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Outside Magazine December 2002

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Bodywork: Slow Training
What's the Hurry?
For a faster, stronger you, take it slow (with a grain of salt)

By Brad Wieners


	Tortoise power: Go the opposite of fast and make it last (Photograph by Mark Hooper)

FOR A STRETCH, it appeared as though slow-motion strength training—better known simply as Super Slow—would take its place alongside the fleeting exercise fads of yesteryear (OK, it was only two years ago—but it seems like forever). The claims sounded outrageous: Spend just 20 to 30 minutes, twice a week, doing traditional lifts at the speed of continental drift, and you'll build strength 50 percent faster than you would with conventional resistance training, kick your metabolism into high gear, reduce body fat, and raise your levels of HDL (the good cholesterol). When the hype over Super Slow quickly died down to a murmur—for reasons to be explained—people soon glommed on to the Next Big Thing (wobble boards, anyone?).

But it turns out that a handful of curious athletes and researchers stuck with Super Slow's program and, facing incredulity from their peers, now swear by its effectiveness.

My own cynicism remained intact until I began trying to crash into shape for an upcoming kayak expedition that, if I hadn't been ready for it, could have become a lesson in boat-bound misery. Fortunately, I ran into Renjit Varghese, 32, a largely self-taught exercise trainer and owner of Time Labs, a new five-story downtown Manhattan facility devoted to slow lifting. Born in Kerala, India, and raised outside Cincinnati, Varghese has been slow-training former pro athletes and business professionals for six years. Varghese contends that slow training is superior to multiple-set, clean-and-jerk approaches because (1) it eliminates the ballistic movements that cause many weight-room injuries; (2) strength improvements come faster; (3) you spend far less time in the gym, leaving more time for your sport; and (4) it's more precise—you keep a record not of the number of reps, but of the exact amount of time your muscles are stressed, known as "time under load," or TUL.

After following Varghese's program for six months, I realized that at least some of Super Slow's claims are legit: I shed ten pounds and toned up my legs, chest, and arms. During my ten-day kayak trip above the Arctic Circle in Norway, I found I could pull through the chop for hours at a stretch. My body recovered faster between paddling days, and I even had better control of my breathing—a welcome asset when I came close to panicking in rough, freezing seas.

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