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
Beyond Basics How Consistency Leads to Triumph
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.
Speaker 1:The purpose of this podcast is to get to the real deal of what really works and, most importantly, why things work. Let me thank Jonathan and Lynn Gildan of the Gildan Group at Realty Pros, and Realty Pros is your award-winning real estate company. That's pretty cool. Why don't you give them a shout and figure out what your home might be worth? Hire a pro 386-451-2412. So what is your 100 free throws? That's the question I'm going to ask you and keep referring back to, and I want you to think about this all day, whenever you listen to it and maybe moving forward until you come up with an answer, and then I want you to remember that answer.
Speaker 1:What I'm talking about is there was a recent study done on people that do the small things, what they see as the small things, what really are the small things, what they see as the small things, what really are the small things? But they amount to such big things, and what they found, of course, is that people that do the small things hit the big goals. An illustration of this there is this basketball coach who works with high school athletes, and a lot of kids that are playing high school ball have aspirations to go to the next level. They want to get a scholarship to play basketball, whether it be to further their education, pay for their education or to simply go to the next level, playing basketball. It doesn't matter what the person's goal is. Right To me, it's a good thing to want to move up. So this particular coach knew this. Of course, most coaches know this and, yes, many kids don't really have the opportunity, mostly just due to genetics and things like that, to take it to the next level. A very small percentage of people can get collegiate scholarships to play college sports. It's very difficult. That's not to ruin anybody's dream by any means, but we do have to be realistic. That doesn't mean the person can't perform at their absolute best while in high school or middle school or whatever they are doing, of course, but that is a realistic thing we have to keep in mind.
Speaker 1:Having said that, the coach, knowing that that's how many players on his team thought, would start the very first practices with a little speech and he would make that very well known. He would simply say it aloud. He would say I know that most of you want to go to the next level, if not all of you, and it is a very simple plan to get there. And he said all you have to do, all you have to give me. I mean, he was confident, he was throwing it out there, he was putting it out there. He was putting it out there, you know, had everybody listening. He said all you have to do is shoot 100 free throws per day and you will make it to the next level.
Speaker 1:Now, of course, the kids were like, ah, can't be that simple. You know, even the parents were like come on, why are you selling a dream like that? But he stuck to it. He just stuck to it. He didn't say anything about it. You know, moving forward other than this is what you need to do.
Speaker 1:Now I know you want me to cut to the chase and say that you know nine out of 12 of the kids on the roster I think that's a pretty typical basketball roster in high school 12 kids or so, maybe 15. You know. So, nine out of 12, nine out of 15 made it. I don't know, it's not the point, but what they found was and this is what the whole point of this was. But what they found was and this is what the whole point of this was is that most of them just didn't do it. They just didn't do it. 100 shots a day and you will make it to the next level. They didn't do it.
Speaker 1:Maybe one or two, according to him, per season, would put in that kind of work, day in and day out, 100 free throws, no excuses, doesn't matter if they went in, doesn't matter if they shot 10% or 99%, did not matter. Shoot the ball. Roughly two or so stuck with it. Everybody else found a reason, in a short period of time, by the way, to start dropping off their trend of 100 per day. Maybe they'd make it the first day. They'd get up excited and go out. They'd shoot their free throws, you know. Maybe they'd make it two days, whatever, but eventually all but two or so would simply drop out of the chase.
Speaker 1:Why? Well, you know there's an old saying in the recovery circles that says you can't be too dumb to get this program, but you can be too smart. Maybe that's part of it, maybe it's just as. Oh, it can't be this simple. He's just saying this. So they have a lot of doubt in them already. So maybe a person who drops out quickly has a lot of doubt.
Speaker 1:You know they don't believe the experts they're talking to. They know more than the experts. Hence they're not too dumb, they're too smart. I don't know. Maybe they're just lazy, maybe it's just not worth it to them. Maybe they're just lazy, maybe it's just not worth it to them and maybe it's not. But for the ones that it is worth it and don't do it, isn't that kind of sad. You know that they lose faith and they just drop out and don't do it. But why? Why don't they do it?
Speaker 1:Like those are kind of the theories. They think they're too smart. You know all people that believe things like that are. You know they're just saying this to get us to do it. Like they always think there's a manipulation involved. They always think there's a you know a backstory. So they don't trust, so they don't do it again. Maybe they're just flat out lazy. They don't want to put in the work it Again. Maybe they're just flat-out lazy. They don't want to put in the work. They want to be the kid that gets to the next level and then to the NBA on raw talent alone, which, by the way, rarely ever happens. I mean, all these guys at the next level have raw talent. You don't get to even being the best player on your high school team without raw talent. There's just no way. You're taller, you can jump higher, you probably have better reaction time, you might be a little more intellectually smarter when it comes to sports, like have a higher basketball IQ.
Speaker 1:You know a funny story, a little side note, on Michael Jordan. So you know, there's this famous story that he was cut from his freshman basketball team and he got so pissed off that he got so much better and that drove him to become the great Michael Jordan that he was. Just to show the coach was wrong, all right. So, like, that story is told over and over and over and it is not true and it's not even really told by Jordan that way. What really happened was he was not cut from his freshman basketball team. He simply didn't make varsity basketball team in ninth grade. Why would he have? He's a freshman, he's a freshman. So that's the first part of the story that like isn't told. And then the next part of it is he grew six inches between his freshman and sophomore year OK, fact, look it up he wasn't more pissed. He grew, plain and simple. So you know, we don't just always make it for talent and the likes alone. Now, jordan did get that killer instinct and then later become an absolute assassin on the basketball court, no question about it. But that story is just a little side note. So the talent's there.
Speaker 1:So what helps people get to the next level? It's the discipline to do what they need to do day in and day out. When the coach isn't watching, are they doing what they're supposed to do? Now, sports psychologists basically put it to you like this they say the reason why that kind of thinking works. And then this kind of famous high school basketball coach went on to explain, said well, here's why I can so confidently make that statement. If they're trusting me and they're doing those 100 foul shots a day, and they're doing those 100 foul shots a day, they're the same type of kid that's doing everything else I tell them to do. They're the same type of kid that's putting their phone down at a reasonable hour and going to sleep because I told them it's the right thing to do. They're the same type of kid that's not just eating junk food 24-7, but eating properly to be a better athlete. They're the same type of kid that's going to the weight room three times a week to get stronger, even though I'm not there to watch them. That's what this coach was going on to say. So sports psychologists back him up and say the same thing.
Speaker 1:The person who's willing to do those 100 foul shots a day and I'm sure by now you picked up on the point, I'm just using that as an example is the same person that's going to do all the other right things when nobody's watching. You know, when nobody's watching is when we get better. We're not getting praise for it. He's out there on the basketball court. He's shooting those foul shots and there's nobody around. The cheerleaders aren't on the side doing their flips and all that good stuff. The pep rally isn't going on cheering, everybody on the crowd isn't going wild. No, it's just you, maybe a couple friends, and you're just shooting foul shots because you intrinsically want to get better and you intrinsically are doing what you need to do. That's the type of person that shoots those 100 free throws. They do everything else right, all right.
Speaker 1:So what is your 100 free throws? What is it? Is it logging your food. I know if you listen to this podcast, I say it all the time. For us, one of the things we use as our 100 free throws is that, because when somebody says, will you help me lose weight, say sure, but this is what you got to do. You've got to get a MyFitnessPal or a different kind of food app, whatever you like doesn't matter and you're going to have to log your food because it all comes back to calories, whether you like it or not, whether your little person on Instagram or whatever is telling you otherwise that all you have to do is eat this. Well, it's not true. It all comes back to energy in versus energy out, and the best way to know that is to track it. If you guess, I mean, you're not even going to be close. So the people that do it, guess what? They lose weight. I've never had anybody not log their food and not lose weight, and I've had tons of people not log their food and not lose weight. It comes down to it. Is that it for you? Is that the thing you just won't do? Is that the thing you know you should do? What is your 100 free throws Like? What is it? What is a simple act that you just know and trust, that you can do every day. That doesn't require a lot, but it's going to amount to so much because it's going to lead to other things, is it? Maybe you've committed to doing 100 pushups a day? I know people that do that and they've done it for so many years. You know, when I talk to them, they don't post it on Instagram, they don't post it on Facebook, they don't tell everybody how many they're doing every day. It's like later on in a conversation they'll say oh yeah, man, you know, for me, I do 100 hundred pushups before I go to bed every night. You know just something I owe to myself and something I'm going to commit to, and I go, oh wow, that you know that's pretty cool, you know. So what is it for you? What's that thing that you can do, you can manage and you're willing to do, because it is going to be a reflection of everything else you do? Because, guess what, if you blow that off I hate to break it to you you're blowing everything off. If you can't commit to that, you're not committing to anything. So who are you kidding? So what is it? I want you to think about that.
Speaker 1:And for those that listen to this podcast and follow me on social media, make know, make a comment here or there. You know, let's make this more interactive. It's good to have a society. You know, I listen to Arnold Schwarzenegger's podcast and he sends out an email. It's called the Pump Club. I like it, you know. To me, arnold's just kind of like motivating and funny, you know, and he talks about that. You know, we can create a more positive environment, like he says. We can create a positive environment on social media. We can listen to these things and talk about it and help each other out and say, hey, you know, for the next six months or for the next rest of this quarter, I want to do 50 pull-ups a day. I don't know. I just threw that out there. You know, help me, help me out, Check up on me. I mean it shouldn't take that, but it helps, right. So let me know what those things are.
Speaker 1:Now let me give a shout out to my favorite overhead door company, overhead Door of Daytona Beach. Yesterday actually it was over the weekend my garage door just broke. You know, it's not an overhead door, it was on the house. When I bought the house, house was built 2008. I don't know what kind it is, I'm sure it's held up okay, but it broke.
Speaker 1:So I uh, you know, text Zach and he's uh coming back from a trip, a vacation. He says, yeah, I'll check it out when I get back, come Monday, which is yesterday, leaves the workout, goes by, checks it out, sends a guy right over. Guy came over, had to come back today, came back this morning. It's 10 o'clock here. So we've already got a result. They told me exactly what it is and we're ordering the parts, we're getting it fixed. I mean, you can't beat that service. And let me tell you that's not just because he knows me. He's done that for so many of the clients here. I know for a fact he's gone all by himself out to check it out. You know, in a world that's going remote, in a world that's going like you know what are they called? Cashierless cashiers? Why can't self-checkout? Jeez, that was hard to come up with In a world that's going that way. Then you got companies that really do offer great customer service. So check them out at overheaddoordaytonacom.
