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
Mastering Your Fitness Tools
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. Hello everybody, how is it going there where you are? This is Coach Rob here getting ready to talk to you about some physical fitness and health, hopefully, advice.
Speaker 1:You know, I was looking at some of the statistics yesterday and today on my Buzzsprout and it tells me like the episodes and the popularity of them and everything. And you know, overall I absolutely can't complain. I feel extremely blessed and happy that it seems to be doing really well and catching on for what my goals are, which is just to educate people around my circle, my circle of influence, the best that I can. But it's kind of funny. You guys, you listeners, you hate physiology stuff. When it comes to strength training, you just don't like it. Now, two or three people just came to mind who love it, who like love. When I get into like the different physiological things, like the research on forced repetitions, like I did the other day I think it was yesterday, yesterday for me anyway, there's a few people that love that stuff. But, man, overall you people hate it, you know, and I look at some of the other things and of course, diet is so popular and then sometimes things that just flat out surprise me. I know the interviews are always going to do well and that's just like me. I listen to different podcasts too and I look for different people when they're being interviewed and it's always interesting because there's two people talking. So I get that the interviews always outdo everything else. But when it's just like a general topic, I'm like man, you people hate the science, you know, you just don't like it. Well, I guess today is a good day for you.
Speaker 1:This is a short little lesson here, but it's not about science per se, it's about a term. I heard a slogan I heard on one of the podcasts I listened to this morning and he was interviewing somebody and they were going back and forth. This was a business guy he was talking to. I listened to a lot of those types of things and, gosh, I don't even know it was the interviewer that said it.
Speaker 1:I was about to say I don't remember which one said it, not that it should matter but he said that the ability to use tools is a human being's superpower. You know, that's so true and, of course, when you study us as a species, we see that that's been true through the years. You know, when we go way back, we see that that's absolutely been true. That's where we stand out. Our ability to use physical tools has helped us, you, you know, build and do what we do to evolve and, I guess, to advance. I guess depends on how you look at it, but you know, it's true from that standpoint. But he wasn't necessarily talking about that like past tense, but more like today. Today, if we have the ability to use our tools better than, say, other people or better than we used to, it's our superpower to get better.
Speaker 1:And I thought about that in regards to physical fitness and that's absolutely so true. I mean, there are a lot of tools we can benefit from in physical fitness, but we have to know how to use them. And you know, naturally, what comes to mind are the things of today, like the smartwatches and the smartphones and the GPSs and all that good stuff and the Fitbits and, you know, I guess, the computer software where we can log our foods. Yes, all those are tools, but we can go back a little bit further and talk about the different types of tools for strength training, like free weights versus machines versus, say, like bands and tubes. I mean, those are all tools. And then, of course, tools for cardio, respiratory, such as the treadmills and the bikes and the outdoor bikes and things like that, and then all of the tools that swimmers use to hopefully help them get better, like swim fins and pool boys and those types of things. So there are a lot of tools that aren't just about technology that we have been able to use through the years to help us get fit, if we use them correctly. So, so maybe one of the best things we can do and one of the best things I can do to help you is to understand what tools are real important and make sure you educate yourself on how to use them so for years and years.
Speaker 1:It's a lot better now, but for years and years there was always this silly debate among weightlifters you know, strength trainers about the difference between free weights and machines. And literally I can remember being in my late teens, early 20s, and there would be people at the gym that would say, oh, that Nautilus stuff, it's not real strength, it's. You know, it's fake. And I'm thinking what are they talking about? But being young and naive, I thought that they knew something that I didn't know, but I don't even know, like what they thought they knew at the time. But there was all these myths and misconceptions that free weights were the superior tool for lifting weights and machines were for beginners or, as some people called it, fake, which still doesn't make sense to this day. There still sort of lives on the debate that machine selectorized machines are more for beginners and free weights are more for advanced. But that is absolutely not true.
Speaker 1:What I want you to do? Two things I want you to get out of this today. Number one I want you to remember that the mode of strength training that we use, whether we use machines, whether we use dumbbells, whether we use plates and free weights, whether we use bands and tubes or whether we use body weight, they are all tools to make us get stronger and there is no superior tool. They are all great, and you know I can I can make a whole podcast about the marketing of health and fitness and how certain companies want to turn you against certain modes of equipment. Don't fall for any of that. That's just marketing BS. You know, and and you just need to know, first off, to use any tool that you have at your disposal for resistance training.
Speaker 1:If you come to my gym, you know that we have selectorized machines. We have a smith machine, we have a little bit of free weight, meaning that, um, a curl bar for some things, and then we have a lot of dumbbells. There's just a lot of tools to use, plenty, sometimes more than enough and we can utilize them based on what works best for you. If you don't have that like, I have a remote client that I train and she trains at her office a lot. She's a physician, she is super fit, so she can utilize her own body weight as a tool. I know that sounds strange, but to be able to use your body weight as a tool, you have to be basically really strong, like it's hard to do pull-ups and push-ups and different kinds of burpees and sit-ups and things and squats and lunges, like it's not easy. So for her she can utilize her body weight with very little other kinds of resistance. Sometimes we'll use light dumbbells. Sometimes she'll call me from the park she goes to and she can train at this park. But those are all tools that work for her. For somebody else who's a little deconditioned, maybe a little beat up by arthritis, we're not going to be able to utilize just body weight for tools because they're not going to be able to do a lot of the exercises or joint actions that they need to do. But there is no superior tool.
Speaker 1:I always tell people use what you have. I mean when I travel and I'm outdoors and I don't want to like if I go to the mountains, I don't necessarily want to spend a lot of time in a gym. Although I do love a gym, I'd rather exercise outdoors. So I will do the majority of my strength training after I run, hike, jog, whatever in the mountains. I'll do some what I just described. I'll do some push-ups, I'll do some squats, I'll do some lunges, I'll do things like that. If there's a hotel gym with maybe one cable machine and a few dumbbells. I'll do that and I'll make that absolutely work. Sometimes I go and see this guy who's got a little gym in Ellenville, new York it's pretty close to where I go, and he's got a complete fitness center and I'll utilize his Selectrise machines and some of his Smith machines free weights and dumbbells.
Speaker 1:I mean it doesn't matter as long as you are getting the exercises that you need, working your full bodies, doing all the joint actions. That's really the key with that. So there is no better best. Well, there is a better, what's better for you, but there's really not a best. Okay, so we need to just know we can utilize any tool at our disposal. And one of the things I like to do as a strength coach is when people tell me that they're going to get some new equipment and they'll ask me what to get and I'll ask them what kind of space they have and they'll tell me I'll help them with that and then I'll help them get what they need to get the workout they need in the most space efficient manner that we can do. I enjoy doing that and I enjoy giving people exercises for what they have. So it's not going out and getting all the tools that you need. It's making sure that you utilize the tools at your disposal and just make sure you understand that there is no better best. There's only better for you.
Speaker 1:Now the same could be said when we move on to all these new gadgets that we have. We got the smartwatches, we got the smartphones, we got GPSs, we have all these things. I mean that's great. I am not anti-technology. I mean what's technology now? Well, technology, I guess the thing everybody's talking about now is AI. Okay, well, I can remember technology. 20 years ago we wouldn't have imagined what was coming down the pike. So technology is always going to be there. So I'm not against it, it's how do we use it. I'm not against it, it's how do we use it.
Speaker 1:Some people believe well, I'm not going to use any of that stuff. I'm just going to go run and put on my old watch. Okay, that's great, you don't have to use it. Just make sure that you understand that if you are going to say, get a smart watch for training that has a GPS in it and there's a Garmin watch literally can count your repetitions and stuff, that's great, just know how to use it. It's a tool that's working for you. You got to make sure that you understand that Sometimes we don't have it as much as we used to.
Speaker 1:I think maybe the phase burned out a little bit, I don't know, or maybe we just got lucky, but we had some people there for a while that were like obsessed with starting their exercise watch, like right when they start, and then like if they stop to go get a drink of water, they'll stop their watch. And then you know, they'll start their set and they realize they forgot that they didn't start their watch. So they'll stop their exercise set and they'll restart their watch. And I'm sitting there like rolling my eyes, like dude, you're working out like you don't need that really, I mean. So we have to understand what these tools can do to benefit us.
Speaker 1:And in the case of some of these smartwatches, well, in all of these smartwatches, the thing you have to understand is they don't calculate your calories burned very well at all. They're better than they used to be. But when it says you burn, say, like 300 calories in a workout, I mean the standard deviation on that is huge. I mean you probably didn't. I mean the standard deviation on that is huge. I mean you probably didn't. I mean I don't care what the number is, it's probably not right. I mean, with some people it's going to give you less of a number than you really did. Of most people it's going to give you more. It's based on heat. It's based on heart rate. It's based on movement. If you don't have it really tight, it's not going to get heart rate very well. So they're just not overly accurate.
Speaker 1:So using your smartwatch, say, for strength training, doesn't make a lot of sense unless you're using it kind of like to keep time on the workout. Like you know, you only have 30 minutes at the gym. You start it for that reason and maybe you go back later and record in your journal you did 30 minutes, whatever. But as far as any of the other tools you're going to get out of it, like I said, I'll play with the Garmin. I'll start it and I'm amazed sometimes that it will literally I'll hit set and then it will count the reps. I'm like, how did it know? And I go back later it says pull up. I'm like, wow, it knew I was doing a pull up. But then most of the time it's really inaccurate. It gets like half the reps or double the reps, and sometimes most of the time I would say 75% of the time it says exercise unknown. And why would it know it? I mean, and why does it need to know it? So we need to understand that, like these different kinds of technology, tools can help us, but we shouldn't get carried away with them. They're just tools.
Speaker 1:I like to use my Garmin watch or my Apple watch when I'm training outside for running and walking, because it gives me my mileage. It'll give me my pace. It's not overly accurate with heart rate. I found the Apple Watch to be more accurate with heart rate but less accurate with distance. I found the Garmin to be more accurate with distance and pace, less accurate with heart rate. For me, I just need the distance. I mean, in the old days we had these little computer things we put on our arms and they were like literally just GPSs. Now it's a watch, right, and we just used it for distance. And now I just use mine for distance. I don't think I ever hardly ever look at the heart rate on them because I know it's not very accurate and for me it's not going to change anything. So we have to understand what are we utilizing this tool for? Again, I think technology is great and if you don't like it, well, you better buckle up, because technology is going to keep coming.
Speaker 1:Now, as far as the AI thing, I mean for me as a business owner and trainer, I think you know AI is pretty cool, like I can now Google some information and get it like really quick and probably a lot of you have done the same thing where you go, google something and you're getting the AI answer, which is really helpful because you're not getting the advertisements. You have to scroll down further to get them off of Google, which who wants that? So now you're just getting the summary of what it says and that's pretty cool. And I'll do some research for something I'm writing, whether it be the emails I send out. You know I do some research for those and for my books and I'll books and I'll start the research there and I'll dig and I'll see what I see and then, whatever it shows me, I'll go back and go get the books, the manuals and look it up myself. But that's a pretty cool tool, but I have to know how to use it because sometimes it's wrong and AI specialists will tell you that They'll say it's learning as it goes.
Speaker 1:It's not always 100% accurate, so we have to know how to use our tools. We can't get away from the fact that when we strength train, we need resistance, and that's the bottom line. We need to pick the right exercises for us. We need to understand for us what's the best repetition range. We need to do the exercise the best way we can, and that's another way AI can help you. You can go on and get a YouTube video, or you can go to ChatGBT and it will break down literally how to do an exercise.
Speaker 1:I think that's all good stuff, but the key is you still have to do an exercise. I think that's all good stuff, but the key is you still have to do these things. To my knowledge, there's no AI that can exercise for you. It can assist you, but you're still going to have to do the work. And the same is for cardio You're still going to have to move. We can get all this technology to give us different data and feedback we want, but you still have to put in the work.
Speaker 1:So really, it's about utilizing your tools. If you've got them, use them If you feel like the specific thing that you have isn't helping you a lot, meaning that it's just kind of like, well, I don't know what to do with this, then don't utilize it. I mean, there's so many things on smartwatches that I don't use it. I mean there's so many things on smartwatches that I don't use and I'm like why is this even on here? So don't worry about it. Remember you use the tool, don't let the tool use you and change your exercise. All right, if you have any questions regarding how to use some of these things, or if you want my opinion on the best piece of equipment for you, I mean, give me a shout. I love answering questions like this. Please make sure that you download this. It really helps my numbers. Please share it on your own social media. I love when I see people share these. I really am doing this to try to help people. I want to give people the scientific framework so they at least are getting some information that I hope helps them. All right, keep working out people.
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. Now I want to thank Overhead Door of Daytona Beach, their 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.
