What can I expect?
Often only 20 minutes and never more than 25 minutes, your workout will be brief. Working out on the MedX strength-training machines, you will perform one set per exercise with each set lasting no more than 90 seconds, often less. Each workout normally consists of five to seven exercises.
Can such a brief workout be effective?
It’s efficient. A traditional workout may call for three to five sets of 10 repetitions for each exercise. When you allow for rest periods between the sets, each sequence of three to five sets takes at least 10 or 15 minutes to complete. But that quarter hour will normally entail no more than about 100 seconds of actual work. Our 90-second set lasts about as long and is usually more demanding.
Is once or twice a week enough to achieve results?
No system of strength training will work well unless you give yourself time to recover. Gains in strength occur not during the workout, but afterwards, as your body responds to the new demands you’re putting on it. Interrupting the recovery undermines the response.
A once-a-week workout of sufficient intensity yields all the health benefits that strength training can produce. Twice-a-week schedules produce more rapid changes in body shape and are also indicated in some special circumstances, including rehabilitation, high cholesterol, hypertension and obesity, among other conditions.
What exactly is “high-intensity” training?
You can’t workout just 20 minutes once or twice a week and expect results unless you work near or at your muscle capacity. This training focuses on performing weightlifting exercises to the point of momentary muscle failure in order to maximize the amount of muscle fiber recruitment. The principals of high intensity training are brevity, infrequency and intensity. As strength increases, weight will be increased progressively to provide the muscles with adequate overload to stimulate further improvements. Due to the intense weight resistance of this protocol, workouts are infrequent and brief.
What kind of results can I expect?
You should notice significant changes within six to eight weeks. Most people gain muscle tissue while losing fat. The scale may spit the same number back at you, but you’ll look different and feel different. Many women drop a dress size; men take their belts in a notch. Since you’re leaner and firmer, people may ask if you’re on some kind of diet, even before your weight has changed. You’ll feel better because you’re stronger. Even if you can’t yet leap tall buildings in a single bound, you will scoot up stairs that used to leave you breathless. Once these initial changes set in, the rest is up to you. Here, as in most things, your goals are your own to set. How long it takes to reach the destination depends on where you want to go.
I want to get toned. Won’t this workout make me bulkier?
No way. The idea that if you want to get toned, you should do lots of repetitions with light weights is one of the most widespread misconceptions about strength-training. The truth is pretty much the opposite: the best way to gain strength without adding bulk is to lift the heaviest weight you can handle slowly and in low volume. High-volume strength training, i.e. a lot of reps, will add bulk if the weight is high enough. If it isn’t, you’ll just be burning some calories while doing little or nothing for your muscles.
How much does it cost?
Individual sessions are $75. Packs of four sessions are $300.
Call 212-308-2990 for questions about pricing.
