December 13, 2025 • 28 mins
Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to There Is a Method to the Medinates.
My name is Rob Maxwell, and I'man exercise physiologist and
personal trainer.
I am the owner of Maxwell'sfitness programs, and I've been
in business since 1994.
The purpose of this podcast isto get to the real deal of what
really works and mostimportantly why things work.
(00:21):
Hence the name There is a Methodto the Medinates.
Before I get to today's show, Iwant to thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gilding of the Gilding Group atRealty 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.
(00:47):
We still have to put in thereps.
No question about it.
We gotta put in the work, wegotta put in the time, and
that's what I'm going to talkabout today.
So if you read my new book,which hopefully you have, I go
(01:09):
over my uh 10 max fit rules ormax fit commandments.
You know, there are things thatuh I've talked about for years,
and as I've always said, and oneof the commandments is there's
uh, you know, many right ways toexercise, just don't do the
(01:29):
wrong thing because there arewrong ways to do things.
So there's many, many goodphilosophies out there, there's
many, many good workoutprograms, there's many, many
good uh gyms, you know,trainers.
So, like there's just a lot ofgood ways to do things.
(01:50):
And uh what I've found throughthe years is that there are
certain guidelines andprinciples, though, that really
remain consistent as far as whatI've seen.
And uh so anyway, I list 10 ofthem, and one of them is quality
is greater than quantity, ormake sure you're always thinking
(02:15):
about quality, and that'sabsolutely true.
Now, qualitative things areharder to measure, you know,
they're in the form of good, badversus something very tangible
that you can measure and see.
So it's a little harder to youknow pinpoint when we are
(02:37):
focusing on quality.
But I think we also know qualityversus poor quality.
And uh, you know, mostly whatI'm talking about when it comes
to that is quality training,which means make sure that we're
using the greatest load we canuse, make sure we're using the
greatest form that we can use,make sure if we're doing cardio,
(03:02):
that it's the type of cardiothat best benefits us, that
we're also thinking about form,that we're also thinking about
intensity.
I mean, there's no questionabout it, the value of quality.
But what I want to talk about toyou today is quantity matters
(03:23):
too.
You can't get to quality if youdon't have the quantity.
So you have to put in the work,you have to do the reps, and
there is something very, veryreleasing about that, right?
There is for me, you know, I'm aum checklist keeper, I'm a
(03:47):
calendar keeper, you know, allthose types of things.
I also have enough experience toknow that those things can
change and should change somedays, but there is a lot of
peace of mind in knowing that wehave set out what we need to do,
and we are striving to do that.
(04:08):
So I really, really do believethat there's a big benefit in
knowing what reps we need to doand what reps we do do.
So, you know, there's one thingI I mean, there's a lot of
things I like aboutSchwarzenegger, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, like he, youknow, he he's you know from the
(04:30):
old muscle beach.
So there's a little bit of anold school muscle head in him,
you know, and I don't know thathe knows the science and
exercise and diet very, verywell.
But he also admits that, whichis why he has a staff.
But you know, one thing he'salways talked about that I agree
with 100% is he says, you know,you gotta put in the reps.
(04:55):
And for him, when he worked out,it was kind of a little uh cool
method that he used.
He would put up his workout on achalkboard.
Like I don't even know if hekept track track of it in a
journal, I'm not really sure.
Probably did, because I thinkmost of those guys did, but I
(05:16):
know he wrote the workout out ona chalkboard.
You know, we're talking 70s and80s, so yeah, they still had
chalkboards, and he would writeout the exercises and then how
many reps he was supposed to do.
And then as he would do thesets, he would go off and check
(05:37):
it off, like he would check itoff of his list, and uh, you
know, I always thought that thatwas pretty cool, and when his
chalkboard was finished, youknow, he was finished, so it was
a way for him to keep track andto know that he is doing enough
work.
I really think there is hugevalue in that, and knowing like
(06:02):
what the reps are that we needto do.
I mean, the bottom line is noneof us are going to get better at
anything unless we put in thework.
You know, um, about 10 yearsago, maybe it was longer, and
people still talk about it.
It's been discounted a littlebit, but people still talk about
(06:22):
it.
The 10,000 hour rule, so to say,that to become an expert, you
know, you had to put in 10,000hours, and allegedly somebody
calculated that and figured thatout to be the right amount of
time to be an expert.
So, like I said, I think theexact number has been disputed a
little bit, but there is noquestion to be great at what you
(06:48):
do or good or improve, you haveto put in the reps, right?
I mean, the epitome ofentitlement is thinking that we
are going to get something thatwe don't work for, right?
I mean, that's not going towork.
I promise you, in the world ofphysical fitness, it's pretty
(07:09):
darn fair.
You are going to get out of itwhat you put into it.
So if you do the repetitions,you're going to get out of it
the exact amount that you putinto it.
Uh, when I was in college, youknow, I've I think I've talked
about this before.
I mean, I know I have, I thinkI've covered it in the podcast,
(07:31):
but I had a rep system that Iwould do with studying.
For me, it was really, reallyimportant to make really good
grades.
Did I take it too far?
Yeah, I mean, I looking back onit, I probably did, but I was
not a great student in highschool.
Like, essentially, I could careless at that stage in my life.
(07:54):
I mean, I shouldn't say I couldcare less.
I I did what I had to do to getby, but I never really saw
myself as a scholar.
Didn't have the confidence.
But once I really got college,like once I decided I really
wanted to go and commit myself,well, then I was like bound and
determined, you know, at thisstage of my life, if, you know,
(08:16):
you gotta be the best.
So I was like bound anddetermined to make the best
grades I could make, which forme were A's.
And I was really locked in ondoing that.
And I was going to do whateverit took to get an A in every
class.
And I almost did.
I mean, I graduated with honorswith graduated Magna Cumwati in
(08:39):
college, and then in my graduateschool, I did have a perfect 4.0
GPA.
I don't know if I'm bragging.
Uh, it may sound that way, butI'm not.
I mean, it was really because Iput in the work.
I mean, I just really put in thework, and that's the whole point
of me telling you this story.
So I would make sure that Iwould study for an allotted
(09:00):
amount of time per class.
Um most of my college career, Iwas full-time student and
working full-time, so it wasn'teasy.
My senior year, I didn't work.
That was the only year I didn't.
And so I didn't have a lot oftime in the day, but I did make
sure that I studied every dayfor a certain amount of time for
(09:24):
every class.
And like that was the reps thatI would put in.
So it was like if I had ahistory class or whatever,
history, I don't know,physiology, psychology, like
each class was going to be splitup among a certain amount of
time that I would spend, nomatter what.
(09:44):
Like, even if I was never acrammer.
And probably one of the reasonswhy I did really well, I was
never a crammer.
I always studied early.
I got ahead of it.
Um, literally the first day ofclass, I would open up and
literally read the syllabus aspart of the homework.
My own homework I set formyself.
(10:05):
Like my teachers didn't have todiscipline me at that stage.
I was setting my own discipline.
So I would literally read thesyllabus and at least like thumb
through the first chapter orwhatever we were supposed to
read.
And by the time it got evenclose to exam time, I was really
ready because no matter what, Istudied a little bit every day,
(10:28):
even in the beginning.
And that didn't change.
Like as the course continued on,I didn't need to spend more time
on a particular course because Iwas caught up.
So that was the reps that gaveme a peace of mind.
So if I knew I did that, then Ifelt good and I can do whatever
else I wanted to.
Now at that time, and itcontinued through, it was also
(10:50):
very important for me to workout.
So I was going to put in my repsthere as well.
Like, you know, I wasbodybuilding pretty uh seriously
at the time.
So if I was heading into what wecalled the dome, which was a
dumpy gym at UCF, University ofCentral Florida at the time.
(11:11):
I mean, now they have thesebeautiful different health and
fitness centers all over thecampus.
I mean, we literally had a placethat was called the Dome, and I
do not think it had AC.
And it literally was adome-style building out by the
basketball court.
Like that's what we were, we hadto train with.
I mean, I shouldn't complain.
We had something and um had olduniversal machines in there,
(11:35):
which we're talking theypredated Nautilus and then some
free weights, but whatever.
You know, if I was gonna go inthat day and say, do back and
biceps, I would have it writtenout or spelled out somewhere in
my brain or on paper of theexercises I was going to do, the
sets and the reps.
So I had the quantity writtendown.
(11:57):
And I knew in order for me tohave a good day, at least
psychologically, then I wouldneed to do my reps.
Now, qualitative was always apart of it for me, anyway.
I always wanted to do the bestthat I could on my sets and use
the most intensity that I could,but ultimately I went into it
knowing that I was going to haveto do the reps and I would do
(12:19):
whatever it took to finish themat the time.
As I've gotten older and moreexperienced and into my career,
(13:05):
I would say that form has gotteneven better and improved quite a
bit.
But like it never changed thefact that I had to do the reps
then.
I have to do the reps now.
As we get smarter, as we getmore experienced, we figure out
like where should those reps go.
Because obviously you've pickedup on the fact that reps aren't
(13:27):
just the reps in the gym,they're everything that we need
to do.
So we're not going to get betterunless we do the work.
And I guess the real hard partis not too hard, but the part,
the work you have to do is tofigure out exactly what reps it
is that you need to put in, butthen make sure that you do it.
(13:50):
So I'm taking piano.
I started that a few years ago.
Great coach named Natalie.
She uh trained, works with meremotely.
She's a piano teacher.
She actually plays violin andall kinds of instruments, but
she teaches piano, and I do thatremotely with her.
And all my lessons started outthat way.
And I have to put in the reps.
(14:12):
I mean, you know, pretty muchevery time we meet, in the
beginning, we went over thevery, very basics, and I'm still
very, very basic, but I mean,now it's at a point where, like,
we'll do a new song, and she'llhave me do my right hand first,
right hand only, and we gothrough it.
And if that goes fairlysmoothly, then we'll go left
(14:34):
hand, and which is typically thechord hand, and go all the way
through it.
And then if that's good, we goboth hands together and go
through the song.
And you know, she's taught mehow to read music, which I think
is really cool.
But then, you know, the thesession's somewhere around 30
minutes, so that's not enough tomaster the song, of course.
And then during the week, I'msupposed to do the reps.
(14:57):
I mean, I gotta sit down and atleast 10 minutes a day, she
says, and and that's greatadvice because what ends up
happening is I end up spendingmore time, but for 10 minutes at
least, I'll sit down and I'll gothrough this song just like
that, doing my reps right handfirst.
If that's smoothly and I got it,I at least understand what the
(15:19):
notes are and the moves, youknow, because you got to move
your hand up, move your handdown, type of thing.
And then I'll do the left, thechord hand, and if that's all
good, then I'll put themtogether.
Then as the weeks go, or as theweek go, I should say, and I'm
doing my reps, it gets to thepoint where I'll jump right in
and play both hands together andI'll play the song through a few
(15:42):
times.
And, you know, if I'm learningit, if I'm really getting it,
then I try to master it more.
I try to be able to do it maybea little bit faster or practice
areas.
I'll send her a video and she'llsay, Well, you kind of like uh
it's with me, the mistakes Itypically make would be with
timing.
So she'll say that um, you know,I sped up here or I slowed down
(16:07):
here type of thing.
And then I'll go back through.
But I've been able to learn atleast to the point where I can
play some songs and some songsthat I enjoy because I put in
the reps.
I mean, I'm not gonna learn howto play the piano by taking a
lesson and then staring at thepiano the rest of the week,
right?
(16:27):
I mean, it's a pretty biginstrument and sits in the
middle of one of the main rooms.
I mean, you know, I'm not gonnaget better by walking by it, you
know.
I'm gonna actually have to dothe work.
And I enjoy the work, you know.
So, like with that, it's a greatexample of everything that we
learn to do.
We put in the reps.
(16:49):
And what I want to ask you is,are you willing to do that?
Like, I am a person that reallypushes quality, no question
about it, you know, especiallywhen it comes to form.
I mean, to me, there's not a areason to get out of good form,
there's just not a reason, otherthan you don't know, so that's
(17:13):
ignorance, or you know, you'rejust so hellbent on doing it the
way that you want to do it.
But I mean, to me, that's likeso silly, and that's not
ignorance at that point, that'sjust ego.
But there's no good reason to doexercises with bad form, there's
just no good reason for that.
So that goes without saying, butyou know, there are days that we
(17:39):
don't feel like giving it 100%intensity.
I mean, I'll go through thosedays.
I mean, I'll I'll think tomyself, so you know, pull-ups,
pull-ups are one of the greatestexercises there are.
Um, I love them in a way.
I mean, I love the results ofthem, I love the challenge of
them.
(18:00):
But pull-ups are probably thehardest thing I do in my
workouts.
And um, I think to myself, ohman, you know, I want to be able
to knock out three sets of 10with only a minute in between,
you know.
And if you've done pull-ups orwhatever, you know that like
that's hard.
I mean, you can do 10.
I mean, that's hard to do 10,but you can do 10 and then, you
(18:22):
know, rest and go right back atit.
It's hard to do it again.
So for me, I'll look at dayslike that and go, oh man, you
know, not today.
Like maybe, you know, later inthe week when I feel more
energetic and I work out on thisarea again, I'll attempt that.
But today I don't have themental energy for that.
(18:43):
So I'm still gonna do the repsthough.
Like, I'm not going to not doit.
I just may not do it with asmuch intensity, right?
I may do three sets of fiveinstead of three sets of 10,
whatever, something like that.
Or probably more likely do pulldowns in replace of pull-ups so
(19:05):
I can manipulate the weight andstill do the reps.
So, like that's just oneexample.
But the point is that we shouldalways do the work.
I mean, it's not always going tobe with maximum intensity.
But if you went to the gym andlet's say your trainer has you
doing, or you have yourselfdoing seven exercises, I mean,
(19:28):
that you know, that's prettystandard if you're doing
multiple sets or whatever.
So, say seven exercises andyou're doing three sets of a
muscle group, and uh maybeyou're doing 10 to 12 reps.
I mean, then do it.
Like put in the work with asmuch focus as you have and as
much intensity as you have.
But again, the intensity canwaver a little bit, and that's
(19:50):
okay, but definitely with asmuch focus as you have as you
have and use as good a form asyou can.
Putting in the work really,really matters.
And the same goes for cardio.
You may wake up some days andyou know you're supposed to go
for a 30-minute walk, or you putthat in your calendar to put in
(20:11):
the reps the next day for your30-minute walk.
So you know that's like ideallythe way you wanted to start your
morning, start your day.
I mean, if you go out and do it,you are gonna feel so much
better than if you skipped, andmaybe you don't have the same
energy you had last time you didit, the day before, or whatever.
(20:35):
But if you still do it, You arestill getting the benefits.
I promise you, and it's it's onmy list of max fit commandments,
consistency is number one.
I mean, there are people outthere that we call weekend
warriors or people that startout with all the piss and
(20:57):
vinegar that they can muster.
And, you know, they'll tell me,oh, you know, I used to work
out, so really push me.
And, you know, I want to comeevery day, and I got the money,
and you know, and on theweekends, you know, I want to do
this, I want to do this.
And I'm always shaking my head,going, oh boy, you know, this
person is gonna flame out, youknow, most likely they're not
(21:20):
gonna stick to it becausethere's just too much intensity
in the beginning, and you wonderwhere all that is coming from.
And the problem with that is itdoesn't work.
I mean, yeah, if somebody cansustain it, great, but most of
the time that's just notsustainable.
But the person who's willing todo enough on a regular basis is
(21:42):
gonna be the person that winsthe race, so to say.
Like it's really the consistencythat matters.
Getting up day in, day out,doing the reps, whatever they
might be, even if you don't feellike it, doing it anyway and put
it in the work, you're gonna getthe benefits.
It's the person that is willingto be consistent day in and day
(22:07):
out, not just when the moodstrikes them, or not just when
the environment is favorable, ornot just when their friend shows
up, or not just when, you know,that certain instructor is
working, but the person thatshows up all the time and puts
in the work is going to be theone that gets the benefits.
(22:29):
And that's really where theconsistency and the reps come
in.
Maybe the reps you need to do isto work on that diet.
Like maybe you finally startedlistening to me and you realize
that yes, you're getting morefit, yes, you're getting
stronger.
But if you want to get thatweight where you need it, you're
gonna have to put in the workwith the diet.
(22:49):
I mean, I've always said thatall of that is 80%.
I mean, the diet is 80% of that.
Like you can exercise all youwant, but if you're not working
on that diet, you're not gonnaget that weight where you want
it.
And the way we put in the repswith that is going to be, say,
logging our food in a food applike MyFitnessPal or an
equivalent.
Like that's putting in the repsday in and day out.
(23:12):
It can be tedious, it can, youknow, be a pain sometimes, like
you you don't know what how tofind the food or or the right
measurement, or it's just a painin the butt, but it works.
And if you're willing to do itday in and day out, you're going
to see the trends that you do,you're going to see where you're
(23:33):
inconsistent, you're going tosee where you're eating too
much, you're going to see whenyou're consuming too many
saturated fats, you're going tosee when you're consuming too
many processed sugars, and youwill make adjustments if you're
like everybody else, because weare a lot more similar than not
alike.
So putting in the reps with dietis simply that.
(23:57):
Again, maybe you're not havingthe greatest day.
So you think, well, you knowwhat?
I'm going to have a little bitof this more than I usually do.
Okay, it's not the end of theworld.
But keep logging your food,staying with it.
Don't just throw it out.
Too many people just throw itout.
They get inconsistent.
(24:17):
They start getting off the wagona little bit.
And then the next thing youknow, they say, Oh, the hell
with it.
I'm just not going to track it.
Where they would have beenbetter to just get off the wagon
a little bit, still log it, makethe best adjustment because
we're always going to feeldifferent at another time.
We are going to feel better, andwe're going to be mad at
(24:38):
ourselves if we totally threw itall out just because we had one
little mistake.
So we put in the reps in ourdiet as well.
So, really, we're we're coveringtwo things here.
We have to be cognizant ofquality.
Absolutely.
That's never going to change.
(25:00):
Like, same with food.
I mean, of course, it's betterto have a quality food, such as
a whole grain, versus aprocessed sugar.
They're both carbohydrates.
One of them has greater quality.
It's better to have, say, anorganic Greek yogurt, non-fat,
(25:22):
which is a high quality protein,versus beef.
No doubt about it.
That is better to do.
But we don't throw everythingout just because we don't have
perfect quality.
We keep chugging on and we keepputting in the reps.
So the reps is making the bestchoices we can and logging our
(25:42):
food.
The reps is going to the gym anddoing the prescribed workout to
the best of our abilities.
The reps is getting up, puttingin the doing the cardio, even on
days we don't feel like it.
And again, this can apply to anyventure that you're talking
about.
If you're still in school, thereps is going to be say study
(26:02):
for an hour a day.
If you're trying to like improveyour intellectual wellness, you
know, like I think we allshould.
Like I love to read.
I don't, you know, necessarilyhave a set prescription here,
but you know, some people willsay read 10 pages a day.
If you're struggling withgetting in reading time, just
(26:25):
make sure you get in 10 pages aday.
I've heard that before.
I mean, that's great advice.
That is putting in the reps.
All right.
So we can't be so like black andwhite.
It's all qualitative or orforget it, or it's all
quantitative and hell with howwe do it.
No, it's gray.
It's both.
We have to put in the reps andwe have to do the best job we
(26:49):
can to do it with the best ofour ability, but that's where
it's going to change.
Some days we're going to be 100%spot on.
Other days we're going to be alittle lazier or just tired, and
we're not going to use as muchintensity.
That's okay.
We still need to do it.
Do the reps.
All right.
(27:10):
Thank you everybody forlistening to today's show.
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Welcome to There Is a Method to the Medinates.
My name is Rob Maxwell, and I'man exercise physiologist and
personal trainer.
I am the owner of Maxwell'sfitness programs, and I've been
in business since 1994.
The purpose of this podcast isto get to the real deal of what
really works and mostimportantly why things work.
(00:21):
Hence the name There is a Methodto the Medinates.
Before I get to today's show, Iwant to thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gilding of the Gilding Group atRealty 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.
(00:47):
We still have to put in thereps.
No question about it.
We gotta put in the work, wegotta put in the time, and
that's what I'm going to talkabout today.
So if you read my new book,which hopefully you have, I go
(01:09):
over my uh 10 max fit rules ormax fit commandments.
You know, there are things thatuh I've talked about for years,
and as I've always said, and oneof the commandments is there's
uh, you know, many right ways toexercise, just don't do the
(01:29):
wrong thing because there arewrong ways to do things.
So there's many, many goodphilosophies out there, there's
many, many good workoutprograms, there's many, many
good uh gyms, you know,trainers.
So, like there's just a lot ofgood ways to do things.
(01:50):
And uh what I've found throughthe years is that there are
certain guidelines andprinciples, though, that really
remain consistent as far as whatI've seen.
And uh so anyway, I list 10 ofthem, and one of them is quality
is greater than quantity, ormake sure you're always thinking
(02:15):
about quality, and that'sabsolutely true.
Now, qualitative things areharder to measure, you know,
they're in the form of good, badversus something very tangible
that you can measure and see.
So it's a little harder to youknow pinpoint when we are
(02:37):
focusing on quality.
But I think we also know qualityversus poor quality.
And uh, you know, mostly whatI'm talking about when it comes
to that is quality training,which means make sure that we're
using the greatest load we canuse, make sure we're using the
greatest form that we can use,make sure if we're doing cardio,
(03:02):
that it's the type of cardiothat best benefits us, that
we're also thinking about form,that we're also thinking about
intensity.
I mean, there's no questionabout it, the value of quality.
But what I want to talk about toyou today is quantity matters
(03:23):
too.
You can't get to quality if youdon't have the quantity.
So you have to put in the work,you have to do the reps, and
there is something very, veryreleasing about that, right?
There is for me, you know, I'm aum checklist keeper, I'm a
(03:47):
calendar keeper, you know, allthose types of things.
I also have enough experience toknow that those things can
change and should change somedays, but there is a lot of
peace of mind in knowing that wehave set out what we need to do,
and we are striving to do that.
(04:08):
So I really, really do believethat there's a big benefit in
knowing what reps we need to doand what reps we do do.
So, you know, there's one thingI I mean, there's a lot of
things I like aboutSchwarzenegger, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, like he, youknow, he he's you know from the
(04:30):
old muscle beach.
So there's a little bit of anold school muscle head in him,
you know, and I don't know thathe knows the science and
exercise and diet very, verywell.
But he also admits that, whichis why he has a staff.
But you know, one thing he'salways talked about that I agree
with 100% is he says, you know,you gotta put in the reps.
(04:55):
And for him, when he worked out,it was kind of a little uh cool
method that he used.
He would put up his workout on achalkboard.
Like I don't even know if hekept track track of it in a
journal, I'm not really sure.
Probably did, because I thinkmost of those guys did, but I
(05:16):
know he wrote the workout out ona chalkboard.
You know, we're talking 70s and80s, so yeah, they still had
chalkboards, and he would writeout the exercises and then how
many reps he was supposed to do.
And then as he would do thesets, he would go off and check
(05:37):
it off, like he would check itoff of his list, and uh, you
know, I always thought that thatwas pretty cool, and when his
chalkboard was finished, youknow, he was finished, so it was
a way for him to keep track andto know that he is doing enough
work.
I really think there is hugevalue in that, and knowing like
(06:02):
what the reps are that we needto do.
I mean, the bottom line is noneof us are going to get better at
anything unless we put in thework.
You know, um, about 10 yearsago, maybe it was longer, and
people still talk about it.
It's been discounted a littlebit, but people still talk about
(06:22):
it.
The 10,000 hour rule, so to say,that to become an expert, you
know, you had to put in 10,000hours, and allegedly somebody
calculated that and figured thatout to be the right amount of
time to be an expert.
So, like I said, I think theexact number has been disputed a
little bit, but there is noquestion to be great at what you
(06:48):
do or good or improve, you haveto put in the reps, right?
I mean, the epitome ofentitlement is thinking that we
are going to get something thatwe don't work for, right?
I mean, that's not going towork.
I promise you, in the world ofphysical fitness, it's pretty
(07:09):
darn fair.
You are going to get out of itwhat you put into it.
So if you do the repetitions,you're going to get out of it
the exact amount that you putinto it.
Uh, when I was in college, youknow, I've I think I've talked
about this before.
I mean, I know I have, I thinkI've covered it in the podcast,
(07:31):
but I had a rep system that Iwould do with studying.
For me, it was really, reallyimportant to make really good
grades.
Did I take it too far?
Yeah, I mean, I looking back onit, I probably did, but I was
not a great student in highschool.
Like, essentially, I could careless at that stage in my life.
(07:54):
I mean, I shouldn't say I couldcare less.
I I did what I had to do to getby, but I never really saw
myself as a scholar.
Didn't have the confidence.
But once I really got college,like once I decided I really
wanted to go and commit myself,well, then I was like bound and
determined, you know, at thisstage of my life, if, you know,
(08:16):
you gotta be the best.
So I was like bound anddetermined to make the best
grades I could make, which forme were A's.
And I was really locked in ondoing that.
And I was going to do whateverit took to get an A in every
class.
And I almost did.
I mean, I graduated with honorswith graduated Magna Cumwati in
(08:39):
college, and then in my graduateschool, I did have a perfect 4.0
GPA.
I don't know if I'm bragging.
Uh, it may sound that way, butI'm not.
I mean, it was really because Iput in the work.
I mean, I just really put in thework, and that's the whole point
of me telling you this story.
So I would make sure that Iwould study for an allotted
(09:00):
amount of time per class.
Um most of my college career, Iwas full-time student and
working full-time, so it wasn'teasy.
My senior year, I didn't work.
That was the only year I didn't.
And so I didn't have a lot oftime in the day, but I did make
sure that I studied every dayfor a certain amount of time for
(09:24):
every class.
And like that was the reps thatI would put in.
So it was like if I had ahistory class or whatever,
history, I don't know,physiology, psychology, like
each class was going to be splitup among a certain amount of
time that I would spend, nomatter what.
(09:44):
Like, even if I was never acrammer.
And probably one of the reasonswhy I did really well, I was
never a crammer.
I always studied early.
I got ahead of it.
Um, literally the first day ofclass, I would open up and
literally read the syllabus aspart of the homework.
My own homework I set formyself.
(10:05):
Like my teachers didn't have todiscipline me at that stage.
I was setting my own discipline.
So I would literally read thesyllabus and at least like thumb
through the first chapter orwhatever we were supposed to
read.
And by the time it got evenclose to exam time, I was really
ready because no matter what, Istudied a little bit every day,
(10:28):
even in the beginning.
And that didn't change.
Like as the course continued on,I didn't need to spend more time
on a particular course because Iwas caught up.
So that was the reps that gaveme a peace of mind.
So if I knew I did that, then Ifelt good and I can do whatever
else I wanted to.
Now at that time, and itcontinued through, it was also
(10:50):
very important for me to workout.
So I was going to put in my repsthere as well.
Like, you know, I wasbodybuilding pretty uh seriously
at the time.
So if I was heading into what wecalled the dome, which was a
dumpy gym at UCF, University ofCentral Florida at the time.
(11:11):
I mean, now they have thesebeautiful different health and
fitness centers all over thecampus.
I mean, we literally had a placethat was called the Dome, and I
do not think it had AC.
And it literally was adome-style building out by the
basketball court.
Like that's what we were, we hadto train with.
I mean, I shouldn't complain.
We had something and um had olduniversal machines in there,
(11:35):
which we're talking theypredated Nautilus and then some
free weights, but whatever.
You know, if I was gonna go inthat day and say, do back and
biceps, I would have it writtenout or spelled out somewhere in
my brain or on paper of theexercises I was going to do, the
sets and the reps.
So I had the quantity writtendown.
(11:57):
And I knew in order for me tohave a good day, at least
psychologically, then I wouldneed to do my reps.
Now, qualitative was always apart of it for me, anyway.
I always wanted to do the bestthat I could on my sets and use
the most intensity that I could,but ultimately I went into it
knowing that I was going to haveto do the reps and I would do
(12:19):
whatever it took to finish themat the time.
As I've gotten older and moreexperienced and into my career,
(13:05):
I would say that form has gotteneven better and improved quite a
bit.
But like it never changed thefact that I had to do the reps
then.
I have to do the reps now.
As we get smarter, as we getmore experienced, we figure out
like where should those reps go.
Because obviously you've pickedup on the fact that reps aren't
(13:27):
just the reps in the gym,they're everything that we need
to do.
So we're not going to get betterunless we do the work.
And I guess the real hard partis not too hard, but the part,
the work you have to do is tofigure out exactly what reps it
is that you need to put in, butthen make sure that you do it.
(13:50):
So I'm taking piano.
I started that a few years ago.
Great coach named Natalie.
She uh trained, works with meremotely.
She's a piano teacher.
She actually plays violin andall kinds of instruments, but
she teaches piano, and I do thatremotely with her.
And all my lessons started outthat way.
And I have to put in the reps.
(14:12):
I mean, you know, pretty muchevery time we meet, in the
beginning, we went over thevery, very basics, and I'm still
very, very basic, but I mean,now it's at a point where, like,
we'll do a new song, and she'llhave me do my right hand first,
right hand only, and we gothrough it.
And if that goes fairlysmoothly, then we'll go left
(14:34):
hand, and which is typically thechord hand, and go all the way
through it.
And then if that's good, we goboth hands together and go
through the song.
And you know, she's taught mehow to read music, which I think
is really cool.
But then, you know, the thesession's somewhere around 30
minutes, so that's not enough tomaster the song, of course.
And then during the week, I'msupposed to do the reps.
(14:57):
I mean, I gotta sit down and atleast 10 minutes a day, she
says, and and that's greatadvice because what ends up
happening is I end up spendingmore time, but for 10 minutes at
least, I'll sit down and I'll gothrough this song just like
that, doing my reps right handfirst.
If that's smoothly and I got it,I at least understand what the
(15:19):
notes are and the moves, youknow, because you got to move
your hand up, move your handdown, type of thing.
And then I'll do the left, thechord hand, and if that's all
good, then I'll put themtogether.
Then as the weeks go, or as theweek go, I should say, and I'm
doing my reps, it gets to thepoint where I'll jump right in
and play both hands together andI'll play the song through a few
(15:42):
times.
And, you know, if I'm learningit, if I'm really getting it,
then I try to master it more.
I try to be able to do it maybea little bit faster or practice
areas.
I'll send her a video and she'llsay, Well, you kind of like uh
it's with me, the mistakes Itypically make would be with
timing.
So she'll say that um, you know,I sped up here or I slowed down
(16:07):
here type of thing.
And then I'll go back through.
But I've been able to learn atleast to the point where I can
play some songs and some songsthat I enjoy because I put in
the reps.
I mean, I'm not gonna learn howto play the piano by taking a
lesson and then staring at thepiano the rest of the week,
right?
(16:27):
I mean, it's a pretty biginstrument and sits in the
middle of one of the main rooms.
I mean, you know, I'm not gonnaget better by walking by it, you
know.
I'm gonna actually have to dothe work.
And I enjoy the work, you know.
So, like with that, it's a greatexample of everything that we
learn to do.
We put in the reps.
(16:49):
And what I want to ask you is,are you willing to do that?
Like, I am a person that reallypushes quality, no question
about it, you know, especiallywhen it comes to form.
I mean, to me, there's not a areason to get out of good form,
there's just not a reason, otherthan you don't know, so that's
(17:13):
ignorance, or you know, you'rejust so hellbent on doing it the
way that you want to do it.
But I mean, to me, that's likeso silly, and that's not
ignorance at that point, that'sjust ego.
But there's no good reason to doexercises with bad form, there's
just no good reason for that.
So that goes without saying, butyou know, there are days that we
(17:39):
don't feel like giving it 100%intensity.
I mean, I'll go through thosedays.
I mean, I'll I'll think tomyself, so you know, pull-ups,
pull-ups are one of the greatestexercises there are.
Um, I love them in a way.
I mean, I love the results ofthem, I love the challenge of
them.
(18:00):
But pull-ups are probably thehardest thing I do in my
workouts.
And um, I think to myself, ohman, you know, I want to be able
to knock out three sets of 10with only a minute in between,
you know.
And if you've done pull-ups orwhatever, you know that like
that's hard.
I mean, you can do 10.
I mean, that's hard to do 10,but you can do 10 and then, you
(18:22):
know, rest and go right back atit.
It's hard to do it again.
So for me, I'll look at dayslike that and go, oh man, you
know, not today.
Like maybe, you know, later inthe week when I feel more
energetic and I work out on thisarea again, I'll attempt that.
But today I don't have themental energy for that.
(18:43):
So I'm still gonna do the repsthough.
Like, I'm not going to not doit.
I just may not do it with asmuch intensity, right?
I may do three sets of fiveinstead of three sets of 10,
whatever, something like that.
Or probably more likely do pulldowns in replace of pull-ups so
(19:05):
I can manipulate the weight andstill do the reps.
So, like that's just oneexample.
But the point is that we shouldalways do the work.
I mean, it's not always going tobe with maximum intensity.
But if you went to the gym andlet's say your trainer has you
doing, or you have yourselfdoing seven exercises, I mean,
(19:28):
that you know, that's prettystandard if you're doing
multiple sets or whatever.
So, say seven exercises andyou're doing three sets of a
muscle group, and uh maybeyou're doing 10 to 12 reps.
I mean, then do it.
Like put in the work with asmuch focus as you have and as
much intensity as you have.
But again, the intensity canwaver a little bit, and that's
(19:50):
okay, but definitely with asmuch focus as you have as you
have and use as good a form asyou can.
Putting in the work really,really matters.
And the same goes for cardio.
You may wake up some days andyou know you're supposed to go
for a 30-minute walk, or you putthat in your calendar to put in
(20:11):
the reps the next day for your30-minute walk.
So you know that's like ideallythe way you wanted to start your
morning, start your day.
I mean, if you go out and do it,you are gonna feel so much
better than if you skipped, andmaybe you don't have the same
energy you had last time you didit, the day before, or whatever.
(20:35):
But if you still do it, You arestill getting the benefits.
I promise you, and it's it's onmy list of max fit commandments,
consistency is number one.
I mean, there are people outthere that we call weekend
warriors or people that startout with all the piss and
(20:57):
vinegar that they can muster.
And, you know, they'll tell me,oh, you know, I used to work
out, so really push me.
And, you know, I want to comeevery day, and I got the money,
and you know, and on theweekends, you know, I want to do
this, I want to do this.
And I'm always shaking my head,going, oh boy, you know, this
person is gonna flame out, youknow, most likely they're not
(21:20):
gonna stick to it becausethere's just too much intensity
in the beginning, and you wonderwhere all that is coming from.
And the problem with that is itdoesn't work.
I mean, yeah, if somebody cansustain it, great, but most of
the time that's just notsustainable.
But the person who's willing todo enough on a regular basis is
(21:42):
gonna be the person that winsthe race, so to say.
Like it's really the consistencythat matters.
Getting up day in, day out,doing the reps, whatever they
might be, even if you don't feellike it, doing it anyway and put
it in the work, you're gonna getthe benefits.
It's the person that is willingto be consistent day in and day
(22:07):
out, not just when the moodstrikes them, or not just when
the environment is favorable, ornot just when their friend shows
up, or not just when, you know,that certain instructor is
working, but the person thatshows up all the time and puts
in the work is going to be theone that gets the benefits.
(22:29):
And that's really where theconsistency and the reps come
in.
Maybe the reps you need to do isto work on that diet.
Like maybe you finally startedlistening to me and you realize
that yes, you're getting morefit, yes, you're getting
stronger.
But if you want to get thatweight where you need it, you're
gonna have to put in the workwith the diet.
(22:49):
I mean, I've always said thatall of that is 80%.
I mean, the diet is 80% of that.
Like you can exercise all youwant, but if you're not working
on that diet, you're not gonnaget that weight where you want
it.
And the way we put in the repswith that is going to be, say,
logging our food in a food applike MyFitnessPal or an
equivalent.
Like that's putting in the repsday in and day out.
(23:12):
It can be tedious, it can, youknow, be a pain sometimes, like
you you don't know what how tofind the food or or the right
measurement, or it's just a painin the butt, but it works.
And if you're willing to do itday in and day out, you're going
to see the trends that you do,you're going to see where you're
(23:33):
inconsistent, you're going tosee where you're eating too
much, you're going to see whenyou're consuming too many
saturated fats, you're going tosee when you're consuming too
many processed sugars, and youwill make adjustments if you're
like everybody else, because weare a lot more similar than not
alike.
So putting in the reps with dietis simply that.
(23:57):
Again, maybe you're not havingthe greatest day.
So you think, well, you knowwhat?
I'm going to have a little bitof this more than I usually do.
Okay, it's not the end of theworld.
But keep logging your food,staying with it.
Don't just throw it out.
Too many people just throw itout.
They get inconsistent.
(24:17):
They start getting off the wagona little bit.
And then the next thing youknow, they say, Oh, the hell
with it.
I'm just not going to track it.
Where they would have beenbetter to just get off the wagon
a little bit, still log it, makethe best adjustment because
we're always going to feeldifferent at another time.
We are going to feel better, andwe're going to be mad at
(24:38):
ourselves if we totally threw itall out just because we had one
little mistake.
So we put in the reps in ourdiet as well.
So, really, we're we're coveringtwo things here.
We have to be cognizant ofquality.
Absolutely.
That's never going to change.
(25:00):
Like, same with food.
I mean, of course, it's betterto have a quality food, such as
a whole grain, versus aprocessed sugar.
They're both carbohydrates.
One of them has greater quality.
It's better to have, say, anorganic Greek yogurt, non-fat,
(25:22):
which is a high quality protein,versus beef.
No doubt about it.
That is better to do.
But we don't throw everythingout just because we don't have
perfect quality.
We keep chugging on and we keepputting in the reps.
So the reps is making the bestchoices we can and logging our
(25:42):
food.
The reps is going to the gym anddoing the prescribed workout to
the best of our abilities.
The reps is getting up, puttingin the doing the cardio, even on
days we don't feel like it.
And again, this can apply to anyventure that you're talking
about.
If you're still in school, thereps is going to be say study
(26:02):
for an hour a day.
If you're trying to like improveyour intellectual wellness, you
know, like I think we allshould.
Like I love to read.
I don't, you know, necessarilyhave a set prescription here,
but you know, some people willsay read 10 pages a day.
If you're struggling withgetting in reading time, just
(26:25):
make sure you get in 10 pages aday.
I've heard that before.
I mean, that's great advice.
That is putting in the reps.
All right.
So we can't be so like black andwhite.
It's all qualitative or orforget it, or it's all
quantitative and hell with howwe do it.
No, it's gray.
It's both.
We have to put in the reps andwe have to do the best job we
(26:49):
can to do it with the best ofour ability, but that's where
it's going to change.
Some days we're going to be 100%spot on.
Other days we're going to be alittle lazier or just tired, and
we're not going to use as muchintensity.
That's okay.
We still need to do it.
Do the reps.
All right.
(27:10):
Thank you everybody forlistening to today's show.
I really appreciate it.
I want to remind you to pleasehit automatic download.
It really helps me and it helpsthe show.
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