Senior Abel Mehari spent most of his time during quarantine bulking and lifting almost double his own weight. He is a three season track runner, in the fall running cross country. During cross country his freshman and sophomore year he ran the 5k and three miles, his times for each gradually being better than the last.

As a sophomore, Abel ran at the Gunston Championship, Carlisle Invitational, Gunpowder Falls Invitational, Milestat XC Invitational, Occoquan Regional Championship, and VHSL Class 6 State Championships.
He was invited to states for cross country and performed exceptionally well in regionals for track and field. Recently Abel has been focusing on weight training and lifting.

There are a multitude of benefits when it comes to lifting weights. These benefits include gaining muscle, burning body fat, reducing the risk of injury, improve quality of sleep and posture, strengthening your body’s muscle joints and bones, as well as improving your overall cardiac health. Gaining muscle is good because muscle helps manage blood sugar (the concentration of glucose in the blood). Muscle also supports your joints, controls body fat, and builds strength and stamina.

Usually first time lifters and beginners will feel a sore sense in the area they worked out the most.
The reason being is because after vigorous exercise through the process of muscle building an accumulation of lactic acid will build in the muscles. This is very common and completely normal, the lactic acid is what causes soreness and discomfort. Some ways to get rid of soreness are to rest, stretch, or by applying gentle ice or heat to the localized area.

Abel deals with soreness by stretching before and after vigorous exercise. He has implemented preworkout and an increase in his protein since beginning weight lifting. Besides this, Abel has not had any changes in his diet.
Nutrition plays a big role in muscle gain, strength training without the adequate nutrition can lead to a loss of muscle.

If your diet does not consist of healthier food options while exercising you may not receive the results you’re looking for. That being said, there is a common misconception that in order to lose weight you need to eat less. This is false. Not eating at all causes a decrease in energy making it more difficult to work out.
Although lifting weights and running are two very different things, they complement each other in different ways. Since Mehari is a long distance runner, instead of focusing on speed he focuses more on stamina and endurance.
Explosive strength training such as lifting weights helps long distance runners by improving their muscular endurance and power.

Running is mostly a lower body workout which forces your leg muscles to work against the force of gravity to push you forward with each stride taken. Every time a runner pushes their leg, they build strength. Mehari motivation for working out so often is food. The body naturally feels more hungry and tired after vigorous exercise, some athletes reward themselves with a good meal afterward. Whether it be lifting weights or going for a jog, exercising is very important for developing teen bodies.