Training: Superslow Protocol, part 2

Muscle Shock Therapy. For the past 2 weeks, I feel like I've had muscle shock therapy! training super slow protocol has been like being a bootcamp, 3 days a week being thrashed by Steve Shields at Tom Wojcik's Studio gym 'the Train Yard' in New Lynn. I've been pushed and stretched to limits...

I was curious to see and feel the benefits of this form of training and what differences (if any) it would make to my strength and appearance of my body. So with huge excitement and curiousity, a little skepticism of the regime (I mean how can you possibly do only 8 reps 1 to 2 sets of an exercise…I mean really!) I let Steve be my Guide and let him have control of my training which I must admit I did enjoy… eventually!

Squats, wide and low

The first workout I Squatted with no weights (usually I can do 10kg each side which isn't a big deal I know!) but these free squats are done Powerlifting style but superslow and with your butt reaching almost to the ground. My flexibility is quite good (darn it) so Steve got me going lower than I normally do. After the first 4 reps my legs were shaking and my heartrate just sky rocketed making the last 2 reps very hard as you really have no energy to go slow and squeeze yourself back up once you've reached bottom.

This is where the quick breathing comes to play, I understand now why its so important. Quick breathes help you to work in tune with your body and give yourself rhythm to time your speed. Breathing faster as you reach bottom and help to squat back up.

But no rest for the wicked here...it was straight to dumbell pullovers. I would say I'm moderately strong and can usually do 25kg but with this slow rep style it has definitely slowed me down to 10kg. This is a great foundation exercise to help expand your chest, back..and ofcourse work your triceps. Once again 10sec down and 10sec up. At first I found this hard to do as I have a sore right front delt and found I was limited by that and couldn't stretch due to the pain. But I worked through it and by the 8th rep I was struggling and surprised to find that I could stretch more than I thought. Once again, due to the slow nature of the rep, you can work through the range of motion.

Dumbell pullover with stretch

Killer lateral raises

Only 16 reps and I feel knacked!! how was I going to do another superset of squats and pullovers but I soldiered on and jumped into my second set of squats. This time making the conscious effort of breathing and controlling my abs to work my body as a unit. Which is basically the ideology of Slowrep protocol. After those 8 reps, I needed a little more time to go to Pullovers..I'm sure you'd understand.

Next up is dumbell lateral raises, I had done these before so I knew how hard it was going to be. I started at 3kg but these little devils were killers. By the 8th slow rep my delts were burning and trembling. You don't really need to do a lot of weight in this position as the body is not at its strongest raising anything sideways. In this style of lateral raises, your hands are slightly behind your body and your arms are kept straight. I think no matter how strong I get, I couldn't do more than 10kg in correct slow form.

As soon as the rep starts to hurt or I started to struggle, its only natural to try and heave the weight up or down as fast as you can, but with slow reps it tests your mental toughness and your ability to focus your way through it.

 

	More Legs Steve would threw in an interesting leg extension and/or leg curl exercise which really tested my balance and core stability. These exercises gave a really great burn in the quads hamstrings...and best of all I felt the burn for days. left: this leg curl really gets in to hamstrings

 

The next Superset is undergrip Chins and Dips. After already what feels like an hour workout I was exhausted so doing chins will be a test of all my energy reserves. I ususally do Assisted Chins on a machine so doing them freeform will be a challenge...and a challenge to see how Steve's strength is to push me up! I did 2 slowish reps myself but to do 8 was a big ask but Steve got them out of me. With a bit of push at the top of the following reps I got 6 which isn't bad for a first time I reckon. Still zapped, I snuck in about 2min breather which Steve was kind enough to give me before we went over to Dip machine. He put about 50kg on the stack, so just abit lighter than my bodyweight which if you want to know is 60kg of pure muscle..ha ha.

C'mon Steve give me a push!

Once again the reps are slow and it was hard getting the control as my right front delt was a little limiting. The technique of this dip is to stretch all the way down. While it gives your triceps a good going over, your chest also gets a good stretch and eventhough we didn't do specific chest exercise my chest always feel the pump.

Back to Chins and this was going to be a struggle. So instead of trying to do 8 reps, we did negatives which I think works out to be much harder than doing full reps! Steve would push me up and then squeeze my body with all my might, I slowly (well tried to) lower my body slowly downwards. He'd push me back up again for 3 more reps and it was a good workout for him too!at the moment my weakpoint is my wrists so the idea of doing them at the end of the workout is that it forces my wrists to take over and be used. In the next stage of the plan steve said we'd do Chins first so I should be stronger to do them myself...we shall see! Negative dips.

By the end of this session, I was drained as if I did my usual workout + 30min cardio. After workouts I usually get a pump which lasts for half hour or so, then it goes away but with this style of training there's that feeling of pump but it stays alot longer in the body. All day after that session I was tired so I consciously ate more but not too much more as I don't want to get bulky. The next day is the killer, I could feel all my muscles worked and the DOMS more pronounced.

For the next 2 weeks, I was back for more on Monday, Wednesday and Fri, usually still feeling sore from the previous workout. This style of training is quite gruelling on the body (well mine anyway) as it stimulates all the stability and core muscles, and the nervous system which I may not have recruited before and you use lots of energy during your workout.

But surprisingly eventhough we did the same things, it was still hard and that I could still train and get stronger. I didn't do any major cardio but 30 minute walks on Tues, Thurs and Saturday mainly because I was too darn tired! and didn't want to stress my muscles with cardio so I could let it recover and grow. And grew I did.

Muscle Changes. By the end of the 2 weeks, I definitely looked fuller, a little leaner and felt stronger too. All this in only 6 very challenging hours. This is probably due to a combination of reasons being: 1) changing training regime from a 4 day split to 3. 2) having someone there to push me as I admit I probably have been hard enough on myself, thanks Steve! 3) decreasing my cardio and using the energy to concentrate on training.

Nevertheless, Slow protocol training has made a positive change to my training and bodyshape, I'm pretty chuffed with myself that I squatted the bar and 10kg each side and increased my dumbell pullovers to 15kg, and could almost do 3 full dips all by my little self. I know thank God for small mercies huh?

I'm currently incorporating some parts of Slow Protocol with my clients I train in Auckland and I think they're appreciating the results too. I say 'some parts' because I think some exercises are way too tough or at least the frequency of this training would be quite challenging for some people. I'm no Super Woman but after 2 weeks constant slogging, my joints are starting to get a little sore so I'm glad we're changing the programme Steve! Its not a style you can train by yourself as it really is tough and I think you do need a partner to keep you honest and push you when you reach sticking point. It teaches you good form and train through injuries so its a thumbs up from me! What you going to throw at me now Steve???!!!

If you'd like to train with Steve, give him a call on 021 1839 391 or
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Bootcamp. I sounded out the idea with Steve of organising a weekend or at least a day Bootcamp people to this style of training. If there's enough interest we'll do one! so email me with your interest. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it