people really recommend squats and deadlifts? I'm pretty fast and have never done them

jjjjj wrote:

I have had no ability or desire to gain weight from lifting while running and usually get injured if I try to add much weight. But the one thing that I have been very successful with is preventing or overcoming injuries with body weight exercises and body weight squats in particular, going almost all the way to the ground (with a wide stance, making it possible for me to do this without hurting myself), got me over my long-recurring calf injuries and I have been able to avoid them completely for the past year as a result. Just do a few of these any time the calves are starting to get tight.

And I do them the same way.

Even just a couple of them, done very slowly and holding the bottom position, are helpful.

Runningart2004 wrote:

A couple things...

I'm not 200lbs....

I still run some

197 then, and 5' 5.

Squats??? wrote:

I'm pretty fast at 1500-8K, D1 runner and I have never done a squat or deadlift. The only maybe three people I know that do them suffer from back tightness and they don't really compete. Yet every time I come on letsrun, someone is telling someone to do heavy squats and deadlifts. Wtf? Are they serious????? Or just trolling?

Are you serious...or trolling???

From a Mo Farah documentary:

1) @38:18 Mo Farah is seen training in Flagstaff, AZ @39:20 Mo is squatting a relatively heavy weight for a distance runner.

2) Mo Farah is also seen training in Ethiopia: for six weeks...with 20 miles per day…at around 9,000 ft. altitude.

3) It looks like Mo Farah combines high volume/high intensity endurance training at high altitude with...heavy squats/weight training.

I am sure….…it is just a coincidental synchronicity……….again.

Mo.

Please take that Brit flag down... right now!!!

Why do Brits always have to put their flag up everywhere?

It is an annoyance.

I used to believe in heavy squats/deadlift, but once they gave me snapping hip syndrome and killed my back, I have refrained myself from doing them. The danger just by far outweighs the benefit.

Steer_clear_of_them wrote:

I used to believe in heavy squats/deadlift, but once they gave me snapping hip syndrome and killed my back, I have refrained myself from doing them. The danger just by far outweighs the benefit.

OP here

^^^^ This ^^^^ is exactly what happens to people I know who bro lift (weights & dumbells). They all have destroyed backs and hips, and IMO are slower than their potential.

I'm not saying I have the answers, I was just wondering if people were serious about squats and deadlifts. Sounds like they are and I just don't get it.

In a video posted, Al Sal pretty much said that a :51 was needed on last lap to win. I don't see how you could not just accomplish that with hills and plyos.

Honestly, I have a lot of respect for Al Sal, but I think he has a tendency to be misleading in media.

Squats??? wrote:

Honestly, I have a lot of respect for Al Sal, but I think he has a tendency to be misleading in media.

I'm a LetsRun poster, which means I know way more than Al Sal. And I would run way faster than Mo Farah if I took PEDs and wasn't so busy banging supermodels on my yacht.

If you or anyone you know has destroyed backs from lifting a couple time a week they are lifting with typical bro form. Aka: ego lifting.

There is no reason why you would develop back injuries from lifting correctly.

The problem is that most bros in the gym lift like idiots and most runners will lift how they run: with way too much "intensity" and go to the well far to often trying to "beat the weight". Instead get with someone who actually knows what hey are doing and can put you on a program that will benefit you.

Alan

Squatty wrote:

Squats??? wrote:

Honestly, I have a lot of respect for Al Sal, but I think he has a tendency to be misleading in media.

I'm a LetsRun poster, which means I know way more than Al Sal. And I would run way faster than Mo Farah if I took PEDs and wasn't so busy banging supermodels on my yacht.

Ok, sorry if I hit a soft spot for you. I definitely do not know more than Al Sal. I said I respect him. What I am saying is I don't take clips of him and sound bytes of his and treat them like the gospel. They're not even his clips. It's Flotrack! We're talking about flotrack! It seems that People on here and people I know will see a video of someone doing an exercise and think that exercise is crucial to their success. That's the basic idea behind taking something out of context.

I want to add something to this conversation:

Last year I went to hear an ex-NFL Pro Bowl Linebacker (played in the 90s) give a motivational speech at a local high school. After his session he did a Q&A, and an obvious high school football player asked him how much he squatted, deadlifted, and bench pressed. Keep in mind this guy was an explosive beast who wrecked people.

But to everyone's surprise, including my own, he said he "half-assed" his lifts in college and once he got to the pros he refused to touch a barbell or dumbell. He said he didn't feel they were as important as other things. He said for power he worked the sleds, and for speed he did hill sprints. He said he also did a lot of plyos. He then gave a great quote - "the young players today look like tarzan, but play like Jane. I think they are focused too much on the weight room."

So, if a NFL linebacker can get all the power and speed that he needs from sleds, hill sprints and plyos, why would a distance runner need to do squats and deadlifts?

I am really surprised how many people can on here and defended the lifts. I truly thought people were just trolling, but I was wrong. Maybe I am wrong, but I see more harm than benefit.

Why do 99.99% of NFL players lift weights then if all they have to do is sleds, and hill sprints, etc.? Because they need to to compete and because it works! You can gain some explosiveness and speed from that but you won't gain enough weight to go up against 330-pound behemoths.

So, I watched that Galen and Al Sal video again, and I gotta say, I didn't see any real "lifting". More bio-mechanical and core stuff. He was doing squats with 95 lbs and one-led deadlifts with a 12lb. medicine ball. That's not "lifting". I didn't see him doing any heavy reps of 5 squats or deadlifts.

Olympic developmental Sprint coach Gary Winckler said something similar. "We're lifting our way out of medal contention"

As far as football players lifting. Read or listen to Joe Kenn, trainer of the Carolina Panthers. The younger players often take it seriously and many of the older players lift to stay injury free and or prolong their careers. And gone are the days of chasing numbers. The great trainers say that they coach athletes not lifters.

I think you completely missed my point. But anyways, I'm not saying you can't gain explosiveness and speed from it. But at what age is the average NFLers career over? 27-28 if they are lucky? And NFL is also entertainment mixed with brute strength - and I also think lifting builds physical self-confidence which is very important in football. Running over 1500m is endurance athletics. And if a guy can become an all-pro linebacker in the nfl without the use of weights, then I have to question how crucial they are to explosive performance. I'm looking to run past the age of 27, and I just don't see anyone I respect actually doing squats or deadlifts. Are you people really serious?

No, I didn't. In fact, I didn't even do back squats, what I did was just Bulgarian split squats and Romanian deadlifts at roughly 90% of 1RM for 3-5 reps of 2 sets, and I am sure the form is okay, but they still wrecked my back and hip.

Running is already taxing enough on the body, especially when you are doing high mileage, adding heavy lifting to the mix is clearly too much, at least for the mere mortals like me.

Steer_clear_of_them wrote:

No, I didn't. In fact, I didn't even do back squats, what I did was just Bulgarian split squats and Romanian deadlifts at roughly 90% of 1RM for 3-5 reps of 2 sets, and I am sure the form is okay, but they still wrecked my back and hip.

Running is already taxing enough on the body, especially when you are doing high mileage, adding heavy lifting to the mix is clearly too much, at least for the mere mortals like me.

I started this thread mainly because I think people come on this forum to troll and post bad information. I just don't see how anyone can go heavy with squats and deadlifts and be serious about running. I question the effectiveness of the lifts in making gains while running and I think everyone would just get injured. Maybe, there is a PED aspect I am not factoring in. Maybe with the use of PEDs , lifting can be done in a way to not injure you. I still don't see why anyone would do them.

Steer_clear_of_them wrote:

I used to believe in heavy squats/deadlift, but once they gave me snapping hip syndrome and killed my back, I have refrained myself from doing them. The danger just by far outweighs the benefit.

Did you progress from higher reps, lower weights before moving to heavy weights, did you do plenty of core work?

Deadlifts are good for glutes, hamstrings, back etc, if done with proper technique. But maybe lunges would be safer and more event spesific for a runner. Deadlifts are also very stressful for CNS. A one legged full squat is very effective. It demands some glutes and balance. Weights are not a must. But to get the glutes strong enough for that movement weights (lunges for example) and core work would help. If your leg and core muscles strength isn´t in balance you can be injured easily, especially with heavy weight training.

Squats??? wrote:He then gave a great quote - "the young players today look like tarzan, but play like Jane.

That phrase has been around for many decades, but it's a good one.

You heard him talk but never got his name?

There have been really strong guys who were notoriously averse to lifting, like Charles Barkley or Lee Roy Selmon, and even linemen in the 60s didn't lift because the thought was it makes you "muscle-bound", but there's no doubt it has its place. Lifting can be overemphasized, but it does make you stronger.

Squats??? wrote:

Squatty wrote:

I'm a LetsRun poster, which means I know way more than Al Sal. And I would run way faster than Mo Farah if I took PEDs and wasn't so busy banging supermodels on my yacht.

Ok, sorry if I hit a soft spot for you.

I understood exactly what you meant and agree that Al Sal does that, but I wanted to say what I wanted to say. This is Letsrun.

Squatty wrote:

Squats??? wrote:He then gave a great quote - "the young players today look like tarzan, but play like Jane.

That phrase has been around for many decades, but it's a good one.

You heard him talk but never got his name?

There have been really strong guys who were notoriously averse to lifting, like Charles Barkley or Lee Roy Selmon, and even linemen in the 60s didn't lift because the thought was it makes you "muscle-bound", but there's no doubt it has its place. Lifting can be overemphasized, but it does make you stronger.

Lawrence Taylor