Barbell for a Middle-aged Programmer

I was first introduced to the barbell by a college classmate. Weighing 170 lbs,
tall and strong, Fucha was a bear of a guy. He traced back to Manchu royalty and
was proud of his YellowRed-Flag (鑲黃旗) origin. Born into an upper-middle class 
family, he did gymnastics in childhood and attended a top Beijing high-school
before becoming my roommate in the university.

A privately owned gym opened near the boys' dorms in our sophomore year and my
friend started pestering me to join him there, sort of like my ultra-running pal L
urging me to run with him these days. We spotted each other in bench press and
gauged progress by observing the growth of chests and the biceps. We did not know
except that lifting heavy felt painful and heroic and strutting on campus showing off
muscles felt great for the ego. To look like Arnold was all we cared about. No one
tried the deadlift, though. We actually didn't know the move, even. Better-known 
barbell overhead lifts (抓舉，挺舉, e.g.）were associated with the unappealing image
of a squat dunce. Had we tried, we could have accidentally discovered the link
between weight-lifting and running, as sprint coach Barry Ross did. That year, I just
started to run mid-distance regularly. Just think about the possiblity!

Around Jul 2019, 15 years after Ross posted "The Holy Grail in Speed Training,"
I re-discovered the barbell through an article by a sub-3 marathon runner and
started training in the company's gym. This time, however, it was no longer 
about the looks (well, at least not directly) and I did not need a spotter. The
barbell deadlift is now widely considered the best exercise for overall strength
and found directly translating to speed (Allyson Felix lifted 300 lbs at a 125 
lbs body weight). I have to see it for myself.

Why the obsession? You ask. Subconciously, might I still be grinding an axe for my
crushing humiliation in the early days, in every race, from 50 to 1500 meters? Maybe.
In that sense, my life was lived backwards, like Benjamin Button. But given the
quantum leap in what I know about my body and exercising, it's tempting to see what
I could actually do. Being older is no excuse for not trying to have fun or even to be  
athletic. For health and longevity and to better face death, maybe the opposite is true.

Running sometimes gave me pain in the butt, literally, but nothing loads the glutes
the same way hoisting 200+ lbs of iron off the floor does. In the past two months,
after every good lifting session, the muscles would get sore and give me bad
sleep and the hamstrings would hurt in the middle of next morning's run. I had to
spend at least three days recovering. In fact, I had not run any distance longer than
three miles for the past month.

Friday, I lifted a personal record of 245 lbs and was bracing for pain in
Saturday's morning run. But amazingly, the run went so smooth that I barely felt
any pain. My lower legs kicked higher and the stride range felt longer. A great
feeling carried over the entire six miles. Afterwards, I did not even need a
recovery. Hallelujah!

[7grizzly]

回複 'GraceX' 的評論 : Thank you, Grace, for reading and sharing your progress.

是的，興趣非常重要。誰能對一個充滿活力的後半生不感興趣呢？:-)
隻要把這個目標擺正了，不去強求不屬於自己的或追求太多虛榮，大多數人都能辦到。

[GraceX]

7grizzly 好，實在厲害，能舉245磅，恭喜一下！受你的影響，曾經買過一個15磅的 kettlebells，練了沒多久就不了了之了，後來迷上了靜坐練功，最近又追加了拉筋部分，如今可以很輕鬆地彎腰手碰到腳尖了，這樣的運動不但使人心情愉悅，而且還讓身體變得特別的輕盈，看得出你的舉重也給你帶來了很多益處和快樂。

你的這句話很有道理： “Being older is no excuse for not trying to have fun or even to be athletic.”，我完全是因為有趣才去練的：））若沒趣肯定是很難長久地堅持下去的。

[7grizzly]

回複 '暖冬cool夏' 的評論 : Thanks for reading and your comment. Indeed, the body is infinitely fascinating. I just watched some Felix's race videos. She accumulated the most gold-medals than Usain Bolt!

[暖冬cool夏]

What a surprise that you did not feel pain the next day after a record lifting. It also surprised me that barbell lifting is a boon to speed. Our body is a myth in a way, Good for you!