TRAGIC! This Runner Was Afraid He’d ‘Bulk Up’ If He Lifted Weights—and He Was Right
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Bruce Banner spent years hearing about the importance of strength training, but the avid runner was reluctant to add it to his fitness regimen.
“I was afraid I would bulk up,” he said. “And that would negatively impact my running.”
Today, the one-time 2:53 marathoner wishes he had trusted those fears.
Banner said he took up strength training about a year ago, finally succumbing to what he described as “relentless pressure” to do so by friends, coaches, and a chorus of voices on social media.
“I hit the gym three or four times a week,” he said, “working on my arms, legs, back, shoulders—the whole thing.”
As a result, Banner said, he has added roughly 45 pounds of muscle to his 5 foot 8 inch frame.
“I look like a weirdo, and none of my old running clothes fit anymore,” he said. “I absolutely bulked up, exactly like I thought I would.”
Banner’s running times have suffered as a result, he said—again, just as he feared.
“I used to be able to go out basically anytime I wanted and run a 19-minute 5K,” he said. “Today, it takes me 19 minutes just to prepare for a 5K, i.e., to shave and oil my body.”
Asked why he needs to shave and oil himself head to toe before running, Banner sighed.
“That’s my life now,” he said. “Everything has changed since I’ve bulked up.”
