If you're not concerned about muscle loss and about becoming feeble, you should be. Starting in their thirties, the average person loses one percent of muscle tissue annually, adding up to about five pounds every 10 years. As we lose our muscles we lose our physical strength. Aside from growth hormone injections, the only proven way to reverse this loss and actually regain muscle mass is through resistance weight training. And it's never too late to get started-at any age!

One of the safest and most effective forms of weight training for older people is a technique called "the SuperSlow method." This exercise protocol was developed by Ken Hutchins in 1982 to help osteoporotic women perform resistance training safely. This slow-motion, high-intensity strength training is about doing fewer repetitions with heavier weights at a much slower pace than standard resistance training.

According to James Bell, co-founder with his wife Taru Fisher of Alive! Whole Life Fitness Studio in Menlo Park, California, the idea is to fully and safely fatigue specific muscles in order to "trigger their growth mechanism." Done properly and under the supervision of a certified SuperSlow trainer, the technique builds strength faster than other methods while "reducing risk of injury and muscular soreness."

Elaine Mayland, age 77, is a believer. Before joining up at Alive! she used a wheelchair rather than walking long distances. Following a year of training, she found herself in the airport in Hamburg, Germany. Because the airport workers were on strike, she couldn't find access to a wheelchair. No problem: Elaine discovered that she could comfortably walk from one end of the airport to the other without even feeling tired. "I must have walked five miles," she says.

Business at Alive! is booming-so much so that Bell and Fisher are looking for a bigger studio. If you'd like to explore slow motion, high-intensity strength training, go to alivefitnessstudio.com [1] or visit Ken Hutchins at superslow.com [2].