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
The Path to Consistent Growth and Injury-Free Workouts
Can the right fitness strategy help you build strength while avoiding the pitfalls of ego-driven workouts? Discover the transformative power of double progression fitness programming, a method that emphasizes structured planning and progressive overload to empower you to harness your full potential. I'll guide you through the intricacies of adjusting rep ranges and loads, revealing how these adjustments can lead to sustainable and continuous progress. With personal experience as a cornerstone, explore how these principles can be applied to your own journey before you become a beacon for others. The episode unfolds the delicate balance between science and art in selecting the right loads and adapting to various equipment, encouraging a trial-and-error approach to steady improvement.
Progress in fitness isn't just about exhaustion; it's about smart, scientifically-rooted progression that prioritizes safety and steady improvement. I'll share insights on crafting a workout plan that transcends mere intensity, emphasizing the discipline required to follow through without succumbing to the temptation of lifting heavier out of pride. Learn how to tame your ego to avoid injury and ensure continuous success in your fitness journey. Join me as we navigate the path to smart training, where the focus is on consistent enhancement, not just lifting heavier for the sake of it. Together, we'll explore the synergy of mindset and method that fuels ongoing growth and achievement.
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 give you the real deal to talk about the science and talk about things that work regarding health and fitness. Today we're going to talk about some double progression programming. Before I get to that, 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 in home sales, so why don't you give them a shout and figure out what your home will sell for? 386-451-2412.
Speaker 1:As you may have heard through the course of time, there is a method to the madness when we write out workout programs. When I write out workout programs since I've really been a trainer I like to follow different kind of principles that really really work. I'm not a big believer in just winging things, just doing kind of what you feel like. I'm a believer in planning. I like to see you know constant, steady, ongoing results. One of the systems that I've used through the years and we use it at the gym. It's one of the systems like we've always used and continue to use it is what is called a double progression program. What that means is that we are using a method to the madness so you, I and everyone that works out can overload and get better. And I say I because I love to work out, so I do this stuff with myself. Of course. I used to always tell my students you are always your very first client, you have to do this stuff yourself and, uh, you know, follow the principles and all the things that you're teaching. You have to do it with yourself or you're really not going to be able to be much good or useful to somebody else. And that's probably true for any profession that you get in. You have to master it yourself first. So I love following the double progression program and if I ever catch myself like not mostly with myself, because I tend to be a type A personality I drive, drive, drive, I push, push, push. And for any of you that think I push you pretty hard, I can promise you I push myself harder, not always a good thing, but that's the nature of the beast, my beast. So I try to follow these things myself all the time so I don't over train and I'll get myself into a little bit of trouble if I decide to kind of go up or hit failure when I didn't necessarily need to.
Speaker 1:All right, so let me back up just a minute and talk about the principle of overload. So we have to overload if we're going to get better. I mean there's just no question about that. If we aren't getting better, we aren't getting better. And if we can build it into the program, then we are going to get better.
Speaker 1:So better for most people, going to the gym is getting stronger. I mean, who doesn't want to be stronger, right? I mean I don't know, does anybody not want to be stronger? Because strength is such a good thing Protecting yourself from injuries, being able to do things, feeling strong. When you're getting stronger, you really feel stronger Everywhere you walk, you're more confident, you're more sturdy. To me it's just a great feeling. It's one of those things that we have control over. We can get stronger, as my great client, jerry, who just passed a few weeks ago maybe a month now he used to say inch by inch, anything's a cinch Cappy, you know, and I used to love hearing that from him because he got it Like, if we're just going up a little bit each time we are making progress, all right.
Speaker 1:So a system that really really works is just called the double progression system and that just means that let's say your rep range, and everybody's a little bit different and sometimes the rep ranges change like they don't have to be the same rep range all the time. I do recommend staying in a rep range long enough to overload within it and then kind of maybe moving to a different rep range. But for some people the same rep range, week after week, month after month, year after year, works well and really the important part is that you're working out and following overload. But the way it would work is, let's say you're in a certain rep range based on your movement speed, based on your ability to handle loads, based on what we're picking up, on the adaptation you need, like maybe more strength, maybe endurance, whatever. Let's say we decided that 12 to 15 is ideal for you at this moment. So what that means is whatever load we begin at, and that's the part where we, the part where we use the art with the science. I feel like I'm very good at that. I know my trainers are good at that. I know Ellen's great at that. You know, deciding what load to begin with is an art, but again, with experience we can figure it out.
Speaker 1:I always teach clients when they travel to their workouts to figure that out as well, because you don't always know for sure based on the machines that you're on, especially because we use predominantly pre-core machines at the gym. But if you go somewhere else and they have a different form of equipment maybe it's Nautilus, maybe it's Cybex, maybe it's Life Fitness, whatever it's going to be a little bit different, like all of the machines are a little bit different. Like all of the machines are a little bit different in their calibration, the way the guide rods are. So 100 pounds on a leg press at one place may not be the same at another place. So you have to use some trial and error when you're doing this and hopefully you gain enough experience where you can figure it out. But once you know your machine, your equipment that you're using and of course dumbbells or free weights are a little bit easier. Because unless there's really broken pieces off the dumbbell, 50 pounds or whatever is going to be 50 pounds for the most part, Although I have seen some discrepancies in different places usually means the equipment's not very well maintained and rusty, not good.
Speaker 1:So the double progression would work like let's say that you are doing the 10 to 15 reps or 12 to 15 reps. As I said, we pick a particular weight, we continue to go up in repetitions until you, the client, or me, the can complete those repetitions, naturally in good form. We don't want to use crappy form one day and perfect form the next. That's going to throw it off quite a bit. We always want to use good form, right, I mean, I say it all the time Form is the most important thing. But we just continue to up the reps until you're able to complete the set in good form at your rep range, whether it be 15 at the top, 12, at the top, 8, at the top 6, at the top, whatever you're doing and when I say top I mean the top end of your rep range. And then we simply increase by 5%. 5% is a great rule of thumb. It's marginal but it works. We continue to make progress.
Speaker 1:You shouldn't notice much of a change as you go up, although technically 5% might. If you're really really hitting volitional fatigue on your set, 5% might be a difference in, say, one to two reps. That's about what it would be. So after you reach the top end of your rep range, then you increase the next time 5%, and that doesn't change whether you're doing multiple sets or single sets. So if you're doing multiple sets you would complete, let's say, all three of your sets, if you're doing straight sets, in your top end of your rep range and then you would increase by five percent. That way your o is going up slightly.
Speaker 1:And so many times I'll see in the big gyms you know big, you know marketplace gyms, so to say the LA Fitnesses or whatever, which is fine, planet Fitnesses, those types of gyms I'll travel, I'll utilize them. Of course they're fine. And you know I'll see people just kind of winging their increases and I mean it's it's good if they don't get hurt, right, and at least they're working out. And it's good if they don't get hurt, right, and at least they're working out. And maybe they're only doing it that day, who knows. But if you're doing that on a regular basis you're probably going to overtrain and you're just going to hit a plateau earlier than you needed to.
Speaker 1:And once you hit that plateau, man, it is hard to bust through that plateau. So it makes so much more sense to just go up slightly, just incrementally. You know, every time you can just go up 5% as long as your form is staying good. So let's say you're doing a hundred pounds on the chest press or the pull down machine and your top end is 15 repetitions. You know you finally hit that 15 rep. You know You've been struggling 13,.
Speaker 1:One workout you come in the next time on a Wednesday, you get 14, great form. Come back in on a Friday, you finally get that 15. So you've gone up two repetitions over the course of five days, which, hey man, I would take that right, because once you hit a plateau it's hard to do that. Then you simply go up 5%. So the next time you come in you would go 105 pounds. If your machine does that, if it doesn't go up by fives, you can put a little single dumbbell on top of it. But you know what the nice pre-core machines like we use, and a lot of the other nice machines do have those little five pound increments on them. You know people ask sometimes what's that thing, that little thing on the top? Why are you pushing that in? It's like that's our five pound increase. So you can just do that and then you just work your way back up. Maybe you go up to 105 pounds.
Speaker 1:And your first time you do it, you get 12 repetitions in good form, of course. Next time you come in, you get 13 repetitions in good form, of course. Next time you come in, you get 13 repetitions, good form. Next time you come in, you get 14. Okay, great, four workouts later, you're back up to 15. Well, bam boom, you go back up to 110 pounds. That's like a perfect use of progressive overload using the double progression system. So your reps are kind of just being dictated by the load increases, but you're still staying within your range, right? So if you're supposed to be doing, say, 12 to 15 reps and no, it's not hugely different if it's 11 to 15 or whatever this is just trying to keep it all simple your reps are dictated by the load increases. So as you increase, the reps are going to naturally go load increases. So as you increase, you know the reps are going to naturally go down a little bit. That's normal. And then you work your way back up.
Speaker 1:The beauty of it is whether you're looking for hypertrophy, which is increase in muscle cell size, muscular strength which I think everybody knows what that is, or muscular endurance, meaning that the muscles can do more and more with the same load, like all three of them work hand in hand, Like sometimes you'll see these influencers talking about, like there's a perfect way to work one over the other. I mean that's really not true. I mean as muscles, the only way muscles get stronger. By the way, 95% of the strength increases are through hypertrophy, so they have to get a little bigger to get stronger. By the way, 95 of the strength increases are through hypertrophy, so they have to get a little bigger to get stronger. So if you're using more load in the same rep range, then you're getting stronger and you're adding muscle. And guess what, every time you're adding muscle you're also increasing your endurance. So it really gets overstated sometimes. But that is just one little progressive system that I love to use.
Speaker 1:And again, there's a method to the madness. So when you see us going up, you know we have one client who we love. I mean she's awesome. She always says you know, is that up? Is that up, am I going up? Like she wants to know, she wants to be prepared, and sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it's yep, you know what? You did this amount last time and we're going to increase the load. She says okay, or sometimes it's you know what? Nope, we kind of got stuck at 11 there, so we're going to keep this weight the same, but I really want you to try to do 12 reps. She goes okay, she just likes to ask.
Speaker 1:I think everybody likes to know when they're progressing, but there is a method to the madness. You know Some clients not with us, because hopefully I'm sure there's a couple, but you know we try to educate everybody. Like it's not. You don't have to get your ass kicked every time you work out. Like a good workout doesn't always mean that somebody smoked you. You know that's. You know there's trainers unqualified trainers at some of the bigger box gyms. You know they do that because they want to get business and say, oh man, you know they worked me so hard. I mean that's really not getting your money's worth, like not.
Speaker 1:If you're doing this on a regular basis, it's more important to have a plan where you're always going to see steady progress and the trainers doing what is best for you. And trust me, that takes more discipline, I think, for some people than getting to the gym. It does for me, because sometimes I'll look at the load and go, oh man, you know I can do this. I want to go up a little bit, man, I remember five years ago I was doing this and my ego starts getting going. And then, you know, then I add more than I should and I'm like, ah, the reps went down. And you know, I don't want to hurt myself, I want to continue to make progress. Like it's just silly. I mean, working out is such a great feeling in itself and a lot of times we got to tame that ego, like we don't always have to be smoked to have a good workout If we're following a good, scientific, well thought out workout. It's about progressive overload and being smart.
Speaker 1:Okay, so there will be a quiz on this, and there really will for everybody. I send this to Don't pretend you didn't listen, because I know when you listen. Big brother, big Rob, is watching you. Now let's talk about garage doors. Man, overhead door of Daytona beach cannot be beat. Jeff and Zach Hawk I tell you what, man, those two are workout animals and they're also the very best at installing garage doors and making sure you get the absolute best product in Volusia County. Check them out.
