We would like to thank the Washington Post
for choosing us in this amazing article that helps spread the message about
Slow-Motion Strength Training and the amazing results associated with this
scientifically proven method.
Here's the original article:
Slow-motion
strength training is hard — and fast
By Rachel
Pomerance Berl
One of the newest fitness studios in the D.C. area feels less
like a gym and more like a physical therapist’s office. The Perfect
Workout, which opened in August in Bethesda and Falls Church, offers
clients personal training in a quiet, no-frills space filled with Nautilus
equipment and framed testimonials (many from clients of an advanced age). It
promises a complete workout in just two short sessions per week.
The drill: A high-intensity, low-impact program known as slow-motion strength training, in
which gradually lifting and releasing weights without the aid of rest or
momentum brings muscles to exhaustion. It’s extremely difficult. It’s also only
20 minutes.
Though The Perfect Workout, a California-based outfit founded in
1999, is new to the East Coast, the concept isn’t.
The Perfect Workout and other slow-motion training companies
such as SuperSlow Zone, which has a location in Sterling, Va.,
and InForm Fitness, which has a studio in Leesburg, Va., cite principles
outlined just over 30 years ago by fitness professional Ken Hutchins. In
slowing down movements to safely train women with osteoporosis, Hutchins
concluded that the technique builds muscle more effectively than conventional
weight training, although others have contested this assertion.
The effectiveness of slow-motion strength training depends on
the individual, according to Lee Jordan, a Florida trainer and spokesman for
the American Council on Exercise, but it offers a broad range of people a safe
and viable program.
Like high-intensity interval training, Jordan says, it seeks to
remove the top barrier to exercise: time. But unlike high-intensity interval
training (“by its very nature, it’s extreme,” he says), slow-motion strength
training is accessible to anyone.
While advocates of slow-motion strength training claim it
satisfies the need for cardiovascular activity, Jordan and other fitness
experts argue that people require a mix of aerobic activity and strength
training.
Still, the key to an exercise routine is sticking to that
routine. And some clients say this program works.
“People love to hate this place,” says Nicole Gustavson, owner
of Leesburg’s InForm Fitness. “But they keep coming back because they get
results.”
At SuperSlow Zone in Sterling, Jannet Anmahian, 83, makes a show
of exhaustion from her weight machine — sticking out her tongue and clasping
her hands together in a sarcastic plea for help.
“I always complain,” she says, calling it “part of the game.”
Anmahian adds that “there are no words” to describe the value of
this program, which she’s followed for more than 30 years and has no intention
of stopping.
Mark Ello, 51, of Leesburg, began training at SuperSlow Zone in
2002 to shape up for his 20-year high school reunion. Since then, he reports
better body composition plus lower blood sugar and cholesterol.
“It’s like a Chevy,” he says of the workout. “It’s not sexy, but
it gets you from point A to point B.”
