Has anybody heard of this Power of 10 workout? Here is a link to a CBS News story:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/20/48hours/main584762.shtml
The gist seems to be working out one day a week for 20 minutes using slow lifting and going to muscle failure. The creator of the program is touting weight lifting, which is great, but only one workout a week at 20 minutes per workout?
My sister-in-law is looking at this. Any feedback from the brain-trust that is T-Nation is appreciated.
Looks like a combination of HIT and super-slow (or “pretty slow”) in this case.
5-7 exercises, 1 set each, heavy weights, each rep done with a 10-0-10-0 tempo. To failure. 1 day a week.
It probably could work to maintain muscle, or to gain it at the slowest possible rate…
Going that slow probably makes the weight feel a lot heavier than it really his, might prevent injuries for geriatric trainees.
I’ll give it a try when I’m 95 and report back.
[quote]pookie wrote:
Looks like a combination of HIT and super-slow (or “pretty slow”) in this case.
5-7 exercises, 1 set each, heavy weights, each rep done with a 10-0-10-0 tempo. To failure. 1 day a week.
It probably could work to maintain muscle, or to gain it at the slowest possible rate…
Going that slow probably makes the weight feel a lot heavier than it really his, might prevent injuries for geriatric trainees.
I’ll give it a try when I’m 95 and report back.[/quote]
Thanks for your input, pookie. It just doesn’t seem like a good overall lifestyle regardless of the results. But maybe for my hyper-stressed sister-in-law it would perfect.
Interesting, I have actually maintained muscle on one full body session per week.
I am not a big slow motion fan. Whenever I think about moving heavy weights slowly I think of injury. I think weights (any weight) were meant to be moved quickly. Seems more natural to me. I should mention that I don’t have any studies to back that up. Just a peronal observation. 
Dave Barr wrote a nice piece about Super Slow Training in general:
[quote]HoosierFan wrote:
Thanks for your input, pookie. It just doesn’t seem like a good overall lifestyle regardless of the results. But maybe for my hyper-stressed sister-in-law it would perfect.[/quote]
Well, consistency is maybe the most important part of any workout. If she can stick with doing those 20 minutes so that it becomes a habit, she might be able to work up from that.
At the very least, it will be better than nothing. Also, when training, most people tend to pay more attention to getting a proper diet, so that can also help.
Basically, if 20 minutes a week is all she’s ready to put in, why not? Most “ordinary” people join a gym in january, train like idiots for 2-3 weeks, burn out and go back to their flabby lifestyles. I can’t see anyone burning out from 20 minutes a week, and it’s so short as to make any excuse to skip the workout completely shameful.
If she can do it for 3-4 months, she might be interested in kicking it up a notch later.
By the way, if she really goes thru with it, keep us posted on the results (if any…)