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
The Art of Motivation Without Pushy Advice
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Podcast Introduction
Speaker 1Welcome 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 a method to the madness .
Speaker 1Before 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 . Good morning , good afternoon , good evening , rob , here to talk about some fitness today . Hope everybody's doing well .
Speaker 1I want to remind everybody to please subscribe when you get these podcasts . You know , maybe somebody sends them to you , maybe I send them to you , but if you'd hit the subscribe button in the top right-hand corner , whether you're listening on Apple or Spotify or something else , it is greatly appreciated . And if you hear something you really like , if you want to try to maybe help somebody get motivated to exercise , you know , send it to them . I just got off the phone FaceTime with a remote
Accountability and Motivation Balance
Speaker 1client that I have and we finished up our session talking about that , how it really is . Just so much about the accountability , the accountability partner . You know so many people just need somebody to help them , to help them to do it . So sometimes passing stuff on is a way that we can do that All right . So , speaking of that , there is this balance between trying to help but also realizing that if we try to help too much we can kind of move somebody away from their motivation . So let's talk about that a little bit today , because you know , when we tend to get motivated , when we tend to become like into it ourselves which is a good thing we carry that passion around and then we want everybody to feel it too . So it comes out of good place .
Speaker 1But the problem is it doesn't always work . One of my favorite quotes by President John F Kennedy is the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining . I mean , isn't that pretty cool and isn't that so true ? I mean , god , that hits home for us here in Florida with the hurricanes , right . So I mean we can just picture that now , man Trying to repair something when the storm is still going is not going to happen .
Speaker 1But what does that mean in the exercise world
Sarcopenia and Age-Related Muscle Loss
Speaker 1? So sarcopenia is age-related muscle mass loss and it begins to happen in the 30s for most people . It really accelerates as we get older . In our 50s it takes a big jump , in our 60s an even bigger jump . I mean , basically what it means is that if we don't use it , we're going to lose it . I mean , that's all sarcopenia really is , because studies have also found that if you maintain your exercise program or maybe you never had one in your teens because you didn't need it , because you were maybe playing baseball or playing volleyball or you were surfing , or you're riding your bike to school or you're doing all these things you did I mean , we all know those people that never really technically exercised in high school , maybe they played sports and maybe in their 20s .
Speaker 1There was those that hit the gym a lot and worked out in college , or those that you know hit the gym after work in their 20s and there were some people that didn't do much of anything but they just naturally stayed fit . Well , you know , those are the 20s and got hormones on your side , you got youth on your side , you got all these great things on your side and then you know , something happens to a lot of people around that age . They begin to get into their full time jobs , their adult jobs , so to say . Start having families , maybe . Jobs , so to say , start having families maybe . And a lot of the self-care . And maybe there never was self-care , maybe you just had youth on your side , as I said , but a lot of that just gets pushed aside . I mean , I was a big workout guy in college because I loved it , but I know a lot of people were not and a lot of people didn't come to it till afterwards . I mean , we've all heard of the famous freshman 15 or freshman 20 .
Speaker 1And I guess nowadays people are saying freshman 30 because people are putting more weight on than they used to , which may or may not be true , but you know why does this happen ? Well , I mean people start moving less for the first time in their lives . I mean people start moving less for the first time in their lives Most of them , not everybody and people start eating more , whether it just be because there's more available , maybe where you go to college has cafeterias with a lot of food , maybe there is some anxiety issues going on that force people , not force . But , you know , help people to eat more , assist in people eating more . You know , maybe there's social pressure , maybe there's depression , who the heck knows ? But a lot of people do gain weight during their college time , right , and people are not exercising as much . So , you know , fast
Life Transitions and Exercise Habits
Speaker 1forward into more of the adult life .
Speaker 1When people then come out of college or come out of trade school or come out of whatever they're doing and start their jobs , that becomes the big focus . It's kind of like the trend we've been on , essentially just before World War II . It's like , well , that's the age of go to work , you work for 20 or 30 years , 30 , 40 years , whatever , and then you retire . Now what happens is a lot of people quit their physical movement . I mean , it's just very natural , and what we're seeing now is the epidemic of that . We've been seeing it for a while . This is not anything new . The obesity crisis is worse now than ever , but as far as we seeing people not really exercise and losing their muscle mass , I mean I'd have to look at the statistics to be sure , but I would imagine it might actually be a little bit better now because people are going to the gym now , later in life , far more than they ever have . Thank God , I mean , we see such a motivated clientele with people over 60 . They're really , really , really anxious to keep all the muscle on their body that they can . So that's a beautiful thing .
Speaker 1But what happens in between is a lot of people don't do it right . So go back to Kennedy's words it's like you know , the time to fix that roof is before it rains , unfortunately . How do we get that message to people that are just approaching that adulthood , right ? How do we get them to understand that this is the time to start making sure that that roof doesn't leak ? Because , again , sarcopenia is age-related muscle mass loss and mostly because we don't use the muscles anymore . Use it or lose it .
Speaker 1Studies have shown that if we strength train , we will maintain almost all of our muscle mass Not complete all of it , but most of it . And then , if we even pick up working out , we're going to regain muscle mass . All right , so we definitely can do it . So we know strength training is the way to do this and other forms of exercise cycling , walking which will also increase the musculature of the lower body as well . So we know that exercise will keep muscle on the body and it will keep muscle from atrophying . So that's very , very critical .
Speaker 1How do you get a population of people that don't necessarily believe that yet to do it ? How do you get a population of people that really need to start working on that roof when they're looking at themselves and going , I'm absolutely fine ? Well , you know , that's the age old question and it's really , really hard and I'm going to do the best to try to give you some answers . You know I had a discussion with the client today , you know , as he was leaving and he was talking about , you know , I just starting to see , you know , a friend of mine , super motivated , because I'm getting motivated , and you know I want to jump in and like start like telling them what they should start to do , but I'm afraid if I push too hard , you know it's no longer going to be their idea and they're not going to do it . And I looked at him . I said you are absolutely right . I mean , that is what's going to happen .
Speaker 1So for those of us that are like motivated and see the way and understand the way , it's extremely frustrating to watch other people not get it Right . It is . It's very hard and you can imagine in my industry . You know , with what I do , and I see it , you know , I mean gosh , I could . I could walk around Publix all day and be like you know , with what I do and I see it , you know , I mean gosh , I could . I could walk around Publix all day and be like you know , if you just did some posterior deltoid work , you wouldn't have those rounded shoulders when you're pushing that golf cart yeah , they're pushing their golf cart in Publix . You wouldn't have that issue if you're pushing your shopping cart . If you actually trained your rhomboids at the gym ,
Being a Role Model, Not a Pusher
Speaker 1I mean that would go over so well , right , I mean , that's one of my benign examples , right there . I mean you can imagine how I can come up with worse scenarios where I end up like getting arrested in public , right , so can't do it , right .
Speaker 1And when I see like Facebook friends , you know we all have Facebook friends and probably only 5% of them are really friends . But we have these acquaintances , these people we see every day maybe , and they do nothing but complain about their health and these kinds of problems . And you know , oh man , you know . No , I don't think I was ever dumb enough to make a reply comment to somebody telling them what they should do . I think I've had enough common sense not to do that . But I see other people do it and man does it . Just it's like smacking a hornet's nest .
Speaker 1I mean , I don't know why people do it Like . I don't really know why people complain on social media . I think people really , really think that people are more interested than they are . I don't know why they do it , I don't . But I also know that me giving them solutions number one isn't really what they're looking for . Most of the time people are looking for attention , and number two it's not going to do any good . So you can imagine in my field how tough it is right , and it's even hard for me when it's a legitimate ask of me which is hey , do you think you can talk to my son ? He's at the University of Florida and I think now's the time he needs to get busy and I'm always like , oh God , you know no . And so there's your answer right there no , like , the best we can do is be good examples . That's the best example we can do .
Speaker 1I mean , I do a podcast , so you know , maybe an interested kid might be coming across a health and fitness podcast . Because he sees one of the titles that you know , a clickbait title that I rarely ever use , and when I do it's kind of a joke and I do it on purpose . And a friend of mine who works in that industry will say , oh nice , clickbait . Hardly ever do it , but a clickbait would be . I think you probably understand , but it would be something like great . But now you know one of those titles and people will be like , oh man , let me click on that , or better sex tomorrow . You know people will be like , oh man , let me hear this . You know , so that's clickbait , right , but let's just say I have one on there that says something like great arms , now , okay .
Speaker 1So maybe there's this 25 year old scrolling through the health and fitness section of podcasts and that one pops up and he listens to it . Then he starts listening to it , then he hears about preventative medicine and how to take care of himself now , so when he's 60 , he can enjoy more of his life , and so on , and so on . I mean that's the only thing we can do . That's what I do . I send the message out there for the general population to understand and then hopefully , you know , the universe will deliver it where it is needed to go , but I can't control the rest and neither can you . We cannot make younger people , older people or whatever people do anything that we think they should do . It is not going to happen .
Speaker 1You know , for anybody that's had any experience themselves or with friends that have belonged to different 12-step groups like AA or NA or FA or OA or whatever workaholics I know actually a couple of people that have done that too . I mean , they always say that they're a program of attraction versus promotion , and I just think that's so true number one , you know . And I just think that's so true number one , you know , because we also know those recovery people sometimes that are recently recovered , and they you know . But there are people that relapse frequently and then when they're not drinking they're kind of like trying to convert everybody else , and so many people with more experience of sobriety would say , hey , take a step back . There's anonymity for reason , which means keep all of that to yourself , and it's not because you're embarrassed , it's because it's the better way to go through things , cause then if you relapse and everybody knows what you've been doing now , they're going to fault the program . So that's really what anonymity is .
Speaker 1I just maybe taught you something , but promoting it , pushing it as a way never works . You have to be the example that you want others to be . You just have to be that example . And then , if and when somebody's ready you know , maybe they are 30 and maybe they are starting to see how this is going to go for them in four or five years , you know 10 years , 11 , 20 years , whatever Maybe they'll say , hey , I've noticed , you've always stayed in shape .
Speaker 1What do you do ? I mean , that is the very best thing we can do . We can be role models . You can't make anybody do something that they're not ready to do . You can only be a role model for exactly what you believe in , what you love . You can just practice it every day , be it .
Speaker 1If somebody comes up to you and asks you questions , that's what I . I mean that's what I do . I mean I don't say a word to anybody online . If somebody asks me a specific question , I'll absolutely answer them . I like that actually .
Speaker 1You know , if somebody does happen to get to know me a little bit , I use Publix a lot as an example , just because my daughter works there . So you know , if somebody does happen to get to know me a little bit . I use Publix a lot as an example , just because my daughter works there . So you know I'm one of those dads that likes to go where your kid is , you know . So I'll go in there sometimes . So I get to know a lot of different people . Plus , I , you know , work there when I was younger too . So I think it's a good story .
Speaker 1But that's neither here nor there . But if some of the kids you know college kids get to know me some of my daughter's friends , you know and they'll say hey , you know , mr Maxwell , you know how do I get arms like that , you know ? I mean , I'll sit there and talk to him because that's an invitation , but if I haven't been invited , I'm not going to insert my opinion . I can have an opinion about whatever I want , but you know what ? It doesn't mean I get to express it right , or I can express it and it's going to not go over very well . So you know , we all have to remember that , you know . So what do we do about the roof ? Well , here's the deal If the roof is leaking and somebody comes in and asks you to help them , well then help them fix the roof . But until then , you just got to be the example .
Episode Closing and Sponsors
Speaker 1Thank 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 .
