Monday, October 15, 2007

MH Marathon Blog Post Response

My thoughts on Marathon Running

This is a reponse to the following Men's Health Blog Post:
http://mhlife.menshealth.com/?cm_mmc=DailyDoseNL-_-2007_10_12-_-MainBlk-_-MH_Life_Blog

In 2002, I ran the Detroit Marathon and finished in just over 4:20. I had a strong sense of accomplishment, but felt like crap for the next 30 days. Over the course of 4 months, I lost strength, actually GAINED two inches on my waistline, and lost 15 scale pounds (not sure about the fat-to-muscle ratio)

Would I run another Marathon? Not on your life. It took over 2 months for me to begin feeling 'normal' again. I wasn't myself for a while. My strength was low, motivation was not the, and no, I don't believe I had post-event depression. My body was tired, depleted, over-trained, etc...

I agree with Adam Campbell's research on the dangers of Marathon running. So my take is not only from the scientific perspective, but also from personal experience.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

It's all good

Sometimes in our efforts to find the 'perfect' training program, the 'perfect' diet, and the 'perfect' time to start it, we end up doing nothing.

This week, my 1st child was born. Edwin Fredrick Varner. I took the week off work, and found myself eating whatever was convenient, especially since I was sleep deprived and working out was out of the question. I spent a lot of time reviewing my DVD collection, which includes Dr. John Berardi's Nutrition DVD, Cosgrove's seminars and bodyweight exercise DVD's, Juan Carlos Santana's Dumbbell DVD's, and a crappy DVD that came with the book, 'You on a Diet: The Workout' with Brian Harper.

It was good escapism between changing dirty diapers, cooking and cleaning, and yawning. The one thing that stuck with me was something Berardi said, "With all the information out there, do we really need MORE? Or do we need to simply find a way to apply what we already know?"

Berardi is right.

How much more information do ANY OF US really need?

I mean, are you applying what you know right now?

Neither am I...

That is, until now.

Tomorrow is Friday, and when I return to work, I am going to train my 10 clients, uh, make that '11' (myself)

I am not going to overanalyze and strategize myself out of simply picking up some heavy weight, or, as Dan John says, 'Just Lift It'

Here's to you Dr. Berardi and Mr. John....(the name with 2 first names:)

Real before and after shot!

Real before and after shot!
Over 50lbs of fat....GONE!