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
Fitness Myths: Why Most People Fail to Exercise
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 Gildan of the Gildan 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? 3-8-6-4-5-1-2-4451-2412.
Speaker 1:How's everybody's Monday morning going? Are we off to a good fitness start? I've been battling a little bit of laryngitis over the last I don't know week or so. I suppose it's actually better, despite how I might sound right now, but it really is better. It's getting better clearing up, so that's that. So it's Monday for me, and I've been talking about it's Monday for you too, if you're tuning in right now, on Monday. But you may not be tuning in on Monday, but it's Monday, march 17th, st Patrick's Day. Happy St Patrick's Day to those that celebrate. I had a dog named Patrick, when I was a little boy, random thought that nobody really gives a flip about, but hey, I just thought of it.
Speaker 1:I'm going to continue on with talking about what some of the problems are. As far as not getting our adherence rate up to over 28%, that's how many. That's the percentage of people that exercise on a sustainable program that where they will get benefits. In the United States, only 28% take advantage of that wonderful world that is the fountain of youth and exercise. So I want to raise that. Hopefully you want to raise that. I mean, what's our goal? I don't know. I mean, shouldn't we at least be over 50%? I don't think that 50% is unreasonable by any means. I mean I'd love to see it higher, but you know, let's start with that. And I talked about how the myth of time being one of the problems people use, or one of the excuses they use. They claim they don't have enough time to exercise, and I honestly think that it's more of a priority issue. Exercise. I honestly think that it's more of a priority issue, as I broke down that, basically, if you get in the minimal requirements by the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Heart Association, to get benefits is just 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise. That's less than 1.8% of your day and week. So I think we have the time. We have to make the time. It has to be important enough.
Speaker 1:Another problem I want to address today is people state lack of confidence is a big reason that keeps them from going. Now, that can mean a couple different things. That could be confidence in themselves, like they think they have to be fit to go get fit. And I get that. I'm not going to knock on that. I really do believe that is an issue.
Speaker 1:It appears as though there are some real judgmental pieces of you know what on social media and, uh, you know, just say bad things about people. I mean, I'd like to believe that that's still ultimately a small percentage of people. And it's also people that get behind computers and their mouses, you know. And uh, same people that get behind the windshields of their cars and act like big, tough guys. So I do think they're part of it's just a masquerade. And most areas of fitness, like running clubs and you know, crossfit places and crew and rowing places, boathouses, triathlon clubs, whatever, that it's a very positive environment where everybody is helping everybody along. So but I do get it. I do get that that's a fear. So, but I do get it, I do get that that's a fear. I used to teach my students that self-efficacy is important for people to get on the road to fitness and what that means is basically that confidence leads to more competence, and then competence feeling like you know what you're doing leads to more confidence. So one thing we want to do as fitness professionals is teach and educate, because then we will build the person's confidence and make them more willing and able to go into a health club. So I do think there is that that's one thing I do to try to help this particular concern lack of confidence.
Speaker 1:I think another issue is the old social media thing about confusion, because I can totally understand that. I mean, there is so much confusing material that is put out there. So much confusing material that is put out there. You know, I shake my head at it. I empathize with you. Unfortunately, unfortunately, in the real world of fitness, it's not that hard to become a trainer, a personal trainer. It's not even that hard, unfortunately, to become a certified personal trainer. So there already was an issue with disinformation. Since social media has taken off, there's even more problems because now what we call fitness influencers which really was never a profession before are just out there and you don't even have to be a trainer to be that. You can just look somewhat the part and talk a lot of crap and talk like you know what you're talking about and you're going to influence people. And unfortunately that's true. Let me give you some statistics on that 49% of the people polled said that they use an influencer to help them make decisions on a product 49%.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to sit here and throw stones. I mean, a couple months ago I was watching some video of a guy that pulled out this battery charger. Essentially, you know, and probably everybody's seen them by now, but you don't necessarily have to get a jumpstart anymore. There's just a pack you can buy, but this one was even cooler than that. Like, just a pack you can buy, but this one was even cooler than that. Like this was even smaller and I mean it sold me, so I bought it. So I get the fact that influencers can influence. And if I don't know a lot about fitness like if I don't have a science background, if I don't study it and I'm watching some video of somebody who's chiseled male or female, and they're. They sound like they know what they're talking about. You know, I probably fall for it too.
Speaker 1:I don't know the solution to that, other than to try to help you understand the science, the social science behind it, which is, again, 49% of us have used an influencer on a regular basis to buy products. 80% of the people asked stated they have used an influencer to buy a product. So I mean that's 80%. 80%, that's a lot of people who have been fooled into buying something that maybe they didn't need to or maybe they did. And you know, look, there's people out there that legitimately know what they're talking about. So again, we have to be buyer. Beware. Here's the problem in fitness problem in fitness Only 20% of the fitness influencers asked, and that's pretty bad when they admit it. Only 20% have any credentials to talk about fitness. 20% said they had the right credentials, whatever that means to them. 80% just basically said I don't know what would they have said to that. No, I mean that's pretty sad, right. I mean what are the credentials? I mean I've always said I mean these are my credentials that I think are important.
Speaker 1:I think you should ultimately have a bachelor's degree or higher in health and fitness science of some kind. You should be certified by one of the big four accredited certifications, which is the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Strength and Conditioning Association, american Council on Exercise or the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Boom, that was easy. Okay, I was just call it NASM National Academy of Sports Medicine. Those are one of the. Those are the four. You should have at least one of the four and, in my opinion, a degree and then five years of experience of helping people. And that last part's important, like not just have the education, but also you've been out there mixing it up.
Speaker 1:You know there are influencers I see out there and there's a couple of them. I'm not going to mention their names because I'll probably make somebody mad because so many people are into a couple of them that I'm thinking about in my mind right now. And they do have the first two requirements. They have a degree. Matter of fact, one of them has a PhD and I'm pretty sure they've gone along and gotten another certification as well, but all they've done is written books and basically given their opinions on the radio and now via podcasts and social media. And you know, they talk like they know everything.
Speaker 1:I'm like you haven't worked with people, you can't say that you don't know that all of the theories that you're bestowing upon us are going to work in the real world. And they just kind of pissed me off because I watch what they say to people online and I'm like you don't know, like you're being so harsh right now, like they might be going off on their theories that everybody needs to train in this perfect scientific way, formula way, and they belittle people who don't. And I'm like you don't know that, like you don't know that this person might have a psychological block to that kind of style of training, so you pushing your agenda on them will only make them not exercise, and so you are not benefiting this person. So I think that you should have five years of experience, maybe not as a personal trainer, but working in a gym, working in a wellness department, working in cardiac rehabilitation, working as a physical therapist, working as an occupational therapist. A physical therapist working as an occupational therapist, teaching boot camps, being a CrossFit instructor All of those things qualify, in my opinion, for experience, and I think you need to have those three things. And then, all of a sudden, you are now, in my opinion, worthy enough to be an influencer on social media.
Speaker 1:Most people just jump to social media. Why, well, it's easy. They don't have to go to work, they can go to the gym. Maybe, or probably, or most likely they're attractive, they can put the camera on them. People are going to fall for it because if they're a woman, they're pretty, probably have a great body and they're probably showing a lot of flesh. If they're a guy, they're handsome, probably showing a lot of flesh, and you know everybody is going to go oh man, they must really know what they're talking about and I have preached it for years that you cannot ask a racehorse how it got fast.
Speaker 1:You know, I have worked with elite athletes before and I can promise you that they respect people who have more knowledge than them, who have more knowledge than them, and they listen and they don't know squat about what they're supposed to do. And when I talk to them and I help them and they go oh man, I didn't know that. I'm glad you told me that I would have been, you know, doing 25 pull-ups every day, thinking I'm doing a good thing, like they don't know and humble elite athletes be the first to admit it. So you know, look, I'm fortunate. I work very hard.
Speaker 1:I, I, I make fitness a huge part of my life. I try to work out every day. If I don't, there's a problem, I'm sick or something. Um, I eat right. I've been doing this for 40 years. So, yes, I work at it. But I'm also blessed. I mean, I have pretty good genetics so I've been able to grow muscles.
Speaker 1:And I don't say I get offended when people would say well, I'm really going to listen to you because you're fit and especially for your age, you're super fit, whatever. And, by the way, no, I don't get triggered by your age comments. To me, I take that as the ultimate compliment really. I mean, I think that's what we should all strive for, is be as fit as we can be as we get older. So now that's a compliment.
Speaker 1:But I'm like, yeah, but I'm telling you this information, I'm giving you this advice based on my scientific knowledge and experience from working with others, not necessarily what I do with my personal life. Know that I'm consistent as hell. Know that I love to work out. Know that I'm going to do something every day. I mean, anybody that knows me well knows that I'll also overdo sometimes and I won't have my clients do that. So don't go by what I do, except for my consistency and my passion and love for fitness. But go by what I do, except for my consistency and my passion and love for fitness, but go by what I'm telling you, and I want you to think about that with your influencers, because if you do that, we can eliminate or help eliminate the confidence issue that people have, because we'll teach people to go.
Speaker 1:Well, you're getting confused because you're getting misled by this person who doesn't know what they're talking about. So if we all follow people that know what the hell they're talking about, we'll all be better off. And that really goes for everything, right? I mean, I don't even get me going on social media and trying to get medical advice from social media, trying to get any kind of advice from social media. It's like, are you serious? So-and-so said you should do this and now all of a sudden you're listening to them when it comes to this disease or whatever. I mean, come on, isn't that really stupid? But we have to be buyer beware. We can't blame the influencers. They're out there. They're always going to be there. I said to a client the other day. I said you know, there's been snake all salesmen since I've been in this industry. They'll be in there long after I leave this industry. We need to be smarter and know where to look and then we can really help our confusion.
Speaker 1:Okay, that was kind of painful to get through. I thought my voice was so much better until I started talking and I only had maybe three or four flubs. So give me a pat on the back for those three or four flubs and I only hit stop maybe eight times and restarted. But hey, we did it and if my voice sounds like shit, I apologize and you can tell me about it later on. A nice little beautiful comment on social media, because I'll be glad to ignore it. 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. 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.
