Conscious Choice: Slow Workouts Yield Quick Results

August 2004

Slow Workouts Yield Quick Results

by Diana Strzalka

In our society, we are over-programmed, over-stressed and over-wired. In a world where everybody seems to be moving fast, a slow workout could be a welcome reprieve. It’s no accident that movements like yoga have exploded. And now the idea of taking it slow has even made it into gyms and weight rooms as slower movements, low-repetition techniques and slowed-down workouts have been spreading throughout the country and Chicago.

It may seem like a new concept but it’s not really, said Walt Henebry, a personal trainer at the McGaw YMCA in Evanston. There’s a pace that needs to be achieved for optimum value for each individual, depending on what you want to achieve, he said. For instance, if you were to run or exercise at top speed, or your maximum heart rate zone, you burn carbohydrates, not fat. If you slow the pace to 80 percent of that rate, you can expect to be working at peak level for cardiovascular benefits. A workout at 60 percent of the maximum heart rate will be your best pace for burning fat.

“This is one of the few things we could slow down for, to practice mindfulness,” said Gregory Florez, spokesman for the American Council on Exercise and the CEO of FitAdvisor.com, a national health coaching company in Salt Lake City.

People are tired of running on the treadmill, literally and figuratively. So they are enrolling in disciplines such as yoga or pilates that offer you a chance to slow down your life and reduce the stress in your body.

There’s even a super slow weight-training workout. Wayne Westcott, an exercise physiologist who did a study at the YMCA in Quincy, Mass., found super slow weight-training to be more effective in building muscle than the standard regimen. In 1993, he compared slow and standard paced workouts and found that the slower group gained 50 percent greater strength. Westcott found that the slower movements caused a person to build muscle fiber during the negative phase of the exercise, when the movement is almost complete and a person must resist gravity.

Even earlier, in 1982, Ken Hutchins was studying osteoporosis in older women when he reported the value of slower movements, too.

It’s important to remember that slow is a relative term in the health and fitness culture. If you are a beginner or someone with a health problem,it is best to work slow. Regardless of your speed, strive for accuracy in whatever exercise you choose.

And consider there are multiple benefits to be gained by slowing down your workout.

“Slower takes more concentration, it makes the exercise harder and it puts you truly in the moment,” Florez said.

Diana Strzalka is a Chicago-based educator and writer.

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