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Slow and Steady
By Amy Selby

Win the race of diet and exercise with a 30-minute weekly workout that fatigues each muscle group.

exerciseFred Hahn, owner of Serious Strength Personal Training Studios in New York City, has a workout regime that debunks every one of these myths—and a whole lot more. His Slow Burn fitness program promises to build strength and muscle far faster than traditional weight training and provides equal cardio benefits of aerobic exercises in just 30 minutes a week. And, it’s likely that you won’t even break a sweat—if you train at Fred's gym, that is, where the temperature is a refreshing 65 degrees.

Today’s Chiropractic LifeStyle spoke with Hahn to learn the benefits of the Slow Burn program and the truth about exercise. TCL: One of the biggest messages health advocates make is that exercise should be a part of your daily life. With the Slow Burn program, you say you only need 30 minutes of slow burning exercise a week. Do you disagree with the message that exercise should be a part of your daily life?

Hahn: Physical activity can certainly be part of your daily life, but exercise should be designed to provide a specific benefit. If you don’t deeply fatigue your muscles with some form of resistance or strength training, you will not recruit or engage all of the available muscle fibers. We know through science if you shortchange yourself during your workout, you won’t see or experience positive tissue remodeling.
Walking and leisurely active pursuits don’t produce added mitochondria or lean muscle tissue which de-ages your body. When exercise is performed properly you need much less than the exercise industry would lead you to believe. Recovery from exercise is when you receive the benefits, not when you exercise. Weight bearing is not the same as weight training.

TCL: What’s wrong with other traditionally accepted forms of exercise?

Hahn: It’s the same analogy as what’s wrong with a Yugo when you can drive a Mercedes? Nothing really. But it’s less efficient, not as safe and less effective to do the job you want it to do. Right and wrong doesn’t describe it well. If you have the choice, why not choose what’s best? If 30 minutes a week of Slow Burn will provide far more benefit than your aerobics class, with far less wear and tear to the joints, why not do Slow Burn instead?

Yoga doesn’t make the claim to build muscle. It’s a mind/body connection. Its purpose is not even to increase flexibility. When you engage in a program to enhance your physiology, you have to establish what you need. I try to teach people the physiological ingredients they need—it’s like a better recipe to bake a cake.

You need muscular strength and endurance. You want to enhance your cardiovascular health, improve joint flexibility and improve bone mineral density. Strength training, if done right, does all of these things. No other exercise program does this.

For example, yoga is very popular. You may want to believe yoga will give you all the benefits you need, but it doesn’t. Yoga does other things that are good, but not what people really want for de-aging. People have to wake up to that fact; if they want to reap the benefits they so desperately desire, they must engage in strength training. Many people have their “pet” exercise programs, that they hold close and dear—it’s almost like being in a bad relationship—you usually get beat up, sometimes you feel good, but, all in all, you are left wanting.

Strength training delivers all the fitness goodies we want. Since we know we have to do it, it begs the question “How?” How should we do it? I created Slow Burn as an answer to this logical question.
People sometimes say to me, “I don’t need strength training, I play tennis.” I politely tell them “Your opinion is of no consequence. You want to build yourself up, not beat yourself up. By building yourself up you can go and do whatever you like [running, tennis, rowing, cycling] with more vigor and greater resistance to injury.”

There’s a reason for back pain. The lower back muscles get little stimulation, so much so that they are in a state of disuse atrophy. The reason why most people experience musculoskeletal pain is because they are so weak.

Tell me why, if physical activity is so good for you, that soccer, tennis and golf professionals are at the end of their career by the age of 35? They should be at the height of their game! Those activities don’t cause positive tissue remodeling. They are haphazard at best—pounding, grinding and very demanding on your body physically. They wear you out.

Fortunately, today many more pro athletes are adding strength training to their workouts.

TCL: How do your clients react when you tell them about the Slow Burn program?

Hahn: It’s a mix of shock and amazement. And, then there’s the “Spock” eyebrow [look]. I hear, “Get the heck outta here!” quite a lot. But some people do say “Only 30 minutes?! Sign me up!”
If I could take my magic wand of strength and let you feel how you would feel after a Slow Burn workout for two or three seconds, you’d feel exhilarated. You’d feel a buzzing, a feeling of enrichment and enlivenment. You’d feel tired, but not like you’ve been in a boxing ring with Joe Frasier. It’s not like a boot camp workout where you are sore, in pain and debilitated—almost the opposite. You feel taller, longer and more powerful. It feels like you’ve done something right.
But, all in all, the reaction is always one of amazement. The industry wants you to believe that exercise needs to be done every day. The governing bodies fail to educate the masses as to the minimal amount of exercise that is necessary to benefit the human body. Why is that, I wonder? I’m out to change that.

TCL: The American Council on Exercise says that a complete fitness program must include aerobic exercise, muscular strength and endurance conditioning and flexibility exercise.

Hahn: What they are saying is you want to improve strength, cardio health, flexibility and bone density. Well, strength training does improve all these parameters all by itself. Resistance training should be the core of your workout, there isn’t anything you don’t get. What physiologically do you get by adding aerobics to a sound strength training program? Why do it? It compromises your spinal discs and grinds and pounds the hips and knees. It’s a myth that just won’t die. Millions of Americans injure themselves needlessly in their pursuit of better health.

TCL: What is your favorite exercise myth and your favorite exercise truth?

Hahn: The most damaging myth is that you need to perform exercise in a fast or explosive manner to improve athletic performance or enhance daily activities that require speed. It’s the single most dangerous piece of advice that has ended the careers of many athletes and thwarted promising ones.
In exercise today, research has shown that two 15 to 20-minute sessions of resistance training deliver all the benefits strength training can bestow. More does not equal better benefits. It’s quality instead of quantity.

It’s easy to understand quality when you’re talking about the tools needed to fix your car or the wine you drink. You want the best. It seems people become brain dead when it comes to exercise. The fitness industry has done a great job of brainwashing people.

TCL: As chiropractors, our readers lead healthy lifestyles. We have readers who run ultra marathons, hike mountains and strength train as part of their fitness routine. What is your advice to them?

Hahn: For the extremely active, understand that rest and recovery is when the benefits are obtained. You don’t obtain physiological benefits while exercising. The triathlete or the hiker will do much better at what they are doing by allowing for more rest and recovery. Strength training will aid their endeavors in every way.

TCL: Share some of the results your clients have experienced through the Slow Burn program.

Hahn: We help people make smarter eating choices—from refined foods to real foods. Obese clients commonly see a 50 to 60 pound weight loss in six to eight months. They increase strength by 50 to 100 percent during this time. Clients see improved blood pressure, cholesterol levels and many other internal health markers. We have never had a serious exercise-related injury.
In June of 2006 we were sent a client for an eight-week fitness challenge from Allure magazine. In eight weeks she lost 10 pounds of fat, gained four-and-a-half pounds of muscle, and she lost 3 inches off her waist and 1 inch from her hips and thighs all in eight hours of exercise in eight weeks. You can too!

The Technique
The secret to this program is that by slowly fatiguing each muscle you eliminate momentum, which leads to a more productive and intense workout. Each set is performed with slow, precise repetitions in perfect form. The weight you select for each set should be heavy enough to fatigue your muscles in three to five repetitions within 60 to 90 seconds.

The goal of the Slow Burn fitness program is to quickly and efficiently build your strength without injury and without the risk that accompanies most exercise programs or fitness activities.


For more information, visit seriousstrength.com.

©2006 Today's Chiropractic