Hey Docs. Long time listener, first time caller.
Been doing barbell training for several years now with some success but I have friends who are really into this “SuperSlow” thing. They claim they are making mad gainzzz working out 1 day/week and for only 20 minutes. Some of them do “5 second reps” and others do what they claim is a full range of motion for a lift for like 2-3 minutes. As in, they are constantly moving through a full ROM under load for 2-3 minutes.
I did a very brief search on the Interwebs and came across Ken Hutchins and a few other people including Mike Mentzer, who seemed to be the poster boy for this type of training back in the day. Also seems like it’s become really popular lately (or maybe the Google is fooling me with its algo).
I really respect your opinions and so my question is: does this type of training actually work for novices, intermediates, or advanced lifters and if so why or… if not, why and why do so many people seem to buy into it? It almost seems too good to be true. Are these folks onto something or just super slow?
Anyway, thanks for all the work you put into these forums and your website and podcast. Also, sorry about the repost. I realized I eff’ed up and this question probably should have been posted here and not in the other forum.
When you ask “does this type of training actually work”, you’ll have to describe what your specific outcome measure is.
“WORK” for what?
Work meaning “does it build strength?” Strength in the same sense that LP or an intermediate or advanced barbell training program builds strength. I’m wondering what, if any, benefits are there to this type of training and what are the drawbacks? Why would someone do this type of training instead of barbell training? My friends seem to like it, and believe they are getting plenty strong but it strikes me as odd that they can be getting any benefit from working out 20 minutes 1 day per week.
It is a form of progressive resistance training, so yes, it does build “strength” compared to not training.
But the question is does it build strength better than with barbell training?
Of course, this question itself is problematic because it’s also influenced by how, exactly, you are measuring strength. Are we measuring it by a 1RM 90-second tempo leg extension? Or are we measuring it by a 1RM squat?
I have no idea how to measure it. Maybe I’m not asking the right questions. Have you or Jordan written about this subject? I’m basically wondering what the differences are between the two, why someone would choose one over the other, what the actual benefits of SuperSlow are, etc. I know what my friends would say (that they’re getting stronger without risking injury from barbell training). I know what the benefits of barbell training have been for me thus far. Since I don’t know a lot about the other, I wonder how it compares or if they’re even comparable. I did SS because I wanted to become stronger. It definitely helped me when stacking wood this past winter, and when I had to pick my 100lb geriatric dog up and put him into and out of a wagon. Would I have gotten the same benefit by doing SuperSlow? I dunno.
Nope, we haven’t written about SuperSlow.
I don’t know whether there’s been much in terms of research done on the topic, either.