Power Sculpt - Fitness Incentive

“If those aren’t enough reasons to try my Power Sculpt class, I can promise you a great playlist, a wonderful group of people, and a couple of “Dad jokes” thrown in here and there.”

Theresa Christensen

Time to Grind

Here we are, back to Fall and back to the grind. I don’t know about you, but this time of year often pulls me in so many directions that my head starts to spin. Between work, the kids, school functions, sports, and after-school activities, I have very little time to myself. Two years ago, at this very time of year, I pitched an idea for a strength class that would produce maximum results in less than an hour. The class would involve a warmup, a series of “Super-Sets,” a cool-down, and a short stretch. The class was approved, and it was given its own unique name. Cathy Peacock suggested that we use the name Power Sculpt, and so a new class was born.

A Class Is Born

Power Sculpt is an hour-long class that I teach every Tuesday and Thursday at 6 am in the main studio. While there is a warmup and a cool-down, the “meat and potatoes” of the class are four rounds of Triple or Tri Sets. Super-setting involves performing two sets of complimentary exercises back-to-back with little to no rest in between. In my Power Sculpt class, we perform three exercises in each round. Each exercise is completed in sets of 12 repetitions, and we repeat the set three times. There are 3 seconds between each exercise, 15 seconds between each set, and 1 minute between each round. Super-setting, or in this case, triple-setting, has many benefits.

First and foremost, they can maximize your time at the gym. For me, that’s extremely important. I need to squeeze in my workouts whenever I can, and I want to get the most out of them. By eliminating the rest between each exercise, the intensity of the workout is higher without increasing the duration of the workout.

Eliminating the rest periods also increases your time under tension (TUT), or in other words, how long your muscles are under tension or strain during a workout. TUT can also be done by slowing down each repetition, but since we are trying to maximize the workout in a shorter period of time, the super setting can also achieve greater periods of TUT. Increased time under tension forces your muscles to work harder for longer periods of time, which can improve strength, muscle growth, and muscular endurance.

Cardio with Weights

Speaking of endurance, super setting can also increase cardiovascular endurance. Cardio with weights? You read that right. By eliminating rest periods, your heart rate will likely increase, allowing you to achieve aerobic results through strength training. Improving your cardiovascular endurance is important, especially as we age, because it can help strengthen your heart and lungs, improve your cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and reduce your risk of heart disease.

Super-setting can also be an ideal way to improve muscle growth and, as mentioned earlier, muscular endurance. Muscular endurance is your body’s ability to sustain a certain number of reps before going to failure. In my class, you’ll often hear me say, “Try one or two reps at a heavier weight because that’s one or two more reps than you did yesterday.” That’s how we grow and improve. While it may not necessarily build muscle more efficiently than traditional strength training, if you are limited with the amount of time that you have to work out, you can build muscle faster with the time that you have by super setting the exercises, holding longer periods of TUT, and keeping your cardio in a steady state for longer periods.

If those aren’t enough reasons to try my Power Sculpt class, I can promise you a great playlist, a wonderful group of people, and a couple of “Dad jokes” thrown in here and there. Oh, and there’s always a “finisher”. I can’t divulge all of my secrets here, though. You’ll have to try the class and experience it for yourself!