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
Time: Exercise's Biggest Myth
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 to today's show, I want to 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. Why don't you give them a shout and figure out what your home is worth? 386-451-2412. 386-451-2412.
Speaker 1:You don't have time to work out. You simply don't have the time. How do I know that? Well, it's not true about you? Because you listen to this podcast, which means you value working out, to this podcast, which means you value working out.
Speaker 1:But most people claim that they don't have enough time to work out. In fact, I'll give you a little statistic here 42% of the people who were polled in this survey not mine, but research I conducted state that the reason why they don't go to the gym or they don't exercise or they don't meet the requirements of 150 minutes per week of moderate cardiorespiratory exercise and two days of strength training is because they don't have the time. 42%, tim Ferriss says. Is it really lack of time or is it lack of priorities? I mean, I think it's lack of priorities. I don't think that it's a time factor. I am currently writing my new book, talking about the reasons why people are not taking advantage of this fountain of youth, of exercise, nearly as much as I believe we should. In this country, only 28% of Americans are meeting the physical requirements for physical activity or meeting the requirements for physical activity. That is simply not enough in my book. So is it true or is it a myth? Is the time thing really true or is it a myth? You'll have to excuse my hoarse throat here.
Speaker 1:I've had a little bit of the funk over the past couple of days, definitely feeling better, but still talking like a smoker, which I am not, thankfully. So I'm very aware that some people have more free time than others. I would be, you know, kind of off here if I was to say well, everybody's time is the same. Now, we do all have the same 24 hours in the day. That is absolutely true. But I also know that some people might have to work two jobs to pay the bills and that makes their extra time a little bit more challenging. Some people may not work at all, and that is a luxury, and they have more time to exercise. So there's absolutely truth to the fact that some people feel like they don't have as much time as others, and then some people legitimately don't have as much time outside of their work and family and whatever responsibilities as other people. This is all true, but it's still a myth that you don't have enough time to work out.
Speaker 1:Now again, the recommendations for physical activity to start to get some health benefits is do three days of vigorous cardiorespiratory exercise or 75 minutes weekly of vigorous cardiorespiratory exercise. If it's harder, then you can get your activity guidelines in that way or a combination of the two. So no matter which way you slice it right, that's not a lot of time. In fact, that works out to 1.5% of your week or 1.5% of your day If you were just to do that amount of physical activity, the moderate 30 minutes five times a week plus two days a week of strength training 1.5%. So do we really not have that amount of time to find somewhere to get the benefits. I'm sorry but I don't buy it. We do have the time.
Speaker 1:I often hear it in the business sector and when I speak to different businessmen or you know, have had clients that are in the business world they say it all the time or they say it often the ones that don't do it anyway. They'll say, rob, where am I supposed to come up with more minutes in the day to do this exercise? And I always talk to them about the rate of return on their investment. I mean, these are business people and they make that statement and I'm thinking you understand rate on return. So I mean, what's better than a 1.5, the 2% investment of your time and what you're going to get out of it is more life and more quality of life isn't asking a lot, right? And two days a week of strength training they've shown that lowers your death rate from all cause mortality. So anything that potentially you know causes death, exercise in this regard delays this right. So we know this All right. I mean, don't start throwing freak things at me, I get all that, but the statistics show that exercise helps people live longer and improves their quality of life. I mean the research shows it over and over and over.
Speaker 1:When I was first going to graduate school in the early 90s and in college late 80s, wellness was a huge movement in my industry and basically that was corporate wellness. That is where exercise physiologists or exercise scientists or practitioners or whatever trainers of some regard were brought into big companies and they taught all of the employees how to exercise effectively, put them through workouts and they did research and they found that the employees how to exercise effectively, put them through workouts and they did research and they found that the employees that participated in this activity called in sick less and were more productive employees. And I thought it was really, really going to take off. You know the beer company Coors was huge with this. Disney World was starting one, and I knew that because I was in Orlando at the University of Central Florida, so they were utilizing a lot of our students as interns and things like that. So it was going to be the next big thing and Ellen worked in two different wellness departments, or potentially three different wellness departments, but one of them at a local hospital, another one with an insurance company, and you know this wasn't that long ago hospital, another one with an insurance company, and you know this wasn't that long ago, but basically the investment by business into wellness programs has not gone nearly in the direction we thought it would Like.
Speaker 1:It's just not there. And it's shocking because if you saw the numbers of employee health, employee satisfaction, employee attendance and less sick days, you'd be like it's a no-brainer. You know do wellness programs, but oftentimes they're not in the budget. So I ask my business friends out there I mean, don't you understand rate of return on your investment? I mean, is 2% asking a whole lot? I mean it's really not.
Speaker 1:So what is the problem? Is more better? I mean more exercise can be better, but up to 300 minutes per week. They found that there's definitely a rate of diminishing returns. After 300 minutes weekly, which essentially works to an hour five times a week, and with strength training there's absolutely a point of diminishing return. So yes, more than 150 minutes, it's more beneficial to go beyond that, but much more beyond that we're showing we just don't see the same rate on return. So is that one of the problems?
Speaker 1:People think, oh, there's no way 30 minutes can do a lot of good. I don't know. Oh, there's no way 30 minutes can do a lot of good. I don't know. I mean, I'm researching this. I'm doing a lot of research for this book and looking at different reasons why we don't have the adherence. We don't have the exercise adherence that I would love to see in this country and worldwide. We just don't have it. Adherence means that you're sticking to a program to the point where you'll get benefits. We are just not seeing it and it's unfortunate. So I'm doing a lot of research.
Speaker 1:Time, as I said, is the number one reason or excuse given, but I just told you the facts around time, 1.5% of your day, 1.5% of your week, to get in 150 minutes of cardiorespiratory exercise. Add in your strength training, we're now up to 1.8%. So we're talking somewhere between 1.5% and 2% of your time and you will get the benefits. So reduce your death rate from all-cause mortality, increase your functional capacity, increase your activities of daily living, make you more alert at work, make you more productive, make you happier, help you reach your fitness goals. So time simply is not true.
Speaker 1:Now, what I think happens is and it's one of the chapters I explore is ignorance. People just don't know that. They're told that they have to do so much more, or they're looking at what their neighbor does or what they think their neighbor is doing Right. We all know, like the old Instagram thing where you're seeing the best two minutes of somebody's day on Instagram and we automatically assume that that's how they live all the time. Like, people don't even like to post selfies until they look at it and make sure everything's OK and they filter out parts of it. Until they look at it and make sure everything's okay and they filter out parts of it. Do you really think they're going to put a picture of their house up that looks like a catastrophe, that looks like a tornado ran through it? No, people are going to be fixing up their house before they take the picture. You know, whatever I mean.
Speaker 1:People do the same thing with their exercise habits. They make it seem like they're going to the gym all the time. They're wearing their best outfits. They post these videos. They're going to the gym all the time. They're wearing their best outfits. They post these videos. They tell you what they're doing all the time and oftentimes it's just the best snapshot of their week Doesn't mean they're doing it all the time, and you know it doesn't matter either.
Speaker 1:The point is that is that one of the problems? We just think that our neighbor or somebody we might look up to, is doing so much more than the norm, and really that's not the key, it's consistency. That's the key. We don't have to do a lot to get the benefits from exercise, we just have to make an effort to do it consistently. That is the important thing. Is the important thing.
Speaker 1:So one thing that Seneca says a stoic philosopher he's famous for saying. The thing that all fools have in common is they're always getting ready to begin. I mean, isn't that true? I mean, we don't need to get ready to begin, we just need to do it. We need to do it. We need to K-I-S-S. Keep it simple, stupid, and just get in our minutes of exercise. Get up in the morning before you start to think about it. Go for a walk, go for a jog, just get moving. We don't have to make this complicated. You don't have to go for 90 minutes.
Speaker 1:There is this person I follow and know and she's in the endurance world and, like she's famous for doing these three or four hour workouts during the day. You know, I almost said the week because that would be more normal, but no, during the day. It's just so not necessary. Like we don't have to do that and we don't have to look up to those people that necessarily do that. They are doing that for more than their physical fitness. I can promise you there's a different driver behind that. I mean I think it was Ken Cooper.
Speaker 1:It is Ken Cooper, the famous. He's either a cardiologist or he is an exercise physiologist. I should know this. I believe he's an MD, I think he's a cardiologist. Started the Cooper Institute in Dallas, texas. He was always famously known to say that anybody that runs more than 30 miles per week is doing it more for their health and fitness reasons. And you know this is the Cooper Institute.
Speaker 1:The Cooper test, which is the 1.5 mile cardiorespiratory test, is designed by him, a person who is an advocate, obviously, of exerciser Maybe not obvious to you, but obvious in my industry, and he's even saying it. Look, I mean, is it 30 miles? That exact number we don't know. His point is that if people are doing extreme amounts of exercise volume, they're not doing it for their health and fitness. There's an escapism, there is some dysfunction, potentially there's a boredom issue, but it is not health and fitness. Okay, thank you for listening to today's program. I ask you to please follow the show wherever you get your podcasts and please select automatic download, because that really helps the show. Now I want to thank Overhead Door of Daytona Beach, the area's premier garage door company. They have the best product. They have the best service. I personally vouch for Jeff and Zach Hawk, the owners. They are great people with a great company. If you have any garage door needs, please give them a shout at 386-222-3165.
