, I did have to switch from a 3x weekly full body strength routine to a periodized routine. My legs were jello squatting every workout and dead lifting every other workout, then trying to get in mileage on my non-lifting days. I've had to back off a bit on leg days as well.

This is what I find. My legs are fatigued the day after I lift heavy, and it affects my running. So, that means I have to wait a day to run. But, then, that would be my next lifting day. Arrrrggggh.
I think you may be able to do it. But it is hard.
I believe you can have fun. I do not believe you can make great progress in both at the same time.

patentguru

Agreed.

In to see where this one goes. I have read the opposite of what is being said and my trainer said as well that if you want to lift to bulk up and get stronger I needed to back off on running. He said I could do it 3 days a week for cardio but to back off on the long distance. I have been running half marathons but now want to build some muscle and bulk up some. Turns out I was basically a skinny guy under my fat :laugh:

The problem with the debate is that it too often is shaped by the positions at the far ends of the continuum, rather than what is appropriate for the average person.

The facts are that:

Running will inhibit MAXIMUM gains in mass.

MAXIMUM gains in muscle mass will impair peak distance running performance.

However, most average people will not notice much of a difference. In fact, most will find that heavy (ish) lifting will improve their running performance and many will find that running (or other cardio) augments their heavy lifting.

It is those at the more advanced/elite level that will find the most interference from concurrent training.

Your trainer is repeating the conventional wisdom, but he is falling into the same trap that I described in my first sentence.

LongIsland27itl

Yes you can do both well. I ran six marathons, while being able to bench almost a hundred pounds over my weight. Barely affected my upper body strength. However, I kept eating large quantities of protein while I was training.

wow that's impressive, was that on the flat bench with barbell?

patentguru

Yes you can do both well. I ran six marathons, while being able to bench almost a hundred pounds over my weight. Barely affected my upper body strength. However, I kept eating large quantities of protein while I was training.

wow that's impressive, was that on the flat bench with barbell?

Yes- free weights for most lifts- very few machine lifts at the end of a workout. I found little benefit from the machine lifts.

jimmmer

In to see where this one goes. I have read the opposite of what is being said and my trainer said as well that if you want to lift to bulk up and get stronger I needed to back off on running. He said I could do it 3 days a week for cardio but to back off on the long distance. I have been running half marathons but now want to build some muscle and bulk up some. Turns out I was basically a skinny guy under my fat :laugh:

The problem with the debate is that it too often is shaped by the positions at the far ends of the continuum, rather than what is appropriate for the average person.

The facts are that:

Running will inhibit MAXIMUM gains in mass.

MAXIMUM gains in muscle mass will impair peak distance running performance.

However, most average people will not notice much of a difference. In fact, most will find that heavy (ish) lifting will improve their running performance and many will find that running (or other cardio) augments their heavy lifting.

It is those at the more advanced/elite level that will find the most interference from concurrent training.

Your trainer is repeating the conventional wisdom, but he is falling into the same trap that I described in my first sentence.

^This.

Same can be said of many things in life though, if you want to truly excel (at an elite/master level) you have to drop other stuff. But for 99.9% of the population this is never going to be an issue......