IPI's royal treatment is reserved for $1,500-a-week big leaguers and for ambitious amateurs like foreign-currency-investment giant Andrew Krieger, who visited the same week that I did. But even mere mortals get plenty of personal attention. At 8:30 a.m. on our second day, Verstegen breezes into the Dome to check on the adidas crew. Saying that he "doesn't want to kill" us, he kindly assesses our soreness from the previous day's double session.
"Between 1 and 10 -- with 10 being 'I'd rather die than stand up' -- how sore are you?" he asks. Our group average is 4. I'm about a 3 on the soreness scale and about an 11 on the fatigue scale.
Satisfied that we can withstand a lot more, Verstegen places a dozen hurdles in a row, spacing them 18 inches apart. This seemingly simple, limbo-style drill involves "walking" over one hurdle -- by raising one leg and bending it at the knee and at the hip -- and then immediately squatting under the next hurdle. The next step: Keep going over and then under, over and then under, until you've cleared the last hurdle, at which point you return to the front of the line and do a forward lunge. Then you start over again.
Like any effective torture, this drill yields useful information: Our balance deteriorates as we tire; we are remarkably tight in the hips. By the third time around, we're doing anything that we can to clear the hurdles: slumping sideways, tossing in a little hop-step -- anything.
But we women, by virtue of our physiology, have looser joints than men do. The fitter-than-your-average-manager Rick Woodford breezed through the other drills, but he's struggling through this one. His troubles worsen when Verstegen lays down the "ladder," a flexible gizmo with plastic rungs. We perform various antics between those rungs: one-legged hops, slalomlike leaps. There are dancers and ex-cheerleaders among us, and we are rocking.
Except for Woodford. Sadly, he's falling farther and farther behind -- and becoming an object lesson in Verstegen's teaching that brute strength and endurance will not, by themselves, build a better athlete. Almost anyone would consider Woodford to be in good shape. But, like many men, he lacks balance: The dude can't move.
"Great," he says, shaking his head in mock woe. "I've been shown up by a bunch of chicks."
Verstegen offers this advice: "Jump rope." Then he adds, "I've got a million routines up here" -- he points to the side of his crew cut -- "all guaranteed to create a well-rounded athlete." Part of his charisma is that he leaves no doubt that he can back up his boasts -- as long as each athlete has a goal and the determination to achieve it.
"We want only dedicated people," he says. "You know the 30 minutes that people spend on a stationary bike, watching CNN? That's rest and relaxation for my guys." And that, I realize, is the biggest takeaway from my time with Verstegen: If your workout is really going to work, you've got to put the "work" back into your workout.
Karen Karbo (kkarbo@aol.com) is a contributing editor to Condé Nast's Women's Sports and Fitness.
Any solid workout will produce lots of lactic acid -- the primary cause of soreness and stiffness. A massage is the best way to flush lactic acid from your muscles and to get your otherwise tired bod ready for the next go-round. What? You don't have your own professional massage therapist? The professional athletes who train at IPI do, but they still leave the institute with the Original Body Stick stashed in their duffel bags.
The Stick looks like an elegant rolling pin: It's got handles on each end and a row of white-plastic spindles that resemble those things on the ends of patio-furniture legs. The core is flexible, and it conforms to your muscles. Roll the Stick up and down your calves, hamstrings, glutes, and quads for a couple of minutes before and after a hard workout, and then it's all ahhhhhhhhh.
Coordinates: $39.95 The Original Body Stick. RPI of Atlanta, www.thestick.com
"Most people spend too much time in the weight room doing too little," says Mark Verstegen. "A workout should not take you more than 30 minutes." Here is the master's plan for putting your workout on a fast track.
Be dense: Aim for a dense, compact workout. Pair drills so that, with every exercise, you're working several skills at once -- weight training and balance in one exercise, for example, and balance and agility in another.
Be efficient: If you zip through each lift, allowing momentum to help move the weight, you'll reduce the intensity of your training. Lift at an even tempo.
Be disciplined: Keep a training log, or at least jot down your workout plan before you head to the gym. Recording your workout beforehand will discourage you from taking shortcuts and keep you from wandering aimlessly through your routine.
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