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Super Slow Strength Training

#1

happy2bme , 07-17-2004 12:05 PM

Not sure where to post this, but this thread seemed the most likely place.

Has anyone heard of Super Slow Strength Training? Apparently you work out 20 minutes a week using intensely heavy weights very, very slowly and I think you work something like 7 core groups of muscles.

I just happened to catch it on the 48 Hours Investigates TV program Friday night - had never heard of it before. And a new franchise down the street called The Exercise Coach which advocates this concept sent an announcement card in the mail. Their website is down for reconstruction at the moment.

20 minutes, once a week sounds really really sceptical. From what I saw on the 48 Hours Show, advocates say the intensity of the exercise (leg presses of 400 pounds) and working the muscle to complete failure is why you only need 20 minutes once a week. They say this and a strict diet (notice key word strict diet) are all you need - no cardio unless you enjoy doing it on your own.

To me this sounds like another flavor of the Curves concept which I can't totally knock even tho I've never tried them. But... my skeptic brain says this is yet another fad in the never ending fitness arena.

Anyone hear or have experience with the Super Slow Strength methodology? Thanks for any feedback provided...

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#2

happy2bme , 07-17-2004 01:00 PM

Of course the designers of the course point out the positives that it's fast, it works and for those people who don't want to spend alot of time in the gym... There were 2 other doctors who said this program did not do anything to promote cardiac health - but you are allowed to supplement your program with whatever cardio program you want to do. So that sort of negates that criticism.

As for the 48 Hours program. Barbara Walters does this program. She said she hates exercise intensely and if it wasn't for this 20 minutes a week, she would do nothing at all. Leslie Stahl - a correspondent on I believe the 60 Minutes show also does this program and has been doing it for I believe 3 years. She also hates exercise of any type yet credits this program for allowing her to maintain her weight rather than the inevitable gain that generally occurs as we age. Ok, so neither if them were stunning examples of why you'd want to run out and sign up for this kind of training.

The part of the show that made you think, hmmm maybe was a segment where they did an experiment with 2 plus sized twins who were models. One did the 20 minute HIE (high intensity exercise) and the other did the more traditional in the gym 4 times a week plan. At the end of 5 weeks, the twin who did the 20 minute thing lost 15 pounds while the twin who did the gym thing lost only 4 pounds.

Here's the CBS website with the story: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/...in584762.shtml

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#3

Mel , 07-17-2004 02:00 PM

Super slow is a concept that's been around for the last 20 years or so, and seems to make a comeback every 3 or 4 years. It resurfaced in popularity about a year ago when Barbara Walters' and her trainer talked about it on TV. In terms of muscle building, endurance or stregnth training, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If you think of the physics of weight training and the definition of work, doing more sets at a higher rater of speed equals more work. Therefore more energy expended (for those who are interested in burning calories during their workout), and more times that the muscle bundles are recruited to fire (contract). Super-slow leads to a bigger burn, because more lactic acid builds up during that very long rep, and stays in the muscles longer because each rep takes almost as long as a whole set for someone lifting at a moderate pace. lactic acid is a by-product and does not build muscle or burn calories; it just produces a pain sensation.

Since advocates of super-slow start at max weight and go to failure, there is no pyramiding of sets. This is fine if you are 18 years old, but can be the end of an older lifter's time in the gym. When lifting a more conventional pyramid scheme of sets, the first set at lighter weights allows blood to move into the contracting muscles, and synovial fluid to bathe the affected joints. Doing 5 minutes of general cardio does get your blood moving, but not into a targeted muscle. Most of us need those warm-up sets to avoid injury.

Does it work? Sure. If it's combined with a totally clean diet, and your body can handle it. Almost any program works if you do it correctly. Would it work for me? No- I've too many years of joint injuries and plain old aging to contend with. Most people latch on to it because of the time savings lure. The cardio part is a bit of a come-on, too. Lots of programs say you don't need cardio, and some people don't. Body Rx says cardio is optional, and a very few people have had fantastic results without cardio. Most haven't. My boss is doing a comp next week-end and is now at 4.5% bf and has done no cardio in the last 11 years. His biggest problem is muscle conservation and eating enough to build muscle. That's probably not the kind of problem of anyone posting at 3FC!

Mel

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#4

silverbirch , 07-18-2004 08:51 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by meliris
When lifting a more conventional pyramid scheme of sets, the first set at lighter weights allows blood to move into the contracting muscles, and synovial fluid to bathe the affected joints. Doing 5 minutes of general cardio does get your blood moving, but not into a targeted muscle. Most of us need those warm-up sets to avoid injury.
Thanks for mentioning this, Mel. I've been forgetting to do the warm-up sets. This older lifter should definitely put them back in. I love that idea of synovial fluid bathing the joints. Gymn as spa?

Silverbirch.

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#5

MrsJim , 07-18-2004 09:36 AM

Mel - that's probably the *best* summing up of SuperSlow that I've EVER read.

I mean it!

Fortunately it doesn't seem to have caught on at our gym. Keep in mind these marketers are always looking for a 'hook' or gimmick. Not only in diet plans, but in fitness regimens as well...and one of the best 'hooks' is telling people they can get a first-class workout in a minimum amount of time (20 minutes or less seems to be the benchmark).

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#6

Meg , 07-18-2004 09:54 AM

Quote:
these marketers are always looking for a 'hook' or gimmick. Not only in diet plans, but in fitness regimens as well...and one of the best 'hooks' is telling people they can get a first-class workout in a minimum amount of time (20 minutes or less seems to be the benchmark)
You're absolutely right, Karen, and so often the hook for both diet and exercise plans is EASY AND QUICK. With diets -- what do we always hear? "fast" -- "EZ" -- "quick" -- "eat all that you want" -- "eat anything that you want" -- "don't count calories" "lose ten pounds in two weeks" ...

With fitness plans? "fast" -- "no sweat" -- "do it at home while you're watching TV" -- "do it while you're at work" (those electric ab stimulators -- remember those?) -- "only three times a week"/"twice a week"/ "once a week" -- no cardio required ...

Bottom line -- there are no shortcuts. Weight loss and fitness take time, hard work, dedication, and sweat. If anyone's really serious about losing weight and keeping it off forever, don't be fooled into trying the easy way. Do it the right way and it will pay off for you more than you can imagine!

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#7

Meg , 07-20-2004 11:04 AM

Along those lines, I just read this and had to share:

Quote:
The Truth About How Much Exercise You REALLY Need
Author: Tom Venuto
Date: Jul 07, 2004
Publisher: Fitness Renaissance

What ever happened to, �Get some exercise every day because it�s good for you?� You hardly ever hear that anymore.

Instead, we now hear about �Revolutionary, breakthroughs� that allow you to train once a week and presto! � overnight muscle and instant abs! We also hear advice and instruction such as:

�Don�t do too much cardio, or you�ll lose your muscle and get weaker.�

�Watch out for catabolism, and beware of cortisol!�

�Be careful not to overtrain�

�Train don�t strain�

�Long workouts are out� short workouts are in�

�Train less to gain more��

�Your muscles don�t grow while you�re training, they grow while you�re resting�

This is all well and good and there�s some true and sensible advice in there, and don�t get me wrong � any amount of exercise is better than no exercise, however�.

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO EXERCISING EVERY DAY BECAUSE IT�S A POSITIVE HABIT THAT�S GOOD FOR YOU?

Do you remember when fitness professionals used to recommend daily exercise? Have you noticed the �Achieve more by doing less� theme getting worse these days? (and being taken to ridiculous extremes?)

Have you noticed that a tiny core of fitness professionals still promote daily exercise, but their voices are seldom heard today amidst the marketing cries of 21st century Madison Avenue and slick big city publishers?

People DO judge a book by its cover and publishers know that. Typical magazine articles and books in the health and fitness section today have titles that sound like this:

* Massive Muscles in Minutes
* Instant Abs! How to sculpt six pack abs in 3 minutes a day
* A few minutes in the morning
* The busy executive�s two-minute workout
* The revolutionary program to Lose Fat and get in shape 5 minutes at a time
* The �Indulge� Program: Enjoy delicious dishes while losing all the weight you want, without exercise!
* The power of one: How to transform your body and your life with one workout a week
* The 30 minute fitness revolution: How to Achieve your perfect body in just 30 minutes a week
* The 11 minute total body workout

All these pitches appeal to your lazy side. Inside, the authors coddle you like a helpless infant, saying, �Poor baby, It�s not your fault, we understand�we know you don�t have any time...no one does�Don�t worry, it�s okay, OF COURSE you don�t have to workout for hours and hours � who ever gave you THAT idea?? Awwwww� there now...Working out too much is bad for you anyways... breaks down muscle, suppresses your immune system, causes oxidative damage and releases cortisol�. Follow our easy 5 minute program and you�ll be just fine��

Do you think it�s a coincidence that obesity is at an all time high, rising in lockstep with these lackadaisical attitudes?

Even with all these �new� exercise programs, training routines, scientific �breakthroughs,� diets, books, websites, and of course, all the �cutting edge� supplements, AMERICANS ARE FATTER AND UNHEALTHIER THAN EVER BEFORE IN HISTORY!!!!

And if you�re not from the U.S., don�t laugh at us, because your country is probably not far behind!

I�m not implicating laziness as the sole reason for obesity. That would be over-simplifying a complex problem with multiple causes. However, laziness and aversion to exercise are certainly major contributing factors.

Human beings are capable of reaching breathtaking heights, but they also have a lazy side hard-wired into their natures. We need a push to overcome inertia. We need motivation. We need to be inspired to look up and reach for the stars, instead of settling for a little clod of dirt.

And now, the very diet and fitness industries that are supposed to be helping and motivating are actually making it worse by making silly promises in the name of getting the sale and appealing to our inherent slothfulness.

BUT WAIT! It goes even deeper! Could it be possible that even the world's most respected health, fitness and medical organizations are reducing their recommendations so as not to discourage the public from even trying? Lyle McDonald, Diet guru and Author of the Ketogenic Diet thinks so. In Lyle's forum, he wrote:

"From a public policy standpoint, there's that huge tradeoff: Get a small improvement in health (and presumably decrease health-costs) by getting folks to do something, or risk a much larger dropout rate by telling them to work harder. They keep scaling back their recommendations and they still can't get the majority of people to do it. Something is going to be better than nothing, I suppose."

Just how far has this down-sizing of exercise trend gone? All the way to zero in some cases: Some �experts� tell you that you don�t need ANY exercise at all�

Just take this youth-restoring hormone therapy, a once per week injection, rub on some cr�me, take a handful of pills, get a nip here and a tuck there, have some fat suctioned, drink a few specially formulated shakes three times a day, eat these special foods, staple the stomach, stick on a patch, and there you have it: A perfect body without almost no expenditure of energy!

Many people who have been struggling with weight loss want to believe these claims so desperately, they take the bait every time, even when it sounds too good to be true and defies common sense.

Remember that classic courtroom scene in the movie �A Few Good Men� when Jack Nicholson says,

�You want the truth? � YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!�

Well, if you can�t handle it, then stop reading now because here is the truth that almost no one else wants to tell you:

Your body is BEGGING for DAILY exercise!

The human body-mind is the most remarkable creation in the universe and it was designed and engineered to be used often and vigorously. The mind and body atrophy and weaken if not used frequently.

Your body isn�t going to fall apart by getting your heart pumping every day� YOUR BODY WILL THANK YOU FOR IT!!!!!

In some cases, using material things wears them out faster. Your car only has a certain number of miles on it, right?

Your body is the opposite: It wears out when it�s NOT used.

Have we forgotten all the incredible benefits of REGULAR exercise � both strength training and aerobic training - to keep us young, vibrant and healthy?

Have we forgotten that exercise can feel good and give you a natural high that�s better than drugs or alcohol?

Have we become so vain and ignorant that all we want is to look good on the outside for a short while and do it with the least amount of effort, using the path of least resistance?

Do you realize that you grow against resistance � physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually?

Why not have a helicopter fly you up to the summit and drop you off? You�d get the same view as those blokes who risked life and limb lugging 60-pound rucksacks up the steep mountain side for days, wouldn�t you?

Why do CHAMPIONS climb?

The answer is: There�s no personal growth without the journey. Reaching the top without the climb leaves you unfulfilled. The journey is the greatest reward, not the destination. Champions understand this. The other 95% of the world hasn�t figured it out yet, so they remain stuck in self imposed bogs of quiet desperation.

Do you really want to go to the store and just buy the trophy without the competition? How would you feel seeing it on your mantelpiece? It would make great conversation at a party, right? Your friends and family would be so proud of your �bought� trophy� (or would they?)

If you would stop for a minute and think about the great rewards of training and understand that the training IS the trophy, then the entire attitude of exercise avoidance would disappear, obesity and disease would plummet, you would be working out and loving it, and your health, your body, your attitude, your energy and your outlook on life would shift so dramatically, your friends and family would hardly recognize you. They would be inspired by you too, so the �exercise fever� would spread.

So HOW MUCH exercise do you REALLY need? What are we talking about here?

I�m not talking about training two hours a day like Jack Lalanne has for the last � of a century, or doing hours of high intensity weight training like a competitive bodybuilder, or an hour and a half of cardio a day like an endurance athlete, unless that�s called for to reach a certain goal, or unless that�s what you enjoy.

I�m not talking about lifting weights every day. You need recovery time from intense forms of training.

I�m not talking about never taking an entire week off for rest and renewal.

And I�m not talking about never taking any days off.

What I AM talking about is doing some form of moderate exercise � enough to break a sweat, get you breathing heavy and bring your heart rate up - almost every day of the week, most of the year.

It could be the popular six day program alternating weights and cardio every other day with Sundays off. It could be two days a week of lifting weights, two days of aerobics classes and two days of hiking or mountain biking (six days total with one rest day). If it�s fat loss you want, then cardio every day with a few days of strength training works like magic.

It could be virtually anything! Choose what you love to do - just do something every day, include both strength training and aerobic training each week and do it on a regular schedule at the same time each day.

Ultimately, the amount of exercise you REALLY need is the amount it takes to give you the results you want.

However, there are some very compelling reasons to exercise every day�

Why every day? Because that makes it a HABIT.

Anything you do repeatedly (especially daily) will eventually become a habit, and your habits, positive or negative, will control your results and ultimately, shape your destiny.

Habits can be harnessed to your advantage, propelling you downstream towards your desired destination, or they can become your worst enemy, forcing you to paddle fruitlessly upstream against their powerful currents.

Ninety-nine percent of the things you do each day are done on �automatic pilot� � without consciously thinking, deciding, choosing or exerting willpower. That is the power of habit and exercise is one of the most positive habits you will ever develop.

Why else is daily exercise a good idea? Because you develop METABOLIC MOMENTUM.

Your metabolism is like a spinning top. You twist the top and it starts spinning at maximum velocity, but not long after your fingers leave contact with the top, it�s already slowing down.

Eventually, the revolutions decrease and the top starts to wobble. You have to spin it again before it loses all its momentum and topples over. By spinning it more frequently, the average rpm�s stay higher and the top never slows to a wobble.

Your metabolism is the same way. Exercise �spins� your metabolic rate. Many factors affect metabolism, but nothing else cranks up and maintains your metabolic speed like frequent exercise of sufficient intensity.

In Dr. Michael Colgan�s book, �The New Nutrition�, Dr. Colgan writes,

�At The Colgan Institute, we have found that for fat loss, five days a week for 30 minutes is much superior to three days weekly at 70 minutes even though the total weekly time of the three day people is an hour longer. In order to keep the metabolic rate churning, frequent exercise is the key.�

Amen Michael.

In �The Metabolism System For Weight Loss� Exercise Physiologist Greg Landry writes:

�You won�t find many people telling you to exercise daily. In fact, most �diet� programs or weight loss books you read will not emphasize exercise and that�s simply because so many people have a negative reaction to exercise. You have to start thinking differently about it. Exercise can be fun. The key is finding something you can enjoy doing on a daily basis. Many people think an hour of exercise every day is more than their body can handle, but keep in mind that our bodies were made for and are capable of many hours of physical activity a day. DAILY exercise is absolutely critical to losing weight! DAILY exercise is also very effective at changing a sluggish metabolism into a super-charged metabolism!"

Bravo Greg.

Yes, I hear the grumbles and groans from the peanut gallery� �You mean 3 days a week isn�t enough?� But how am I supposed to find time to exercise every day? That�s impossible because I have kids, a job and a life, you know!

Impossible???

Here�s a novel idea: Get your butt out of bed 30 minutes earlier!

Are you really concerned about quality time with your family? If so, then you OWE IT TO THEM to take the time to take care of yourself so you�ll be around long enough to enjoy their company.

We live in a society with more demands on our time than ever before. But if you don�t make time for exercise now, you�ll lose time to sickness and immobility later.

Psychologists tell us that most people will almost never take action to PREVENT a problem, only take action to GET RID OF a problem after it has already occurred. So true isn�t it? Unfortunately for many, that may be too late.

Your body is remarkably forgiving, but there�s only so much abuse it can take. Abuse includes negative actions like smoking, drinking, drug use and eating refined junk food. But sometimes that abuse comes in the simple form of neglect � it�s what you don�t do that hurts you the most.

Can you exercise too much? Certainly. Is there a point where you become overtained? Of course. Is there a point of diminishing returns? Sure is. Can training become an unhealthy obsession? Absolutely. Do you need to take time off for recovery and renewal? Most definitely! Should you maximize your workout efficiency to get the most benefit in the least time? A resounding YES!

However, if I were you, I�d be far more concerned about getting too little activity than getting too much.

So, my friend, if you want to go on believing in the hype you read in the magazines and best selling books these days about minimalist training, once per week workouts, (or less), or the diet that doesn�t require ANY exercise, just eat these special food combinations, take these supplements or cut out all the carbs and get the body of your dreams, that�s your choice� it�s your body, your health and your life�let your results be your guide.

But when you�re unhappy with your results, and when you stand in front of the mirror scratching your head trying to figure out why you don�t look and feel the way you want to look and feel� and when you start to feel the downward pull of gravity and body parts are sagging�. and when the aches and pains strike, and the doctor�s visits become more frequent�

�AND, when you see that there are others the same age as you, in the same circumstances as you, with the same number of hours in the day that you have, who have remained lean, healthy, and muscular�

�THEN GET OFF YOUR GLUTEUS MAXIMUS AND GET SOME EXERCISE EVERY SINGLE DAY! YOUR BODY WANTS IT, NEEDS IT AND IS LITERALLY BEGGING FOR IT!

For more TRUTH about exercise and fat loss, click here

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, freelance writer, success coach and author of the #1 best-selling e-book "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle" (BFFM): Fat Burning Secrets of the World's Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom has written over 170 articles and has been featured in IRONMAN Magazine, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Muscle-Zine, Olympian�s News (in Italian), Exercise for Men and Men�s Exercise. Tom's inspiring and informative articles on bodybuilding, weight loss and motivation are featured regularly on dozens of websites worldwide. For information on Tom's "Burn The Fat" e-book, click here: www.burnthefat.com. To subscribe to Tom's free monthly e-zine, visit the Fitness Renaissance website here: www.fitren.com/subscribe.cfm

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