We are excited to introduce our newest team member, Allie Kabat, who has joined the CWSS team as our Front Desk Manager and Marketing Assistant.
Allie is the sister of Lindsey Kabat Montgomery, the very first CWSS trainer hired nine years ago. Like Lindsey, Allie comes from an athletic background, having played soccer at Lake Forest College, where she was captain of her team. For the past three and a half years, she has been a Senior Recruiting Coach at the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA), where she coached student-athletes on the recruiting process and matched them with college coaches.
Allie is also studying to become a certified SuperSlow trainer, with the goal of training clients by January. Be sure to stop by and say hi to Allie if you haven't had the chance to yet!
By Keith and Denise Morton
CWSS Partners
Taking on conventional wisdom is always a challenge. After all, those usually known facts are indisputable. For example, real estate prices always go up. If someone debated that statement in 2003 they would be scoffed at.
In the case against cardio, the real facts are disputable and are out there, if only you look.
Conventional wisdom for nearly 40 years now has stated that you have to perform a steady-state activity for a minimum of 20 minutes in order to thoroughly engage the aerobic system. This belief that you have to have your target heart rate for "X" amount of time to get any cardiovascular benefit was shown to be completely
arbitrary and first proven not to be true by two studies conducted by McMaster University. In the book,
Body by Science, by Dr. Doug McGuff, a physician and SuperSlow advocate for some 20 years, McGuff cites the McMaster Studies "that put the lie to the belief that one had to workout at least three times a week for a minimum of 20 minutes in order to get 'cardio.' The McMaster Studies made a very strong case for short, intense workout sessions. Working your muscles intensely works your cardiovascular system more effectively and efficiently and stimulates profound improvements in one's aerobic capacity," writes McGuff. Steady-state activities like regular running or 30 minutes on the elliptical does not maximally stimulate your aerobic system because the cardiovascular system does not work that way. This goes against conventional wisdom, right?
Performing anaerobic exercise, like SuperSlow or running fast in short intervals, is the only way you can be certain to maximally stimulate your aerobic system. While you are sitting around after your SuperSlow workout when the muscles are repairing from the "good" damage that occurs with inroading, or workout to failure, is when the cardiovascular system is working to support the muscle repair. McGuff explains it best: "During the recovery, the lactic acid that you stock piled gets converted to pyruvate and processed through your aerobic system. So the perceived health benefit that many people think only steady-state activity can provide actually occurs in the recovery period after high intensity training." Bottom Line: To the degree that you improve your muscle mass, is the degree to which you positively effect all markers of health, including your cardiovascular system.
We are huge proponents of being active. Ken Hutchins, the creator of SuperSlow, does a masterful job of differentiating exercise vs. recreation. You name the activity and we endorse it. Is tennis tough on your body? Sure, but it's fun. Is it sometimes hard to hike? Yes, but if you've ever climbed a mountain, you know how great it can feel. Use the strength gained from your workouts to enjoy being active. But don't do it in the name of "cardio", do it because you love it.
"I'm 5'2" and have been told by my doctor for years to make weight lifting part of my exercise schedule. Great idea if I were a person willing to do all that is required to be successful on my own, which I won't. Since working out at CityWide for almost four years, when my doctor now asks me if I'm taking care of my bones and my body by lifting weights, I can say YES I AM! I have more vitality and stamina than I can remember having in the past many years. And looking in the mirror, I happily see the results of my commitment to my SuperSlow regime."
-Leslie Sann
