Increased Flexibility and Strength: Slow Is Better
Whether you have a regular routine or looking for a beginners workout because you are considering starting an exercise program to get stronger, or just increase your flexibility, you should keep a couple of things in mind: 1) You need to have reasons and goals. You need to sit down and ask yourself why you want to start exercising, i.e. lower blood pressure, leaner physique, increase your flexibility or strength, etc. and along with that reason you have to have a goal. And, 2) An exercise program is a marathon and not a sprint. I’s a long term investment that will pay you dividends along the way to your goal. It’s the journey that gets you to the destination. Enjoy and savor the journey.
Your goal could have a couple of components to it. Take the desire to lower your blood pressure. Your goal could be to lower your pressure by 10 points. But, also, you could have a goal of working out 4 days a week to get to the desired blood pressure goal by the 3 month mark. If your goal is to improve flexibility, or, range of motion (ROM) in your hips for instance, you may say I want to be able to bring my knee to my chest, and hold it for 30 seconds, in 2 weeks. If you want a leaner looking physique, your goal again could be divided into categories. For instance, your goal is to drop 2 sizes, working out 6 days a week, in 2 months.
If you do have goals, then you know where you are going. That’s essential for any journey. You have to have a destination. A word of caution though…be conservative. If you are just starting out, there is no point in trying to train for the New York Marathon. That brings us to the next point I want make.
Most of my patients want to be well “right now”. While I do understand this desire ( I have a sinus infection as I write this), it’s not realistic. And more importantly, it’s impossible to physically get to someplace you’re not in a moments notice. You have to put the time into it.
As I am a physical therapist most of my experience has come in the area of rehabilitation and working with patients who have injuries or other physical limitations. But it’s all really the same isn’t it? Any type of exercise is basically an effort to train the body and the mind to work together to perform a specific physical outcome in the safest and most efficient manner, right? So, what is true for the physical therapy patient is also true for anyone wanting to learn to move, or exercise, more efficiently. With all of that said, let’s look at how you can safely start a weight lifting exercise program safely.
I usually start most of my people out with a variation of what’s called the SuperSlow Method of weight lifting. Super Slow is a method of strength training made popular by a guy named Ken Hutchins. He was pretty forward thinking and he registered this particular term, SuperSlow, and it’s derivations as trademarks. So, no one can use those words in advertising unless you get the okay by Ken (that’s why I use a variation of it).
Super Slow is not a new concept. The way that it’s done is to lift and lower weights at a relatively slow speed taking the muscle group to fatigue, or preferably failure in only one set. It’s best done using machines rather than free weights because machines allow you to isolate movements easier.
There are many approaches to lifting weights slowly. They all fall under the umbrella of what’s called high intensity training. The high intensity training approach was advocated by another guy named Arthur Jones who is known for his work with the Nautilus gym equipment.
I chose this variation for my patients because it’s safe for anyone who needs to “get in touch” with how their body is going to respond to a new exercise. It incorporates very slow repetition speeds as compared to the way most people do resistance training. And it emphasizes very little acceleration of the weight. This reduces the forces on the joints and gives my patients time to evaluate how their body is moving through the exercise. These are all important for anyone who is learning to lift weights, starting an exercise program, rehabbing from an injury, or who has other physical considerations to deal with.
When you lift weights this way you are emphasizing going through the whole available range of the joint. You are also doing it slowly at 10 seconds for the concentric contraction. And, you are lowering the weight at 10 seconds for the eccentric contraction. That’s 20 seconds per rep! But it gets better… you keep the weight in perpetual motion too! You don’t let the weights rest at any time during the set. One set is typically 2-2.5 minutes in length.
It usually takes a session or two to be able to adjust the amount of resistance in order to fatigue the muscle group with one set. You don’t try to lift your max amount. Your target weight will be somewhere between the 40-70% max rep amount so, keep that in mind. While 10 seconds is the goal for the SuperSlow advocate, its not necessarily optimal for everyone. The Nautilus folks used a 2:4 second ratio for the concentric/eccentric contractions. It takes focus for people just starting out and most of my patients seem to be able to hit the 8 second mark consistently. I have noticed that people start to really lose the cadence after about 8 seconds. I think that living in our fast paced world hampers our ability to focus and slow down.
So, why do I recommend the slow lift approach to weight training for my patients? There are several benefits that are gained by starting out this way. 1) It’s a good way to start a strength training regimen. Your muscles maintain a contraction through out the exercise to fatigue or failure. So, you do get growth in muscle tissue, and you avoid potential muscle strains. 2) Performing the slow reps allows you to focus on the motion and your body’s response to it. Not only does this increase body awareness, it improves proprioception, thereby increasing greater neuro-muscular control, which in turn will increase your ability to perform said exercises. And, 3) It’s easy on the joints or any other painful area of the body. I use this approach for the following reason when it comes to pain control. The slow isolated movements, coupled with the lower amount of weight reduce the force that is placed on the joints and tissues versus the amount of force generated by the typical ballistic type of weight lifting.
Going slow gives you the ability to evaluate what is happening in your body while you are doing the exercise. If you start running into discomfort, you can assess what you are doing and stop the exercise before you pull a muscle or something worse.
For anyone who has painful joints or an “old injury” this method would be a good one to incorporate into your fitness routine. There are a couple of books that have been written on the subject. One is called “Slow Burn” by a guy named Fred Hahn. Another is called “The Power of 10” by Adam Zickerman. They both add their own perspectives to the overall principle of weight training using slow repetitions.
Also, using this general technique is excellent way for anyone who is wanting to stretch and improve their flexibility. There has been a lot of debate as to whether stretching helps or hinders the performance of athletes in their respective sports. However, as a physical therapist, I tend to take a different tack.
Most of the people that I help are not competitive athletes and there for do not need to “perform”. In fact, most of the people that come to me for help do so because they are very stiff and inflexible. In addition, they are generally deconditioned and weak, which adds to their overall less than optimal physical status. The one thing that these folks need to do is stretch. However, stretching safely and appropriately requires mental awareness and focus to achieve the best results and, ironically, this is a challenge for those who aren’t athletes.
The solution? Slow, targeted, moderate resistance training through the whole available range of motion. Take restricted hip flexibility or range of motion for instance. One good way for someone to assess, and increase their hip flexibility in flexion and extension is to do a simple leg press exercise.
You set this up by lowering the starting point of the motion just past the available range of motion. Then you place a less than, or moderate amount of weight onto the machine. Something that’s easy for the person to lift. If they can’t initially get into the lower position, the lighter amount of weight allows the trainer to easily help lift the weight and position the trainee properly. And then trainee begins the slowmo exercise through the max available range of motion.
As the exercise progresses at the slow pace, the tissues and joints begin to loosen up and usually by the end of the set the trainee has improved their range and are able to rest the weight at the lower starting point where they were unable to at the beginning of the exercise.
While this may be difficult to visualize in writing, I have used this to increase ROM in multiple joints in multiple patients, with varied diagnoses and conditions. In short, it works.
In summary, when looking for a beginner’s workout or any new exercise program you need to have specific goals that you are targeting. Also, with any activity it is important to realize that achieving your goals will take time and effort. It’s good to savor the “doing” of the exercise in order to reach your goals. Don’t be in a rush.
If you are starting an exercise or wanting to exercise but have issues with painful joints, using the slow repetition technique is an excellent option. This is because it allows you to learn how to lift weights safely and with little risk of injury or re-injury. It is also an excellent way to improve your flexibility while getting stronger.
There are several methods of doing this and no one “right way”. Do your research and experiment with activities to learn what gives you the most benefit while at the same time is “right for you”. Your body will tell you which is best. Here’s to you health.