Comments on: Dangers of aerobic exercise

By: Babs B.

Babs B. — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:06:17 +0000

I have always feared the treadmill after trying it only one time. I thought it was just because I was so clumsy. And it certainly never appealed to me. I’m glad I was so cautious.

Dr. E., I have been diagnosed with Osteopenia. Will the SB help increase bones mass? I have just started low carb-high protein eating plan, lost 12 lbs and close to 100 to go. I also have bad knees. Can someone in my condition safely do SB?

Hi Babs–

Any kind of resistance training will increase bone mass.� Since Slow Burn – at least in my opinion – is the most effective kind of resistance training, it should increase bone mass even faster.

Cheers–

MRE�

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:25:17 +0000

I was advised to perform aerobic activity to lower my blood pressure – do you think that Slow Burn would have a similar affect?

Hi Dan–

The medical literature shows that Slow Burn conditioning does lower blood pressure as fitness improves, and does so better than aerobic exercise.� But it increases blood pressure during the workouts themselves (as does aerobic exercise), so you should do it only with your doctors okay.

Cheers–

MRE�

By: Marilyn Leahy

Marilyn Leahy — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:41:35 +0000

Okay, confession time: I am not really a swim coach, not exactly. I am a synchronized swimming coach and my specialty is figures, the set pieces that all the swimmers are required to perform. Doing figures properly requires immense concentration, strength flexibility and breath control. I came at it from having done years of yoga so I had some idea of how much power, balance and patience are needed to really achieve the apparent effortlessness that is the most striking sign of mastery.

My hardest task with my swimmers is convincing them to do the figure SLOWLY enough. Momentum alone is not enough. In fact, relying on momentum ensures that a swimmer will be unable to understand EXACTLY which muscles are used(and when and how much) and therefor will not be able to get stronger.

So Drs E, next time you are doing your workout throw in a bunch of rotations around all axis and hold your breath for up to three minutes at a time. And don’t forget to keep the beat. I really don’t believe there is a harder sport.

Marilyn

Gee, Marilyn–

You sure make synchronized swimming sound like a lot of fun.� I think I’ll pass, though.

Cheers–

MRE�

By: Neil Wilkinson

Neil Wilkinson — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:50:52 +0000

So, I can get my old Bullworker out again and get cracking on the exercises. I knew I’d kept it for a good reason, not just to irritate my wife!!

Go for it!�

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:44:57 +0000

Marilyn wrote “It would seem that this principle would explain some of the benefit of yoga which is based on long slow sustained movements using the body as resistance.”

Actually both yoga and Slow Burn are just forms of isometric contractions – with yoga using self resistance and SB using a weight to force the contraction. The thing is that you can get the same benefit by using isometric contractions by themselves or by using self-resistance on slow controlled motions under muscle tension.

I have been using that method for the last 7 weeks and have really packed on muscle, without the added unnatural strain that weights put on your joints.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 00:27:01 +0000

Treadmills are tools of the devil. A couple of years ago at my gym I saw a young girl take a vicious header on one very similar to the story above. However, she wasn’t as lucky–she got a nasty gash on her forehead and knocked out several teeth. Now there’s big signs all over the gym about using the stop tether on the treadmills. I’ve tripped on elliptical trainers but at least you can stop them moving before serious damage is done.

Treadmills: I avoid them like death.

Cheers–

MRE

By: Esther

Esther — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:36:39 +0000

I tried SB several years ago and had a hard time getting the hang of it because I found it difficult to work from a book so I gave it up. At the time I wished that there was a tape that I could follow. A quick look at the SB site today reveals that you can now get tapes or DVD’s to use. I’m excited and will be ordering.

Hubby was also a treadmill victim one time. He dropped something, forgot where he was, bent over to pick it up, and the rest was history. He’s a tall guy who is all legs and it was like a stork flying off.

Hi Esther–

Let me know about your SB experience.

Thanks–

MRE�

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:44:28 +0000

So, Dr. Mike…are you saying that we don’t really need aerobic conditioning for fitness? That resistance training will give us all the physical fitness we need? I admit, I have Slow Burn book and even tried it for a few weeks. It’s such a shift in another one of those commonly-accepted-as-truths–we need at least 3x a week aerobic exercise–that I felt as if I wasn’t getting enough exercise. I dropped SB and started back to more traditional 2x/full body workouts and 3-4x/wk cardio sessions. And for my effort? Heh. Not much! I think I’ll try SB again.

Oh and by the way, my husband is participating in a study right now from Univ of Colo Health Sciences Center examining the effects of 3 months of supervised aerobic exercise on Type 2 diabetes. Maybe he should drop out and just do some resistance training?!

Thanks for the great info.

Hi Cheryl–

You pegged it; that’s exactly what I’m saying.

Keep me posted on your SB results when you get started back and on your husband’s efforts to reduce his diabetes with aerobic exercise.

Cheers–

MRE�

By: fred hahn

fred hahn — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:56:18 +0000

Nice post Mike. Did I tell you that I amazed my cardiologist at my last stress test? (I did it mainly for fun – there’s nothing wrong with me.)
I did so well on the test he couldn’t get my HR up to 180 with the treadmill at full pitch. He said I did better than ALL of his athlete patients – runners included – of ALL age groups.

I was all asmile!

Hey Fred–

Thanks for the report.� Just another example of how Slow Burn increases endurance, which is the part so many people have so much difficulty in believing.

Cheers–

M�

By: Marilyn Leahy

Marilyn Leahy — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:11:08 +0000

Slow burn makes sense to me. I want to get more information on it and then I might incorporate it into the swimming workouts I coach. It would seem that this principle would explain some of the benefit of yoga which is based on long slow sustained movements using the body as resistance. Of course, yoga requires MUCH more time.

Marilyn

Hi Marilyn–

That’s the beauty of Slow Burn: a lot of exercise quality squeezed into very little quantity.

Cheers–

MRE�