Page 33 - Winter2008

SUPERSLOW WEIGHT TRAINING

Superslow weight training was developed by some orthopedic doctors in the 1980s to treat women with osteo-
porosis. It turns out to be a terrific exercise regime not only for osteoporosis, but also for high blood pressure, heart
disease, arthritic problems and just feeling good about life. In fact, this type of exercise will help almost everyone
become fit and muscular, and engage in whatever activity they want, such as golf, tennis, hiking, canoeing, or simply
being able to walk through life without feeling any pain whatsoever. To achieve this goal, you need a strong, healthy,
intact muscular body.
The theory is that the very slow, weight-bearing exercise results in better musculature and more oxygenated blood.
It is called “SuperSlow” because each “rep” lasts as long as twenty seconds instead of the standard five to seven.
Proponents say slow lifting has a decided advantage over standard weight-training techniques because it puts greater
demand on the muscles, thus burning calories faster while minimizing the jerking motions that can lead to injuries. The
twenty-minute sessions once or twice a week are said to provide all the cardiovascular benefits of running, cycling and
other aerobic activities.
Superslow weight training provides an answer to the question, how do you get your muscles fitter? And particularly,
how do you take the typical American with skinny muscles and a big belly and help him or her get strong muscles and
less of a belly, in other words, to get healthier? What is it in our bodies that makes us get stronger muscles? The answer
is growth hormone and testosterone. So to get stronger and healthier, we want a strategy that will help our bodies
make more growth hormone and testosterone. We don’t want to do this by taking testosterone or male herbs, which
can have side effects, but by stimulating the body to make its own.
Superslow weight training is predicated on the premise that the way to make a muscle get stronger is to do some-
thing the muscle can’t do. So, for example, you push weights with your leg in an exercise machine. You set the weight
and after a certain amount of time, you can’t push anymore. That’s called muscle failure. In Superslow weight training,
the trainer tells you to keep pushing even though you can’t push anymore. He tells you to keep pushing until your
arms start to shake and you’re about to collapse. By contrast, with normal weight lifting you use the same muscles in
repetitive actions and what does that tell your muscles? That you’re strong enough to do this. So the muscles don’t
need to do anything. They feel smug about themselves.
With Superslow, every time you do it, you fail, and then you wait until you have healed before trying again. Let’s
say you do 50 pounds in a leg press in two minutes on Monday, and then fail to do any more. On Wednesday you
would only be able to do 46 pounds in two minutes because you’ve injured yourself on Monday and you are still
weak on Wednesday. So there’s no point in doing it on Wednesday because you’re weak. If you wait till Friday, you’re
back up to 50 pounds in two minutes. There’s no point in doing it on Friday because you already did 50 pounds. So
you wait till Monday and now the trainer raises it to 51 pounds and you do two minutes again till you fail. And your
body thinks, OK, now I can do 50 pounds. The repeated failures and muscle injury stimulate your body to produce
growth hormones and testosterone, and that helps your muscles get stronger and your body develop an overall sense
of wellness.
The first time I did the training, I pushed 205 pounds in a leg press for one minute, 57 seconds. I went in for train-
ing once a week every week for about a year. After a year I did 295 pounds for two minutes, seven seconds. In other
words, 92 pounds more in about seven seconds longer because each time I tricked my muscles into getting stronger.
Lots of other parameters also improve—not just strength in every muscle group but also blood pressure, heart rate
variability and energy levels.
I began Superslow weight training because I saw many patients doing the training who were so much better than
I thought they would be. When I first started, the trainer said that I wouldn’t need to do cardiovascular exercise. “Just
do your muscles,” he said, “and the heart will follow.” I thought he was nuts.
At the time I was running about two or three times per week and every month I would time myself on the 400-yard
dash. My best time was two minutes, three seconds. Then I started Superslow training and went nine months without
running—I didn’t even run for a bus. No cardiovascular exercise. Then my son came to visit and he challenged me to
the 400-yard dash. Without having run in nine months, I did it in one minute, 44 seconds, and I wasn’t even as tired
or winded.
There are a lot of documented effects on neural endocrine endorphin release with Superslow. As with low-dose
naltrexone, Superslow tricks your body into making more of the hormones it needs to be strong and fit.

WINTER 2008 Wise Traditions 33