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
Three Rules For Getting Stronger Without the Fuss
Welcome to there is a Method to the Madness. My name is Rob Maxwell and I'm an exercise physiologist and personal trainer. I am 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. Before I get started today, let me thank Jonathan and Lynn Gilden of the Gilden Group Realty Pros. They are committed to providing the highest level of customer service in home sales. Why don't you give them a shout and figure out what your home is worth? 386-451-2412.
Speaker 1:Did you know that only 20% or so of the American population is on a sustainable exercise program? I mean, 80% of our country does not exercise enough to get benefits. I once heard a statistic that it was actually as low as 93% do not and I do believe the person that told me this that saw the studies, but I never saw that particular study. The studies I have seen have said 20%, have said 20% that my friends is not enough. One of my goals in life is to share the wealth of exercise. I mean I really believe it's the fountain of youth. It might be the most important thing that we can do for ourselves. I mean there may be some things that are as important, but I don't know about more important. I mean the effects it has on our body, on our mind, on our soul. I mean we are born to move, so one of the things that I think gets in the way of people grasping it completely is overcomplicating things. The other day I was opening up my emails, like I do, of course, most days, and I get my emails from the NSCA, national Strength Conditioning Association. They send me different journal articles at least a couple times a week and normally they're pretty good. I mean, I like getting them, I like doing my CECs. I actually really enjoy continuing to learn.
Speaker 1:And the heading of this particular study said comparison contrast of cluster sets versus traditional straight sets, which one led to greater strength and hypertrophy. And as soon as I read the headline I said to myself well, I know how this is going to come out, but naturally I read the study anyway because I wanted to confirm it. So let me give you some definitions. So I think you know what strength is, hypertrophy is muscle cell enlargement, and then when they're talking about straight sets versus cluster sets. All of that is is straight sets are the same amount of repetitions with the same load for the same amount of sets. So let's say somebody did three sets of 10 with 100 pounds. That would be straight sets. They did that three times for 10 reps with 100 pounds, with anywhere from, say, 30 seconds to a minute in between sets.
Speaker 1:Cluster sets are kind of like new and improved type of thing, and what that is is you actually are, say, sets of 12, but you're going to take a break every four reps and rest for 20 seconds until 12 reps is complete, and you might do that for a total of, again, three sets of 12 and then four cluster sets within each 12 reps. All right, the thinking behind that is you can use slightly heavier load, since you're going to take a break after four. Now the studies compared apples to apples, so I believe it compared sets of 12 versus sets of 12. So there wasn't any confusion or any debate, except one of the groups was straight sets and the other was cluster sets of 12 reps. Okay, the study came out exactly like I knew it would. It said both of the subject groups improved, so both got stronger, both added hypertrophy and there was not a statistical significance between the groups.
Speaker 1:I knew it was going to say that. I knew it was going to say that everything came out even All right. Why didn't I know that? Because I've read every good study that has come out on this subject. I mean, people are trying to reproduce these studies all the time. They always say the same thing. It's the same. You're going to get stronger if you follow simple rules. And we don't have to get fancy. I mean, we can look at philosophy and we can see that they've been trying to tell us that for years. One of those really old philosophical books says there is nothing new under the sun, and 12-step groups have been saying K-I-S-S forever. Keep it simple, stupid. I mean, all these groups that know human behavior pretty well have been telling us this lesson and I've been trying to say it for years. Don't over complicate this stuff.
Speaker 1:Everybody is trying to sell something. Yes, a lot of influencers are trying to sell something. You might think, well, they're not selling me any supplements when I watch their videos. They're not selling me any ridiculous ab rollers or some of those silly things on infomercials we used to see. But what you don't understand is they are selling themselves. Nobody wants to sit there and watch a boring video of some guy just doing a basic dumbbell row, even though it's the best thing you can do for your lats. Really, there's nothing better than a dumbbell row and a pull-up. We don't have to do anything fancy, but people aren't going to click on that.
Speaker 1:So people have to click these or make these videos of traditional exercises, doing them in really weird positions with different kinds of loads and different kinds of weights and hanging from apparatuses, and you know, just to kind of make you think oh man, there's things I don't know out there. Or they try to sell you some kind of like really complicated workout program, because then you think, man, I'm not getting my results because I'm not doing cluster sets in a pre-exhausted manner every 96 hours and blah, blah, blah and it's all not true. And you know we can blame the people that are selling us all we want to, but everybody that listens to this show maybe almost everybody. Maybe there's kids here and there that are under 18, but we're adults people. We can't blame people forever. Buyer beware, we have to be a little smarter when we watch things. You know there's licensure and there's certifications and there's degrees, for a reason. You know that commercial. I slept in a Hollywood what is it? Holiday Inn last night. Had to think Hollywood. No, I slept in a Hollywood Holiday Inn last night. You can tell this is a non-edited show. Anyway, it's kind of the same concept, right? I mean, there's people that are experts for a reason. And guess what? The experts don't make it more complicated, they actually make it simple.
Speaker 1:There are three core rules you have to know, basically, if you want to get results while strength training. Number one show up. There's absolutely nothing more important than consistency. Number two focus on intensity, meaning it is better to do quality work than do quantity work. It is better to do a really good thought about squeezing set of eight with an appropriate load than it would be to do 15 reps flinging it around. Think about intensity, think about quality. And finally three overload. If you're not getting better, you're not getting better. If you're not getting stronger, you're not getting stronger. I know that sounds like some yogi-ism, so to say yogi-bara-ism, but it's true. To get better Yogiism, so to say Yogi Berra-ism, but it's true, to get better, you have to progress Somehow, someway. You have to be thinking about doing a little bit more each time you work out, at least trying to. If you do those three simple things quality over quantity, show up and overload I promise you you will get all the results you need. All right Now, get out there and do it.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to today's show. I ask you to please follow this show on wherever you get your podcasts and also please hit automatic downloads. It really helps me and it helps the show downloads. It really helps me and it helps the show. Now I want to thank Overhead Door of Daytona Beach, the premier garage door company in Volusia County with the best product with the best service. I can vouch for Jeff and Zach Hawk, the owners. They are great people. If you need any help with your garage doors, give them a shout. 386-222-3165.
