Story by Brad Carlson, Photos by Jim Peterson
Jeff Kempthorne is happy to tell you how his fitness studio’s slow-motion approach to strength training can benefit almost anyone – if you can catch him for a few minutes.
In usually rapid succession, clients come to his Super Strong Fitness studio on Iron Eagle Drive for 20-minute workouts. Demand for the sessions is strong enough to prompt him to consider increasing studio availability and adding trainers soon. Meanwhile, he is taking note of how recent developments in his business align with trends in physical fitness and in the Eagle community.
Kempthorne said recently that in the year and a half since he acquired the now nearly 12-year old Eagle business, Super Strong Fitness almost doubled its client headcount. The diverse group of devotees to the virtually sweat-free workouts includes businesspeople on the go, retirees looking to improve their golf games, new mothers looking to add strength while losing baby weight, assorted parents with limited time to get away, and youth athletes.
“My clients range from 13 to 88 years old,” he said. “The slow-motion approach to strength training, pioneered in the early 1980s, can help the practitioner work muscles in a more targeted and efficient way and in turn optimize recovery between workouts,” said Kempthorne. It also provides a noteworthy contrast to some physical moves people make in everyday life.
“You pick up a suitcase, pull it and then throw it onto a bed or into a car trunk. You lift the weight, but acceleration and momentum are helping you,” he said. “You are not using your muscles to the full extent. And that (action) puts in jeopardy joints and ligaments while potentially adding strain.”
Kempthorne spends considerable time and effort studying the SuperSlow protocol that Ken Hutchins developed in the early 1980s. In the Eagle studio and in California, Kempthorne has worked with Adam Zickerman, a trainer and best-selling author who is a well-known proponent of the protocol.
“By correctly following this training process, Super Strong Fitness clients – who select from among 10 medical-grade machines – aim to position their muscles to safely do nearly all of the work, directly and without the aid of acceleration and momentum,” Kempthorne said. The targeted approach reduces injury risk but places a premium on post-workout recovery, which is why clients can’t come in more than twice per week. Clients also benefit from the accountability of the one-on-one sessions, priced to compete well with other physical trainers in the Boise area.
Kempthorne, 36, married and with a young son under a year old, got into physical training after finding out his mother had started a weight lifting regimen. From his parents, Patricia and Dirk Kempthorne (former Boise mayor, U.S. senator, Idaho governor and U.S. Interior secretary), he learned lessons he has since applied in business. These include believing in what you are doing, working hard, and realizing other people are affected.
SUPER STRONG FITNESS
1191 E. Iron Eagle Drive #100
208.938.2688
By appointment Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.
Will soon add availability Wednesday and Saturday.
Find them on Facebook!
Protocol medical reference: http://wb.md/2pupDKy
