Mention to some people that there's a workout that you only have to do twice weekly that would yield results, and some people would immediately ask, "What's the catch?" Well, the "catch" is that the 30- or 40-minute workouts are high-intensityso intense that you need a couple of days for your body to recover.
Windy City Times recently talked with strength coach Dan Geraci, who owns High Intensity Chicago, about this type of training, including what people can expect.
Windy City Times: Tell me a little about your strength-training background.
Dan Geraci: Sure. I was the University of Michigan's [athletics] for two years and then I did football only for another two years while I was getting my master's degree in exerciseso I got to practice this on some pretty good athletes. But while I was in school I got to understand why people did some things and not others.
The program fell under the umbrella of "high-intensity." I don't know if you've heard of [the form of resistance training known as] "super-slow." [WCT: Yes.] That's another form.
WCT: That's not what you do, though.
Dan Geraci: No, although I was certified by Ken Hutchins, the guy who started super-slow. What happened was that Arthur Jones, the Nautilus guy, started things, but it branched out into two directions. Super-slow is essentially the Tea Party, and it's a cult. Because it's hard, you'll see resultsespecially if you're some Joe Blow off the streets. But if you're trying to get in shape ... I was doing it for years. Super-slow fits physiologically, but no one's gone from pencil-neck skinny to [being] jacked doing super-slow. People would get yelled at for doing cardio.
WCT: Really?
Dan Geraci: Oh, yes. The importance of cardio is overblown; to lose body fat you have to focus on your diet. Cardio counteracts some of what poor dieting does.
What weight training does is to ultimately tell your muscles to grow, and you're getting caloric intake from stored body fat, not muscle.
Soas opposed to super-slowcontrolled movement [in Geraci's training] makes things safer.
WCT: So how does your version of HIT [high-intensity training] work?
Dan Geraci: I do push-pull to failure on most exercises. I don't do just one set per body partyou could do four or five sets. However, because of how it's structured, you go chest-back-chest-back-chest-back, then shoulder back and forth, with no rest in between. That way, you get a total body workout in a short period of time. It's mostly controlled movements.
WCT: Something that I saw on your website is that people in the program shouldn't do it for more than twice a week.
Dan Geraci: Two or three times a week. One day is good, two days are way better than one and three days are best, but if you're doing two you still progress pretty well. Three days a week would be optimal.
WCT: And how many weeks would it take to see results?
Dan Geraci: Well, that depends on your definition of "seeing results." You'll get a very strong six weeks, depending on your diet, but you should be very satisfied after three months, regardless.
WCT: Is this good if you want to maintain? People are not going to look like the Hulk?
Dan Geraci: [Smiles] Not unless you take steroidswhich I don't advocate. You ask most guys what they want to look like and they'll say a wide receiver or even a linebacker, physqiue-wise. But those wide receivers are extremely strong; all of those guys were doing 225 on the bench for 20 reps by the time they finished.
I get this question from men and women. Most guys want to look like the cover of Men's Health.
WCT: I think most people equate "stronger" with "bulkier."
Dan Geraci: Which is not true. A super-strong woman and a super-strong guy look great.
WCT: And the right food is key.
Dan Geraci: Eating the right food provides energy.
If you're overweight, you feed [one way]. Once you get [your weight] down, you're eating to maintain. You sometimes have a 10-pound window. Believe it or not, Ben & Jerry's have been good friend of mine.
WCT: Seriously?
Dan Geraci: I'm a normal guy who has stress, just like everyone else. I just handle things differently. However, if I know I need to be someone with my shirt off, I'll just eat celery and chicken for the next three weeks. [Laughs].
Geraci and former NFL player Ron Israel are waiting to strengthen you. See www.highintensitychicago.com for more information.