Why This 20-Minute, Once-a-Week Routine is the Best Thing—Ever—for Anyone Who Detests Working Out
From an article by Christina DesMarais, an Inc.com contributor who writes about the habits of successful individuals and organizations.
If you sit at a desk all day but aren't motivated to exercise, this incredibly short routine can help you look and feel better. Office workers have it rough in one way which matters quite a bit. Sitting in a chair for most of their waking hours often translates into carrying around more weight than is good for a person, physiologically or esthetically speaking.
As someone who sits in front of a computer all day, I've been fighting this reality for years by working out in various forms nearly every day. Well into mid-life, however, I feel a bit like I'm starting to lose the battle. First, every year I get older I am less inclined to kill myself at the gym—or anywhere else—in the spirit of a lean, mean me. Not that I don't appreciate being able to fit into my clothes, but, the idea of kickboxing, spinning or anything else that necessitates several hours a week of me becoming all red-faced—well, my 46-year-old self might rather get a bit fluffy.
But then my hair stylist—who looks amazing at nearly 50—told me one of her secrets. Twice a week she goes to a place where she's strapped into machines, wears regular clothes, doesn't sweat, and chalks up a full-body workout in 20 minutes. Huh?
I had to try it, and after doing 20 minutes a week for more than two months, I can attest it works. What is it? It's high-intensity, slow-motion strength training. Imagine doing a leg press, but maybe nine reps over three minutes. After about a minute, your leg muscles are burning and you want to quit. But, the idea is to continue to the point of failure. So, it comes to the point where you've got a minute to go and someone is pushing you to keep going--even though you don't think you can. Once the trainer finally unstraps you, your legs feel like jelly. Same thing with arms and core, but different machines all located in a mirrorless, musicless and cooled room. The best part? A full-body workout only takes about 20 minutes.
This "SuperSlow" form of resistance training was popularized by inventor Ken Hutchins who conducted the "Nautilus Osteoporosis Study" and found the slow-moving controlled exercise approach to be effective in building bone density in elderly women with osteoporosis. From there, he developed a company called "SuperSlow", wrote a technical manual, created a rigorous certification process, and started building "SuperSlow Systems" exercise machines.
Can you really gain muscle only lifting once a week?
According to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, you can. And, training twice a week isn't any better than a once-a-week routine. This is fantastic news for people who hate exercising.
How can this short investment in time possibly work?
There's an inverse relationship between exercise duration and intensity. If you run for a long time, it must be low intensity--you can't sprint for miles. If you do sprint--which is high intensity--it must be a short distance. It's the same with high-intensity strength training. You can train hard or you can train long; it's physically impossible to do both. The focus is building strength, not demonstrating strength. When you move slowly, your muscles can't rely on momentum, so they are forced to work harder through the entire range of motion.