Running Makes You Skinny
Running makes you skinny!
You’ve heard it… written in articles like the one linked above and from out of shape, bro-gym lifting types (they don’t compete in lifting or bodybuilding so I’ve no name for them), but also from the CrossFitters who preach “functional” fitness. Funny, since they won’t do the one true, most basic, most needed exercise to run from that damn tiger (or whatever apex predator they find themselves face to face with today) that is always chasing their 80% paleo asses.
So the jacked-fat (skinny-fat’s arch enemy) guy at the gym jumps up and down (not literally, that would make him tired) swearing to all the ladies they must get off the tread mill or they will have cortisol levels and mid-section fat and crave pizza and not have a great looking body.
You know… all the same things he, the jacked-fat fella, is.
Of course, you have CrossFitter talking about “endurance” training being a few 400m sprints (most trot and use it for recovery during a grueling 5 rounder) or a whopping long distance 1k Row. I mean, where else can a guy put forth a 6 minute performance and the girls think that is hot? For the AMRAPing, EMOMing crowd, an hour long work out is an “event”… maybe if they’re 1 mile run times were less than 10 minutes that Mem Day Murph would not take but 35 minutes (or less).
Cool, now that the fat guys and CF Endurance folks have stopped reading, let’s be serious…
Running and endurance work does not make you skinny. Not lifting makes you skinny. It is not the same thing. Stimuli equals adaptation… but lack of stimuli can also be a stumuli and have adaptations of its own.
People who do not strength train, i.e. provide a stimuli, are skinny and without muscle no matter if they run, cycle or walk a lot… just like people who sit on the couch all day. Don’t let jacked-fat guy dissuade you from running… anyone can go into an air conditioned gym and bench each day or lean up against a smith machine and call it leg day. Don’t let your
So what if you do both? We have been doing it in SOF for years… it is why SEALs, Rangers, SF and other SOF forces are regarded such physical specimens. Our selection courses crush big strong guys AND weak endurance guys. And while we may have been doing it for years, we were not always doing it very well. Many, many injuries and overtraining scenarios later and now we have really sorted it out.
Below is a pic of one our R&D team running just after lifting sessions that included 300lbs squats and deads. Melissa Hoff is a former figure competitor, CrossFit Games athlete, National Masters Oly lifter, Elite Powerlifter and XPC qualifier, runner, cyclist, triathlete with her sites set on summiting Everest. Not much skinny or fat going on with her and unlike our jacked-fat Bros… she doesn’t get winded walking to her car.
The point? Don’t believe the bullshit… there’s too much in the “fitness” world. Get out and do what you want. Make yourself better, healthier, stronger AND faster. That way, you can outrun the CrossFitters and not get eaten by a unicorn.
Tony has 19 years in the Special Operations community, serving nearly half of that time actually in Afghanistan, Iraq and other Central Asian and Africa countries. Tony coached his first athlete to The CrossFit Games in 2009, and has since sent 16 more, including teams and masters athletes. He has sent 28 athletes to CrossFit Regional competitions, and developed Powerlifters, Strongman Competitors, triathletes, Ultra Endurance athletes and Military personnel. In recent years, Tony has helped lead the way in developing hybrid endurance and strength athletes, especially within the military. His END|Strengthâ„¢ Programming develops high levels of endurance and strength simultaneously and has become the go to of the US military special operations personnel as well as athletes looking for new challenges. Proving his END|Strength methods, he completed the Beach 2 Battleship Half IronMan Triathlon in 6 hours and the following day Squatted 505lbs and Deadlifted 565lbs. On April 9th, 2016 Tony squatted 600lbs, Deadlifted 600lbs and ran a sub-six minute mile (5:41), making him one of the very few who have completed The 666 Challenge, the only man over 40 years old to do so.
