July 16, 2025 • 32 mins
Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to there is a Method to the Madness.
My name is Rob Maxwell and I'man exercise physiologist and
personal trainer.
I am the owner of Maxwell'sFitness 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 amethod to the madness.
Before I get to today's show, Iwant to thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gildan of the Gildan 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.
(00:44):
386-451-2412.
All right, let's talk about whathappens when we work out.
This is going to be a prettyphysiological podcast and I
think it's really necessary.
You know this is the heart ofthe matter.
There is a method to themadness.
(01:07):
So I want to talk about whatactually goes on, because when
we know that, then we will knowhow to exercise appropriately.
I've had a lot of questionsabout this recently and there's
always stuff on social media andbeing bounced around in the
channels that I listen to andwatch about proper ways to train
(01:31):
and what happens, and I end upscratching my head a lot,
chuckling out loud a lot,because I'm like, if people like
knew what went on in the body,they would have a better idea of
how to train and what the goalof each workout really becomes.
I don't expect the everydayperson, the gym goer, to
(01:53):
necessarily know that, but, like, I think, if more exercise
professionals really knew, andlook, they just don't.
I mean only 20% of the trainersout there nationwide have any
form of credentials to betelling people what to do.
So look, unfortunately in myindustry it's buyer beware.
(02:17):
A lot of trainers flat out donot know the science, do not
know the physiology, do not knowthe biology, don't know the
biology, don't know theirmuscles, don't know the
kinesiology, and so they end upjust kind of throwing together a
workout plan that has maybeworked for them or that they've
seen other people do, or thatthey copy from somebody and look
(02:39):
, I mean, you guys pay for morethan that.
I think.
So, buyer beware.
So let's talk about what goes onwhen we work out, when we
stress ourselves.
What we're really doing is,first off I'm going to talk
about all the things that happenFirst off is we create
(03:00):
microscopic muscle tears in theactual individual muscle fibers.
So the muscle fibers make upthe muscle belly.
There are thousands of musclefibers within a muscle belly and
they make up the muscle belly,up the muscle belly.
(03:32):
When we work out we createlittle microscopic tears within
those fibers, so there is damagebeing done and we want that.
We need a particular level ofstress.
So that's the first thing thathappens.
When we strength train and Ishould say strength train
appropriately the next thingthat happens is there's actual
disruption of the littleproteins in the fibers of the
(03:54):
muscle, which are called actinand myosin.
So actin and myosin slideacross each other to actually
create the muscular contraction.
When they come together, that'swhat we call the shortening of
the muscle or a contraction ofthe muscle.
And when we work out, when wework out hard enough and for a
(04:19):
beginner hard enough is simplypicking up a weight.
For an advanced person you haveto get a lot closer to failure.
But when that happens theactinomycin get damaged and thus
they need repair.
So that is the second thingthat happens during a workout
which requires rest and repair.
(04:41):
The third thing that happens isthere's actual inflammation that
goes on within the musclefibers and then within the
muscle spindles and then withinthe muscle bellies themselves.
So our body does that.
Inflammation is our body'snatural defense mechanism.
Too much of it is a bad thing,not enough of it is not a good
(05:06):
thing.
Just the right amount isperfect.
You're going to getinflammation when those two
above things happen, all right.
So you're going to getpro-inflammatory cells, like the
neutrophils and the macrophages, to infiltrate the muscle and
it's going to help bring about amuscle repair.
(05:28):
All right.
So that's what happens.
So we need these things tooccur or we are not going to
grow.
Now, the second part of thispodcast is going to be later in
the week, but there's going tobe a part two.
I'm going to talk about how webest bring this stuff about.
(05:49):
All right, because we want this.
We need to have a particularamount of stress to the muscles
or they're not going to grow.
I had a friend send me a textthis morning.
She had worked out in adifferent way for the first time
in a while and she said I amsore and sent a, you know,
(06:10):
muscle emoji thing.
And you know, that is a goodthing.
A little side note when clientsin the past, you know, I sort
of say in a joking way.
But if they'll come in and say,oh man, I'm really sore and in
fairness, a lot of people don'trealize that soreness is I mean,
(06:34):
it's overall a good thing, it'snot a necessary thing.
I don't want you to feel likeyou have to be sore every
workout because I work outreally intense and I pretty much
don't get sore.
It's not because I'm better oranything like that, it's just I
have adapted to it and we don'tneed that much soreness for
those three things I justmentioned to occur.
(06:57):
But when we're new to amovement or new to an activity
or new to working out again orcoming back, we are going to get
sore.
So I would joke with clientswhen they say I'm sore, I'd say
oh man, I wish I was sore,because I want them to
understand that it's not a badthing.
Too many times the educationisn't out there and people think
(07:17):
soreness is a bad thing.
Soreness isn't a bad thing,soreness isn't a great thing,
soreness is just a thing Allright.
So now, what happens when werest?
So the first part is we have tobreak it down.
We have to have those thingsoccur.
We need to have the microscopictears.
(07:40):
We need to have the disruptionin the actin and the myosin, and
we do need to have a certainamount of inflammation.
That has to occur if we want toget better.
I was just in here preparing forthis podcast, and Ellen was out
working with a client, and theclient said something very
positive client, hardworkingclient, said something to the
(08:03):
effect of I should know, oncethis gets easier, it's going to
get harder, and Alan said that'sright, it's all about overload,
and that is the truth.
So we want this to occur.
Ok, once it occurs, though,then we have to do what it takes
for us to recover and get whatwe need.
(08:23):
So what happens during therepair process is first, we have
what is called MPS, and that iscalled muscle protein synthesis
.
So if the amino acids arepresent which is why it is
important to eat something aftera workout we don't need a ton
(08:46):
of protein.
Okay, I could do a wholepodcast, and I have on this
subject.
We just need enough.
Wayne Westcott did a studyprobably 20 years ago, and he
found that 15 grams of proteinafter a workout is enough.
I'll tell people 25 sometimes,just to make sure that's okay,
(09:07):
but when people think they need50 grams of protein, like you
see on these ridiculous proteinjugs that they're trying to sell
you at GNC and all these otherplaces and in the mail order
magazines.
You know 50 grams.
I mean they just want you touse that up.
So you buy another $60 gallonof protein, right?
You don't need to actually usethat.
(09:29):
I'll use it because, to behonest with you, it's convenient
and it tastes good.
It adds a little bit to mynasty skim milk that I could,
you know, drink right after aworkout.
But there's nothing magic aboutprotein powder.
It's convenient and whateverthey use for flavoring makes the
drink taste good.
It's really that simple.
But we do need protein after aworkout, basically within an
(09:53):
hour.
But we don't need that much.
Okay, because, as I said, theMPS, the muscle protein
synthesis, will occur where thebody uses the amino acids and
the amino acids are the buildingblocks of protein.
So when I say amino acids,that's what I mean.
And they get into the systemand they make those new muscle
(10:16):
proteins that have beendestroyed or damaged.
Destroyed or damaged, and I'msure you remember from 10
minutes ago what those proteinsare actin and myosin of the
muscle fiber.
All right, the second thingthat happens during recovery,
(10:38):
hence active recovery youactually have to consume food is
the first part, but the secondpart is satellite cell
activation.
Now, satellite cell and stemcells are synonymous with each
other and basically what happensduring recovery if we rest, if
we eat, is these stem cells thenproliferate and activate and
(11:00):
contribute to muscle fiberregeneration.
So without the rest process,without the food process, we
don't get the satellite cellactivation to help the muscle
fibers regenerate.
If the muscle fibers don'tregenerate, like if all we're
doing is tearing them down thinkabout a rubber band that
(11:23):
continues to get pulled andpulled and pulled Eventually
it's going to break.
All right, now we don't wantthat to happen.
But even lesser extreme thanthat would be the fact that
they're simply not going to grow.
So that is what happens duringthe recovery process.
The third thing that happensduring the recovery process is
(11:44):
mitochondrial biogenesis.
So the mitochondria is the partof mostly a slow twitch but
also fast twitch muscle fibercell that uses oxygen in the
muscle contraction.
All right, and as we know well,maybe we don't know, I
shouldn't say that that's verybad of me.
(12:08):
We don't know, probably wedon't know, but we only use
oxygen during aerobic activity.
So we're talking mostly aboutslow twitch muscle fibers here
with myocondrial biogenesis, butmostly talking about strength
training here.
But we're also talking about,or I'm also talking about, when
we do intense work anaerobically, aerobically, like bicycle
sprints or running at the track,we're going to do damage to
(12:31):
those muscle fibers too.
And so during the repairprocess of the slow twitch
muscle fibers, we're going toget some mitochondrial
biogenesis of the slow twitchmuscle fibers.
We're going to get somemitochondrial biogenesis.
Essentially, what that means isyou're going to create more
mitochondria within the cells ofthe slow twitch muscle fiber.
Not to get in the weeds here,but I do feel like I owe this to
(12:52):
you.
When you're training for bothstrength and endurance, this
becomes kind of tough, because astrength training or an athlete
that really is concerned mostlywith hypertrophy doesn't
necessarily want moremitochondrial biogenesis,
because that's going to make theintermediate muscle fiber more
(13:14):
aerobic and we don't necessarilywant that.
But that is going to occur whenyou do a lot of high, intense
cardiovascular exercise, whenyou're doing a lot of sprinting
on the bike, sprinting on theruns, things like that.
That's going to occur andthat's how those muscle fibers
come back stronger and enableyou to basically run your best
(13:35):
5k or whatever it is you'reshooting for, or bringing back
the miracle mile, as we'retrying to do.
If you want to improve yourmile time, you better hope that
your mitochondria is moreefficient at that level.
All right, now what do we reallyneed muscle recovery for?
(13:57):
So the first thing is we needthe muscle cell to repair.
That's.
I've said it three times now.
We need the muscle fiber itselfto repair Until it has come
back, which is why it's oftenstated you need between 24, 48
hours before you work out again,at least the same muscles.
Now part two of this.
(14:18):
I'm going to talk about that inmuch more depth, because it may
be longer than 48 hours.
This is where you need to learnto listen to your body, to
figure out exactly what yourfrequency and volume and
intensity needs to be.
Actually, I shouldn't sayintensity, because your
intensity needs to be high atall times if you want those
things to occur.
(14:38):
But you, on a personal level,need to figure out are you best
after 48 hours?
Are you best after, say, 96hours, four days?
We don't know.
I mean, that's where I try totrain clients and trainees how
to listen to their body, tofigure it out, and oftentimes
you can tell in the numbers ifyou're paying attention, by the
(15:01):
way.
All right.
So we need muscle fiber repair.
The next thing we need isglycogen store repletion.
I mean, if you don't get all ofthe glycogen back in the muscle
, if it's not replenished, Imean you can't do what you need
to do.
That is why I just roll my eyesand get so frustrated with the
(15:23):
idiots online that are tellingpeople how to eat and have them
on low-carb diets.
You cannot grow on a low-carbdiet, I mean.
The second thing we need isglycogen restoration, and if you
don't have that, you're notgoing to be able to do what you
(15:43):
need to do.
So you need your muscle fibersto be at full load.
We store up to 500 grams ofglycogen in the body.
That is 2,000 calories worth.
We store 400 grams in themuscle.
We store 100 grams in the liver.
If you don't replenish withcarbs and protein after you work
(16:05):
out, you're not going to haveyour glycogen levels back up to
par.
You need to eat proper food torestore your glycogen.
So that is what else is neededin recovery, all right.
The third thing you need ishormonal regulation.
So muscle fibers need to heal,glycogen needs to be restored
(16:28):
and your hormonal regulationneeds to occur.
All right, so if you work outtoo much, if you burn the candle
at both ends, you're going tocreate too much cortisol and
that is the opposite of hormonalregulation.
So how do we get hormonalregulation?
We rest, we sleep, we need thatdeep sleep.
(16:49):
Nobody knows for sure how manyhours is best for you.
All right, and I'm not going tosit here and enter this debate.
I see too many bits of adviceout there where people say, oh,
eight hours, oh, that's notenough.
10 hours, oh, it's not enough.
12 hours I don't think anybodyknows.
The only person that knows,again, is the individual.
(17:10):
We just know we need deep restand we need deep sleep.
And if we're not getting that,if we're burning the candle at
both ends, we are not going tobe our best physically.
So we need to rest, which meanstake time off and away from the
intense activity.
We need to eat so our proteinlevels provide the amino acids
(17:35):
for restoration 15 grams.
We need enough carbohydrates soour glycogen levels get back up
the store and we need tocontinue to eat healthy carbs
throughout the day so they staythere.
And we need to sleep forhormonal regulation.
Now I'm going to talk a littlebit about how we balance all
this, all right.
(17:57):
So, so, probably 40, 50 yearsago, exercise physiologists
started to get a little bitsmarter, all right, and it
mostly started in Germany andRussia.
They were a little bit above us, you know, a little bit smarter
than us when it came totraining.
Basically, they were justkicking the shit out of us in
the Olympics, left and right,and, you know, we got tired of
(18:20):
it.
So we started kind of sendingour scientists over there to
figure out what was going on.
And outside of the fact thatthey, well, you know, allegedly
were using drugs before we were,but I don't know, that just may
be us trying to, you know, say,somebody else does it.
There's no question that peopleworldwide use, you know,
anabolic steroids.
(18:41):
But anyway, what they found wasthey were using Hans Selye's
General Adaptation Syndromemodel of stress.
They started using his model,which is now the model that
everybody uses for stress, andit is dead on, true, and it is
dead on right.
And if we want to get the bestout of our workouts, if we want
(19:02):
to get the best out of ourselvesphysically, we need to
understand far more about thisthan we do old Joe Schmoe's how
to get big routine on Instagram.
We need to really understandthis much better.
Basically, there are threestages to his adaptation
syndrome.
Stage one is the alarm stage.
(19:23):
That's when we are introducedto any stress.
That is when we go throughfight or flight, the alarm stage
.
Picking up a weight that's analarm stage.
Continuing the set, that's analarm stage.
Looking at the clock andrealizing we're five minutes
late to our appointment, that'sthe alarm stage.
(19:44):
So with stress and I have tostress, no pun intended, that we
need stress to grow If we don'thave enough stress, we're not
going to grow.
So when I say grow, I mean gothrough hypertrophy, get
stronger.
We need an appropriate level ofstress or we're not going to
(20:05):
grow.
So essentially, we need thealarm stage to happen.
We the stress persists, forexample, if we do enough
repetitions on the chest press,if we do enough push-ups, if we
(20:30):
do enough squats.
So if the stress persists whenwe rest, our body will then
normalize and bring abouthomeostasis.
Then normalize and bring abouthomeostasis.
It will make the adjustmentsnecessary to create homeostasis
to the next new level, as longas those other things I already
(20:53):
mentioned are provided forrecovery.
If we do those things, we willget through the resistance stage
, and that is a good thing.
That's a great thing.
That's great in every area.
If we study enough, but not toomuch, we will increase those
motor neurons in the brain.
(21:13):
We will increase circulation,we will get smarter per se, we
will become more educated that'sgreat.
We need stress to get better ateverything.
We will go through theresistance stage.
Our body will do what it needsto do, we'll reach a new, higher
level of homeostasis and wewill be stronger, all right.
(21:35):
So the Germans and the Russiansfigured this out and made what
they call periodization programsto where they're trying to
figure out the perfect amount ofstress and rest, and they came
up with all these really complexdesigns, which are good.
I mean, they are good.
I'm not like making fun of them, they're good and we still use
(21:55):
them to this day, but that's howthey use this general
adaptation syndrome to come upwith something for the physical
world.
They came up with periodization, and it is a good thing.
Basically, a lot of it is trainhard for three weeks, take a
week off, those types of things,all right.
So a lot of the block or brickmodels came from this.
All right.
(22:16):
Now I need to stress at thispoint after stage two stop.
That's the hardest part forpeople.
We don't want to get to stagethree.
That is the exhaustion stage.
If we keep pushing past thatpoint where homeostasis is going
to occur, we are going to getexhausted.
(22:39):
That means we stress the musclefibers too far.
That means that we've depletedour glycogen too much.
That means that we've stressedour muscle fibers so far.
We've caused so much disruptionbetween the actinomycin that we
have too much inflammation andinstead of a normal 24 hours for
(23:00):
it to kind of work its way out,or you get some assistance and
get a great massage from Ellento help get rid of some of that
inflammation after a workout,whatever.
But if you push it too far,you've taken three or four days
now to get over it.
You start working out again.
You haven't got all theinflammation out.
Bing bang, boom.
You are overtrained.
(23:21):
So if we push past or into theexhaustion stage, stage three
we're going to deplete all ofour reserves.
Not only is our progress goingto stop, but we're also going to
go backwards.
And there are some studies thatshow that if you get
physiologically overtrained, itcould take up to six months to
(23:44):
recover, and that is not a goodthing, all right.
So, speaking of stress andrecovery, selye went on to
explain that there areessentially three types of
stress, but the most importantthing of this, let me just name
them new stress, which isneutral stress.
(24:04):
I mean, I used to joke with mystudents when I taught them it's
like what the hell is a neutralstress?
I mean, who knows?
And I don't even know, honestly, if Selye he's credited to that
, but I kind of think theybrought that term in later.
He definitely talked about thesecond one, which is distress.
So distress is not a good thing, all right.
(24:26):
Distress means you're drivingdown the road, you know you're
cruising along at your normalcruising speed of 86 miles an
hour and boom, you hear thesiren.
You see the light Right, fightor flight Start kicking off.
Adrenaline starts kicking, yourheart rate goes up.
You think of every excuse inthe world.
(24:48):
You're going to try to calmthis officer into not giving you
a ticket.
That's distress, all right.
Now, eustress E-U-S-T-R-E-S-Sis a positive stress.
So that's like strengthtraining.
Or you got a new job, or yougot a promotion which requires
more responsibility.
You became pregnant, you'regoing to have a kid, you're
getting married these are allgood things, but they are stress
(25:09):
.
What Selye pointed out is stressis stress is stress.
So professional athletes don'thave to do anything else but
train.
That is a total win for them.
They're not doing anything else.
So sometimes I see these youknow athletes that are following
(25:31):
these Ironman for triathlon,people for endurance people,
professional workout programs,and they're like working full
time.
It's like dude, they're notworking full-time, that's their
job.
They can handle 20 hours a weekof training because they're not
working 40 hours a week on topof it.
That is their job.
(25:52):
So you are not going to havenumber one.
You probably don't have thegenetics to be at that level,
but sometimes it's.
People forget that for one andthey also forget that they're
working a full-time job.
So you're not going to have thesame, say, performance of those
professional athletes doingthose kind of hours.
(26:14):
It's impossible to do both.
So stress is stress is stress.
When somebody works full timeand trains hard, that's going to
be far harder for them to reachthe performances that maybe
they want to meetexpectation-wise than the person
who doesn't have to work ordoesn't have to take care of
(26:36):
their kids, which is work, ordoesn't have to do this or that.
Like if somebody is living andthere's nothing wrong with that
I'm not being judgmental but ifsomebody is living that
privileged lifestyle of they gota lot of time on their hands
and they can train all day long,they can go to the gym because
(26:57):
they don't have a lot of otherresponsibilities, well, they're
going to recover faster, they'regoing to be able to do that.
But if you're working full-time, don't feel, or are committed
full-time, don't feel like youhave to do that and that's going
to be part two of this.
You don't have to do so much toget the benefits and remember
(27:18):
that's going to becounterproductive because, as
Selji taught us, remember that'sgoing to be counterproductive.
Because, as Selji taught us,stress is stress is stress.
If you're working full time,that's stress.
And then you go home and God,if you have kids, please spend
time with them.
Don't go out and do a I knowthis sounds judgmental, but I
see it too often Don't go outand do a 30 mile bike ride and
(27:39):
your kid hasn't eaten dinner.
It's like we have stress andresponsibilities to meet and so
we have to understand that ifyou are fully committed
somewhere else you need to learnhow to modify these workouts.
You shouldn't be following thepros anyway.
Number one they have all thetime in the world.
Number two you don't ask aracehorse how they got fast.
(28:00):
You don't even know if they'retraining properly for them, let
alone for you.
Okay, so stress is stress isstress.
The final thing I'm going to sayabout this is also a lot of
times with elite and proathletes is unfortunately
they're taking drugs.
Now sometimes you know it'slegal.
I mean steroids didn't becomeillegal until 1991.
(28:22):
So you know, when people makeall these you know gripes about
Major League Baseball and peoplelike that, it's like, okay, but
it wasn't illegal, you know,until 1991.
I'm not saying it's good.
I don't think it's good.
I absolutely know people whohave been on steroids and it has
killed them.
I know people personally.
I know others that have been onthem and they've gotten very.
(28:43):
I know people personally.
I know others that have been onthem and they've gotten very,
very sick and we've seen ithappen with people.
Maybe we don't know, or atleast I don't know.
I've seen it with professionalathletes where it definitely has
caused health consequences.
So I am by no means an advocateof steroids.
I think it's actuallyridiculous, if you want my
opinion.
But I will say this theathletes take them.
(29:05):
That can get away with it,because they work.
What they do is they speed uprecovery.
That is what steroids do.
Remember the whole hormonalregulation thing I talked about.
That happens when you sleep andrestore.
Well, steroids take care ofthat for you, right?
I mean, they are hormones,that's what they are
testosterone, so they help yourestore.
(29:28):
That way, they speed uprecovery.
They get rid of inflammation.
Remember the inflammation thingI talked about.
After we work out, we have alot of inflammation to repair
the muscle damage and to repairthe disruption in the actin and
the myosin protein filaments.
Well, guess what Steroidsrepair.
So people that are takinganabolic steroids or growth
hormones of any kind are goingto repair.
(29:51):
They can train every day.
They can train hard every day.
That's the other thing that youdon't know what these
professional athletes are doing.
They're talking about theirworkouts.
The bodybuilders are writingtheir workouts in Muscle and
Fitness magazine, or that usedto be the magazine.
I don't know if it occursanymore.
Maybe it's in Men's Health now.
(30:11):
Some of these professionals aretalking about their workouts.
Okay, you don't know if they'renot taking steroids and if
they're a professional or elite,most likely they are All right.
So that's what steroids do.
It is not good.
With everything in life.
There's no free lunch.
Might help them work out, itmight help them recover or it
(30:33):
absolutely does help themrecover, but it comes with a
kick-ass side effect of healthconsequences in most people.
All right, so please listen topart two that will be coming up
later in this week and I'm goingto talk about how to exactly
find that balance between enough, not enough and too much.
(30:54):
All right, so please tune in,please hit automatic download
and, look, do me a favor, textthis to at least one person.
I would appreciate it.
Thank you for listening totoday's program.
I ask you to please follow theshow wherever you get your
podcasts and please selectautomatic download, because that
(31:17):
really helps the show.
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I personally vouch for Jeff andZach Hawk, the owners.
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(31:39):
at 386-222-3165.
Welcome to there is a Method to the Madness.
My name is Rob Maxwell and I'man exercise physiologist and
personal trainer.
I am the owner of Maxwell'sFitness 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 amethod to the madness.
Before I get to today's show, Iwant to thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gildan of the Gildan 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
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386-451-2412.
(00:44):
386-451-2412.
All right, let's talk about whathappens when we work out.
This is going to be a prettyphysiological podcast and I
think it's really necessary.
You know this is the heart ofthe matter.
There is a method to themadness.
(01:07):
So I want to talk about whatactually goes on, because when
we know that, then we will knowhow to exercise appropriately.
I've had a lot of questionsabout this recently and there's
always stuff on social media andbeing bounced around in the
channels that I listen to andwatch about proper ways to train
(01:31):
and what happens, and I end upscratching my head a lot,
chuckling out loud a lot,because I'm like, if people like
knew what went on in the body,they would have a better idea of
how to train and what the goalof each workout really becomes.
I don't expect the everydayperson, the gym goer, to
(01:53):
necessarily know that, but, like, I think, if more exercise
professionals really knew, andlook, they just don't.
I mean only 20% of the trainersout there nationwide have any
form of credentials to betelling people what to do.
So look, unfortunately in myindustry it's buyer beware.
(02:17):
A lot of trainers flat out donot know the science, do not
know the physiology, do not knowthe biology, don't know the
biology, don't know theirmuscles, don't know the
kinesiology, and so they end upjust kind of throwing together a
workout plan that has maybeworked for them or that they've
seen other people do, or thatthey copy from somebody and look
(02:39):
, I mean, you guys pay for morethan that.
I think.
So, buyer beware.
So let's talk about what goes onwhen we work out, when we
stress ourselves.
What we're really doing is,first off I'm going to talk
about all the things that happenFirst off is we create
(03:00):
microscopic muscle tears in theactual individual muscle fibers.
So the muscle fibers make upthe muscle belly.
There are thousands of musclefibers within a muscle belly and
they make up the muscle belly,up the muscle belly.
(03:32):
When we work out we createlittle microscopic tears within
those fibers, so there is damagebeing done and we want that.
We need a particular level ofstress.
So that's the first thing thathappens.
When we strength train and Ishould say strength train
appropriately the next thingthat happens is there's actual
disruption of the littleproteins in the fibers of the
(03:54):
muscle, which are called actinand myosin.
So actin and myosin slideacross each other to actually
create the muscular contraction.
When they come together, that'swhat we call the shortening of
the muscle or a contraction ofthe muscle.
And when we work out, when wework out hard enough and for a
(04:19):
beginner hard enough is simplypicking up a weight.
For an advanced person you haveto get a lot closer to failure.
But when that happens theactinomycin get damaged and thus
they need repair.
So that is the second thingthat happens during a workout
which requires rest and repair.
(04:41):
The third thing that happens isthere's actual inflammation that
goes on within the musclefibers and then within the
muscle spindles and then withinthe muscle bellies themselves.
So our body does that.
Inflammation is our body'snatural defense mechanism.
Too much of it is a bad thing,not enough of it is not a good
(05:06):
thing.
Just the right amount isperfect.
You're going to getinflammation when those two
above things happen, all right.
So you're going to getpro-inflammatory cells, like the
neutrophils and the macrophages, to infiltrate the muscle and
it's going to help bring about amuscle repair.
(05:28):
All right.
So that's what happens.
So we need these things tooccur or we are not going to
grow.
Now, the second part of thispodcast is going to be later in
the week, but there's going tobe a part two.
I'm going to talk about how webest bring this stuff about.
(05:49):
All right, because we want this.
We need to have a particularamount of stress to the muscles
or they're not going to grow.
I had a friend send me a textthis morning.
She had worked out in adifferent way for the first time
in a while and she said I amsore and sent a, you know,
(06:10):
muscle emoji thing.
And you know, that is a goodthing.
A little side note when clientsin the past, you know, I sort
of say in a joking way.
But if they'll come in and say,oh man, I'm really sore and in
fairness, a lot of people don'trealize that soreness is I mean,
(06:34):
it's overall a good thing, it'snot a necessary thing.
I don't want you to feel likeyou have to be sore every
workout because I work outreally intense and I pretty much
don't get sore.
It's not because I'm better oranything like that, it's just I
have adapted to it and we don'tneed that much soreness for
those three things I justmentioned to occur.
(06:57):
But when we're new to amovement or new to an activity
or new to working out again orcoming back, we are going to get
sore.
So I would joke with clientswhen they say I'm sore, I'd say
oh man, I wish I was sore,because I want them to
understand that it's not a badthing.
Too many times the educationisn't out there and people think
(07:17):
soreness is a bad thing.
Soreness isn't a bad thing,soreness isn't a great thing,
soreness is just a thing Allright.
So now, what happens when werest?
So the first part is we have tobreak it down.
We have to have those thingsoccur.
We need to have the microscopictears.
(07:40):
We need to have the disruptionin the actin and the myosin, and
we do need to have a certainamount of inflammation.
That has to occur if we want toget better.
I was just in here preparing forthis podcast, and Ellen was out
working with a client, and theclient said something very
positive client, hardworkingclient, said something to the
(08:03):
effect of I should know, oncethis gets easier, it's going to
get harder, and Alan said that'sright, it's all about overload,
and that is the truth.
So we want this to occur.
Ok, once it occurs, though,then we have to do what it takes
for us to recover and get whatwe need.
(08:23):
So what happens during therepair process is first, we have
what is called MPS, and that iscalled muscle protein synthesis
.
So if the amino acids arepresent which is why it is
important to eat something aftera workout we don't need a ton
(08:46):
of protein.
Okay, I could do a wholepodcast, and I have on this
subject.
We just need enough.
Wayne Westcott did a studyprobably 20 years ago, and he
found that 15 grams of proteinafter a workout is enough.
I'll tell people 25 sometimes,just to make sure that's okay,
(09:07):
but when people think they need50 grams of protein, like you
see on these ridiculous proteinjugs that they're trying to sell
you at GNC and all these otherplaces and in the mail order
magazines.
You know 50 grams.
I mean they just want you touse that up.
So you buy another $60 gallonof protein, right?
You don't need to actually usethat.
(09:29):
I'll use it because, to behonest with you, it's convenient
and it tastes good.
It adds a little bit to mynasty skim milk that I could,
you know, drink right after aworkout.
But there's nothing magic aboutprotein powder.
It's convenient and whateverthey use for flavoring makes the
drink taste good.
It's really that simple.
But we do need protein after aworkout, basically within an
(09:53):
hour.
But we don't need that much.
Okay, because, as I said, theMPS, the muscle protein
synthesis, will occur where thebody uses the amino acids and
the amino acids are the buildingblocks of protein.
So when I say amino acids,that's what I mean.
And they get into the systemand they make those new muscle
(10:16):
proteins that have beendestroyed or damaged.
Destroyed or damaged, and I'msure you remember from 10
minutes ago what those proteinsare actin and myosin of the
muscle fiber.
All right, the second thingthat happens during recovery,
(10:38):
hence active recovery youactually have to consume food is
the first part, but the secondpart is satellite cell
activation.
Now, satellite cell and stemcells are synonymous with each
other and basically what happensduring recovery if we rest, if
we eat, is these stem cells thenproliferate and activate and
(11:00):
contribute to muscle fiberregeneration.
So without the rest process,without the food process, we
don't get the satellite cellactivation to help the muscle
fibers regenerate.
If the muscle fibers don'tregenerate, like if all we're
doing is tearing them down thinkabout a rubber band that
(11:23):
continues to get pulled andpulled and pulled Eventually
it's going to break.
All right, now we don't wantthat to happen.
But even lesser extreme thanthat would be the fact that
they're simply not going to grow.
So that is what happens duringthe recovery process.
The third thing that happensduring the recovery process is
(11:44):
mitochondrial biogenesis.
So the mitochondria is the partof mostly a slow twitch but
also fast twitch muscle fibercell that uses oxygen in the
muscle contraction.
All right, and as we know well,maybe we don't know, I
shouldn't say that that's verybad of me.
(12:08):
We don't know, probably wedon't know, but we only use
oxygen during aerobic activity.
So we're talking mostly aboutslow twitch muscle fibers here
with myocondrial biogenesis, butmostly talking about strength
training here.
But we're also talking about,or I'm also talking about, when
we do intense work anaerobically, aerobically, like bicycle
sprints or running at the track,we're going to do damage to
(12:31):
those muscle fibers too.
And so during the repairprocess of the slow twitch
muscle fibers, we're going toget some mitochondrial
biogenesis of the slow twitchmuscle fibers.
We're going to get somemitochondrial biogenesis.
Essentially, what that means isyou're going to create more
mitochondria within the cells ofthe slow twitch muscle fiber.
Not to get in the weeds here,but I do feel like I owe this to
(12:52):
you.
When you're training for bothstrength and endurance, this
becomes kind of tough, because astrength training or an athlete
that really is concerned mostlywith hypertrophy doesn't
necessarily want moremitochondrial biogenesis,
because that's going to make theintermediate muscle fiber more
(13:14):
aerobic and we don't necessarilywant that.
But that is going to occur whenyou do a lot of high, intense
cardiovascular exercise, whenyou're doing a lot of sprinting
on the bike, sprinting on theruns, things like that.
That's going to occur andthat's how those muscle fibers
come back stronger and enableyou to basically run your best
(13:35):
5k or whatever it is you'reshooting for, or bringing back
the miracle mile, as we'retrying to do.
If you want to improve yourmile time, you better hope that
your mitochondria is moreefficient at that level.
All right, now what do we reallyneed muscle recovery for?
(13:57):
So the first thing is we needthe muscle cell to repair.
That's.
I've said it three times now.
We need the muscle fiber itselfto repair Until it has come
back, which is why it's oftenstated you need between 24, 48
hours before you work out again,at least the same muscles.
Now part two of this.
(14:18):
I'm going to talk about that inmuch more depth, because it may
be longer than 48 hours.
This is where you need to learnto listen to your body, to
figure out exactly what yourfrequency and volume and
intensity needs to be.
Actually, I shouldn't sayintensity, because your
intensity needs to be high atall times if you want those
things to occur.
(14:38):
But you, on a personal level,need to figure out are you best
after 48 hours?
Are you best after, say, 96hours, four days?
We don't know.
I mean, that's where I try totrain clients and trainees how
to listen to their body, tofigure it out, and oftentimes
you can tell in the numbers ifyou're paying attention, by the
(15:01):
way.
All right.
So we need muscle fiber repair.
The next thing we need isglycogen store repletion.
I mean, if you don't get all ofthe glycogen back in the muscle
, if it's not replenished, Imean you can't do what you need
to do.
That is why I just roll my eyesand get so frustrated with the
(15:23):
idiots online that are tellingpeople how to eat and have them
on low-carb diets.
You cannot grow on a low-carbdiet, I mean.
The second thing we need isglycogen restoration, and if you
don't have that, you're notgoing to be able to do what you
(15:43):
need to do.
So you need your muscle fibersto be at full load.
We store up to 500 grams ofglycogen in the body.
That is 2,000 calories worth.
We store 400 grams in themuscle.
We store 100 grams in the liver.
If you don't replenish withcarbs and protein after you work
(16:05):
out, you're not going to haveyour glycogen levels back up to
par.
You need to eat proper food torestore your glycogen.
So that is what else is neededin recovery, all right.
The third thing you need ishormonal regulation.
So muscle fibers need to heal,glycogen needs to be restored
(16:28):
and your hormonal regulationneeds to occur.
All right, so if you work outtoo much, if you burn the candle
at both ends, you're going tocreate too much cortisol and
that is the opposite of hormonalregulation.
So how do we get hormonalregulation?
We rest, we sleep, we need thatdeep sleep.
(16:49):
Nobody knows for sure how manyhours is best for you.
All right, and I'm not going tosit here and enter this debate.
I see too many bits of adviceout there where people say, oh,
eight hours, oh, that's notenough.
10 hours, oh, it's not enough.
12 hours I don't think anybodyknows.
The only person that knows,again, is the individual.
(17:10):
We just know we need deep restand we need deep sleep.
And if we're not getting that,if we're burning the candle at
both ends, we are not going tobe our best physically.
So we need to rest, which meanstake time off and away from the
intense activity.
We need to eat so our proteinlevels provide the amino acids
(17:35):
for restoration 15 grams.
We need enough carbohydrates soour glycogen levels get back up
the store and we need tocontinue to eat healthy carbs
throughout the day so they staythere.
And we need to sleep forhormonal regulation.
Now I'm going to talk a littlebit about how we balance all
this, all right.
(17:57):
So, so, probably 40, 50 yearsago, exercise physiologists
started to get a little bitsmarter, all right, and it
mostly started in Germany andRussia.
They were a little bit above us, you know, a little bit smarter
than us when it came totraining.
Basically, they were justkicking the shit out of us in
the Olympics, left and right,and, you know, we got tired of
(18:20):
it.
So we started kind of sendingour scientists over there to
figure out what was going on.
And outside of the fact thatthey, well, you know, allegedly
were using drugs before we were,but I don't know, that just may
be us trying to, you know, say,somebody else does it.
There's no question that peopleworldwide use, you know,
anabolic steroids.
(18:41):
But anyway, what they found wasthey were using Hans Selye's
General Adaptation Syndromemodel of stress.
They started using his model,which is now the model that
everybody uses for stress, andit is dead on, true, and it is
dead on right.
And if we want to get the bestout of our workouts, if we want
(19:02):
to get the best out of ourselvesphysically, we need to
understand far more about thisthan we do old Joe Schmoe's how
to get big routine on Instagram.
We need to really understandthis much better.
Basically, there are threestages to his adaptation
syndrome.
Stage one is the alarm stage.
(19:23):
That's when we are introducedto any stress.
That is when we go throughfight or flight, the alarm stage
.
Picking up a weight that's analarm stage.
Continuing the set, that's analarm stage.
Looking at the clock andrealizing we're five minutes
late to our appointment, that'sthe alarm stage.
(19:44):
So with stress and I have tostress, no pun intended, that we
need stress to grow If we don'thave enough stress, we're not
going to grow.
So when I say grow, I mean gothrough hypertrophy, get
stronger.
We need an appropriate level ofstress or we're not going to
(20:05):
grow.
So essentially, we need thealarm stage to happen.
We the stress persists, forexample, if we do enough
repetitions on the chest press,if we do enough push-ups, if we
(20:30):
do enough squats.
So if the stress persists whenwe rest, our body will then
normalize and bring abouthomeostasis.
Then normalize and bring abouthomeostasis.
It will make the adjustmentsnecessary to create homeostasis
to the next new level, as longas those other things I already
(20:53):
mentioned are provided forrecovery.
If we do those things, we willget through the resistance stage
, and that is a good thing.
That's a great thing.
That's great in every area.
If we study enough, but not toomuch, we will increase those
motor neurons in the brain.
(21:13):
We will increase circulation,we will get smarter per se, we
will become more educated that'sgreat.
We need stress to get better ateverything.
We will go through theresistance stage.
Our body will do what it needsto do, we'll reach a new, higher
level of homeostasis and wewill be stronger, all right.
(21:35):
So the Germans and the Russiansfigured this out and made what
they call periodization programsto where they're trying to
figure out the perfect amount ofstress and rest, and they came
up with all these really complexdesigns, which are good.
I mean, they are good.
I'm not like making fun of them, they're good and we still use
(21:55):
them to this day, but that's howthey use this general
adaptation syndrome to come upwith something for the physical
world.
They came up with periodization, and it is a good thing.
Basically, a lot of it is trainhard for three weeks, take a
week off, those types of things,all right.
So a lot of the block or brickmodels came from this.
All right.
(22:16):
Now I need to stress at thispoint after stage two stop.
That's the hardest part forpeople.
We don't want to get to stagethree.
That is the exhaustion stage.
If we keep pushing past thatpoint where homeostasis is going
to occur, we are going to getexhausted.
(22:39):
That means we stress the musclefibers too far.
That means that we've depletedour glycogen too much.
That means that we've stressedour muscle fibers so far.
We've caused so much disruptionbetween the actinomycin that we
have too much inflammation andinstead of a normal 24 hours for
(23:00):
it to kind of work its way out,or you get some assistance and
get a great massage from Ellento help get rid of some of that
inflammation after a workout,whatever.
But if you push it too far,you've taken three or four days
now to get over it.
You start working out again.
You haven't got all theinflammation out.
Bing bang, boom.
You are overtrained.
(23:21):
So if we push past or into theexhaustion stage, stage three
we're going to deplete all ofour reserves.
Not only is our progress goingto stop, but we're also going to
go backwards.
And there are some studies thatshow that if you get
physiologically overtrained, itcould take up to six months to
(23:44):
recover, and that is not a goodthing, all right.
So, speaking of stress andrecovery, selye went on to
explain that there areessentially three types of
stress, but the most importantthing of this, let me just name
them new stress, which isneutral stress.
(24:04):
I mean, I used to joke with mystudents when I taught them it's
like what the hell is a neutralstress?
I mean, who knows?
And I don't even know, honestly, if Selye he's credited to that
, but I kind of think theybrought that term in later.
He definitely talked about thesecond one, which is distress.
So distress is not a good thing, all right.
(24:26):
Distress means you're drivingdown the road, you know you're
cruising along at your normalcruising speed of 86 miles an
hour and boom, you hear thesiren.
You see the light Right, fightor flight Start kicking off.
Adrenaline starts kicking, yourheart rate goes up.
You think of every excuse inthe world.
(24:48):
You're going to try to calmthis officer into not giving you
a ticket.
That's distress, all right.
Now, eustress E-U-S-T-R-E-S-Sis a positive stress.
So that's like strengthtraining.
Or you got a new job, or yougot a promotion which requires
more responsibility.
You became pregnant, you'regoing to have a kid, you're
getting married these are allgood things, but they are stress
(25:09):
.
What Selye pointed out is stressis stress is stress.
So professional athletes don'thave to do anything else but
train.
That is a total win for them.
They're not doing anything else.
So sometimes I see these youknow athletes that are following
(25:31):
these Ironman for triathlon,people for endurance people,
professional workout programs,and they're like working full
time.
It's like dude, they're notworking full-time, that's their
job.
They can handle 20 hours a weekof training because they're not
working 40 hours a week on topof it.
That is their job.
(25:52):
So you are not going to havenumber one.
You probably don't have thegenetics to be at that level,
but sometimes it's.
People forget that for one andthey also forget that they're
working a full-time job.
So you're not going to have thesame, say, performance of those
professional athletes doingthose kind of hours.
(26:14):
It's impossible to do both.
So stress is stress is stress.
When somebody works full timeand trains hard, that's going to
be far harder for them to reachthe performances that maybe
they want to meetexpectation-wise than the person
who doesn't have to work ordoesn't have to take care of
(26:36):
their kids, which is work, ordoesn't have to do this or that.
Like if somebody is living andthere's nothing wrong with that
I'm not being judgmental but ifsomebody is living that
privileged lifestyle of they gota lot of time on their hands
and they can train all day long,they can go to the gym because
(26:57):
they don't have a lot of otherresponsibilities, well, they're
going to recover faster, they'regoing to be able to do that.
But if you're working full-time, don't feel, or are committed
full-time, don't feel like youhave to do that and that's going
to be part two of this.
You don't have to do so much toget the benefits and remember
(27:18):
that's going to becounterproductive because, as
Selji taught us, remember that'sgoing to be counterproductive.
Because, as Selji taught us,stress is stress is stress.
If you're working full time,that's stress.
And then you go home and God,if you have kids, please spend
time with them.
Don't go out and do a I knowthis sounds judgmental, but I
see it too often Don't go outand do a 30 mile bike ride and
(27:39):
your kid hasn't eaten dinner.
It's like we have stress andresponsibilities to meet and so
we have to understand that ifyou are fully committed
somewhere else you need to learnhow to modify these workouts.
You shouldn't be following thepros anyway.
Number one they have all thetime in the world.
Number two you don't ask aracehorse how they got fast.
(28:00):
You don't even know if they'retraining properly for them, let
alone for you.
Okay, so stress is stress isstress.
The final thing I'm going to sayabout this is also a lot of
times with elite and proathletes is unfortunately
they're taking drugs.
Now sometimes you know it'slegal.
I mean steroids didn't becomeillegal until 1991.
(28:22):
So you know, when people makeall these you know gripes about
Major League Baseball and peoplelike that, it's like, okay, but
it wasn't illegal, you know,until 1991.
I'm not saying it's good.
I don't think it's good.
I absolutely know people whohave been on steroids and it has
killed them.
I know people personally.
I know others that have been onthem and they've gotten very.
(28:43):
I know people personally.
I know others that have been onthem and they've gotten very,
very sick and we've seen ithappen with people.
Maybe we don't know, or atleast I don't know.
I've seen it with professionalathletes where it definitely has
caused health consequences.
So I am by no means an advocateof steroids.
I think it's actuallyridiculous, if you want my
opinion.
But I will say this theathletes take them.
(29:05):
That can get away with it,because they work.
What they do is they speed uprecovery.
That is what steroids do.
Remember the whole hormonalregulation thing I talked about.
That happens when you sleep andrestore.
Well, steroids take care ofthat for you, right?
I mean, they are hormones,that's what they are
testosterone, so they help yourestore.
(29:28):
That way, they speed uprecovery.
They get rid of inflammation.
Remember the inflammation thingI talked about.
After we work out, we have alot of inflammation to repair
the muscle damage and to repairthe disruption in the actin and
the myosin protein filaments.
Well, guess what Steroidsrepair.
So people that are takinganabolic steroids or growth
hormones of any kind are goingto repair.
(29:51):
They can train every day.
They can train hard every day.
That's the other thing that youdon't know what these
professional athletes are doing.
They're talking about theirworkouts.
The bodybuilders are writingtheir workouts in Muscle and
Fitness magazine, or that usedto be the magazine.
I don't know if it occursanymore.
Maybe it's in Men's Health now.
(30:11):
Some of these professionals aretalking about their workouts.
Okay, you don't know if they'renot taking steroids and if
they're a professional or elite,most likely they are All right.
So that's what steroids do.
It is not good.
With everything in life.
There's no free lunch.
Might help them work out, itmight help them recover or it
(30:33):
absolutely does help themrecover, but it comes with a
kick-ass side effect of healthconsequences in most people.
All right, so please listen topart two that will be coming up
later in this week and I'm goingto talk about how to exactly
find that balance between enough, not enough and too much.
(30:54):
All right, so please tune in,please hit automatic download
and, look, do me a favor, textthis to at least one person.
I would appreciate it.
Thank you for listening totoday's program.
I ask you to please follow theshow wherever you get your
podcasts and please selectautomatic download, because that
(31:17):
really helps the show.
Now I want to thank OverheadDoor of Daytona Beach, the
area's premier garage doorcompany.
They have the best product.
They have the best service.
I personally vouch for Jeff andZach Hawk, the owners.
They are great people with agreat company.
If you have any garage doorneeds, please give them a shout
(31:39):
at 386-222-3165.
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