PATRICK WARD'S BLOG

Well, this doctor that trains at our facility talked the physical therapist and I into going down and checking out this machine. The ROM machine. The 4 minute workout. Actually it is 8 minutes. Four minutes of upper body and 4 minutes of lower body. It is basically, all out as hard as you can go for four minutes. The resistances is set to a certain level when you punch in your body weight. The website is riddled in myth about burning 180 calories in 4 minutes and then an extra 200+ throughout the day (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). EPOC is one of those things where studies are still up in the air as to how much you burn post workout, and how long the burn actually lasts. It seems like everyone wants to fabricate it and make it a little more. The important thing is that you work hard. Well, the ROM machine made us work hard. It was a tough 8 minutes. It was intense too. It wasn't the hardest thing I have ever done. It was tough though. The guy was like "this is better than sprinting because you get resistance. When you sprint you only use 60% of your muscles because you have no resistance. When you use this you use all of your muscles." Okay moron, whatever. Anyway, it was tough. The ROM people will tell you that this is all you need to do and that this will get you in the shape you want. I beg to differ. I still think you need resistance training for certain things and the ROM machine only moves in one plane of motion (the sagital plane) and life happens in many planes. So, I would say, maybe it is a piece of the puzzle but it is not the whole puzzle. I can still head to the gym and get a great lift in and do some hard and intense cardio and get a better workout. I think it is great if you don't regularly do anything, as it gets you up and moving. I also think it is great for those that go into the gym to do their carido and don't work hard enough as this makes you work intenstly (which is important). I don't think it is the answer to everything though and I really question whether or not people can get lean doing 4min. of work (upper one day, lower the next) each day, no matter how intense it is. Anyway, just thought I would share. I am sticking with the barbells and dumbbells though.

Well, tomorrow I am off to the strength and conditioning summit at the Arnold Classic. Should be a lot of fun. Hope I learn some new things. WIll report back next monday!

Patrick

Posted by Patrick Ward on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 7:53 PM | Permalink