A lot of clients have asked me this question: “So, what happens if I start this type of training and after a while I stop? Will I lose everything I’ve gained? Will I get flabbier – the same way athletes do when they stop their training sessions as professionals?”

My answer: Of course your muscles will turn “flabby” if you stop exercising. That’s the way nature works!

Have you ever considered stopping eating? Or sleeping? Of course not – and continued exercise is nearly as vital as eating or sleeping.  The human body is meant to be active.

Further – there is no muscle powder, vitamin, or supplement that will stimulate muscle growth; these items will only support the muscles you build through exercise.

Given the fact that the benefits of strength training – and in particular those of high intensity training – are: increased strength, loss of fat, increased resting metabolism, increased glucose metabolism, increased good cholesterol, decreased blood pressure, and increased bone density, among many others…why would you ever stop training?!

The most important tip I can give this week is:

1. MAKE EXERCISE PART OF YOUR LIFE to achieve results that will last for a lifetime.
2. Create a strong base and maintain it, but remember that the body needs a constant change, the constant challenge. Even if it’s just a tiny change in your exercise routine, keep the stimulus going.
3. Change your doubtful questions into reinforcing ones: i.e. “So what happens if I start this type of training and never stop again?”

A client started with me this summer who could only begin working on her upper body and core during our weekly sessions. She had broken her tibia plateau in early March in a skiing accident and, while she could now walk, she was still undergoing twice-weekly physical therapy to help with balance and strength. The nearly three months of not being able to walk on her left leg at all had really weakened the muscles – in particular the quadriceps.

After about four weeks into our work, we began working on the leg muscles, with the okay of the physical therapist, so that I could take over the strength training completely after the end of the PT sessions. We repeated the exercises given to the client by her therapist.

Last week, however, nearly three months after being allowed to walk on the injured leg, the client was despondent, stating that though walking was no problem, she had not been able to build any appreciable muscle mass – and certainly no strength – in the left quadriceps.

This client, age 41, had led a very active life. She enjoyed a wonderful recovery from the surgery to repair the broken bone – with the exception of this muscle group. It

This was affecting her in many ways: Going up and down stairs was a challenge and she could not skip or run very easily. Walking posed no problem for her at all (she even walked a 5 mile race earlier in the summer, with little difficulty), but she was not able to maintain her full level of activity. She was very worried about the upcoming ski season, as skiing relies heavily on the upper leg muscles.

She had just a few PT sessions left on her insurance, and felt little hope for the full recovery she had anticipated.

During last week’s session, after talking this through, I realized that she was likely experiencing a bit of a “disconnect” – her mind was not connecting properly with the muscle groups in her leg – a common occurrence after several weeks of non-use of a muscle. We needed to re-build that connection, and the SuperSlow technique is perfect for that.

Her leg was not strong enough to do the “up and down” of the quad lift, so we started out instead by focusing on the “negative” part of the exercise: With my help (or that of her “good” leg) to lift the weight, she then held the force of the weight solely on the weak leg, and lowered it very slowly. The SuperSlow movement allows her to take the time to actually feel the relationship between her quadriceps and her mind as she holds the weight and controls the lowering it.

While we have only completed the first session in our efforts, the client was able to feel the muscle working for the first time since the accident. She left with greater hope of a recovery…and that frame of mind is crucial for success.

I’ll continue to report on her progress in future entries.

How many of you exercise on a regular basis?

How many of you don’t exercise because you don’t have time? My name is Ana Nieto; I am a personal trainer and co-founder of Transform Fitness, a training facility in midtown Manhattan. I train my clients with low speed high intensity training, which means lifting heavy weights at a very low pace. This method of training is called “SuperSlow.” I first discovered this training as a client, and I quickly realized one of the main benefits of this technique: a very minimal time commitment of 1-2 times per week. When I began being trained with this method, I worked out just once a week for half an hour. Within three months, I went from a size 8 to a size 6…and I made NO CHANGES in my diet!

The workouts are designed to help a person lose fat and gain muscle. The biggest gains I had personally came from the increased muscle mass and strength all over my body. For example, I suffered from chronic lower back pain from scoliosis, but after I began training it disappeared. For the first time, I was able to beat my father at tennis – and my mother wanted to know what had I done to improve my posture so dramatically. (Being one of the tallest girls among my group of friends, I was always slouching.)

So, with a 30 minute per week workout, I was able to…

1. Lose fat
2. Gain muscle
3. Improve my athletic performance and posture

I was initially attracted to this technique given my nursing background, because it was developed initially to help women with osteoporosis. They discovered that the exercises were causing these women to develop muscle at an incredible rate! This was because they were lifting as such a slow pace. So, interestingly, safety was the motivation for such a slow speed, but incredible muscle gain was an additional result. If you only have only 30 minutes a week to work out, I believe in my heart and soul that this technique is what you should do…in many cases, it is all you will even need. However, if you want to take it to the next level, you can certainly complement this workout with your other favorite form of exercise whether it be yoga, running, or playing sports.