There Is A Method to the Madness

From Endurance to Empowerment

• Rob Maxwell, M.A.

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Speaker 1:

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. Let me go ahead and thank Jonathan and Lynn Gildan of the Gildan Group at Realty Pros, the award-winning Realty Pros. They're committed to providing the highest level of customer service, so why don't you check them out and figure out what you can sell your home for? If you want to sell 386-451-2412.

Speaker 1:

Are you ready to talk about the number one thing? Athletes need to be at their best? Do you know what the number one thing is? It is not the best training plan, it's not the best coaches, it is certainly not the best equipment, the newest, the brightest thing that they think they need. The number one thing that's going to make somebody successful is confidence, confidence, confidence, confidence Something that you can train for but doesn't necessarily come in the gym.

Speaker 1:

Let me give you a couple examples that illustrate that. Back in my younger days, in my late 30s, early 40s, when I was at my most competitive point of an endurance athlete, doing different kinds of triathlons, running races, things like that. I still do them, but like that's back when I was probably no, not probably I was absolutely doing my best in those endeavors. I was training, of course, like I should. I'm an exercise physiologist, I know how to train. I was working with probably anywhere from 10 to 12 pretty high level endurance athletes at the time. Everybody seemed to be hitting their goals. Everything was going pretty smoothly and, you know, the training plans were always good. The training plans are good, but the number one workout that really took me over the top as far as making me my best had very little to do With physiology and the types of things we should be doing per se. We were still doing those, but the number one workout that I did and I had the people training with me at the time do every Tuesday night for a while and we're all hitting our PRs back then Was something that was going to build our confidence was something that was going to build our confidence.

Speaker 1:

So what we did was we warmed up, maybe anywhere from a mile to a mile and a half of fairly relaxed, easier running. Then we cooled, refreshed ourselves, got a little bit of water and then we did the brutal mile every Tuesday night. That was the big deal. We were just going to run the mile, so we were at a track, we were going to do four laps as hard as we could. Now what I found was those times were improving, like anything that we put our mind to. Of course we're going to improve, like if we're consistent, keep trying to get a little bit further each week. We're going to improve, like if we're consistent, keep trying to get a little bit further each week. We're going to improve until we hit a plateau.

Speaker 1:

But what I really found, the most beneficial thing that came out of it and of course it's still something to reflect back on this day so I can utilize it was the confidence, because I can remember I was never super fast like these elite athletes or whatever, but I wanted to get under a six minute mile for one mile. Like that was the goal, just get under a six. And I can remember getting closer to it and closer to it. And then, finally, I peaked somewhere around a 550 or a 555 mile. Now, granted, it was just one mile, so it's like a sprint. There were people there that were faster than me that were going, you know, like 530 mile, maybe even 520 mile, I don't remember but there were some darn fast people fast for what we're used to around here.

Speaker 1:

But the key that came out of that was then when I wanted to go do a 5k like my goal back then was to break the 20 minute mark. I was close. I was always like around 20 minutes and 30 seconds, 20 minutes and 15 seconds. You know, maybe on bad days 20 minutes and 50 seconds, like I just floated around there for like a couple of years, which is, you know, that's fine and again, this isn't like the Olympics, I get all that. But I also think when we do something we should always try to master it and be our best. I wasn't ever huge on competing against other people. Like my goals were very intrinsic. I really wanted to beat that 20 minute mark, I think for some reason I thought, oh, that's like a real runner. I'm in the teens.

Speaker 1:

You know, what I found doing those mile workouts was that I got the confidence because then I would go to a 5k and I knew, if I wanted to go under 20 minutes, that the pace had to be like around a 6 minute 25 second mile somewhere right around there. So my thinking was well, shoot, if I can do a 550 mile once, then a 610 mile isn't going to feel overly terrible, right? I mean, it just makes sense. It's not going to be as bad, terrible, right? I mean, it just makes sense, it's not going to be as bad. Now, granted, you have to hold it for two thirds longer, but at the same time you're not going to, you know, think it's as bad at the moment. And that's what I found happened. So I can remember at the time when I finally broke it, I just said well, you know, if this is the case, just go out as hard as I can try to get close to that mile time I do at the track, and I did. I was hit the first mile mark and I was a little bit under a six minute mile and I didn't feel God awful, you know. So I'm like, okay, if I back off just a little, I'm gonna hit this. And then I found, as I got closer to knowing I was going to finally achieve that goal, it didn't get harder, it got easier because I built confidence. So well, if I can do this really hard mile, then I can do these lesser hard miles for longer, and that's's exactly what happened.

Speaker 1:

So what changed physiologically? I mean, honestly, if you look at exercise physiology it doesn't make a lot of sense because really, to build speed, we know that it's all about the hit intervals. So what happens is if we spend time at, or slightly above our lactate threshold, we're going to push that threshold up and we're going to improve, and that also improves the ventilation threshold and it improves the anaerobic threshold. All these are thresholds from when you go from aerobic to anaerobic. So the thinking is that to get faster you have to do intervals, you have to spend time above it and then you have to come down. So doing a mile all out was kind of that. It was definitely over it, but it's not like it was up and down. So like, from a physiological standpoint, I believe that wasn't pushing us, because everybody else associated were also running their best times too. It wasn't really changing physiologically.

Speaker 1:

The other stuff we were doing was but the mile was the confidence builder. I needed that confidence builder because we have to remember if we can't do it and this should apply to any sport or any hobby If you can't do it in practice. There is no freaking way you're going to do it when it counts. You know, I tell people often you know, when we talk about like self-help and self-help books and things like that, the only way we build self-esteem is to do esteemable things. Nobody can tell you you're good enough. Nobody can, you know, pat you on the back enough. You're going to have to do things that you're proud of that. You can look back and go I did that. I did that. Like that's what's going to build your confidence. Nobody can tell you you can't talk your way into it.

Speaker 1:

Affirmations and all that stuff are great but, like a lot of the modern sports psychologists are saying, you know they're also a complete joke if you don't believe it. Like you have to have something to back it up. Confidence is having something that backs it up. You know you can do a physique show. If you've done a physique show, you don't know until you've done one. So you have to do things to build your confidence along the way. You know, maybe that is putting on your posing suit and posing in front of your coaches or friends or family and then let them video it and take pictures and then you can go okay, no, all right, that's good, you know. And then let them video it and take pictures. And then you can go, okay, no, all right, that's good, you know. And then take it up to the next step. You know, maybe you go to a posing clinic where there are other athletes that are doing a show and you are all posing together. That is going to build your confidence and if your confidence is raised, your performance is going to be improved.

Speaker 1:

Arnold Schwarzenegger is, in my mind, the greatest bodybuilder to ever walk the earth, and you will get a lot of physique critics to sit back now in all the pictures and go well, this person was better and this person was better. And even at the time, there's argument in this very last Mr Olympia that Lou Ferrigno actually was physically better than him. There's still that argument. But the difference is Arnold's confidence on stage. He completely intimidated the bigger Ferrigno with his big, toothy smile, with his confidence, with his joking around where Ferrigno was tight and couldn't smile, and that's going to impact the judges and, more importantly, it's going to impact your own level of confidence. So Arnold was the greatest bodybuilder of all time because of his confidence going along with a good physique. There have been plenty better built individuals out there. It's the confidence. Let me give you another personal example.

Speaker 1:

When I was a little kid and I wanted to lift weights and when I mean a little kid, I was probably 12 or 13 years of age, I think I was in junior high school, and the school offered a weightlifting club that I wanted to join. I didn't have necessarily the confidence to join, so my mother purchased for me a weight bench you know the old fashioned weight bench with the cement plates that you put on the little bar. And, uh, you know, none of us knew what we were doing. I put it together, set it up in my garage and had absolutely no concept whatsoever of what I'm supposed to do. I just knew I wanted to have a better bench press. So I would put the weight on the bar and I would try it. I would just try one and then I might try another, and then the next day I would do it again. So again, absolutely no physiological basis for this style of training, had no concept what I was doing.

Speaker 1:

But what I do know is this because I was a growing boy, an adolescent, and I was trying something day in and day out. As you might suspect, I was getting stronger. So I can remember one day trying 100 pounds because that was my goal, because that's all the weight set went up to. I believe it was maybe that or 120, but I know the goal was 100 pounds. And I remember trying it in my garage and it got stuck on my chest and there's nobody around. You know, I was just an idiot doing you know what kids do, but I was somehow smart enough or dumb enough, whichever way it goes to roll the bar down my chest, almost breaking my sternum, to the point where I got it up to my waist and then I could sit up and lift it off my body. So I was able to get the weight off of me.

Speaker 1:

Thank goodness, many people, many young boys, weightlifting, by the way share this same story. So I remember it getting stuck and doing all I can to crawl it off my body, but you know, not being the smartest kid in the world, trying again either the next day or the day after that, but finally getting it and pushing it all the way off my chest. Like you can't deny that it went from being stuck on my chest, where I needed to maneuver my body to get it off of me to the exact same way, going from my sternum all the way up and back up on the bar. So you can't tell yourself you're going to get stronger, you can't believe you're going to do it. You have to have facts to back you up. I mean to this day.

Speaker 1:

I mean how many years ago was that? I mean God, I don't want to show off my math skills right now. That's a long time ago and I still remember it because it built my confidence, because I said, well, I mean, there you go, if I just do this, I'm going to get stronger. That is one of the beauties of working out. I've said for years. I've been saying it for years and I do say it to the right people. Sometimes it falls on deaf ears. But like if we can put physical gyms, workout facilities in mental health places, in alcohol and substance abuse rehab centers I mean I know there's some, but like if we really turned it into a program where everybody got like an hour a day to work out and set goals with somebody that's qualified there, I 100% believe it's going to raise their confidence level and then that is going to go into other areas of their life. There's no doubt in my mind, I know for me personally, my confidence in all aspects of life improved due to my physical training because I told myself well, if I can do this, I can do that. And before that I didn't have that verification, I didn't have that proof.

Speaker 1:

So if you're an athlete out there and I think almost everybody that listens to this podcast is in some way shape or form an athlete we have people that still do a lot of endurance training, 5ks and triathlons. We have people that play competitive golf. We have people that play competitive tennis. We have people that play competitive pickleball. What else, what else? I'm sure that, oh, rowing and crew and things like that there's, I mean, almost everybody is doing something as a hobby, and if you're not trying to get better at your hobby, that's kind of a shame, because that's one of the huge benefits of having a hobby is that we can work on it and develop it. We can master it. That doesn't mean we get better than other people, because that's immature. We master it, we get better at it. We don't say we win all of our pickleball matches. We say I've gotten better at pickleball. Well, how do you know? Well, I'm making shots I wasn't able to make. I'm getting to balls I wasn't able to before. I'm able to put a spin on the ball I wasn't able to do. That means you're getting better. That's really what counts.

Speaker 1:

So whatever sport you play, if you want to get better at it, the first thing you have to do other than consistency, of course is build your confidence. So think about how you can do that. I set up the running example where I knew if I ran a mile in a certain time then I can run slower miles for longer. Like that's just a confidence builder. I know for weightlifting if I could visibly see the weights go up and get better. That's building my confidence. So how can you set that up? Let's say you're a golfer and you play competitive golf and there's just certain shots you just can't make. Like I'm not very good at golf, at any part of it.

Speaker 1:

But the hardest part for me was that middle game. You know, and I think it's that middle game from what I understand from most golfers that is like kind of the most important. Like you got to get the ball up onto the green and I, man, I would struggle with that. So what would make me think that it's all of a sudden just going to be there when I play a round of golf, like, oh, the ball's, you know, I don't know, 50 feet away, or you know 50 yards out, and I've got to get it up onto the green. You know, oh, it's just going to. You know, I'm just going to do it this time. I'm going to pick the right club, I'm going to do the right backswing, it's just going to go right up there. You know, I mean, that's just stupid, it's actually arrogant, is what that is Like?

Speaker 1:

If I can't do it in practice, why on earth would I be able to do it when you know everything is on the line in a game, right? Everybody's staring at you. You know you're self-conscious, or I should speak for myself. I know I get really self-conscious when people watch me do things and that makes it worse so for me. So why on earth would I all of a sudden start nailing that shot?

Speaker 1:

No, if I really wanted to get better, I would, you know, either. Well, of course, take lessons. But more importantly, if I had complete reign to a golf course where I can do whatever I wanted to do, I would grab a bucket of balls like a hundred of them and I would sit out about 40 yards or so and I would just keep statistics and say, all right, so out of these hundred balls, how many can I get up here where I want them to be? And then I would go back the next day and I would try to improve it and when I got to a point where I really thought I was mastering it because I built my confidence levels up, then I would go play around the golf and I could go yeah, I'm pretty sure I can hit that shot. You know, I'm at least confident in it. Like that's the only way we're going to do it and it's the only way we're going to get better. Your best athletes have the most confidence.

Speaker 1:

Kobe Bryant wanted the ball in his hands. Michael Jordan wanted the ball in his hands. These guys wanted to be up. They wanted the opportunity to be up. They wanted the opportunity. The greatest baseball players that have ever existed want to be up in the bottom of the ninth with two strikes and two outs. They want that opportunity. They want it because why they've done it? You know Derek Jeter was called Mr November because of so many of his walk-off hits and even home runs, and he wasn't even a home run hitter, but when the chips were down, there was nobody, in my opinion and statistically speaking, more clutch than Derek Jeter. So if he's coming up to bat and you're a Yankees fan, you're going.

Speaker 1:

I feel pretty good about this, right, I mean, I'm not going to throw it. Well, sure, why not? I mean, who cares? It's not like I'm on, you know, the radio and I'm going to get people mad at me, but you know, then you then you take their latest superstar, aaron judge, who hits all these home runs all the time, and I tell you what you know watching him come up in the world series last year against the Dodgers with the game on the line or you know a game on the line I had zero confidence in this guy. I'm like he's not going to do it. Why? It's not like he doesn't have the ability to do it. It's because he hasn't done it yet. I haven't seen him perform when he needed to. So confidence is only built when we have facts to back it up, and my advice to you, as somebody who's been in this industry the wellness industry a long time, is to do whatever you can to build your confidence. All right, now, speaking of confidence, I have 100% confidence in Overhead Door of Daytona Beach.

Speaker 1:

So I think everybody who listens to this podcast has heard me kind of rant about my garage door before that was put in Not by them, them, because I bought the house and it was on there and it's been making noise as well. It finally tanked out completely and so they were able to put in the new, the new motor area, whatever the thing was called on it. And let me tell you, not only is it fixed, because it goes up and down, which it wasn't doing when it broke a few days ago, it is so freaking quiet right now it's like a miracle. So these guys really know what they're doing. And let me tell you, they were out there the next day to fix it and I got a text saying hey, the door was done. That simple, that quick. So let me tell you first, personal experience you cannot beat Overhead Door of Daytona Beach. So

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