Lisa Marshall Camera Staff Writer Imagine a workout so efficient you only have to do it once a week for 20 minutes, so intense your trainer advises you not to exercise the rest of the week and so effective it melts pounds and fat away while strengthening bones and heart.
Some skeptics say it is.
But a loyal and rapidly growing following of devotees insists that the best way to work toward a fit, healthy body is not to beat yourself up with long runs and endless reps at the gym. Rather, they say, lift weights once or twice a week, do just one set on each machine, and, most importantly, make each repetition excruciatingly slow. The trademarked SuperSlow movement was born nearly two decades ago, the brainchild of Ken Hutchins, a vehemently anti-aerobics personal trainer living in Florida. In the wake of the aerobics and running craze, Hutchins' lone voice contended that short, extremely intense lifting sessions would go much further in building muscle and fending off fat without subjecting the joints to constant pounding. Tiny muscle fibers, torn in the trauma, rise to the challenge by multiplying.