There Is A Method to the Madness
This is a podcast where I will be discussing all aspects of physical fitness. I am an exercise physiologist and personal trainer and owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs for the last 25 years. My passion is health and fitness and I am excited to share my views, some stories, interviews and much more with you.
There Is A Method to the Madness
This Is Who Will Win The Election Today!
Unlock the secrets to taking charge of your personal fitness journey with insights from Rob Maxwell, who brings over three decades of experience as an exercise physiologist and personal trainer. Ever wondered why some people effortlessly reach their health goals while others struggle? Discover the concept of locus of control and learn how shifting your mindset to focus on internal factors like attitude, actions, and work ethic can transform your health and performance. Through engaging anecdotes and real-life examples, Rob reveals how adopting an internal locus of control not only boosts personal responsibility but also leads to remarkable success in fitness and beyond.
But it's not just about personal gains—it's about enhancing community well-being too. Rob discusses the ripple effect of personal health on societal contribution, highlighting how maintaining your fitness can make you a happier, more positive presence in your community. He also delves into the importance of political consciousness and the power of everyday actions, such as voting and mindful spending, in shaping the world around us. With the right mindset and proactive approach, you can contribute to a healthier, more engaged society. Tune in to uncover strategies that will not only improve your life but also the lives of those around you.
Welcome to there is a Method to the Madness. My name is Rob Maxwell, I'm an exercise physiologist and personal trainer. I'm the owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs and I've been in business since 1994. The purpose of this podcast is to get to the real deal of what really works and, most importantly, why things work. Hence the name. There is a Method to the Madness.
Speaker 1:Speaking of madness, that's what I'm going to talk about today. It is November 5th Tuesday 2024, and I am going to give you my opinion on the election and who is going to win. So if you want to find out the winner of the 2024 election, you better listen until the end. But before I get to that, let me thank Jonathan and Lynn Gilded of the Gilded Group at Realty Pros. They are committed to providing the highest level of customer service in home sales and they have all of the reviews to back that up. So why don't you give them a shout? Figure out what your home is worth? 386-451-2412. All right, so let's talk about the election. I'm sure everybody has voted or is going to vote today and, like I said, just hang tight and I will get to who won.
Speaker 1:So let's talk a little bit about locus of causality. When I was in college, we called it locus of control when I majored in psychology. Well, we have now switched it to locus of causality, but it means the same thing. It basically means staying within your center of control. Somebody who has an internal locus of control I kind of like that term better than causality, but so I'm going to use it because it's my podcast Someone that has a internal locus of control believes that they have control over certain things and they try to exercise that control. Somebody who has an external locus of control tends to not believe they have control over the things that they actually have control over, and so they tend to be a little bit defeatist. They tend to blame things on other people or situations. If they lose, it's because the other person cheated or something went wrong, but they don't take responsibility for themselves, and it's bad in many ways because they also then don't know how to exercise control to actually get better. So one of the things we've always done in performance psychology and it's not just sports psychology, it's also performance psychology, because the same types of leaders and coaches are used in both industries, because sometimes we're talking business performance it's really the same thing as sports.
Speaker 1:So in performance psychology. We try to get the person who might be a little bit leaning towards a external locus of control or we like to turn that learned helplessness. We try to get them more to understand that they can exercise their control over many things and that is your attitude, your actions and your work ethic. Like those are the things that we all have control over. Ethic those are the things that we all have control over. So what I want everybody to think about is what do you have control over and are you exercising enough control over the things you should?
Speaker 1:If everybody got as wound up and anxious and upset and passionate about their own personal health as they do other people's or as they do an election cycle, can you imagine how much healthier everybody would be, everybody would be like, if everybody took that same irritation, that same anger, that same blame and pushed it towards things that they have outright control over. Can you imagine how much healthier we all could be? So it frustrates me, because I'm in an industry to where I work with people and I've been doing this 30 years and you know, I know for sure that when somebody is not reaching their physical goals 99 times out of 100, it's because if their goal is correct, I should say so. Let me add a caveat to that If their goal is something that's attainable. I mean, I have had people that had completely unrealistic goals and I had to tell them that in the beginning. But let's say we've established a nice, healthy goal or goals and we get to the end of the goal cycle and they haven't hit their goal. I am 100% convinced and I've seen this 99 out of 100 times to where they just have not done what they should have done. If they didn't lose weight, it's because they wouldn't quit overeating. If their 5k times didn't improve, it's because they wouldn't quit overeating. If their 5k times didn't improve, it's because they wouldn't put in the miles or the intensity into the miles. If they weren't getting stronger, it's because they missed two out of four workouts. So they would maybe make 50% of their workouts like 100% in their control.
Speaker 1:I mean, as a good trainer and I know that I am one I've been doing this a very long time and I don't say that arrogantly, I say that more like with love, because I love what I do and I continue to try to strive to be better week in and week out, and I hopefully will continue to strive to get better until I don't do this anymore. That I know I put people on plans that are going to work Because if they fail, I fail and I don't want that. I mean, even if I didn't like somebody, I don't want them to fail because then that's a reflection on me. So I'm going to give them a plan that is absolutely going to work for them, but they have to do it. You know the classic you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink is so true. And if I had to put a number on it, gosh, I would say maybe a percentage on it. I would say, in the 30 years I'll just stay with that number.
Speaker 1:30 to say 50% of the clients do what they need to do to reach their goals. That doesn't mean that 70 to 50% are 50 to 70% are unhappy. No, they're not. And we might not be unhappy with them if they don't do it. If there's ownership Like not everybody is going to always put in the work that they need to put in but an internal locus of causality then says, well, I just didn't do it, why not?
Speaker 1:I honestly didn't want to. Okay, so you know if you would have done it, it would have worked Well. Yeah, I just don't feel like it. I don't always feel like eating healthy. Sometimes I'm lazy. Okay, see, that's still an internal locus of causality and that's still healthy and we're still going to have a good relationship as a trainer and client, so that's not unhappy. They might be hitting other goals that they're perfectly fine with, but what I am saying is when somebody doesn't reach a very specific goal that they might have for themselves, it's because they have not done the work.
Speaker 1:Now, if you want to do the work and get healthy, you adopt an internal locus of control and say, well, I need to do this. And then, if you do that, then we can get somewhere, Even if we have the same conversation 10 times. But you're honestly admitting you just need more help, you need more follow-up, you need more pats on the back or you need more of the stick, whatever you need. As long as you're owning the fact that you're not getting there because you're not doing the work, then it can be a good situation. But the whole point is why don't people get more upset about what they're not doing to improve their physical health? Because it is on you. You could take all the Ozempic in the world to help you lose weight, great, if you feel like you really need it. If your physician feels like you need it, more power to you and them. But you know what Doesn't mean you're more fit, it just means you're losing weight.
Speaker 1:I mean, I can promise you this that fitness is not just about your waistline. I know plenty of fit people who are endomorphs and basically never going to look overly lean. They might always look slightly fat because that is their body type and slightly fat is not a big deal. I mean, we had slightly fat people in the 1960s, 1970s and, of course, before that. But I'm just going back to the times I see pictures and remember of, and they were perfectly healthy. Now we have morbid obesity rates that we've never seen before and that is not okay and that is not healthy.
Speaker 1:So, yes, weight matters, body composition matters, but it is only one side of it. If you really want a statistic, it is only 20% of it, because there are five health components to physical fitness body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory fitness and flexibility, slash mobility. Those are all important. Those are all pieces of the five sliced pie. They are all pieces to it. And, yes, obesity can cause many health problems. It's not good.
Speaker 1:But if you are working on it to the best of your ability, exercising your internal locus of control and making sure that you're doing everything on your end and you've gotten to your best body weight, I promise you the good things are going to happen based on that. So it is totally within your control to get more fit. If you want more flexibility, it's not going to happen by you watching videos on Instagram about flexible people stretching. It's going to happen if you get up out of the chair and start stretching and really working on your mobility. If you want better cardio, you want your resting heart rate to be better. You want your blood pressure to be better. You want to be able to walk upstairs without feeling exhausted. You're going to have to put in the work. It's not going to happen because you're wishing for it to happen. It is totally within your control.
Speaker 1:And if you're one of those people that turns the political cycle into your Super Bowl and you're watching nonstop entertainment news because that's really what most news stations are these days well, I feel sorry for you, because you could be taking that time and you could be exercising. You could be walking around your neighborhood, you can be listening to music as you sit on an exercise bike, like there is so much better use to your time where. Guess what. You're actually doing more for yourself and your country if you do that, because you know people. They get really wound up and upset about election time and this isn't like a insult to either side, because both sides have their radicals that are just pretty much crazy. You know, yep, yep, if you're a radical, I'm calling you crazy because you're not going to really do anything except be pissed off all the time.
Speaker 1:And guess what? If you're pissed off all the time, you're not very nice to be around. You're not very nice at Lowe's or Publix. I can assure you that my daughter is in a management position at Publix and she deals with these types of people all the time, you know, wearing different t-shirts to their sides in, and you know they'll literally ask her her political opinions. Like, are you serious You're asking a 21 year old who's just trying to get you out of Publix into your car about her political opinions? I mean, you've got problems when you're, when you're. When you're doing that, you're not happy, you're not making your area any happier and therefore, you're really not helping your country because you're just not being a very good citizen. So you would do a lot more if you got yourself into ideal health, and I guarantee you, if you got yourself in ideal health you would feel a lot better about your country and your world, because you'd realize that.
Speaker 1:You know, the biggest problem is, people are unhappy, and they're not going to be happy when you aren't healthy and when you aren't fit. I notice it all the time when I'm jogging on the boardwalk in New Smyrna and I come upon some surfers or people that are running as well and you pass by them on the left or on the right, or they're coming at you. Like the people who are also working on their fitness are happier. They smile, they say good morning, they get out of your way. You get out of their way. But then when you see grumpy Gus walking down the boardwalk with his cigarette in hand Sorry people, if you smoke and you're taking this personal, but it's the truth and you get cigarette in hand, they look overweight and they're just like staring at the ground. They're like they're the last people that want to get out of your way. This is my experience. They're just not happier people. So we could exercise our control by doing more about our own personal health and fitness, taking responsibility for ourselves, and when we do that, we are absolutely going to be better citizens.
Speaker 1:The other components strength, endurance. If you want to be stronger, you're going to have to put in the work to be stronger and being stronger matters. I just finished with one of my clients a few minutes ago, miss Joanne, and she wants to improve her push-ups and literally as we're doing them, I said, ok, so do as many standard as you can now and then you know the rest will finish with modified pushups. And she looked at me and she said, yeah, so yesterday for my homework I did five, so I'm already ahead of the game. Today we do six Bang. Look at that. What was the key word there Yesterday when I did my homework? Huh, somebody who wants to get stronger did her homework.
Speaker 1:That is exercising her locus of control, controlling what she can, which is her health, her fitness. And guess what? Been working with her close to a year now. She's improving every week, every month, because she's not just coming here twice a week for 30 minutes, she's also doing her homework and eating right and doing the things she has control over. So we absolutely have control to improve our physical fitness. There is no question about it. So what are you going to do to really help all this? I mean, what we can do is exercise everything under our control. Do the work that we have to do and I can promise you you will be better at no matter what you do.
Speaker 1:There's a famous saying that says there is no wealth without health. So for the people out there that say, well, yeah, all that exercise is kind of cool and everything, but at the same time I've got a job to do. I got this company to run. Look, I guarantee you that top business people in the world and I like to listen to them on podcasts, because the ones who are really at the top absolutely value taking care of themselves. I mean, I can't think of one that I've listened to that doesn't exercise at least an hour a day. I can't think of one that I listened to that doesn't do some form of mental, spiritual work every day, whether it be like meditation or yoga or journaling or their own religious practices. But they are all into improving themselves because, as the famous Stephen Covey used to say, you gotta sharpen the saw to make that saw cut wood better. And the way that we humans can sharpen the saw is by taking care of ourselves, being physically fit and controlling all of the controllables, all right. So that is the message of the day.
Speaker 1:If you tend to be a little bit of an external locus of control person or learned helplessness person, like, oh, I can't do this. My parents were heavy, my parents smoked. Oh, I can't do this. My husband doesn't want to exercise. My husband doesn't want to eat better oh, I can't do this. I can't get my wife to exercise with me, whatever. Okay, that's learned helplessness. Okay, and I'm just going to cut to the chase on this one. You sound pathetic when you say things like that you really do To people who, like are in the field, are just going to go. What does their unwillingness to exercise have to do with you? I mean, the last I checked, you can go out and do what you need to do regardless of your surroundings, all right.
Speaker 1:So learned helplessness is when you blame other people for your situation. And how many people do that politically anyway? So many people, like both sides, blame the government constantly, like they have something to do with your level of unhappiness? I don't think so, like I don't believe so, not in this country. That's never been my existence whatsoever.
Speaker 1:I mean I've gosh, since I've been voting, I don't know how many terms I've been through, and you know both red, both blue, both Republican, both Democrat, no independents. I guess you know I've been in the White House. No, so it's been Republican or Democrat Pretty far right. I guess I've been in the White House. No, so it's been Republican or Democrat pretty far right, I suppose pretty far left. I suppose maybe some moderates, I don't know. But I know I voted every time and I know that my life has been marginally changed, if I can even think of a change from one administration to the other, maybe slightly different in taxes from one administration to the other, maybe slightly different in taxes, I don't know. It's been so insignificant that it's just never really impacted me that way.
Speaker 1:It doesn't mean I'm not politically conscious. I read a lot of books. I read a lot of news. I don't watch news. I read a lot of different things and I exercise my right to vote. And then another way I've learned to vote is that with my pocketbook, like if I don't like the way certain things are going, I just don't spend money on certain things, so that's another way, but that's all I have control over.
Speaker 1:I mean, I guess I could change my profile picture and that's going to make you know 90% of my followers vote the way I'm voting because I changed my profile picture right. Of course not. You know how stupid that sounds. That's not going to have any impact on anybody. I suppose I could put out yard signs and my next door neighbor is now going to vote the way I'm going to vote. Of course not. I mean, that's just dumb to me. Those things are just so silly. The only time I ever put up yard signs is when I have friends running for county council or city council or things like that, and it's more of a personal support to somebody that I absolutely know I mean.
Speaker 1:Other than that, the only control I have over this political cycle is to exercise my right to vote and I did and then to spend my money where I think those companies are deserving of it. That's my vote, and then the rest. I try to take care of myself and take care of people around me and not be a jerk in public, and I think all of those things are more important. So who's the winner of the 2024 presidential election. It is you, if you have voted and went out and exercised today. So there you go. Now. Let me thank Overhead Door of Daytona Beach, who I vote, as the absolute best garage door company in Daytona Beach, owned by personal friends of mine. Jeff and Zach Hawk were phenomenal people who really do the best job. They can Give them a shout at overheaddoordaytonacom.
