Slow Motion Training

[Brightwhite]

Does anyone have any experience of slow motion training? My wife stumbled into this "fitness revolution" and has convinced me to go tomorrow and try a session. I have the book, Power of 10, here in front of me now and am planning on reading it before I go, but curious if any of you have formed any opinions on the method of training.

 

[Poser]

I don't know much about it, but its hard to imagine that the frequency that they advocate (1 or 2x a week) would translate well into athletic performance. It seems like a program that may be more geared towards producing aesthetic results. That being said, sometimes the best program is any program (as opposed to no program). How did it go? Was it interesting?

 

[Colberjs]

I don't know much about it, but its hard to imagine that the frequency that they advocate (1 or 2x a week) would translate well into athletic performance. It seems like a program that may be more geared towards producing aesthetic results. That being said, sometimes the best program is any program (as opposed to no program). How did it go? Was it interesting?

Allow me to preface my comment by saying I have "0" (zero) health sciences/fitness training.....

But, it seems to me that even though it is not based around the type of conditioning normally associated with preparation for backcountry hunting, I could see the benefits. If it results in the loss of excess body fat then it can only help. I may be slow and fat but if I drop 20, 30, or 40 lbs. then I am going to be faster and have more endurance by default.

Am I right or am I way off?

Edit: BTW, I'm typing this as I sit at Buffalo Wild Wings eating wings and potato wedges so I am probably not the person to rely on for health advice. LOL

 

[Take-a-knee]

The Ranger Battalions played with that stuff for a while, mainly as a time-saver. You can google their RAW program today and see no mention of it whatsoever.

Rippetoe has the recipe for making average people stronger. Glassman figured out how to improve the other nine parameters of fitness. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy.

 

[Brightwhite]

I don't know much about it, but its hard to imagine that the frequency that they advocate (1 or 2x a week) would translate well into athletic performance. It seems like a program that may be more geared towards producing aesthetic results. That being said, sometimes the best program is any program (as opposed to no program). How did it go? Was it interesting?

We go later this afternoon, so I will give an update when I get back.

I read most of the book last night and have already formed an opinion on it (not sure if thats a good thing or not?). The whole principle of the program is based around taking your muscles to the edge of complete exhaustion, then push over the edge, then push a little further until you've torn the muscle down and hit complete failure. Then you eat right and lots of rest in order to recover, then repeat 5-7 days later.

Everything is done on machines that have special cams on them that keep the same resistance throughout the exercise. You work your full body on 6-7 different exercises, and only 1 set of 6-8 reps. You move the resistance 10 seconds up, 10 seconds down so each set you are fighting resistance for 2-2.5 mins. You can do the whole workout in 20 mins or so.

The major benefits seem to be: complete muscle failure in more of a safe environment (no dynamic compound movements that could lead to injury if you lose form to have improper form), the short time it takes, and added lean muscle leads to increased/more efficient metabolism over time.

What I don't like about it is that the way of training is not functional whatsoever. You will never take 2 mins to put your pack on your back, or take two minutes to press something over your head. But, if you eat well and focus on recovery, you are allowed to work in other forms of exercise as long as you rest for 24-48 hrs after the slowmo workout. So, you could do the slowmo workout on monday, then Wed-Sunday you could hike/bike/run, etc. Maybe even workout some more dynamic exercises like box jumps/burpees/thrusters/pushups, etc.

I am certainly not interested in only working out 20 mins 1x a week. I am one of those that feels like I always need to be doing more to get more, not doing less to get more, so it might be really hard for me to latch onto a program like this. But, I will give it a try this afternoon and see what happens. I am expecting to be really sore come Friday morning since this will be totally foreign to my body.

 

[Brightwhite]

Allow me to preface my comment by saying I have "0" (zero) health sciences/fitness training.....

But, it seems to me that even though it is not based around the type of conditioning normally associated with preparation for backcountry hunting, I could see the benefits. If it results in the loss of excess body fat then it can only help. I may be slow and fat but if I drop 20, 30, or 40 lbs. then I am going to be faster and have more endurance by default.

Am I right or am I way off?

Edit: BTW, I'm typing this as I sit at Buffalo Wild Wings eating wings and potato wedges so I am probably not the person to rely on for health advice. LOL

You are correct. The programs philosophy around the weight loss portion of the program is that the more muscle you have then the more energy (calories) your body uses to maintain itself. So, your metabolism becomes more efficient and will burn more calories and thus losing weight. Seems pretty simple to me...

The book Power of 10 uses this as an example:
-If you add 3 pounds of muscle to the body, then that 3 extra pounds of muscle will burn 10,000 more calories a month at rest
-10,000 extra calories a month is similar to running 25 extra miles a week (estimated 100 calories burned per mile)

 

[Brightwhite]

Sorry for the back to back to back posts here...I just want this to become a resource for someone that might be looking into this type of training.

A real-world (functional) benefit that I do see with slowmo training is the focus on your type-I ("slow twitch") muscle fibers, which in theory would/could lead to better endurance over time. Which would be great for long hikes in, packing out meat, etc. You would still need some resemblance of a decent aerobic capacity. You would still need cardio work to improve that, but you would technically become more efficient over longer distances. So, in theory you could experience some decline in aerobic capacity, but still be able to go father and longer.

I think as long as you could do the program with some supplemental work for your type-II ("fast twitch") fibers, then you could have a pretty solid regimen. Thats my theory at least...but I just can't see doing slowmo on its on as your only form of training.

 

[Poser]

You are correct. The programs philosophy around the weight loss portion of the program is that the more muscle you have then the more energy (calories) your body uses to maintain itself. So, your metabolism becomes more efficient and will burn more calories and thus losing weight. Seems pretty simple to me...

The book Power of 10 uses this as an example:
-If you add 3 pounds of muscle to the body, then that 3 extra pounds of muscle will burn 10,000 more calories a month at rest
-10,000 extra calories a month is similar to running 25 extra miles a week (estimated 100 calories burned per mile)

I can certainly see how that works. The problem is, those types of failure and beyond workouts leave you so sore that additional training is going to be difficult or counter productive. Certainly, if you need to lose weight this is one way to accomplish that, but its nots going to do much for your anaerobic conditioning and your muscles will likely be too sore to productively run, hike, bike, climb etc. This is one reason most athletic/"functional" strength programs don't have you training to failure very much -the shortened recovery time allows more training volume.
But, if you need to lose some weight and don't have much time to dedicate to it, its certainly worth a shot. Psychologically, I feel like I need regular training in order to keep eating right as I don't want to undo high volumes of hard work with poor eating. I'm not sure if 1-2 sessions a week, despite being sore, would be enough to keep me mentally in the game. But, that's just me.

 

[Brightwhite]

I went and got a good workout from it. It is no joke.... spending 2-3 minutes under load is something I wasn't used to, so it was a shock to my body. I spent a bout 2 hours talking to the trainer and asked a million questions, so I feel pretty knowledgeable now. I am going to see him again next monday and just kind of play this by ear to see if its something I want to fully commit my lifestyle to.

Like I said above, it was freaking hard. We did underhand lat pull downs (also torches our forearms and biceps), chest press (also torches your shoulders and tri's), leg press (pain/burn like i've never felt before), back extensions, a core exercise where you lay sideways with a neutral spine and bring your knees to your chest, and finished with seated dips.

It was the weirdest feeling. It burned. It burned a lot. I shook like a leaf when I was nearing failure. But, eventually there was a tingle that came upon me in each exercise that I had never felt before. It's hard to explain, but almost like I was losing feeling sometimes in my hands/arms/feet/legs, etc., depending on the exercise. It was like endorphins took over and were trying to block the pain or something. Certainly a new sensation for me.

In a normal workout I would have that "jelly arms/legs" feeling for about an hour or two after the workout. As I type this, now about 18 hours later, I still feel kind of weak and "jelly legged." I can feel that my chest and front deltoids will be really sore, but I am waiting on the quads from the leg press - there is no way those suckers aren't going to hurt.

I thought for me it would be hard to not count reps like I have for years and years, but I gave that up as soon as the burn started and all you want to do is focus on breathing and pushing through the pain. I couldn't tell you how many reps or how much weight I did on any exercise...I didn't care and didn't want to know. I just wanted to hit failure and get the hell off of the machine. It certainly was something new...

Anyway, I am going to keep going every 5-7 days for a month or two and see what happens. The trainer asked me to give him 6 weeks and he thinks by then I will start seeing major benefits...we'll see. After 48 hours of rest he said I could work in things like a little running/sprint work, hiking, biking, etc. Just not do anything too crazy. He said he is on a routine of 1 workout every 7 days with two days of cardio built in (usually sprinting or mountain biking). I plan on doing something similar.

 

[Take-a-knee]

Let us know after doing this stuff the following:

Are your lifts increasing from what they are currently? IE deadlift, back squat, power clean, overhead press.

Can you move large loads farther and faster?

 

[Poser]

Here, I looked up a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACi2OnL1AUI

 

[Take-a-knee]

Here, I looked up a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACi2OnL1AUI

What will any of that do to improve, mobility, power, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy?

 

[Jason Snyder]

Interesting concept, seems similar to doing negative reps or concentric workouts. I'd sure like to see the data showing results. I don't see how lifting one day a week and doing two days of cardio a week can prepare you for the rigors of a 7-14 day hunt.

 

[Poser]

Interesting concept, seems similar to doing negative reps or concentric workouts. I'd sure like to see the data showing results. I don't see how lifting one day a week and doing two days of cardio a week can prepare you for the rigors of a 7-14 day hunt.

To be fair, I don't think there was ever any question of it being a program specifically for hunting, but rather a program for losing weight, which, again, to be fair, might be applicable for a hunter who needs to lose some weight and has little to no time to train.

There are definitely some non functional movements going on there and it would seem more productive to do some of those same movements with a barbell and Dumbbells. Also, If you consider how popular intense interval training and Olympic lifting are right now, this is pretty much the polar opposite approach and would seem to be a "hard sale" from a business standpoint in the present fitness climate.

 

[Take-a-knee]

Interesting concept, seems similar to doing negative reps or concentric workouts.

Guaranteed to make you so sore you will be useless. Rip pretty much says sore equals stupid. Hammer negatives hard enough and you might just destroy your kidneys from a case of rhabdomyolysis.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Also, If you consider how popular intense interval training and Olympic lifting are right now, this is pretty much the polar opposite approach and would seem to be a "hard sale" from a business standpoint in the present fitness climate.

I think this hit the nail on the head. It's the never ending search for the fitness "silver bullet". I'm always a proponent of doing more with less, and maybe for pure weight loss this will do it. Color me skeptical though.

 

[Take-a-knee]

You are correct. The programs philosophy around the weight loss portion of the program is that the more muscle you have then the more energy (calories) your body uses to maintain itself. So, your metabolism becomes more efficient and will burn more calories and thus losing weight. Seems pretty simple to me...

The book Power of 10 uses this as an example:
-If you add 3 pounds of muscle to the body, then that 3 extra pounds of muscle will burn 10,000 more calories a month at rest
-10,000 extra calories a month is similar to running 25 extra miles a week (estimated 100 calories burned per mile)

This weight-loss thing is a gimmick. The Zone Diet board is full of countless middle-aged non-exercisers (or walkers) who have the pictures and data to prove they are half of their former size. Staying away from refined carbohydrate is step one if you need to loose weight.

Someone with metabolic syndrome who starts "exercising" and still eats like crap will merely become a somewhat thinner person, but still shaped like a pear.

My oldest daughter ran cross-country in high school and she and I both ran a lot of 5K's together. One of them also was a 10K qualifier that a lot of the better local runners showed up for. I was amazed at a how many of the older guys (50+) who could turn really respectable times on 6.2miles still had noticeable paunches. Diet is the foundation.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Guaranteed to make you so sore you will be useless. Rip pretty much says sore equals stupid. Hammer negatives hard enough and you might just destroy your kidneys from a case of rhabdomyolysis.

I don't do negative workouts anymore. When I did them in high school and college it was a once or twice a month thing. Now, I just try to slip in a concentric workout routine every two or three weeks for a change up.

 

[Poser]

Out of curiosity, how much do they charge per session?

Check this out, they have a mobile gym and will come to your house: http://informfitness.com/gym-location/mobile-gym/

 

[Hootsma]

I usually go to failure on almost all of my routines too. I just don't go that slow. Usually 2 - 3 seconds up, 2 - 3 seconds down and very short rest between sets (ideally 30 seconds or so). I've setup the amount of weight to where I'm reaching failure at between 6 and 10 reps. I do 1 to 2 sets of each exercise and add in some redundant exercises on muscles I want to target, ie front squats, dumbell lunges, pistols. I also alternate exercises between sets, ie 1 set of bench press, then 1 set of bent over rows, then one set of dumbell lunges, then back to bench press, so that I keep my heart rate up, but still get plenty of volume out of each exercise. I do a full body workout each time, usually 2x per week. Usually takes me 20 - 30 minutes max. I still get sore every time, but not as much as in the beginning. So, I'm wondering if my setup is all that different than this SloMo stuff? Seems pretty similar, except for the duration of each rep. I'd be worried about hurting myself with the SloMo routine by straining so much. I only allow myself to strain for just a few seconds once I reach failure, because I've hurt myself straining to get that one last rep up.

I developed my routine several years ago based on an e-book called "Fat Burning Furnace". This program was designed for the busy person who didn't have a lot of time to spend in the gym and wanted to loose weight, not be embarrassed to shed a shirt and gain some functional strength. I've been pretty happy with it so far. Seems like there are quite a few similarities.