November 17, 2025 • 29 mins
Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to There is a Method to the Madness.
My name is Rob Maxwell, and I'man exercise physiologist and
personal trainer.
I am the owner of Maxwell'sFitness Program, and I've been
in business since 1994.
The purpose of this podcast isto get to the real deal of what
really worked and mostimportantly why things worked.
Hence the name, there is amethod to the magnet.
(00:24):
Before I get started today, letme thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gilden of the Gilden GroupRealty Pros.
They are committed to providingthe highest level of customer
service in home sales.
Why don't you give them a shoutand figure out what your home is
worth?
386-451-2412.
(00:46):
Good morning, everybody.
Or afternoon, evening, whatevertime you are choosing to listen
to this, I'm actually recordingthis in the morning.
So let's talk about somefitness.
I'm very thrilled to announcethat my third book is out, and
it is called Train for Life, WhyPersonal Coaching is the real
(01:11):
fitness solution.
I um I'm really proud of thisbook.
I think it uh does a lot to talkabout what goes on in the world
of fitness, why it's soimportant.
I get into what the problem is,so to say, like why aren't
people exercising often enoughand enough, period, to get the
(01:33):
benefits.
I talk about all the reasons, Ibelieve, which is researched
why, and I talk about thesolutions, and then I talk about
some fitness principles.
So overall, I'm very happy withthe book.
You can get it on my website,you can get it at my gym, or you
can get it at Amazon, or you canget it at BarnesandNoble.com,
(01:54):
and I think some other places.
But I believe that kind ofcovers everything.
Today I'm gonna talk aboutsomething that's in the book,
and it's in the introduction ofthe book, and it's the actual
benefits to exercise, and I'mgonna really kind of hone in on
some of the biggies that I thinkthat are related to each other.
Um but but let me give you thislist.
(02:16):
Like, this is kind of crazy whatexercise can do with such a
minimal time commitment fromyou.
We only need to do 150 minutes aweek of moderate exercise, of
moderate aerobic exercise to getthe benefits, plus two days a
week of full body strengthtraining.
(02:36):
When I crunch the numbers, thatcomes out to 1.8% of your time
commitment per week.
I mean, to me, that's not a lotof time investment.
And I get into that in the book,like why people perceive it to
be so much longer.
Time is the number one reasonpeople give for not exercising
(02:57):
enough, and I offer all thesolutions where it doesn't have
to be nearly as long as youthink.
But for that kind of timecommitment, let's let's look at
some of these benefits here.
Lowers the risk for chronicdisease, lowers all cause
mortality, lowers yourpercentage of body fat, lowers
(03:22):
your abdominal fat, raises youractivities of daily living or
ADLs, improves your cognitivefunction, raises your metabolic
rate, lowers your resting bloodpressure, lowers your LDL
(03:44):
cholesterol, which is the badcholesterol, improves strength
and endurance, increases yourmuscle mass, decreases the risk
of sarcopenia, which isage-related muscle mass loss,
lowers your resting heart rate,improves your glucose control,
(04:09):
lowers your risk of heartdisease, lowers your risk of
some cancers, including breast,prostate, and colon, improves
insulin sensitivity, improvesflexibility, reduces lower back
(04:30):
pain, makes your body moreresistant to injury, reduces the
risk of arthritis, and reducesthe pain from it, lowers your
risk of osteoporosis, it lowersdepression symptoms, it lowers
(04:51):
anxiety symptoms, helps youmanage stress, it lowers your
risk of obesity, strengthens theconnective tissue, increases the
collagen content, lowers therisk of diabetes, improves
(05:12):
sports performance.
I would also add to it, which Ididn't put in the book because
these were ones that um all ofthem have really good
verification.
But I would also add to thatraise confidence and
self-esteem.
Because when you start reachinggoals, whatever it might be,
(05:34):
increase certain strength on amachine or exercise, decrease
body fat, it really makes youfeel good about yourself.
So look at all of thosebenefits.
Which ones really jump out atyou?
I'm gonna pick up on themetabolic rate and increase
muscle mass one because it is soimportant.
(05:59):
It is just so critical.
There's no question that to loseweight, energy in must be less
than energy out.
So if we're going to improve ourbody weight or body composition,
we need to improve our diet.
There's no way around it.
My second book is called YouCan't Outrun a Poor Diet.
(06:20):
And it's all about that.
That if we really want to leanout, lose body fat, we have to
do something about our diet.
We just can't exercise it away.
It's a huge benefit to exercise,of course, but we also have to
modify the diet.
But let's look at the secondpart of this equation.
(06:42):
So we have what is called aresting metabolic rate.
And I would say people really donot understand the resting
metabolic rate or theirmetabolism.
They don't understand it.
And there's all these hacks andmyths out there on how to raise
(07:05):
it.
But basically, what it means isat rest, if you're not moving,
how many calories are youburning per minute?
The more calories you burn perminute at rest means that your
metabolism is higher.
That's your metabolic rate.
(07:26):
Some people, of course, havelower metabolic rates than
others.
Is that critical?
It is because we know that tolose weight, we have to create a
caloric deficit.
We just do.
We have to eat less than thebody needs, or we're not going
(07:47):
to lose weight.
But what if your body needs morecalories to survive?
That's what a higher metabolicrate is.
So what if you need more thanthe next person?
More for you.
That means you could get awaywith eating a little bit more if
(08:11):
you slip up, so to say, or ifyou don't know.
But the person that has a verylow metabolic rate is already
kind of like behind the eightball already.
They're already in trouble.
And let me tell you, thedifferences can be pretty darn
significant.
(08:31):
I used to have a core metaboliccart.
This could test for VO2max andmetabolic rates.
I primarily used it formetabolic rates because, you
know, that's kind of moreimportant as far as health
function goes, and more peopleare interested in that.
So what you would do is youwould fast and then you would
(08:54):
come in and you would breatheinto the computer via a mask for
about 12 minutes or so.
Sometimes a little bit longer ifthe machine didn't pick up your
expired air gases.
But roughly it would be around12 minutes.
It was a it was a very accuratetest that we sealed the mouth to
(09:15):
make sure the oxygen was beingbrought in, the CO2 was being
pushed out with very littleerror for escape.
So I saw metabolic rates allover the spectrum.
I could test two people that areroughly the same size and
weight, and it could be off byover seven or eight hundred
(09:38):
calories just for a small sizeperson, which means that maybe
somebody, I'm going to give youa really good example.
There was a couple friends whowere roughly the same height,
roughly the same weight.
You would look at them and youwould say, you know, they're
both very fit, they're both verysimilar, and their metabolic
(10:02):
rates couldn't have been anymore different for their size.
One of them barely blew over1,100 calories a day, and she
was and is very athletic andvery fit, but she did have a low
metabolic rate.
I mean, that can come from many,many different things, but she
(10:24):
just did.
The other one was roughly thesame size, maybe just a tiny bit
bigger.
I would say um, yeah, I don'tknow, within five pounds,
probably not even that many.
But her metabolic rate was, if Iremember correctly, I know it
was over 1800.
It could have been even higherthan that.
So we're talking about a 700 orso calorie difference between
(10:48):
two people roughly the samesize.
So there's a lot of variablesthat go into it.
And so what does that mean?
Well, that means if one of themhas a bad day, let's say they're
out traveling, they're busy,they're stressed, so they stop
for quote junk food, unquote,when they're traveling.
(11:12):
You know, maybe they're havingsome fast food, they have pizza
for lunch, whatever, but theyend up taking in, I mean, it is
so easy to consume a lot ofcalories when you're not being
careful.
But let's say they take in overlike 2,500 calories or so.
So the other one does the samething, the one with the higher
metabolic rate.
Same thing.
(11:32):
So one of them only went pastby, you know, like 600 or so,
which isn't very much on a badday, right?
(12:19):
But the other one went over,say, like 1300, 1400 over.
So almost a half a pound becausea pound equals 3,500 calories.
So if they did that on a regularbasis, they're going to be far
more likely to gain weight.
Now, as my book says, you can'toutrun a poor diet.
(12:41):
That's why.
I mean, you could say, well, theone who has a lower metabolic
rate is just going to have to domore cardio to burn it off, more
exercise to burn it off, moresteps to burn it off.
That's true.
And that's going to work forsomebody who is highly motivated
and likes to exercise.
But what about the majority ofpeople?
(13:02):
Because that's not the case.
Less than 20% of our populationare on a sustainable exercise
program.
So that's just not going tohappen.
That is a problem.
So you can see where metabolicrate is so important when it
comes to losing weight,maintaining weight.
(13:26):
So now let's talk about this alittle bit.
There are variables.
There are some geneticsinvolved, for sure.
There's some genetics involvedwith obesity, for sure.
But most studies show thatthere's maybe like a 25%, maybe
a little bit higher genetic rateto this stuff, genetic variable
(13:46):
to this stuff.
I mean, that's high, but that'snot the end of the world.
It's not like it's 90% geneticsand 10% behavior.
That's not the case.
It's around maximum 25-30%genetics and roughly 75 to 70%
what you do with it.
(14:06):
So, you know, the it 25%, wouldwe would we like it lower than
that?
Sure.
But that's still not awful.
So there are some geneticvariables for sure.
But a lot of it isn't nature, alot of it is nurture.
So the metabolic rate definitelyhas some genetic variability to
(14:27):
it.
But the number one thing thatwill raise your metabolic rate
is muscle mass.
We know that.
If you are hearing that you canraise your metabolic rate from
juices or foods, I mean, forgoodness sakes, people literally
used to tell people if they eathot peppers, they're going to
(14:50):
raise their metabolic rate.
So if they, you know, sit thereand eat really, really hot
foods, that's going to crank upthe furnace on your body.
None of that is true.
Other people do things to go toextremes to try to change their
metabolic rate.
They'll either go sweat it outsomewhere, you know, in a sauna,
(15:14):
or you see these peopleexercising to uh, you know, burn
off fat, which of course doesn'twork, and they're they're in
sweatsuits or whatever in theheat.
Okay, none of that raises yourmetabolic rate.
And that, by the way, is verydangerous.
Saunas are fine.
That's all well and good.
Sweating is fine, but sweatingis not the same thing as losing
(15:38):
weight or raising your metabolicrate.
I like to sweat.
There's a purification involvedin sweating, for sure.
But I also know because I sweatmore, it doesn't mean that I
burn more calories.
And it certainly doesn't meanthat I raise my metabolic rate.
That flat out is not true.
Other people have heard to gothe opposite direction, to sleep
(16:01):
naked or in very, very littleclothes without a sheet or
whatever.
So you can get really cold atnight, and that's going to help
you burn body fat.
Okay, so shivering does speedthings up, but it's not your
metabolic rate.
It's not your resting metabolicrate anyway.
You're simply shivering.
So maybe you are burning a fewmore calories.
(16:24):
I really think that's extreme.
And my view on that is it'sreally silly.
And I've known people to do itor try to do it, and I really
don't think we have to make itas complicated as all that.
The number one thing that raisesyour resting metabolic rate is
adding muscle mass.
(16:45):
That is a fact.
You are bumping up yourmetabolic rate every time you
add a pound of muscle.
Every time.
That is the best way to raiseyour metabolic rate.
And there is no othersubstitution for that.
So, what does that mean?
It means you have to strengthtrain.
(17:08):
That is the way we're going toadd muscle mass.
That is the way we're going toraise our metabolic rate.
Because the only thing thatraises your resting metabolic
rate is adding muscle.
Plain and simple.
That's the only way.
So if you took somebody who issix feet tall and 180 pounds and
(17:35):
10% body fat, so that's a prettydarned athletically built
person.
That's lean, you know, that's agood amount of muscle when
you're talking only 10% bodyfat.
So essentially that means theyare 90% muscle, bone, and other
lean tissues, 10% fat.
(17:56):
That's lean.
Now take somebody who's theexact same height and weight, 6
foot, 180 pounds, but they're25% body fat.
So they're roughly the same sizein weight, but 15% different in
leanness.
So that means the person with25% body fat doesn't nearly have
(18:20):
the muscle mass as the person at10%, because that's what you're
multiplying by.
I mean, it's either body fat orlean tissue, either one.
So if you have 10% body fat,that means you're 90% lean
tissue.
If you're 25% body fat, thatmeans you're 75% lean tissue.
(18:42):
So that person who is 10% isgoing to have a far more higher
resting metabolic rate.
And so they can lose weighteasier, lose fat easier, and
maintain their body weighteasier.
It actually becomes really easyfor them to maintain a certain
(19:04):
body fat once you're leaner.
It's kind of like the rich getricher type of thing.
It's really, really true.
So the more muscle you add, themore you can eat, the more you
can get away with it on that.
And the less you have, the lessyou can eat, and the less you're
going to get away with excess.
(19:24):
So when you hear about certaindiets that raise your metabolic
rate, just keep looking, keepkeep browsing, go the other way.
When you hear about sleepmethods and all that kind of
stuff, now not sleeping isn'tgood.
Not sleeping raises cortisollevels.
(19:44):
Not sleeping raises stress,which raises cortisol levels.
And you can have a propensity tohold on to more body fat because
you're stressed out.
But it's not that it reallylowers your metabolic rate.
I really need to make thatimpression upon you so you don't
repeat what you hear all thetime, and you completely
(20:06):
understand that the only way weraise our metabolic rate is via
muscle mass.
Sarcopenia is a term that weuse, and that is age-related
muscle mass loss.
So so often you hear people sayincorrectly, well, your
(20:26):
metabolic rate goes down as youage.
That's because you lose muscleas you age.
That's because you are lessactive as you age.
It's not like your body justscrews you over and says, oh,
for every year you're on thisearth, I'm going to turn down
your furnace a little bit.
That's not how it works.
(20:48):
I mean, we will lose some of ourmaximal muscle mass as we age.
But if we continue to strengthtrain, that rate of loss is
going to be far less than if wedidn't strength train.
So, yes, most likely if you'vebeen working out regularly since
you were 20 years old oryounger, like I have, most
(21:11):
likely, no matter how hardyou're working out or as smart
as you're working out, mostlikely you aren't going to have
the same amount of muscle massand metabolic rate that you had
when you're 25.
Sure, we are going to naturallylose some muscle as we age.
(21:31):
We just are.
It's hard for the body to pushat the levels it used to push
at, but I mean, we're stilltalking a pretty insignificant
amount that you're going tolose.
So I would still put my moneyany day of the week on a uh, you
know, an older aged person whoconsistently works out and has
(21:55):
for a long time, as far as theirmetabolic rate over, say, a
younger person who doesn't workout and doesn't have the muscle
mass.
But that's really kind ofneither here nor there, because
we really don't need to worryabout comparing ourselves to
other people.
What we need to worry about iscomparing ourselves to
(22:17):
ourselves.
And if we want to maintain ahigher level of muscle mass,
then we need to strength trainto do that.
Studies have shown that if westrength train two days a week,
doing full body workouts, makingsure all of our major muscle
groups are worked, we're goingto do what we need to do to
(22:39):
maintain and increase our leanbody mass.
It's actual, actual, factual.
All right.
So that's the best thing we cando.
And we can only gain muscle massfrom strength training.
When we're doingcardiorespiratory exercise, when
we're doing aerobic exercise,which is also so critical, no
(23:01):
question about it.
I always say that strengthtraining and cardio are the king
and queen of exercise, and Idon't know which one to put king
or queen.
They're both critical to ourhealth and development, for
sure.
But so many people neglectstrength training when they're
trying to lose weight becausethey think, well, I'm trying to
lose weight.
(23:21):
I don't want to get bigger andbulkier.
That is that's one of the topmyths that has gotten under my
skin for over 31 years.
I mean, that that's right upthere with spot reduction,
meaning people that think theycan do just a bunch of crunches
and flatten their stomach, whichthe only way we flatten our
stomach is by losing body fat,so therefore creating a caloric
(23:43):
deficit.
Both of them are like right upthere as far as the most
annoying things people think,because it is so hard to get
them to understand that's justnot how it works.
I mean, guys who are trying toput on insane amount of muscle,
the kind that you see thesesteroid guys doing that are
(24:05):
professional bodybuilders, youknow, insane, kind of grotesque
amount of muscle mass.
I mean, I don't think that's agreat look to each their own,
but you know, taking metabolicor uh anabolic steroids to do
that probably isn't the smartestthing anybody can do.
But that kind of muscle masstakes so much dedication, drugs,
(24:29):
and food.
So somebody working out a coupletimes a week isn't going to put
on that kind of muscle.
I mean, we hear that a lot.
You know, we're gonna hear,well, I don't want to like get
big.
And it's like, okay, you're notgoing to, most likely.
Like, if you had that kind of abuild, you probably wouldn't, or
(24:52):
you probably would have noticedalready.
Like, bodybuilding frames arepretty much born and made.
They're not just made.
Like, you really do have to havethe genetics to put on that
level of muscle mass wherepeople really, really take
notice.
You have to have a certain bodytype, which is a mesomorph.
(25:16):
You have to have longer musclebellies and shorter tendons.
That's genetic.
You have to be more fast twitchmuscle fiber, that's genetic.
You have to be born with higherthan normal levels of
testosterone, insulin growthhormone, and uh human growth
hormone.
(25:36):
So, like, those are all geneticthings.
If you have that and you workout like a bodybuilder, then
yes, you probably will look likeone.
If you don't, then you're simplygoing to get stronger and
increase your natural amount ofmuscle mass, which you want to
do.
Studies have shown that if youstrength train while you are
(26:01):
dieting and doing your cardio tolose weight.
So, in other words, if youstrength train during a caloric
deficit, you're gonna be farless likely to lose muscle
weight as you lose weight.
And we want that.
We don't want to lose the musclewhen we lose weight.
I mean, I've seen people go oncrash diets and they lose 20
(26:23):
pounds or more in a month, youknow.
I mean, that's not even thatmuch.
I've seen even higher than that,but that's still a lot.
And then the majority of thatweight that they lose, or at
least 50% of it, is muscle.
That's not good because now whenthey start eating normal again,
they've lowered their metabolismand they're gonna gain even more
(26:44):
weight than when they started.
That's the problem.
That's what happens.
Happens all the time.
People are like that, yo-yo.
Why do I yo-yo?
I lose the weight because Istarve myself and I run every
day.
I lose the weight.
Then a month later, I gain itall back.
(27:04):
It's like, well, every time youdo that, if you're doing it that
way, where you're losing weightquickly and you're not strength
training, then you are loweringyour metabolism.
And that is what is going tohappen.
All right.
So the keys I want you to walkaway with is yes, we have to do
our cardio for sure.
(27:25):
And as you saw in the beginningof this podcast, how many of the
benefits there are to exercise?
Oh my goodness, like what did Ilist?
40.
I mean, it's crazy howbeneficial it is.
I really picked up on themetabolic rate, fat loss, and
adding muscle mass theme becauseit is so important.
(27:45):
Close to 40% of the populationis obese now.
This isn't good.
And this is one way we canchange it.
Add the strength training in soyou can have that nice,
attractive muscle mass, notoverly bulky, because that's
genetic, remember.
And you're going to make yourlife so much easier when it
(28:06):
comes to maintaining your weightand losing weight, more
importantly, losing fat.
And it just takes two days aweek of committed strength
training.
All right, so let's do it.
Thank you for listening totoday's show.
I ask you to please follow thisshow on wherever you get your
(28:28):
podcast.
And also please get automaticdownloads.
It really helps me and it helpsthe show.
Now I want to thank OverheadDoor of Dayton Booth, the
premier garage door company inFellucha County with the best
product, with the best service.
I can vouch for Jeff and Zachoff the owners.
They are great people.
(28:49):
If you need any help with yourgarage doors, give them a shout.
386 222 3165.
Welcome to There is a Method to the Madness.
My name is Rob Maxwell, and I'man exercise physiologist and
personal trainer.
I am the owner of Maxwell'sFitness Program, and I've been
in business since 1994.
The purpose of this podcast isto get to the real deal of what
really worked and mostimportantly why things worked.
Hence the name, there is amethod to the magnet.
(00:24):
Before I get started today, letme thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gilden of the Gilden GroupRealty Pros.
They are committed to providingthe highest level of customer
service in home sales.
Why don't you give them a shoutand figure out what your home is
worth?
386-451-2412.
(00:46):
Good morning, everybody.
Or afternoon, evening, whatevertime you are choosing to listen
to this, I'm actually recordingthis in the morning.
So let's talk about somefitness.
I'm very thrilled to announcethat my third book is out, and
it is called Train for Life, WhyPersonal Coaching is the real
(01:11):
fitness solution.
I um I'm really proud of thisbook.
I think it uh does a lot to talkabout what goes on in the world
of fitness, why it's soimportant.
I get into what the problem is,so to say, like why aren't
people exercising often enoughand enough, period, to get the
(01:33):
benefits.
I talk about all the reasons, Ibelieve, which is researched
why, and I talk about thesolutions, and then I talk about
some fitness principles.
So overall, I'm very happy withthe book.
You can get it on my website,you can get it at my gym, or you
can get it at Amazon, or you canget it at BarnesandNoble.com,
(01:54):
and I think some other places.
But I believe that kind ofcovers everything.
Today I'm gonna talk aboutsomething that's in the book,
and it's in the introduction ofthe book, and it's the actual
benefits to exercise, and I'mgonna really kind of hone in on
some of the biggies that I thinkthat are related to each other.
Um but but let me give you thislist.
(02:16):
Like, this is kind of crazy whatexercise can do with such a
minimal time commitment fromyou.
We only need to do 150 minutes aweek of moderate exercise, of
moderate aerobic exercise to getthe benefits, plus two days a
week of full body strengthtraining.
(02:36):
When I crunch the numbers, thatcomes out to 1.8% of your time
commitment per week.
I mean, to me, that's not a lotof time investment.
And I get into that in the book,like why people perceive it to
be so much longer.
Time is the number one reasonpeople give for not exercising
(02:57):
enough, and I offer all thesolutions where it doesn't have
to be nearly as long as youthink.
But for that kind of timecommitment, let's let's look at
some of these benefits here.
Lowers the risk for chronicdisease, lowers all cause
mortality, lowers yourpercentage of body fat, lowers
(03:22):
your abdominal fat, raises youractivities of daily living or
ADLs, improves your cognitivefunction, raises your metabolic
rate, lowers your resting bloodpressure, lowers your LDL
(03:44):
cholesterol, which is the badcholesterol, improves strength
and endurance, increases yourmuscle mass, decreases the risk
of sarcopenia, which isage-related muscle mass loss,
lowers your resting heart rate,improves your glucose control,
(04:09):
lowers your risk of heartdisease, lowers your risk of
some cancers, including breast,prostate, and colon, improves
insulin sensitivity, improvesflexibility, reduces lower back
(04:30):
pain, makes your body moreresistant to injury, reduces the
risk of arthritis, and reducesthe pain from it, lowers your
risk of osteoporosis, it lowersdepression symptoms, it lowers
(04:51):
anxiety symptoms, helps youmanage stress, it lowers your
risk of obesity, strengthens theconnective tissue, increases the
collagen content, lowers therisk of diabetes, improves
(05:12):
sports performance.
I would also add to it, which Ididn't put in the book because
these were ones that um all ofthem have really good
verification.
But I would also add to thatraise confidence and
self-esteem.
Because when you start reachinggoals, whatever it might be,
(05:34):
increase certain strength on amachine or exercise, decrease
body fat, it really makes youfeel good about yourself.
So look at all of thosebenefits.
Which ones really jump out atyou?
I'm gonna pick up on themetabolic rate and increase
muscle mass one because it is soimportant.
(05:59):
It is just so critical.
There's no question that to loseweight, energy in must be less
than energy out.
So if we're going to improve ourbody weight or body composition,
we need to improve our diet.
There's no way around it.
My second book is called YouCan't Outrun a Poor Diet.
(06:20):
And it's all about that.
That if we really want to leanout, lose body fat, we have to
do something about our diet.
We just can't exercise it away.
It's a huge benefit to exercise,of course, but we also have to
modify the diet.
But let's look at the secondpart of this equation.
(06:42):
So we have what is called aresting metabolic rate.
And I would say people really donot understand the resting
metabolic rate or theirmetabolism.
They don't understand it.
And there's all these hacks andmyths out there on how to raise
(07:05):
it.
But basically, what it means isat rest, if you're not moving,
how many calories are youburning per minute?
The more calories you burn perminute at rest means that your
metabolism is higher.
That's your metabolic rate.
(07:26):
Some people, of course, havelower metabolic rates than
others.
Is that critical?
It is because we know that tolose weight, we have to create a
caloric deficit.
We just do.
We have to eat less than thebody needs, or we're not going
(07:47):
to lose weight.
But what if your body needs morecalories to survive?
That's what a higher metabolicrate is.
So what if you need more thanthe next person?
More for you.
That means you could get awaywith eating a little bit more if
(08:11):
you slip up, so to say, or ifyou don't know.
But the person that has a verylow metabolic rate is already
kind of like behind the eightball already.
They're already in trouble.
And let me tell you, thedifferences can be pretty darn
significant.
(08:31):
I used to have a core metaboliccart.
This could test for VO2max andmetabolic rates.
I primarily used it formetabolic rates because, you
know, that's kind of moreimportant as far as health
function goes, and more peopleare interested in that.
So what you would do is youwould fast and then you would
(08:54):
come in and you would breatheinto the computer via a mask for
about 12 minutes or so.
Sometimes a little bit longer ifthe machine didn't pick up your
expired air gases.
But roughly it would be around12 minutes.
It was a it was a very accuratetest that we sealed the mouth to
(09:15):
make sure the oxygen was beingbrought in, the CO2 was being
pushed out with very littleerror for escape.
So I saw metabolic rates allover the spectrum.
I could test two people that areroughly the same size and
weight, and it could be off byover seven or eight hundred
(09:38):
calories just for a small sizeperson, which means that maybe
somebody, I'm going to give youa really good example.
There was a couple friends whowere roughly the same height,
roughly the same weight.
You would look at them and youwould say, you know, they're
both very fit, they're both verysimilar, and their metabolic
(10:02):
rates couldn't have been anymore different for their size.
One of them barely blew over1,100 calories a day, and she
was and is very athletic andvery fit, but she did have a low
metabolic rate.
I mean, that can come from many,many different things, but she
(10:24):
just did.
The other one was roughly thesame size, maybe just a tiny bit
bigger.
I would say um, yeah, I don'tknow, within five pounds,
probably not even that many.
But her metabolic rate was, if Iremember correctly, I know it
was over 1800.
It could have been even higherthan that.
So we're talking about a 700 orso calorie difference between
(10:48):
two people roughly the samesize.
So there's a lot of variablesthat go into it.
And so what does that mean?
Well, that means if one of themhas a bad day, let's say they're
out traveling, they're busy,they're stressed, so they stop
for quote junk food, unquote,when they're traveling.
(11:12):
You know, maybe they're havingsome fast food, they have pizza
for lunch, whatever, but theyend up taking in, I mean, it is
so easy to consume a lot ofcalories when you're not being
careful.
But let's say they take in overlike 2,500 calories or so.
So the other one does the samething, the one with the higher
metabolic rate.
Same thing.
(11:32):
So one of them only went pastby, you know, like 600 or so,
which isn't very much on a badday, right?
(12:19):
But the other one went over,say, like 1300, 1400 over.
So almost a half a pound becausea pound equals 3,500 calories.
So if they did that on a regularbasis, they're going to be far
more likely to gain weight.
Now, as my book says, you can'toutrun a poor diet.
(12:41):
That's why.
I mean, you could say, well, theone who has a lower metabolic
rate is just going to have to domore cardio to burn it off, more
exercise to burn it off, moresteps to burn it off.
That's true.
And that's going to work forsomebody who is highly motivated
and likes to exercise.
But what about the majority ofpeople?
(13:02):
Because that's not the case.
Less than 20% of our populationare on a sustainable exercise
program.
So that's just not going tohappen.
That is a problem.
So you can see where metabolicrate is so important when it
comes to losing weight,maintaining weight.
(13:26):
So now let's talk about this alittle bit.
There are variables.
There are some geneticsinvolved, for sure.
There's some genetics involvedwith obesity, for sure.
But most studies show thatthere's maybe like a 25%, maybe
a little bit higher genetic rateto this stuff, genetic variable
(13:46):
to this stuff.
I mean, that's high, but that'snot the end of the world.
It's not like it's 90% geneticsand 10% behavior.
That's not the case.
It's around maximum 25-30%genetics and roughly 75 to 70%
what you do with it.
(14:06):
So, you know, the it 25%, wouldwe would we like it lower than
that?
Sure.
But that's still not awful.
So there are some geneticvariables for sure.
But a lot of it isn't nature, alot of it is nurture.
So the metabolic rate definitelyhas some genetic variability to
(14:27):
it.
But the number one thing thatwill raise your metabolic rate
is muscle mass.
We know that.
If you are hearing that you canraise your metabolic rate from
juices or foods, I mean, forgoodness sakes, people literally
used to tell people if they eathot peppers, they're going to
(14:50):
raise their metabolic rate.
So if they, you know, sit thereand eat really, really hot
foods, that's going to crank upthe furnace on your body.
None of that is true.
Other people do things to go toextremes to try to change their
metabolic rate.
They'll either go sweat it outsomewhere, you know, in a sauna,
(15:14):
or you see these peopleexercising to uh, you know, burn
off fat, which of course doesn'twork, and they're they're in
sweatsuits or whatever in theheat.
Okay, none of that raises yourmetabolic rate.
And that, by the way, is verydangerous.
Saunas are fine.
That's all well and good.
Sweating is fine, but sweatingis not the same thing as losing
(15:38):
weight or raising your metabolicrate.
I like to sweat.
There's a purification involvedin sweating, for sure.
But I also know because I sweatmore, it doesn't mean that I
burn more calories.
And it certainly doesn't meanthat I raise my metabolic rate.
That flat out is not true.
Other people have heard to gothe opposite direction, to sleep
(16:01):
naked or in very, very littleclothes without a sheet or
whatever.
So you can get really cold atnight, and that's going to help
you burn body fat.
Okay, so shivering does speedthings up, but it's not your
metabolic rate.
It's not your resting metabolicrate anyway.
You're simply shivering.
So maybe you are burning a fewmore calories.
(16:24):
I really think that's extreme.
And my view on that is it'sreally silly.
And I've known people to do itor try to do it, and I really
don't think we have to make itas complicated as all that.
The number one thing that raisesyour resting metabolic rate is
adding muscle mass.
(16:45):
That is a fact.
You are bumping up yourmetabolic rate every time you
add a pound of muscle.
Every time.
That is the best way to raiseyour metabolic rate.
And there is no othersubstitution for that.
So, what does that mean?
It means you have to strengthtrain.
(17:08):
That is the way we're going toadd muscle mass.
That is the way we're going toraise our metabolic rate.
Because the only thing thatraises your resting metabolic
rate is adding muscle.
Plain and simple.
That's the only way.
So if you took somebody who issix feet tall and 180 pounds and
(17:35):
10% body fat, so that's a prettydarned athletically built
person.
That's lean, you know, that's agood amount of muscle when
you're talking only 10% bodyfat.
So essentially that means theyare 90% muscle, bone, and other
lean tissues, 10% fat.
(17:56):
That's lean.
Now take somebody who's theexact same height and weight, 6
foot, 180 pounds, but they're25% body fat.
So they're roughly the same sizein weight, but 15% different in
leanness.
So that means the person with25% body fat doesn't nearly have
(18:20):
the muscle mass as the person at10%, because that's what you're
multiplying by.
I mean, it's either body fat orlean tissue, either one.
So if you have 10% body fat,that means you're 90% lean
tissue.
If you're 25% body fat, thatmeans you're 75% lean tissue.
(18:42):
So that person who is 10% isgoing to have a far more higher
resting metabolic rate.
And so they can lose weighteasier, lose fat easier, and
maintain their body weighteasier.
It actually becomes really easyfor them to maintain a certain
(19:04):
body fat once you're leaner.
It's kind of like the rich getricher type of thing.
It's really, really true.
So the more muscle you add, themore you can eat, the more you
can get away with it on that.
And the less you have, the lessyou can eat, and the less you're
going to get away with excess.
(19:24):
So when you hear about certaindiets that raise your metabolic
rate, just keep looking, keepkeep browsing, go the other way.
When you hear about sleepmethods and all that kind of
stuff, now not sleeping isn'tgood.
Not sleeping raises cortisollevels.
(19:44):
Not sleeping raises stress,which raises cortisol levels.
And you can have a propensity tohold on to more body fat because
you're stressed out.
But it's not that it reallylowers your metabolic rate.
I really need to make thatimpression upon you so you don't
repeat what you hear all thetime, and you completely
(20:06):
understand that the only way weraise our metabolic rate is via
muscle mass.
Sarcopenia is a term that weuse, and that is age-related
muscle mass loss.
So so often you hear people sayincorrectly, well, your
(20:26):
metabolic rate goes down as youage.
That's because you lose muscleas you age.
That's because you are lessactive as you age.
It's not like your body justscrews you over and says, oh,
for every year you're on thisearth, I'm going to turn down
your furnace a little bit.
That's not how it works.
(20:48):
I mean, we will lose some of ourmaximal muscle mass as we age.
But if we continue to strengthtrain, that rate of loss is
going to be far less than if wedidn't strength train.
So, yes, most likely if you'vebeen working out regularly since
you were 20 years old oryounger, like I have, most
(21:11):
likely, no matter how hardyou're working out or as smart
as you're working out, mostlikely you aren't going to have
the same amount of muscle massand metabolic rate that you had
when you're 25.
Sure, we are going to naturallylose some muscle as we age.
(21:31):
We just are.
It's hard for the body to pushat the levels it used to push
at, but I mean, we're stilltalking a pretty insignificant
amount that you're going tolose.
So I would still put my moneyany day of the week on a uh, you
know, an older aged person whoconsistently works out and has
(21:55):
for a long time, as far as theirmetabolic rate over, say, a
younger person who doesn't workout and doesn't have the muscle
mass.
But that's really kind ofneither here nor there, because
we really don't need to worryabout comparing ourselves to
other people.
What we need to worry about iscomparing ourselves to
(22:17):
ourselves.
And if we want to maintain ahigher level of muscle mass,
then we need to strength trainto do that.
Studies have shown that if westrength train two days a week,
doing full body workouts, makingsure all of our major muscle
groups are worked, we're goingto do what we need to do to
(22:39):
maintain and increase our leanbody mass.
It's actual, actual, factual.
All right.
So that's the best thing we cando.
And we can only gain muscle massfrom strength training.
When we're doingcardiorespiratory exercise, when
we're doing aerobic exercise,which is also so critical, no
(23:01):
question about it.
I always say that strengthtraining and cardio are the king
and queen of exercise, and Idon't know which one to put king
or queen.
They're both critical to ourhealth and development, for
sure.
But so many people neglectstrength training when they're
trying to lose weight becausethey think, well, I'm trying to
lose weight.
(23:21):
I don't want to get bigger andbulkier.
That is that's one of the topmyths that has gotten under my
skin for over 31 years.
I mean, that that's right upthere with spot reduction,
meaning people that think theycan do just a bunch of crunches
and flatten their stomach, whichthe only way we flatten our
stomach is by losing body fat,so therefore creating a caloric
(23:43):
deficit.
Both of them are like right upthere as far as the most
annoying things people think,because it is so hard to get
them to understand that's justnot how it works.
I mean, guys who are trying toput on insane amount of muscle,
the kind that you see thesesteroid guys doing that are
(24:05):
professional bodybuilders, youknow, insane, kind of grotesque
amount of muscle mass.
I mean, I don't think that's agreat look to each their own,
but you know, taking metabolicor uh anabolic steroids to do
that probably isn't the smartestthing anybody can do.
But that kind of muscle masstakes so much dedication, drugs,
(24:29):
and food.
So somebody working out a coupletimes a week isn't going to put
on that kind of muscle.
I mean, we hear that a lot.
You know, we're gonna hear,well, I don't want to like get
big.
And it's like, okay, you're notgoing to, most likely.
Like, if you had that kind of abuild, you probably wouldn't, or
(24:52):
you probably would have noticedalready.
Like, bodybuilding frames arepretty much born and made.
They're not just made.
Like, you really do have to havethe genetics to put on that
level of muscle mass wherepeople really, really take
notice.
You have to have a certain bodytype, which is a mesomorph.
(25:16):
You have to have longer musclebellies and shorter tendons.
That's genetic.
You have to be more fast twitchmuscle fiber, that's genetic.
You have to be born with higherthan normal levels of
testosterone, insulin growthhormone, and uh human growth
hormone.
(25:36):
So, like, those are all geneticthings.
If you have that and you workout like a bodybuilder, then
yes, you probably will look likeone.
If you don't, then you're simplygoing to get stronger and
increase your natural amount ofmuscle mass, which you want to
do.
Studies have shown that if youstrength train while you are
(26:01):
dieting and doing your cardio tolose weight.
So, in other words, if youstrength train during a caloric
deficit, you're gonna be farless likely to lose muscle
weight as you lose weight.
And we want that.
We don't want to lose the musclewhen we lose weight.
I mean, I've seen people go oncrash diets and they lose 20
(26:23):
pounds or more in a month, youknow.
I mean, that's not even thatmuch.
I've seen even higher than that,but that's still a lot.
And then the majority of thatweight that they lose, or at
least 50% of it, is muscle.
That's not good because now whenthey start eating normal again,
they've lowered their metabolismand they're gonna gain even more
(26:44):
weight than when they started.
That's the problem.
That's what happens.
Happens all the time.
People are like that, yo-yo.
Why do I yo-yo?
I lose the weight because Istarve myself and I run every
day.
I lose the weight.
Then a month later, I gain itall back.
(27:04):
It's like, well, every time youdo that, if you're doing it that
way, where you're losing weightquickly and you're not strength
training, then you are loweringyour metabolism.
And that is what is going tohappen.
All right.
So the keys I want you to walkaway with is yes, we have to do
our cardio for sure.
(27:25):
And as you saw in the beginningof this podcast, how many of the
benefits there are to exercise?
Oh my goodness, like what did Ilist?
40.
I mean, it's crazy howbeneficial it is.
I really picked up on themetabolic rate, fat loss, and
adding muscle mass theme becauseit is so important.
(27:45):
Close to 40% of the populationis obese now.
This isn't good.
And this is one way we canchange it.
Add the strength training in soyou can have that nice,
attractive muscle mass, notoverly bulky, because that's
genetic, remember.
And you're going to make yourlife so much easier when it
(28:06):
comes to maintaining your weightand losing weight, more
importantly, losing fat.
And it just takes two days aweek of committed strength
training.
All right, so let's do it.
Thank you for listening totoday's show.
I ask you to please follow thisshow on wherever you get your
(28:28):
podcast.
And also please get automaticdownloads.
It really helps me and it helpsthe show.
Now I want to thank OverheadDoor of Dayton Booth, the
premier garage door company inFellucha County with the best
product, with the best service.
I can vouch for Jeff and Zachoff the owners.
They are great people.
(28:49):
If you need any help with yourgarage doors, give them a shout.
386 222 3165.
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