My Experience with Super Slow and my Thoughts

I was approached by my Coach Mr. Mohammad Latheef to try Super Slow. He promised me a gain of 5kgs in 6 weeks time. Astonishing? Well, I was too. I had my doubts.

I was already in a well rounded routine, with over 3 years of training experience, I would say that I am an intermediate level athlete. Before my stint of super slow I was following a routine and my last weight lifted are as follows:-

My stats are:-

Height 5’ 8”

Weight 79kgs

Arms 13.9”

Note:-I will not talk of fat percentage and all, as they vary from scale to scale.

My Routine before the Super Slow:-

1. Bench Press – 70kg x 6
2. Pulldowns – 140 kg x 4
3. Squat – 130kg x 6
4. TrapBar Deadlift – 130 kgs x 3
5. BB Curls – 30 kg x 6

And I was actually gaining in the squat and deadlift as well as the Bench Press, but then I was lured into the Super Slow Protocol. So after speaking to my coach I went in for it. He asked me to take rest for a week and then we would start. He said that Super Slow would require active supervision as Time, Speed of Cadence, rest between exercises are to be supervised and the sudden failure in between reps would needed to be spotted well. So Coach Latheef would have to be around me for all the 6 weeks.

On the 4^th of April I was briefed about Super Slow:-

1. Exercises to be done very slowly, only so much speed, so that the weight never stops moving.
2. All weights would be selected so that failure occurs between 4-8 reps.
3. The rest between exercises would be 30 seconds, and sometimes no rest at all.
4. The Super Slow protocol is for 6 weeks, each week two sessions and after every 2 weeks the routine changes. So in effect each routine is done for 4 sessions.In total 12 sessions.
5. I would have to eat, anything and everything. In his words, I would need to eat till my nose level. I would need to take care of my sleep, do no strenuous activity during these 6 weeks. No cardio as well. The idea is to keep the body in a positive metabolic state.
6. After each workout, I would have to run home to have some high Protein, high Carbohydrate feed. Like milk with a lot of sugar.

So, after this I started my routine:-

Routine 1

1. Squat – 80kg x 8….No rest
2. DB Pullovers – 22 kg x 5 ….Rest 30 seconds
3. Squat – 80 kg x 5 …No Rest
4. DB Pullovers – 22 kg x 5 …Rest 30 seconds
5. Leg Curls – 55 pounds (lbs) x 5 ….Rest 30 seconds
6. Lat Raises – 7 kg x 7  …….Rest 30 Seconds
7. Dips – 3 reps   ….Rest 30 seconds
8. Chins – 5 reps  …..Rest 30 seconds
9. –ve Dips – 7 reps  …. Rest 30 seconds
10. –ve Chinups – 3 reps

After the final rep of chins, I was burning all over. I was not able to stand, nor sit, I just lay down, and was rolling from one side to the other. After 10 minutes I got up, took a seat and updated the journal. It was a working day, I had to go home eat breakfast and then rush to office. I was feeling the fatigue and pain throughout the morning and by evening I was shivering. I had caught fever. I took a paracetemol, left for home and to my bad luck it started raining too. In the evening, I had a feeling of throat infection. Then for the rest of the week I was sick. That was the intensity of the workout, it was just too tough.

It took me another week to recover, so then we started again, as I was not going to chicken out now, there was so much more to prove now. So we started again on the same routine on the evening of 16^th of  April with the same weights and almost the same reps also.

The 4^th workout was:-

1.      Squat – 88 kg x 9

2.      Pullovers – 22 kg x 5

3.      Squat – 88 kg x 5

4.      Pullovers – 22 kg x 3

5.      Leg Curls – 40 lbs x 8

6.      Lat Raises – 7 kg x 6

7.      Dips – 5 reps

8.      Chinups  - 5 reps with assistance.

9.      -ve Dips – 5 reps

10.  -ve Chins – 4 reps

The first week on this routine was brutal. I was so dazed and returning home I would be half unconscious, with pains all over the body. But at the 3^rd workout of Routine 1, the body adapts and the routine goes so fast, though I was puffing, panting and sweating like a pig, but it doesn’t feel so long.I would eat a lot, always conscious that I had to eat well to perform well in the next workout. I wasn't concerned if the routine would be a success or not. Now I was more concerned of not falling ill and being forced to stop again. So I ate, slept and worked out with great discipline. I even carried some food to work. By the 4th workout I had started to enjoy the intensity and the fast pace of the work. But one thing was always missing. After the workouts there was absolutely no soreness. For me this was strange, considering the intensity. I then had to research on this. So i did. I'll talk about this and my progress for the rest of the weeks in my next installment, so stay tuned.