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 (镶黄旗) 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 (抓举，挺举, 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!
