“The perfect 10″
Fitness tester Gena Tuffery trials a short, sharp once-a-week workout for those in search of a smokin’ body
*“BY THE 10TH SESSION I HAD VERTICAL LINES DOWN MY TIGHTS, A V-SHAPE ABOVE HIPS AND THE FIRST OF A SIX PACK”
*“You can get fit and toned in only 20 minutes, once a week!”
“I Know. And I’m with you – right down to the eye rolling and the impassioned cries of “is there nothing else on except bloody infomercials?!” But it is not y job to be an armchair doubter. No, my role in life is to roll my doubts in a towel and head to my workout to give it a good unbiased go.
Today the place is Concept 10 10, a new kind of fitness training that claims six supervised resistance exercises is all you need to indulge in a guilt free lapse in your gym membership. So a pledge: I will do no other exercise for 45 days but Concept 10 10 sessions on every fifth. And I will report the results back to you, warts – or, more likely, cellulite – and all. But before we can start the class we have to sit through the science. A claim this big has to be backed with something. The Concept was developed by doctors, physios and chiropractors and is based on 25 years of research. Each piece of equipment provides resistance to the muscle in both directions, so there is no rest for the wicked. Or the good. Every weight is set for you before you arrive at the maximum you can handle, so you move at the maximum you can handle, so you move quickly with your trainer from one machine to the next, working at high intensity to the point of muscle failure. That’s the point where all available fibres are engaged then tear, so as to repair and rebuild themselves bigger between sessions, so as to be fit to tear and rebuild themselves all over again. If this sounds horrible, you’re very perceptive. It helps to repeat this mantra: “Only 20 minutes and I’m done till next week.” My trainer is director Melissa-Anne Smit, a cheerful blonde who I have trouble imagining will be able to push me to get the results she’s promising – but I sit down on the lower-back machine and put on my seatbelt on anyway. This is the fitting accessory for the car crash victim like Melissa, many of whom use this equipment to rebuild back muscles. Melissa monitors my movements, making sure each rep is slowed down to 10 seconds in each direction. The goal is to get around two minutes on each machine before you can do no more. If you can do less than one and a half minutes the weight is too heavy. If you can do more than two and half, the weight goes up next time.” extract from Gena Tuffery’s Article
And she goes on……. *
*Individual results may vary form person to person