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Weightlifting (Resistance Training) – “Super Slow” and “Success is Failure”

The Alex Kuczynski article in the Sunday Styles Section of 1/19/2003 of the New York Times says the same thing I say: reduce your aerobic training and increase your resistance training. And when I speak professionally, to get the audience’s attention, I provocatively say: “I want you to stop all of your aerobic exercise and do nothing except resistance training!!” And the point was further made by Adam Zickerman in that Times article that you can actually reduce your total exercise time, not that I really want to you to reduce your exercise time, but that you could reduce exercise time by doing what my son, Mark, explained to me years ago as “Super Slow.” The way it is written in Zickerman’s book, The Power of 10: the Once-a-Week Slow Motion Fitness Revolution is to do any weightlifting exercise to the slow count of 10 (10 seconds in each direction counting 1-1,000/2-1,000 up to 10-1,000) until you can no longer do that exercise because the muscles “fail” in one set of 7, not three sets of 10. This is the concept of “Success is Failure.” That is, you are successful with your resistance training when you simply cannot do any more (your muscles “fail”) of a specific exercise. Exercise guru Jack LaLaine at age 90+ says the same thing. I generally recommend resistance training 1 or 2 times a week for each body part. It is simplest to do “uppers” (above the waist) on Monday and Thursday, lowers (below the waist) on Tuesday and Friday. That gives you “Wednesday and the Weekend Off = WWO.” According to Zickerman, you could do these exercises once a week as long as you do them to muscle exhaustion! The reason for this is that you need several days, up to a week for the muscles to recover and grow. Growing muscles reduces percent body fat, which is a major goal. Moreover, the resistance training is better for bone density than the aerobic exercise unless that aerobic exercise is high impact which high impact aerobic exercise can hurt joints or the back.

So then, the concept is to do your exercise slowly, to the slow count of 10 (10 seconds in each direction) as in the Times article, in both the flexion and extension directions. Do not, let me reemphasize, do not be too aggressive about doing this or starting with too heavy weights. Start with 3-5-7 lbs. for women and 5-7-10 lbs. for men. The danger from starting with too heavy weights or progressing too fast with exercise like this is you will hurt the joints and tendons which may keep you out of exercise for up to 6 months! Gradual and progressive, there is plenty of time, go for it, enjoy it, and like Nike, just do it.

I also recommend the book 8 Minutes in the Morning: A Simple Way to Start Your Day That Burns Fat and Sheds the Pounds by Jorge Cruise.

Here is a printable (pdf) version of Weightlifting (Resistance Training).

WEIGHT.LIFT

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H. Robert Silverstein does two television shows on cable access television in the Hartford area. Here's where you can find more of his show videos and a schedule for their airing:

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