LOW VOLUME TRAINING HISTORY, PART V — Ken Hutchins
Ken Hutchins began shaping his ideas in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until 1992 that he published the SuperSlow manual. His approach took low volume to an extreme—every rep was performed with a 10-second negative and a 10-second positive. That’s 20 seconds per rep.
Interestingly, this idea wasn’t entirely new. Some powerlifters were experimenting with very slow lifting tempos as early as the 1940s or 1950s. But once machines like Nautilus became widespread, it made much more sense to apply this method to hypertrophy-based training.
Throughout this blog series, you’ve seen a common thread: slow, controlled tempo. SuperSlow took that concept to the absolute limit.
Hutchins kept one of Arthur Jones’ key principles—training to failure with a single working set. But by drastically reducing tempo, he removed most of the explosive elements from lifting, thereby reducing the chance of injury. The method also naturally forced lower volume; with each rep lasting 20 seconds, workouts became brutally efficient. You simply couldn’t do many reps unless you used very light weight.
The original idea behind SuperSlow was to protect lifters—especially those very strong or injury-prone—from the risks of maximal loading. Later methods in this series, like Beyond Failure, leaned into maximal strength output. SuperSlow took the opposite path: minimize weight, maximize time under tension, and aim for hypertrophy without chasing numbers.
At Janus Performance Coaching, we respect all tools in the training toolbox. While we may not train strictly SuperSlow, there are lessons in tempo, control, and injury prevention that we carry into modern programming—especially when tailoring protocols for long-term progress and sustainability.
Q: Do you use SuperSlow methods in your coaching?
Not strictly—but we often incorporate tempo work and time-under-tension techniques to build control, reduce injury risk, and drive hypertrophy.
Q: What is low volume training, and is it effective?
Low volume training emphasizes fewer sets and reps, but with higher intensity or longer time-under-tension. For many lifters, it offers a sustainable way to progress.
Q: Can I still build muscle with low weights and slow reps?
Yes. The key is muscle fatigue and time under tension. SuperSlow-style training can trigger hypertrophy without requiring heavy loads.
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