September 30, 2025 • 28 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 training.
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 work.
Hence the name, there is amethod to the magnet.
(00:24):
Before I get started today, letme thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gilden of the Gilding 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):
Let's talk about some physicalfitness and some wellness.
First thing I want to do is givea couple brief updates.
The uh MaxFit Mile wentincredibly well.
Um, about 10 days ago now wehave our second one planned for
(01:07):
October 25th.
It went, I mean, it went supergreat.
I mean, I was so thrilled withit.
I'd spoken before about how weare trying to bring back
something where people cancompete on a monthly basis, have
a little bit of a series.
Um, and you know, the mile is isuh kind of a cool event.
(01:28):
It's uh often thought of as uhby endurance athletes is
actually the hardest endurancetest.
You know, a mile is a mile, sosome endurance athletes will
look at it like, well, that'sreally short, but the intensity
is very extreme.
And, you know, it's somethingthat we can race and do.
(01:51):
Yeah, so we brought it back forthat reason for an opportunity
for people to compete againsteach other, and it's sponsored
by ProCharge Liquid Proteinthat's uh actually made here in
Port Orange, and they sponsoredit, which was really cool
because they gave out a lot ofmoney to the winners.
(02:11):
There was$600 in cash prizesgiven.
I mean, that's really generous.
I mean, the registrants paid$20to enter, and uh they get they
can walk away with big timecash.
And uh, that's another reasonwhy we're putting on the event,
is because the events, becausewe really feel like these race
(02:34):
companies need to do a betterjob of putting these events on.
Like I think they forget thatthe people that are paying to do
these things, even though a lotof them are attached to
charities and people are goingto donate anyway.
I mean, they are customers, andcustomers should be treated very
well.
And so many times in these 5K'sover the last five years, if not
(02:57):
longer, the quality has reallygone downhill.
I mean, a lot of times they runout of t-shirts, they mismeasure
the course, they start late.
I mean, in my opinion, being abusiness owner for the past 31
years, that's unacceptable.
I mean, you need to earn yourcustomers buck, right?
I think you do.
(03:18):
So that's another reason we'redoing it, not only to have
competition, but also to reallyput on a good series.
So it was, it was verysuccessful.
Our male winner did it in justunder four minutes and 40
seconds, which is insane.
And um this was on a pretty hot,dark morning.
(03:38):
The next one's gonna be atseven, a little bit later, and
probably a little cooler, eventhough it'll be a half hour
later.
Um, but it was dark, and thisguy still ran this time, and the
female winner also ran anincredible time, somewhere
around 515, I think.
I mean, everybody ran well,everybody competed.
Like it doesn't matter what yourlevel is, the idea is to compete
(04:01):
against yourself, and they did.
I was really happy with it, andI believe all of the
participants were as well.
Another piece of news is that wewon the best around award by the
hometown news, and this is thethird year in a row that I won
it.
And uh back in the day with theDaytona Beach News Journal, we
(04:21):
used to win best around all thetime, and they kind of got away
from that.
But, you know, now there's uhbest around um in the hometown
news, and we won that for thethird year.
And I'm very excited to telleverybody that Ellen won Best
Massage Therapist this year,which is really kind of cool.
So we got it brought home thedynamic duo of best personal
(04:42):
training and best massage.
So I thank everybody for votingin that.
It's always an honor to say, youknow, thank you that people care
enough to log on and put ournames in there.
So we really appreciate theeffort in that.
All right, so I guess that'sgonna wrap up the little bit of
news.
(05:03):
I want to talk a little bittoday about adding more quality
to your workout.
I'm just gonna stay on that.
We I talked about it last time alittle bit in the value of
having a personal trainer.
I've been putting it in ournewsletters, and I just want to
continue to harp on, if that'sthe right word, of making sure
(05:24):
that like we're really doing thebest we can with the quality of
our workouts.
Um, it was yesterday I wasworking with a client of ours,
and uh, he was on the triceppress down machine.
And I told him, I said, look, atthe bottom of the movement, I
(05:44):
want you to open up your hands.
And I kind of showed him, youknow, where you flare your hands
open and you kind of raise yourpinky.
So your hand is a completelyopen, not a closed grip, but an
open grip.
I said, at the bottom, just pushdown with the inner part here
between your finger and thumband open up your hand.
And so he did, and he finishedhis set that way.
(06:06):
And afterwards he was prettysurprised.
And he said, you know what?
I really did start feeling thatmore when I did that.
And this is a client that reallylikes physiological explanations
to things, which I also like.
Like, I think that's really coolthat he's interested in that
stuff.
I mean, that makes the workoutmore exciting for me is to go
(06:29):
ahead and explain what we'retrying to do.
So he said, What is thephysiological reason for this?
Like, why does that work?
And I kind of laughed and Isaid, Well, honestly, there
isn't a physiological reasonbehind it, you know.
I mean, there's just not.
There, there's nothing in thekinesiology of it that's going
to change if you open up yourhand.
(06:50):
So each muscle has a function,what we call a joint action,
that it's responsible for.
So the triceps are responsiblefor elbow extension.
So it's going to completelyextend your elbow.
That's what the triceps do.
They are also responsible forwrist pronation.
Those two movements is what thetriceps do.
(07:11):
Opening up your hand does nottechnically improve either of
those.
It doesn't do either.
So he said, Why did it work?
And I kind of laughed and said,Because it does.
So sometimes just putting ourfocus on things like that, other
people's experience.
And I think just opening up yourhands really just gets the point
(07:34):
across that you're trying toextend your elbow all the way.
And it's sort of a visualreminder to do so, makes it
burn, but there's really not aphysiological reason.
But the long and short of it isthat another person's
experience, mine, passing thaton to him, is going to help him
(07:54):
get more out of it.
So we can really get more out ofour workouts if we continue to
try to strive to do littlethings to feel it more.
I mean, I just think that's soimportant.
And so when this happened theother day, and again, he he
(08:15):
liked it.
He is always one that likeslittle tick tips and tricks to
get more out of his exercises.
He always appreciates it.
And then that makes meappreciate that because I love
teaching little nuggets ofwisdom like that.
But like there are so many ofthese things that we can do to
(08:36):
get more benefit out of theworkout.
When you have people around youthat have experience, that have
been lifting, that have beendoing things for a really,
really long time, and you trustthem, understanding the
difference between anunqualified trainer and/or
influencer and a qualifiedtrainer, once you understand
(08:58):
that, there's so many nuggetsthat can be passed on that if we
pay attention to them, we willget so much more out of the
workout.
Now, just from a personalstandpoint, I'll say that I get
like kind of blown away orsurprised um because I just
can't relate.
(09:19):
And I get it.
I mean, you know, look, if if ifthere weren't a lot of people
out there that uh didn'tabsolutely love to work out and
uh, you know, really strugglejust to get to the gym.
I mean, if those people didn'treally exist for the most part,
then I probably wouldn't have athriving business for the past
(09:40):
31 years.
So I absolutely get it that noteverybody is just thrilled to
get to the gym and when they'rethere, remain thrilled.
I I get it.
I guess the thing I strugglewith sometimes, it's like, well,
but once you learn, isn't theresomething in you that wants to
(10:03):
get the most out of it?
Because I have trouble relatingto that, because me personally,
that's like my happy place, youknow.
I mean, you know, when it comesto strength training, like
that's what I do mostly.
I really, really focus, and I'vespoken about this before.
(10:27):
It's almost a meditation for me.
Well, it actually is ameditation for me when you
really look at the definition ofmeditation, which is putting all
of our conscience ontoconsciousness onto one thing,
like really, really focusing onone thing.
(10:51):
Too many people kind of likemisunderstand meditation, and
they think, well, you're kind ofsupposed to sit back and zone
out and you know, let all thisgo.
And it's like, no, that's notit.
Like, you're really supposed tobe in deep focus of some kind or
another.
So meditation does not have tobe sit on the ground and get
(11:14):
into a yogi position and closeyour eyes and say, um, and focus
on your mantra.
I mean, that's great if it worksfor you.
But for me, meditation in many,many ways has always been some
form of physical exercise.
But the key is it is because Ifocus.
(11:37):
I don't just kind of, I mean, II'm not perfect every time, of
course.
So there are days that I'm alittle distracted and I'm not as
focused as I should be, ofcourse.
But that's the area that I tryto work on the most.
I really want to try to stayfocused.
So when I go to the gym, Iabsolutely will put my brain
(12:00):
into what I'm doing, the rangeof motion, the squeeze.
And if there are little tips andtricks that I can do to feel
that movement more, then that'swhat I'm going to do.
So when people don't takeadvantage of that, I feel kind
of surprised.
I'm like, I mean, we're we're insuch a distracted world right
(12:22):
now.
I mean, we have our phones, wehave our smartwatches, and
they're calling for ourattention all of the time.
I mean, when we go exercise,wouldn't we want to like take a
timeout and not feed into all ofthat and really just put our
focus into the exercises thatwe're doing?
(12:46):
Um, you know, it might comeacross as a little biased
because my style of weighttraining through the years has
always been more of abodybuilding style.
So when I started really gettingserious about weight training in
my late teens, early 20s, I kindof gravitated more towards a
bodybuilding style workout,which really just means putting
(13:09):
more emphasis on the aestheticsversus more emphasis on getting
stronger and stronger andstronger.
Like the emphasis was not onthat so much.
And I think, like, you know,there's that saying that says we
don't choose our sport, oursport chooses us.
I think there's a lot of truthto that because genetically I'm
(13:30):
more geared towards that style.
That's more my body type, uh,that's more my muscle belly
lengths and things like that.
So it came more natural to me.
So I tended to gravitate towardsthat.
So that's a fact that that was,you know, has been a hobby of
mine.
I mean, I think really when weall strengthen train, we all
(13:51):
bodybuild.
I mean, you know, so I have toput that out there too.
But bodybuilders, and again, uhyes, that's kind of what I've
done, but at the same time, I'malso saying this objectively,
tend to do a lot better job ofthis than other forms of
strength training that I see.
(14:13):
So other forms of strengthtraining are what?
Well, there's powerlifting, andpowerlifting is the sport of the
bench press, the squat, and thedeadlift.
And the objective is to be ableto do a one rep max with as
heavy of a load as possible inall of those three exercises.
They add up the total numbers,and that's how they crown the
(14:36):
powerlifting champion.
There's weightlifting, like yousee in the Olympics.
I guess you see powerlifting inthe Olympics now, too.
But there's weightlifting, andthat's going to be the exercises
of the snatch and the clean andjerk, which are explosive
movements that are done with alot of technique, but also a lot
of load.
So those two sports arepredominantly about how much
(14:59):
weights can you lift?
Like what's the heaviest loadyou can use?
So the emphasis is completely onstrength.
And then a lot of people don'tnecessarily call themselves
powerlifters or weightlifters.
CrossFit does a lot of theweightlifting style stuff, and I
(15:21):
would throw them in the categoryof those styles of strength
training athletes that just wantto get stronger.
I mean, those three sports kindof all go to that, where
bodybuilding is more aboutaesthetics, and there tends to
be less of an emphasis on howmuch weight is lifted and how
(15:43):
many can you do, and more of anemphasis on how are the muscles
developing, what is theirtonicity, what is the symmetry.
So it's much more of say aninternal feeling-oriented sport.
And a lot of times people thatget into pure strength training,
and you know, I said my when Igot serious about it, I really
(16:07):
got into bodybuilding.
That's true.
But we all start out just tryingto be stronger.
I mean, I can remember when Igot my first barbell set, and it
was one of those classic skinnybars with the cement weights,
the plastic with the cementinside, you know, and I
remember, I don't remember whereI got it from, but I remember I
(16:28):
put it together.
I was probably 12 or 13 years ofage, and um, you know, I'm sure
my mom paid for it for me.
And all I wanted to do was beable to bench press more.
I mean, that's all I could careabout because that's what the
kids in seventh grade and juniorhigh, which was the age I was,
cared about.
You know, how much do you bench?
(16:49):
So, you know, I would go homeevery day after school until I
guess the phase ran out, but andI would try to bench press more
weight, which of course is avery dumb, you know, protocol of
training, but I didn't knowbetter.
Yeah, uh, and there were days Iwould try to, and every time I
would do it, I would just try tobench press more weight.
Like there was no trainingmethodology.
(17:09):
It was just throw more weight onthe bar and try it.
And I can tell you on more thanone occasion, having the weight
stuck to my chest in my littlegarage in New Smyrna and having
to roll it down my rib cage andfinding a way to sit up with
nobody around, no spotter mom atwork, sister out doing whatever
she's doing, uh, you know, andnot dying.
(17:29):
So, you know, that was great.
So that was like my entry intoit, like most boys at the time,
just the bench press.
But then when I got seriousabout it, as I said, I got into
um the bodybuilding.
So strength athletes, and somestay that way.
Like some tend to not ventureinto anything other than getting
(17:50):
stronger.
So they may not formally callthemselves powerlifters or
formally call themselvesweightlifters, but they go to
the gym to get stronger.
And we all do, but like when theemphasis is only on that
strength, then the focus doesn'ttend to be there.
There doesn't tend to be as muchof that mind muscle connection
(18:13):
that I think is so critical,especially for your mental
health, to be able to reallyfocus and meditate as you are
strength training.
The the kind of the desire wouldbe no matter what the exercise
is, again, it it doesn't have tobe formal powerlifting, a bench
press, squat, or deadlift.
It could be a guy just wants tolike curl as much weight as he
(18:36):
can.
Or if you're looking at, say,endurance, do as many push-ups
as he can or as many pull-ups ashe can.
I mean, all this is fine.
But the emphasis on qualitydoesn't tend to be there.
Bodybuilders tend to morenaturally focus on the feel,
which I think is extremelybeneficial.
(18:59):
And as trainers, and you know,once we go down that road and
and realize we want to get intothis as a career, we tend to be
able to take that emphasis andteach it to clients because we
all want to get stronger goingto the gym.
I mean, the majority of thepeople that come to us now want
(19:19):
improved ADLs.
And I love that.
Activities of daily living, likethat is has been the biggest
change in the last 15 years orso of physicians making sure
they recommend to their patientsthat they strength train so they
have a better quality of life.
So a lot of our clients aremiddle-aged andor seniors that
(19:42):
are focused on ADLs, and that'sgreat.
That is getting stronger.
What I want everybody tounderstand is that if you are
lifting loads at the gym and theemphasis is on doing the
exercise as good as you can, aswell as you can, with as much
focus as you can, you are goingto get stronger.
(20:04):
So it's not like you have tobench press a one rep max to get
stronger.
I mean, there's not a bigdifference between training for
pure strength and training forpure hypertrophy, which is
muscular size that bodybuilderswould want.
There's not a big difference.
Like our muscles get stronger byadding muscle mass.
(20:27):
That's how they get stronger.
All of the strength gains, 95%of the strength gains come from
hypertrophy, which is musclecell enlargement.
So that's how they get strongeranyway.
The difference is the mindsetgoing into it.
So when we can go to the gym andfocus more on the quality of
(20:49):
what we're trying to do, we aregoing to get more benefits.
I mean, there has been studyafter study after study that
100% confirms the fact that ifyou put your attention on the
muscles that you are working,like you really sit there and
think about it, mind to muscle,that you get a greater response.
(21:11):
So that's a physiologicalbenefit.
The next benefit, again, ismental.
You're actually getting somemeditation when you do it.
I had, when I was teaching, Ihad a uh professional
bodybuilder who will remainnameless come and speak to the
students.
I should say a student had himcome because she knew him.
(21:34):
And I approved it.
There were some things I did notapprove about this bodybuilder
because I knew that they wereadvocates of anabolic steroids.
Now, in fairness to them, theydid explain that they did it
through the help of a physicianand they thought it was
absolutely silly for somebody todo it not that way.
So, in fairness to them, theydid say that, which I respected
(21:57):
them saying it.
At the same time, I'm not,unless there's medical reasons,
I'm not an advocate of anabolicsteroids.
But anyway, um he did say onething that I really, really
shook my head, like, wow, yeah,you keep keep talking.
You know, I was like, good,there you go.
He was talking about how some ofthe kids were asking him about
(22:19):
when he lifts, you know, howmuch does he lift and how much
does he bench?
And he kind of just said, youknow, after all these years, you
know, people still make fun ofme because they'll look at the
bar I'm using for an exerciseand have all these different
weights on it, and it'll lookreally funky because it'll be
like two and a half, thenthere'll be fives, and we'll be
tens.
And he goes, that's because Idon't think about any of that.
(22:42):
Like I really think about howthe load feels.
And I couldn't even tell you howmuch is on the bar.
I just know like what I startwith, and then I'll do a set and
I'll see what I feel, then I'lladd a little more load, and I'll
see what I feel, and I'll getclose to fatigue, and then I'll
rest and I'll add a little moreload, or I'll take some load
off, and I'm thinking, yes,that's it right there.
(23:05):
Like, I don't know how manytimes I have to say to people
that your muscles can't count.
They don't know, they only knowwhat they feel, and we can
change how many reps we get bychanging the tempo.
So if that's the case, then whatdoes any of that really matter?
(23:25):
You know, we keep charts becauseprofessionally that's the right
thing to do.
We should keep some sort of aformal log of what people are
doing, and also for someclients, everybody's a little
different, but for some, it'svery motivating to try to beat
certain numbers.
And that's okay.
But at the end of the day, whatreally matters is what do the
(23:48):
muscles feel on whateverexercise you're doing.
Like you can be doing a bodyweight exercise like a glute
bridge, which we have a lot ofour clients do for hip strength
and low back strength and glutestrength, you know, just a basic
bridge, whether they're usingwhat we call our butt bench or
whether they're doing bridgesoff the floor, doesn't matter.
(24:09):
Like if they do that exercisewith good focus and good feel
and good form, doesn't matterhow many they do.
Once their muscles start to getengaged, once they start to
burn, once there's a level offatigue, those muscles are going
to get stronger.
Or take a calf raise, anothervery basic exercise you can
(24:34):
essentially do anywhere.
You can put fingertips on thewall for balance and go way up
on your toes, getting your heeloff the ground, squeezing those
muscles, and it might take 50 or60 reps to actually feel it, or
it might take 10 for some peoplethat are a little deconditioned.
It's all the same.
(24:55):
Now you can hand somebody 30pounds, a dumbbell, say now do
it.
Okay, so now maybe they getcloser to fatigue, but they do
it in half the time instead ofsay 50 reps, they got there in
25.
What's the difference?
Guess what?
There isn't one time.
That's the difference.
One took longer.
So oftentimes, if a set's takingtoo long, specifically for
(25:18):
myself or whatever, I'll say,okay, that's too light.
This is not working.
But there are many things we cando to feel the load.
I mean, that's really what it isall about.
We can change tempo, we canchange um range of motion, we
can change the load, we canchange the reps.
There are so many things we cando, but the most important part
(25:43):
is that we really try to feelthe exercise.
So, like on those tricepextensions, I guarantee you, I
just for fun, do it.
Just go to the gym, do a set ofmindless exercise.
Like just do a tricep press downset and do it mindlessly.
(26:03):
Put on whatever load you thinkis appropriate for you, and just
kind of blow through it, notthinking too much about it, not
focusing at all, just kind oflike, okay, I'm supposed to do
15, I'm gonna do 15.
I'm not gonna use crappy formbecause I don't want to, you
know, get hurt or I don't wantto like totally blow this, but
I'm just gonna kind ofmindlessly, decently do my 15
(26:27):
exercises, 15 reps.
Great.
Then, you know, rest, whatever,and then come back and say, this
time I'm gonna put all my mindon this exercise.
I'm gonna think about what thetriceps are feeling.
I'm gonna really focus onsqueezing the muscle.
You're gonna feel it so muchmore.
You were there the same amountof time, but the benefit of
(26:50):
really trying to feel thatexercise is you're gonna get
more out of it.
Studies have proven it, and it'sgonna be better for your mind.
Okay.
So one of my 10 rules that'scoming out in my new book, which
you know, the these are not newrules.
The book is new, but these arenot new rules.
I've been saying them forever,they're up on the whiteboard, is
if it's burning, it's working,which is absolutely true.
(27:14):
So, next time you go to the gym,I want you to try that little
experiment.
And remember, we want to get themost out of our time when we are
at the gym.
I mean, I know I do.
I hope you would too.
Thank you for listening totoday's show.
I ask you to please follow thisshow on wherever you get your
(27:38):
podcast, and also please getautomatic downloads.
It really helps me and it helpsthe show.
Now I want to thank OverheadDoor of Dayton Beast, the
premier garage door company inFelicia County with the best
product, with the best service.
I can vouch for Jeff and ZachHoff, the owners.
They are great people.
(27:59):
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 training.
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 work.
Hence the name, there is amethod to the magnet.
(00:24):
Before I get started today, letme thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gilden of the Gilding 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):
Let's talk about some physicalfitness and some wellness.
First thing I want to do is givea couple brief updates.
The uh MaxFit Mile wentincredibly well.
Um, about 10 days ago now wehave our second one planned for
(01:07):
October 25th.
It went, I mean, it went supergreat.
I mean, I was so thrilled withit.
I'd spoken before about how weare trying to bring back
something where people cancompete on a monthly basis, have
a little bit of a series.
Um, and you know, the mile is isuh kind of a cool event.
(01:28):
It's uh often thought of as uhby endurance athletes is
actually the hardest endurancetest.
You know, a mile is a mile, sosome endurance athletes will
look at it like, well, that'sreally short, but the intensity
is very extreme.
And, you know, it's somethingthat we can race and do.
(01:51):
Yeah, so we brought it back forthat reason for an opportunity
for people to compete againsteach other, and it's sponsored
by ProCharge Liquid Proteinthat's uh actually made here in
Port Orange, and they sponsoredit, which was really cool
because they gave out a lot ofmoney to the winners.
(02:11):
There was$600 in cash prizesgiven.
I mean, that's really generous.
I mean, the registrants paid$20to enter, and uh they get they
can walk away with big timecash.
And uh, that's another reasonwhy we're putting on the event,
is because the events, becausewe really feel like these race
(02:34):
companies need to do a betterjob of putting these events on.
Like I think they forget thatthe people that are paying to do
these things, even though a lotof them are attached to
charities and people are goingto donate anyway.
I mean, they are customers, andcustomers should be treated very
well.
And so many times in these 5K'sover the last five years, if not
(02:57):
longer, the quality has reallygone downhill.
I mean, a lot of times they runout of t-shirts, they mismeasure
the course, they start late.
I mean, in my opinion, being abusiness owner for the past 31
years, that's unacceptable.
I mean, you need to earn yourcustomers buck, right?
I think you do.
(03:18):
So that's another reason we'redoing it, not only to have
competition, but also to reallyput on a good series.
So it was, it was verysuccessful.
Our male winner did it in justunder four minutes and 40
seconds, which is insane.
And um this was on a pretty hot,dark morning.
(03:38):
The next one's gonna be atseven, a little bit later, and
probably a little cooler, eventhough it'll be a half hour
later.
Um, but it was dark, and thisguy still ran this time, and the
female winner also ran anincredible time, somewhere
around 515, I think.
I mean, everybody ran well,everybody competed.
Like it doesn't matter what yourlevel is, the idea is to compete
(04:01):
against yourself, and they did.
I was really happy with it, andI believe all of the
participants were as well.
Another piece of news is that wewon the best around award by the
hometown news, and this is thethird year in a row that I won
it.
And uh back in the day with theDaytona Beach News Journal, we
(04:21):
used to win best around all thetime, and they kind of got away
from that.
But, you know, now there's uhbest around um in the hometown
news, and we won that for thethird year.
And I'm very excited to telleverybody that Ellen won Best
Massage Therapist this year,which is really kind of cool.
So we got it brought home thedynamic duo of best personal
(04:42):
training and best massage.
So I thank everybody for votingin that.
It's always an honor to say, youknow, thank you that people care
enough to log on and put ournames in there.
So we really appreciate theeffort in that.
All right, so I guess that'sgonna wrap up the little bit of
news.
(05:03):
I want to talk a little bittoday about adding more quality
to your workout.
I'm just gonna stay on that.
We I talked about it last time alittle bit in the value of
having a personal trainer.
I've been putting it in ournewsletters, and I just want to
continue to harp on, if that'sthe right word, of making sure
(05:24):
that like we're really doing thebest we can with the quality of
our workouts.
Um, it was yesterday I wasworking with a client of ours,
and uh, he was on the triceppress down machine.
And I told him, I said, look, atthe bottom of the movement, I
(05:44):
want you to open up your hands.
And I kind of showed him, youknow, where you flare your hands
open and you kind of raise yourpinky.
So your hand is a completelyopen, not a closed grip, but an
open grip.
I said, at the bottom, just pushdown with the inner part here
between your finger and thumband open up your hand.
And so he did, and he finishedhis set that way.
(06:06):
And afterwards he was prettysurprised.
And he said, you know what?
I really did start feeling thatmore when I did that.
And this is a client that reallylikes physiological explanations
to things, which I also like.
Like, I think that's really coolthat he's interested in that
stuff.
I mean, that makes the workoutmore exciting for me is to go
(06:29):
ahead and explain what we'retrying to do.
So he said, What is thephysiological reason for this?
Like, why does that work?
And I kind of laughed and Isaid, Well, honestly, there
isn't a physiological reasonbehind it, you know.
I mean, there's just not.
There, there's nothing in thekinesiology of it that's going
to change if you open up yourhand.
(06:50):
So each muscle has a function,what we call a joint action,
that it's responsible for.
So the triceps are responsiblefor elbow extension.
So it's going to completelyextend your elbow.
That's what the triceps do.
They are also responsible forwrist pronation.
Those two movements is what thetriceps do.
(07:11):
Opening up your hand does nottechnically improve either of
those.
It doesn't do either.
So he said, Why did it work?
And I kind of laughed and said,Because it does.
So sometimes just putting ourfocus on things like that, other
people's experience.
And I think just opening up yourhands really just gets the point
(07:34):
across that you're trying toextend your elbow all the way.
And it's sort of a visualreminder to do so, makes it
burn, but there's really not aphysiological reason.
But the long and short of it isthat another person's
experience, mine, passing thaton to him, is going to help him
(07:54):
get more out of it.
So we can really get more out ofour workouts if we continue to
try to strive to do littlethings to feel it more.
I mean, I just think that's soimportant.
And so when this happened theother day, and again, he he
(08:15):
liked it.
He is always one that likeslittle tick tips and tricks to
get more out of his exercises.
He always appreciates it.
And then that makes meappreciate that because I love
teaching little nuggets ofwisdom like that.
But like there are so many ofthese things that we can do to
(08:36):
get more benefit out of theworkout.
When you have people around youthat have experience, that have
been lifting, that have beendoing things for a really,
really long time, and you trustthem, understanding the
difference between anunqualified trainer and/or
influencer and a qualifiedtrainer, once you understand
(08:58):
that, there's so many nuggetsthat can be passed on that if we
pay attention to them, we willget so much more out of the
workout.
Now, just from a personalstandpoint, I'll say that I get
like kind of blown away orsurprised um because I just
can't relate.
(09:19):
And I get it.
I mean, you know, look, if if ifthere weren't a lot of people
out there that uh didn'tabsolutely love to work out and
uh, you know, really strugglejust to get to the gym.
I mean, if those people didn'treally exist for the most part,
then I probably wouldn't have athriving business for the past
(09:40):
31 years.
So I absolutely get it that noteverybody is just thrilled to
get to the gym and when they'rethere, remain thrilled.
I I get it.
I guess the thing I strugglewith sometimes, it's like, well,
but once you learn, isn't theresomething in you that wants to
(10:03):
get the most out of it?
Because I have trouble relatingto that, because me personally,
that's like my happy place, youknow.
I mean, you know, when it comesto strength training, like
that's what I do mostly.
I really, really focus, and I'vespoken about this before.
(10:27):
It's almost a meditation for me.
Well, it actually is ameditation for me when you
really look at the definition ofmeditation, which is putting all
of our conscience ontoconsciousness onto one thing,
like really, really focusing onone thing.
(10:51):
Too many people kind of likemisunderstand meditation, and
they think, well, you're kind ofsupposed to sit back and zone
out and you know, let all thisgo.
And it's like, no, that's notit.
Like, you're really supposed tobe in deep focus of some kind or
another.
So meditation does not have tobe sit on the ground and get
(11:14):
into a yogi position and closeyour eyes and say, um, and focus
on your mantra.
I mean, that's great if it worksfor you.
But for me, meditation in many,many ways has always been some
form of physical exercise.
But the key is it is because Ifocus.
(11:37):
I don't just kind of, I mean, II'm not perfect every time, of
course.
So there are days that I'm alittle distracted and I'm not as
focused as I should be, ofcourse.
But that's the area that I tryto work on the most.
I really want to try to stayfocused.
So when I go to the gym, Iabsolutely will put my brain
(12:00):
into what I'm doing, the rangeof motion, the squeeze.
And if there are little tips andtricks that I can do to feel
that movement more, then that'swhat I'm going to do.
So when people don't takeadvantage of that, I feel kind
of surprised.
I'm like, I mean, we're we're insuch a distracted world right
(12:22):
now.
I mean, we have our phones, wehave our smartwatches, and
they're calling for ourattention all of the time.
I mean, when we go exercise,wouldn't we want to like take a
timeout and not feed into all ofthat and really just put our
focus into the exercises thatwe're doing?
(12:46):
Um, you know, it might comeacross as a little biased
because my style of weighttraining through the years has
always been more of abodybuilding style.
So when I started really gettingserious about weight training in
my late teens, early 20s, I kindof gravitated more towards a
bodybuilding style workout,which really just means putting
(13:09):
more emphasis on the aestheticsversus more emphasis on getting
stronger and stronger andstronger.
Like the emphasis was not onthat so much.
And I think, like, you know,there's that saying that says we
don't choose our sport, oursport chooses us.
I think there's a lot of truthto that because genetically I'm
(13:30):
more geared towards that style.
That's more my body type, uh,that's more my muscle belly
lengths and things like that.
So it came more natural to me.
So I tended to gravitate towardsthat.
So that's a fact that that was,you know, has been a hobby of
mine.
I mean, I think really when weall strengthen train, we all
(13:51):
bodybuild.
I mean, you know, so I have toput that out there too.
But bodybuilders, and again, uhyes, that's kind of what I've
done, but at the same time, I'malso saying this objectively,
tend to do a lot better job ofthis than other forms of
strength training that I see.
(14:13):
So other forms of strengthtraining are what?
Well, there's powerlifting, andpowerlifting is the sport of the
bench press, the squat, and thedeadlift.
And the objective is to be ableto do a one rep max with as
heavy of a load as possible inall of those three exercises.
They add up the total numbers,and that's how they crown the
(14:36):
powerlifting champion.
There's weightlifting, like yousee in the Olympics.
I guess you see powerlifting inthe Olympics now, too.
But there's weightlifting, andthat's going to be the exercises
of the snatch and the clean andjerk, which are explosive
movements that are done with alot of technique, but also a lot
of load.
So those two sports arepredominantly about how much
(14:59):
weights can you lift?
Like what's the heaviest loadyou can use?
So the emphasis is completely onstrength.
And then a lot of people don'tnecessarily call themselves
powerlifters or weightlifters.
CrossFit does a lot of theweightlifting style stuff, and I
(15:21):
would throw them in the categoryof those styles of strength
training athletes that just wantto get stronger.
I mean, those three sports kindof all go to that, where
bodybuilding is more aboutaesthetics, and there tends to
be less of an emphasis on howmuch weight is lifted and how
(15:43):
many can you do, and more of anemphasis on how are the muscles
developing, what is theirtonicity, what is the symmetry.
So it's much more of say aninternal feeling-oriented sport.
And a lot of times people thatget into pure strength training,
and you know, I said my when Igot serious about it, I really
(16:07):
got into bodybuilding.
That's true.
But we all start out just tryingto be stronger.
I mean, I can remember when Igot my first barbell set, and it
was one of those classic skinnybars with the cement weights,
the plastic with the cementinside, you know, and I
remember, I don't remember whereI got it from, but I remember I
(16:28):
put it together.
I was probably 12 or 13 years ofage, and um, you know, I'm sure
my mom paid for it for me.
And all I wanted to do was beable to bench press more.
I mean, that's all I could careabout because that's what the
kids in seventh grade and juniorhigh, which was the age I was,
cared about.
You know, how much do you bench?
(16:49):
So, you know, I would go homeevery day after school until I
guess the phase ran out, but andI would try to bench press more
weight, which of course is avery dumb, you know, protocol of
training, but I didn't knowbetter.
Yeah, uh, and there were days Iwould try to, and every time I
would do it, I would just try tobench press more weight.
Like there was no trainingmethodology.
(17:09):
It was just throw more weight onthe bar and try it.
And I can tell you on more thanone occasion, having the weight
stuck to my chest in my littlegarage in New Smyrna and having
to roll it down my rib cage andfinding a way to sit up with
nobody around, no spotter mom atwork, sister out doing whatever
she's doing, uh, you know, andnot dying.
(17:29):
So, you know, that was great.
So that was like my entry intoit, like most boys at the time,
just the bench press.
But then when I got seriousabout it, as I said, I got into
um the bodybuilding.
So strength athletes, and somestay that way.
Like some tend to not ventureinto anything other than getting
(17:50):
stronger.
So they may not formally callthemselves powerlifters or
formally call themselvesweightlifters, but they go to
the gym to get stronger.
And we all do, but like when theemphasis is only on that
strength, then the focus doesn'ttend to be there.
There doesn't tend to be as muchof that mind muscle connection
(18:13):
that I think is so critical,especially for your mental
health, to be able to reallyfocus and meditate as you are
strength training.
The the kind of the desire wouldbe no matter what the exercise
is, again, it it doesn't have tobe formal powerlifting, a bench
press, squat, or deadlift.
It could be a guy just wants tolike curl as much weight as he
(18:36):
can.
Or if you're looking at, say,endurance, do as many push-ups
as he can or as many pull-ups ashe can.
I mean, all this is fine.
But the emphasis on qualitydoesn't tend to be there.
Bodybuilders tend to morenaturally focus on the feel,
which I think is extremelybeneficial.
(18:59):
And as trainers, and you know,once we go down that road and
and realize we want to get intothis as a career, we tend to be
able to take that emphasis andteach it to clients because we
all want to get stronger goingto the gym.
I mean, the majority of thepeople that come to us now want
(19:19):
improved ADLs.
And I love that.
Activities of daily living, likethat is has been the biggest
change in the last 15 years orso of physicians making sure
they recommend to their patientsthat they strength train so they
have a better quality of life.
So a lot of our clients aremiddle-aged andor seniors that
(19:42):
are focused on ADLs, and that'sgreat.
That is getting stronger.
What I want everybody tounderstand is that if you are
lifting loads at the gym and theemphasis is on doing the
exercise as good as you can, aswell as you can, with as much
focus as you can, you are goingto get stronger.
(20:04):
So it's not like you have tobench press a one rep max to get
stronger.
I mean, there's not a bigdifference between training for
pure strength and training forpure hypertrophy, which is
muscular size that bodybuilderswould want.
There's not a big difference.
Like our muscles get stronger byadding muscle mass.
(20:27):
That's how they get stronger.
All of the strength gains, 95%of the strength gains come from
hypertrophy, which is musclecell enlargement.
So that's how they get strongeranyway.
The difference is the mindsetgoing into it.
So when we can go to the gym andfocus more on the quality of
(20:49):
what we're trying to do, we aregoing to get more benefits.
I mean, there has been studyafter study after study that
100% confirms the fact that ifyou put your attention on the
muscles that you are working,like you really sit there and
think about it, mind to muscle,that you get a greater response.
(21:11):
So that's a physiologicalbenefit.
The next benefit, again, ismental.
You're actually getting somemeditation when you do it.
I had, when I was teaching, Ihad a uh professional
bodybuilder who will remainnameless come and speak to the
students.
I should say a student had himcome because she knew him.
(21:34):
And I approved it.
There were some things I did notapprove about this bodybuilder
because I knew that they wereadvocates of anabolic steroids.
Now, in fairness to them, theydid explain that they did it
through the help of a physicianand they thought it was
absolutely silly for somebody todo it not that way.
So, in fairness to them, theydid say that, which I respected
(21:57):
them saying it.
At the same time, I'm not,unless there's medical reasons,
I'm not an advocate of anabolicsteroids.
But anyway, um he did say onething that I really, really
shook my head, like, wow, yeah,you keep keep talking.
You know, I was like, good,there you go.
He was talking about how some ofthe kids were asking him about
(22:19):
when he lifts, you know, howmuch does he lift and how much
does he bench?
And he kind of just said, youknow, after all these years, you
know, people still make fun ofme because they'll look at the
bar I'm using for an exerciseand have all these different
weights on it, and it'll lookreally funky because it'll be
like two and a half, thenthere'll be fives, and we'll be
tens.
And he goes, that's because Idon't think about any of that.
(22:42):
Like I really think about howthe load feels.
And I couldn't even tell you howmuch is on the bar.
I just know like what I startwith, and then I'll do a set and
I'll see what I feel, then I'lladd a little more load, and I'll
see what I feel, and I'll getclose to fatigue, and then I'll
rest and I'll add a little moreload, or I'll take some load
off, and I'm thinking, yes,that's it right there.
(23:05):
Like, I don't know how manytimes I have to say to people
that your muscles can't count.
They don't know, they only knowwhat they feel, and we can
change how many reps we get bychanging the tempo.
So if that's the case, then whatdoes any of that really matter?
(23:25):
You know, we keep charts becauseprofessionally that's the right
thing to do.
We should keep some sort of aformal log of what people are
doing, and also for someclients, everybody's a little
different, but for some, it'svery motivating to try to beat
certain numbers.
And that's okay.
But at the end of the day, whatreally matters is what do the
(23:48):
muscles feel on whateverexercise you're doing.
Like you can be doing a bodyweight exercise like a glute
bridge, which we have a lot ofour clients do for hip strength
and low back strength and glutestrength, you know, just a basic
bridge, whether they're usingwhat we call our butt bench or
whether they're doing bridgesoff the floor, doesn't matter.
(24:09):
Like if they do that exercisewith good focus and good feel
and good form, doesn't matterhow many they do.
Once their muscles start to getengaged, once they start to
burn, once there's a level offatigue, those muscles are going
to get stronger.
Or take a calf raise, anothervery basic exercise you can
(24:34):
essentially do anywhere.
You can put fingertips on thewall for balance and go way up
on your toes, getting your heeloff the ground, squeezing those
muscles, and it might take 50 or60 reps to actually feel it, or
it might take 10 for some peoplethat are a little deconditioned.
It's all the same.
(24:55):
Now you can hand somebody 30pounds, a dumbbell, say now do
it.
Okay, so now maybe they getcloser to fatigue, but they do
it in half the time instead ofsay 50 reps, they got there in
25.
What's the difference?
Guess what?
There isn't one time.
That's the difference.
One took longer.
So oftentimes, if a set's takingtoo long, specifically for
(25:18):
myself or whatever, I'll say,okay, that's too light.
This is not working.
But there are many things we cando to feel the load.
I mean, that's really what it isall about.
We can change tempo, we canchange um range of motion, we
can change the load, we canchange the reps.
There are so many things we cando, but the most important part
(25:43):
is that we really try to feelthe exercise.
So, like on those tricepextensions, I guarantee you, I
just for fun, do it.
Just go to the gym, do a set ofmindless exercise.
Like just do a tricep press downset and do it mindlessly.
(26:03):
Put on whatever load you thinkis appropriate for you, and just
kind of blow through it, notthinking too much about it, not
focusing at all, just kind oflike, okay, I'm supposed to do
15, I'm gonna do 15.
I'm not gonna use crappy formbecause I don't want to, you
know, get hurt or I don't wantto like totally blow this, but
I'm just gonna kind ofmindlessly, decently do my 15
(26:27):
exercises, 15 reps.
Great.
Then, you know, rest, whatever,and then come back and say, this
time I'm gonna put all my mindon this exercise.
I'm gonna think about what thetriceps are feeling.
I'm gonna really focus onsqueezing the muscle.
You're gonna feel it so muchmore.
You were there the same amountof time, but the benefit of
(26:50):
really trying to feel thatexercise is you're gonna get
more out of it.
Studies have proven it, and it'sgonna be better for your mind.
Okay.
So one of my 10 rules that'scoming out in my new book, which
you know, the these are not newrules.
The book is new, but these arenot new rules.
I've been saying them forever,they're up on the whiteboard, is
if it's burning, it's working,which is absolutely true.
(27:14):
So, next time you go to the gym,I want you to try that little
experiment.
And remember, we want to get themost out of our time when we are
at the gym.
I mean, I know I do.
I hope you would too.
Thank you for listening totoday's show.
I ask you to please follow thisshow on wherever you get your
(27:38):
podcast, and also please getautomatic downloads.
It really helps me and it helpsthe show.
Now I want to thank OverheadDoor of Dayton Beast, the
premier garage door company inFelicia County with the best
product, with the best service.
I can vouch for Jeff and ZachHoff, the owners.
They are great people.
(27:59):
If you need any help with yourgarage doors, give them a shout.
386 222 3165.
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