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
Embracing Simplicity: Timeless Keys to Fitness Success
What if the secret to fitness success lies in embracing simplicity, rather than getting lost in the noise of trendy diets and complex solutions? Join me, Rob Maxwell, as we break down the barriers of overcomplication and explore how moving more and eating less are the timeless keys to health. Drawing from my personal journey, we'll unravel how exercise can serve as meditation, offering clarity and insight without the need for convoluted strategies. Together, we'll challenge the defense mechanisms that keep us from taking action, and highlight the importance of returning to basics in the face of social media-induced confusion.
We'll bypass the fleeting allure of fitness fads and spotlight the enduring principles that have guided health experts for decades. From the enduring wisdom of Ken Cooper's 1970s fitness revolutions to the importance of nutrient-dense foods, this episode promises a return to what truly matters in fitness. By learning from those who have sustained healthy lifestyles through consistency and moderation, we'll uncover sustainable habits that outlast the latest trends. Let's navigate the landscape of fitness with clarity and commitment, steering clear of gimmicks and focusing on making the right choices for lasting health.
Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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. Importantly, why things work. Before I get to today's show, let me thank Jonathan and Lynn Gildan of the Gildan Group at Realty Pros. They are committed to providing the highest level of customer service and home sales and they have the reviews and the sales to back that up. So why don't you go ahead and give them a shout and figure out what your home is worth? 386-451-2412.
Speaker 1:So I'm out on my run this morning and I was enjoying the slightly cooler weather we're having here. It's quite a contrast, though, to where I just came from a few days ago up in New York, where it was in the 30s already, and it's November now. In case you are listening to this, whenever you're listening to it, I'm talking about November 19th, 2024. So it was cold up there, but here it was a little bit cooler for us this morning. I was enjoying that cooler weather. I like to get out early and do my runs. If I'm running that morning prior to my clients and Tuesday morning I have some early birds, so this was around 530, I suppose. And as I was in the middle of one of my intervals because Tuesdays I run a little bit harder my brain was wandering all over the place, which is good. I like that. As I was in the middle of one of my intervals, because Tuesdays I run a little bit harder my brain was wandering all over the place, which is good. I like that.
Speaker 1:I think it's my form of meditation. I usually listen to a podcast and maybe I'm finishing one up, and then I kind of just sit back and reflect on it, because I'm not going to sit there and change my phone to something else in the middle of a run. And that usually works out good because I get to hear some stimulating thought and then I get to sit back and reflect, and again, it's my form of meditation. I've always used exercise that way. I don't like to I shouldn't say I don't like to sit and meditate. It's probably good for me, but I find that I get my most meditative thoughts when I'm actually doing something, when I'm really preoccupied with something else. Then all of a sudden the brain shuts off and good thoughts can come in.
Speaker 1:So this morning it was like that the podcaster I was listening to was talking about some things with human nature, and it made me really sit back and reflect on how so many people always need to dig in so deep on things. They always need to really know the reasons why to everything. So you might be thinking, well, well, wait a minute, you know your whole podcast is the method to the madness and you even say why. And that's true, and I do think there is some benefit to knowing why we do things. But I also think there's a balance and I think, like all of us, I just don't really do it so much with exercise, but all of us tend to kind of dig in a little too deep and I'm just not sure how effective that is. And I'm almost beginning to believe and when I say that I'm being a little, you know, sarcastic here because I already believe it I actually think that the reason why many people try to dig in so deep is as a defense mechanism.
Speaker 1:They're getting ready to start instead of starting, and in their brain it's sort of a justification. Well, when I figure this part out, I'm going to do it. So it's kind of a justification. It makes them feel better, you know. And human nature, we love to justify, we love to rationalize. You know, we love to come up with reasons why we do certain things. Because it makes us feel better. That's just what we do. That's the psychology degree coming out in me, but that's okay because it's absolutely true. So I think that is why some people like to dig in so deep and what's funny is they usually don't have an understanding of what they're digging into on certain subjects.
Speaker 1:You know, if you look at social media, there are people that think they know everything about everything. And there are people that are getting paid hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars a year in medical science and things like that. And then all of a sudden, some person you know read an article online and they know just as much as these people. So it's really a silly trend that we have, but it is a trend nonetheless. A silly trend that we have, but it is a trend nonetheless. And it's also a big reason why you're seeing all these influencers and these you know bro, science guys and all that, really making a killing in social media because they get endorsements, they get sponsors, and the more followers they get, they get paid more and they're given all this kind of like wacky advice, all these different kinds of hacks and things you can do. But the reason why they're doing it is because of supply and demand. There's enough people tuning in to get this kind of advice.
Speaker 1:Because the reality is people don't like simple, they don't believe it's possible. But I can tell you from an exercise physiologist who doesn't have to be an exercise physiologist to tell you this when it comes to physical fitness, it is very simple. And when it comes to weight loss, it's even simpler. You need to move more and you need to eat less, and it is that simple. There's nothing more to it. But you know what People usually don't want to do either, and most people definitely don't want to do the latter, which is eat less. But that's what it's going to take. But I'm not turning this entire podcast into that, because I have preached and preached, and preached about the simplicity of weight loss that people just don't want to grab a hold of and do. I'm really going to like just talk about this whole theme in general and maybe there's a better way, so personally. Maybe there's a better way. So, personally, my interests are not in chasing down the irrelevant facts. That's not my interest, like, thankfully, that doesn't do it for me.
Speaker 1:I love history. That's one of my favorite subjects, and we're talking about history in any regard. I love you know real history, so to say, like American history and world history, history of the Civil War, the history of Vietnam, like those are things that I study. But I also like scientific history. I also like the history of wellness and I like the history of physical fitness. Those things really, really interest me. I also like the history of physical fitness. Those things really, really interest me. I also like the history of famous fit people and I'll go back and I'll go. Well, you know what were they doing? What did they do? I'm more interested in those kind of things and I love metrics too. I always say that if you can measure it, you can manage it. Those are the types of things that get me going, that get me interested, and I wish more people looked into that.
Speaker 1:Let's think about what has worked and let's do that. We don't have to become experts on everything. You know, some of my best clients have been physicians over the years, and when I mean best clients, I mean the ones that get the most out of it and have the most success. And I remember early on when I was teaching, my students would ask me I guess not early on, let me take that back, not early on, but a few years ago, when I was teaching my students would ask me about my early on days, my middle days, and then, like the days now, and they're very curious as to what the best kind of clients are. And you know they're students, so they're just interested, they're just trying to figure it out. They're trying to get out into the world and figure out, like, who their audience should be or what's going to benefit them the most.
Speaker 1:And you know they would think it would be the person who comes to the gym and they're, you know, maybe in their early 20s and they're super fit and they want to get ripped and they want to get into their bathing suits and look better on the beach and all those types of things. And I'd say no, they're not. They're not really really the best per se, you know, um, so oh why? Why you know they're in, oh why, why you know they're in the fitness. It's like not really. I mean, they're kind of in the vanity and maybe they're in the fitness a little bit. But, number one, they typically don't have the incomes to support a personal trainer over the long haul. Oftentimes they don't have the great motivation to stay with it because it's a lot easier. When you're younger you know things like that. But you know they, the young and the buff, you know working out with a trainer and that's not too common. But they'd be very surprised when I'd say you know, physicians are among my best clients say what?
Speaker 1:No, they're going to think they know it all. They're going to think they know everything about the body. And I'm saying no, that that's not the case. They know how to be doctors. They know how to be doctors at their trade. But if they knew everything which they don't need to neither do I they would be doing it more. What they really really need is somebody that has an expertise in helping them with their cardio respiratory fitness plan for their homework and helping them with their proper strength training modes and proper technique and pushing them to be their best and holding them accountable to come to the gym and holding them accountable to their form and holding them accountable to the effort. That's what they're looking for and that's what they're striving for. And then if you're a good trainer, you deliver that and then they have success.
Speaker 1:I can't think of hardly anyone I've ever had that fits that description of physician. That was really a pain in the neck and I said, but why, but why, but why? They didn't do it. And you know I hate to break it to you but most people that are serious about getting better don't do that either. And I know when I go see a specialist of any kind, I might know something about it. Let's say, I go see a counselor and I'm talking about some of my personal issues and you know I know a little bit about counseling. Heck, I got a degree in psychology. I worked as a youth counselor when I was just out of college, helping kids, adolescents, with substance abuse. So I know a degree in psychology. I worked as a youth counselor when I was just out of college, helping kids, adolescents, with substance abuse, so I know a little bit about it.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to sit there and question them on what they know, or maybe we should be investigating this avenue. I don't do that, that's. It doesn't matter, like I'm there to get better and I don't have to do everything. I need to get solid advice on what to do next is really curious as to why, why, why? And they look at every different thing they see online about different kinds of weight loss supplements, different kinds of diets, different forms of exercise. You know to do this, to do that, and it's it's mind blowing. And then they're oftentimes the same people that just won't take the next step right in front of them to do what they need to do. So what is that fascination? I mean, you can challenge me if you want to. You can say you know, I don't think it's a defense mechanism. I think it really is a need to know. I don't think so. I think it's a reason to delay starting. That's what I think it is, because if you're trying to lose weight again, it's as simple as you need to move more.
Speaker 1:I talked about the studies in the last episode, where I talked about Michael Easter's studies on that. Our prehistoric ancestors were moving 7 to 14 times more than we are today. Nowhere in that study did it say exactly how they were moving. Right, we can assume walking, of course, and working and things like that. It doesn't matter. They were moving so much more than we used to move and oftentimes we just need to take this common sense approach and do it and simply, if we need to lose weight, we need to move more.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the values of the smartwatches has been the step counters. I don't think smartwatches are the panacea of greatness for everything fitness, I don't. I think sometimes they're just distraction. But they do a couple things right. I like the GPS functions in them. I like the heart rate monitoring, which seems to be pretty accurate, and I like the GPS functions in them. I like the heart rate monitoring, which seems to be pretty accurate, and I like the step counts. Not that you can't measure your steps other way, but it definitely is a good metric for that.
Speaker 1:So let's say you're trying to lose weight and you've heard me say over and over that you need to move more, and the science backs it up. Let's say you do 5,000 steps one day, okay, so the next day make your goal 5,500 and the next day 6,000. Like, keep moving up the steps until you start seeing some weight loss. And I'm assuming that you're also cutting back on your food too, because both of those things have to be done. But it's really that simple with the calories, track where you're at and start eating less. Forget about all these diets.
Speaker 1:You know, I was talking a few moments ago about my love of history. I mean think about it from a historical standpoint, about my love of history. I mean think about it from a historical standpoint. Whenever I get somebody that's like really fixated on a new gadget or really fixated on a new theory or, you know, really fixated on a new diet or something like that, I'll look at them and I'll go do you believe that there were super fit people, like say, in 1910, 1920, they look at me like I'm stupid. I said, well, of course. I mean there's probably always been fit people. There's always been medium people. There's always been fat people, right, okay, so did those fit people in 1910, 1920 use that particular gadget, use that device, follow that perfect diet that they saw on Instagram? Of course not. I'm sure they followed the basics. Most likely they were athletes back then. They did some running, they did sports, they moved a lot. Most likely they ate less. I mean, don't throw the genetics thing at me. I mean, of course there's a genetic factor with everything, but the fact remains there's been fit people, there's been medium people and there's been overweight people, you know, probably since the beginning of time, right? So what were the fit people doing? They were moving. They were eating within their means. They were moving. They were eating within their means, they were exercising in their own way. I mean, really, it's that simple.
Speaker 1:So what we have to do is, instead of constantly thinking that there's something new under the sun which, if you've read any of the big books, one of them clearly says there's nothing new under the sun we would have to understand that all we have to do is get out of our own way, quit trying to know everything, quit trying to learn everything and do the next thing that's best for our physical health Use some common sense and do what we need to do and maybe quit trying to chase down that magic bullet all of the time. I remember when I was in college and we had to do reviews of literature, I would go nuts with some of the studies. I mean, I would joke around with my friends, you know, and this was when I was in graduate school and I'm like okay, so why are they looking at this frog's leg and looking at the amount of fatigue? If they supply this much electricity and voltage, it's going to do this and it's going to do that now. Number one I was never big on animal studies personally, so I always found those studies to be a little bit alarming to me that they're doing that, so I never liked that anyway. But that's not even what I'm talking about here, or then it was also just the silliness of what people were looking at and why. There are things we have to go deeper in and certain things, but there is not something like that in physical fitness. I promise you that we have known how to lift weights properly for at least 40 years. Maybe prior to that there was some really silly things that people were doing, but I know at least 40 years Probably goes back further than that. I'm just going back to the studies that I've seen and looked at. In school we have known how to do proper cardio way back when you're thinking about even Ken Cooper in the 1970s who developed the Cooper Institute and he wrote the first book on aerobics it was called. I mean, we have known for the longest time how to do aerobic cardiorespiratory exercise, how to strength train and, yes, people, we have known the proper way to eat for years.
Speaker 1:I don't like it when I hear people say oh, the experts always change their minds. No, they don't. The marketers change their mind. All through the low-fat Pritikin phase of the 1980s, the experts were sitting back going well, a calorie is a calorie. You just can't eat all the carbohydrates you want and no fat and think you're not going to gain weight. But you know, a lot of people don't. Look at some of the things you were seeing on the television ads and in the magazine. Ads were actually sponsored by Nathan Pritikin and Kellogg's and people like that. They're not the experts, man, they're the people that sell you this stuff. The experts were going well, that's not true. And then that phased out.
Speaker 1:And then what came next is kind of where we've been stuck for a long time, but no carbs. You don't know how many times I hear people say oh, don't worry, there's no carbs in it. I'm like so what if there was? It all comes back to calories and amount. So now all the people marketing the diet foods and the health foods are telling you to eat less carbs. Okay, they're not the experts, they're the ones that are selling you the crap.
Speaker 1:Of course they're going to tell you that the true nutrition experts have known how to eat for a really, really long time. They know the best foods to eat which are considered nutrient dense and not calorically dense, in other words, foods that are pretty low in calories and high in nutrients. Those are the kind of foods to eat. We've known that for a long time. There's nothing new under the sun with that, but you're not going to get that from marketing. Of course you're not. Why would you expect to?
Speaker 1:So I'll leave you with this. Why don't you, if you do this, stop looking so much for the perfect solution or the wise and just go do the next right thing? If you're trying to get healthy, go do the next right choice and then do it again and do it again. Look at what fit people have done. I know I said I was going to leave you with this, but then I thought of something else that I used to tell people all the time why is it that so many people are gravitating to people who are on the next best diet? Have you noticed that someone goes on a diet, they lose 20 or 30 quick pounds and then now they become the person, they become the expert because they lost some weight on this particular diet and they're given all the advice. Okay. So look, we might understand why they're doing that. They're feeling happy, they want to other people to join in, but if you've sat back and watched enough, you might think you know what. They've done this a lot.
Speaker 1:So the question is, why would you gravitate to the person who struggles so much and goes on and off diets? Instead, look at some history. Off of diets. Instead, look at some history. Why don't you go back and find people who have pretty much stayed in shape most of their lives and go, hey, what have you done? How do you do this? I guarantee you they haven't tried fads, they haven't been on trends. They've been physically active their whole life. They eat in moderation. They do all those things and they're able to do it consistently. Why don't we start looking at history instead of trends and fads? And the next big thing All right, now there is the next great garage door I will tell you that and it is produced by Overhead Door of Daytona Beach. They provide the best service and the best product. Give them a shout at overheaddoordaytonacom.
