Today I had lunch with a marathon runner - more on that below...
But first, my workout was both ruined and saved by Hammer Strength equipment. I got a tip on a local hardcore bodybuilding gym here in downtown Vancouver, and walked over this morning for my regular TT Original Workout A. However, when I realized it was located on the 2nd floor, I knew I was in trouble (because no gyms located on 2nd floors ever allow you to deadlift - because it irritates the people below). Also, the gym was filled with Hammer Strength machines, and dumbells that only went to 70.

But, since I often tell you to make lemons out of lemonade and do what you can no matter what the situation, I knew I had to quit complaining and get to work. So I had fun with the Hammer Strength equipment. Ironically, they even had a deadlift hammer strength machine. It was fun to use...very similar to using a trap bar for deadlifts.

I paired that with "iso-lateral incline press" hammer strength machine. I even ended up doing a few extra sets for fun. I'll feel it tomorrow...the combination of a new exercise and the extra volume will ensure that. NOTE for beginners: Any time you start a new program with new exercises, cut back on volume - meaning do one set instead of three. For me, I can get away with a little extra volume on new exercises because my muscles are used to lots of exercise. So do as I say and not as I do in this situation. I finished with pistols (12) and DB 1-arm shoulder press (60x8) for 2 sets. After my workout, I met up with a college buddy who is a serious marathoner...he recently broke his foot in a freak running accident (not a "dark side of cardio" overuse injury) and wanted me to show him a bunch of single-leg exercises he could do for the other side.

I cautioned him about doing too much work for the uninjured limb, but research does show that training one side of your body helps maintain strength on the other side of your body. In these studies, untrained, yet healthy people have one arm put in a cast, and then train only the other arm. After several weeks, they find that even the arm put in the cast can gain strength. All due to freaky neurological adaptations (when your brain sends instructions to one side of the body to lift a weight, the "non-exercising" side gets some of the same instructions).

Anyway, I showed him... - Reaching Lunges - Pistol squats - 1-leg deadlifts - 1-leg RDLs

And some upper body and total body ab exercises like: - mountain climbers - x-body mountain climbers - stability ball mountain climbers - spiderman pushups - grasshopper pushups

Afterwards, we talked about marathon training, how strong someone needs to be to run a marathon, abdominal and posture training for marathons, interval training for marathons, and nutrition for marathons. Pretty interesting stuff.

Strength training for marathons is a catch-22. We concluded that the more strength and muscle you have, the less likely you are to get chronic overuse injury. (Based on experience, no hard science to back that up).

But here's the paradox... The more muscle you have, the slower you will be. My friend has an extra 10-20 pounds on muscle on him (due to being a power sport athlete in high school and college) compared to his running buddies who are walking sticks.

Being lighter and skinnier allows them to run hills faster, but also leaves them prone to more injury.

At least, that's our take on it. After, we hit up a Cactus Club restaurant in downtown Vancouver for lunch. I had cedar-plank grilled salmon and vegetables, including beets - which I think i've never had in a restaurant before. I think I'll hit Stanley Park for a long walk before dinner. So there you go...who knew I could learn so much from a "cardio" expert.

Stay strong, Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
PS - Last chance to get your time-limited bonuses with TT for Abs tonight! The promotion ends at midnight.

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