THE BODYSHRINKING WORKOUT A new fat-fighting regimen yields serious results, but critics say it may be too extreme. Nicole Catanese weighs in.
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AAlthough many women obsess about their weight, what they really want to gain from constant workouts and cutting carbs is less fat. So the scale can be deceiving. “You don’t know how much of that number is muscle and how much is fat – and muscle weighs more,” says Jinger Gottschall, an associate professor of kinesiology at Penn State University. Enter S10 Training, a new workout method that stands for sub-10. The goal is not to concern yourself with your scale but to focus instead on lowering body fat below 10 percent (recommended for men; women are encouraged to achieve 15 percent). Many see those numbers as extreme – “A very fit woman would be 19 to 22,” says Gottschall – but Stephen Cheuk, an Equinox expat, certified personal trainer, and the brains behind the New Yorkbased S10 workout studio, disagrees: “From an aesthetic standpoint, 10 for men and 15 for women is where you start to see a lot of definition.”
The eight-person-max 60-minute sessions start with a warm-up and what Cheuk calls the “6-1225”. Typical protocol for a three-day-a-week S10-er: On day 1, six Romanian dead lifts, straight into 12 push-ups, then 25 lunges; on day 2, six sumo dead lifts, 12 weighted body rows, and 25 hip raises; and on day 3, six hanging knee raises, 12 jackknives on suspension cables, and 25 V sit-ups. Each sequence is repeated three times the first week, four times the second, and five times the third. The 15-minute finale involves heavy lifting, such as pushing a weighted Prowler across the studio. Cheuk tracks body fat using a “medical-grade device” to pinch “sites that are calorie lie detectors,” he says. “If a client says, ‘I’m eating superclean,’ but the fat goes up, I know it’s a lie – it keeps them honest.” Clarins Body Lift Cellulite Control, RM222.60 BI - MONTHLY
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