There Is A Method to the Madness

Decision Fatigue, Solved

• Rob Maxwell, M.A.

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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 Gilden of the Gilden 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 or good afternoon or good evening, whatever time you're listening to this podcast. Coach Rob here, and I'm going to talk about some fitness items with you again today. Today I'm going to talk a little bit about uh one of the pieces that's in my new book coming out called Train for Life, Why Personal Coaching is the real fitness solution. Basically, the book is about what the problem is. And the problem is that only 20% of our country, or actually worldwide, are on an exercise program. Only 20%, so 80% of the people are not doing the minimum guidelines. And then what the solutions are to that. And one of the solutions, or a very, very big solution, is personal coaching, personal training. And no, it's not just like a pathetic attempt to draw up business. I think everybody knows that I have a waiting list and I'm really busy. It's really just the truth. And but the book isn't about that per se. The book is about why it's the truth. Like why are the things that are so common in a personal training relationship that leads to results? Well, I'm going to talk about one of them today, and it's called decision fatigue. It's a real thing. What decision fatigue is, is when somebody really doesn't want to make up their mind about something else again. Like maybe they are making a ton of decisions in the day. They might work for a company, they might be the boss, and they are making all kinds of decisions all day long, you know, what each employee should do. I mean, we can go on and on, but I think you get the idea. And it doesn't just have to be work. I mean, you know, there's decisions we have to make in our day-to-day lives too. And studies have shown that the more decisions people have to make, the more decision fatigue they have, the more stress that they have. And basically the end result of decision fatigue is they decide not to decide. So basically it's kind of like, well, I don't really know what to do exactly on this. I don't really want to think about it. So I'm just not going to do anything. That is one of the leading causes of dropout in an exercise program. People don't know what to do, or they don't know how to continue to do what they're doing, and so they stop. They either feel like what they're doing is wrong, or they don't have any idea what they think they're supposed to do anyway. It's a big reason why people don't go to gyms because they're not exactly sure what to do. There's a lot of other reasons why people drop out of exercise programs or don't get started. And I talk about them in the book, but this is one that I really, really want to highlight today. I can't think, I can't count the amount of times that somebody has come into the gym in the morning. Typically, I don't know, they it probably happens all the time during the day, but oftentimes in the morning, probably because a lot of the majority of the people I train are going to be in the morning. But um, they'll say, you know, I'm glad I'm showing up here and you're just gonna tell me what to do because I just did not really feel like going to the gym and trying to figure things out. You're just gonna tell me what to do. Now, to some people, they might be listening and go, well, you know, that's not good. I mean, people should really know what to do. Well, yes and no. I mean, there's experts in every area of life. And if somebody is always already like very proficient at many, many things and they want to do what is ideal for them, I mean, why would they automatically know what to do? I mean, I don't know. I I don't I don't get that logic. I've heard it sometimes, but the bottom line is it's like, why not go and have that decision made for you? I can tell you, like, I've been on both sides of this. So on my side of it, I make the decisions for the person after we do an assessment, after we set goals. I write up the workouts, I determine how they're gonna be, I determine everything the exercises, the sets, the loads, the frequency, the rest between the sets, the tempos, all that good stuff, all the different modifications we might have to do. So all that is thought of ahead of time. And for me, that's pretty easy. I mean, I just sit down and I know my acute program variables, which are what those things are, and I just sit down with the person after I do an assessment, after I learn some things about them, and I think, well, we got to do this, this, and this. Like to me, it's pretty much a no-brainer. And then I know how to modify it, and my trainers know how to modify it when and if need be. So from my end, it's pretty simple. I just wait, they pop in, and we start. And I'm confident in what we're doing, they're confident in what they're doing because they have confidence in me, they have confidence in my trainers, they trust, which is a very big part of this, and I'll get into this later. I'll get into that later, I should say, but they're ready to go. But you know, I've also been on the other side of this when I was taking master's swim classes because, well, for that very reason, number one, it was really hard for me to get motivated to go to the pool to swim when I was doing trahlons. Now, I actually kind of like to swim, but the whole thought of just getting there and changing, getting in the pool and all that was sort of a pain in the neck. And it's not like I didn't already exercise enough on a pretty rigorous, normal schedule anyway. So it was one thing I was adding to the schedule. Now, I definitely didn't want to have to think about what kind of pool workout, what kind of swim workout to do every time. And I'm an exercise physiologist, I'm a personal trainer, I'm a strength and conditioning coach, I'm a sports nutritionist, I'm those things. I'm not a swim coach. So do I get the general idea of what I should do? Could I come up with some decent workouts? Of course. But I didn't want to have to sit there and think about it. So it was really nice just to show up. That was the hard part. There's the class ready. I jump in the water, they'd say the workout, and I would do it. Like if there was ever a situation and it happened a few times because in my area I'm kind of known for what I do. And one of the coaches might be like, Oh, well, you know, you're a trainer, so you kind of know, you know, and I'm thinking, no, no, no, no, no, I don't, don't, don't say that. Just, you know, what's the workout? What are we going to do? That's all I want to do. And it was so much easier to follow. I didn't have any of those doubts that we all go through when we're writing our own stuff. Like, is this objective? Is this something I should be doing? There was just none of that. I just did what I could and then did the next thing. So I have been on both sides of it. And I know that it is a big, big perk to get people going. And the way we do that is we have a coach or we have a program that we show up to that people have taken the decisions and done it for us. It just really, really works. Now, a couple things. You have to make sure, of course, that the person you've decided to make your health and fitness decisions with you and for you is qualified. In a study that was done, they found that 49% of people utilize influencers of all types to help them make decisions. 49%. So almost half the country relies on influencers to help them make their decision, right? So you think, well, that's cool because so many of these influencers know what they're talking about. Here's the problem with that only 20% of the health and fitness influencers actually have the credentials to be telling you what to do. Most of them are models and they look good. So you think they know what they're talking about and they're telling you what to do. And you see it all the time, right? You're seeing it online with different diet programs, with different um schemes, right? With supplements, with different workout programs. They're all over the place. Sell, sell, sell. I mean, it's all good if you're following the right person. You always have to look for their credentials. That is very, very critical. So one thing, well, well, I always do this. One thing I always do is when I get a potential client, I meet with them first. I want to make sure that it's a fit for me, one of my trainers. We sit down, we talk about what they're trying to do. I want to make sure that they're coachable, that they're the type of person that is going to follow the program because you know we don't want people that don't get better. And the only way we get better is if people follow what they're supposed to do. So we sit and we meet. And if we decide it's a fit, then we do an assessment and we go over the program, or I go over the program with them. Now, at this point, I have to build trust. This is where trust is built. This is where I let people know why they can follow the program safely and follow the program confidently. So once that trust is established, then the person can automatically decide they can just show up and do what they need to do and eliminate all of that decision fatigue. You know, there's a term that we like to use that's called self-efficacy. And self-efficacy means that confidence leads to competence and competence leads to confidence. So once a person starts learning what they should do, they are far more likely to continue to do what they're going to do. So even though we lead the way, I lead the way when I'm working with people, I write the programs that the trainers follow, the trainers are leading the way as far as the exercises, as far as the reps, as far as pushing them to the best level that they can be pushed, all that good stuff. The tempo they need to be moving at, the tempo of the exercises, all that is being directed. At the same time, I'm very big on making sure people understand why. That's the reason, of course, I wrote that my first book. You can't uh uh that's my second book that you can't outrun a poor diet. Slow down, Rob. That's why I wrote my first book, There Is a Method to the Madness, because I've always said there is a reason why we are doing the things that we do and the way we do them. So it's very important. So I always make sure and say, all right, so we're going to do a circuit today. We're going to do two different circuits. That's one of my more common workouts. We're going to do two different circuits. Typically, each circuit is going to have like a squat, a push, and a pull. And I'll explain what the squat type exercise is. I'll explain this is a good way for you to set this up. Then I'll explain what the push type exercise is, and I'll explain what the pull type exercise is. I'll tell them how we're going to do the reps and the load. Sometimes it'll be starting with higher reps and lower loads and then progressing to slightly lower leps, lower reps and higher loads. And sometimes it's the reverse of that. But in any event, I explain. Sometimes they're like, well, just tell me what to do. And it's like, okay. Other times I'll explain why, because, like I said, building confidence. If we know why we're going to do something and we trust our coach, we're going to be more likely to do it. Then I'll explain what circuit number two is going to be, and then we'll do it. And then after that, it comes down to making sure that the person is moving at the right tempo, meaning that maybe they're not moving fast enough and they're not keeping their heart rate up, and they might be on a program that we need to elevate it a little bit. Or with some people, I'll have to slow down because they're a little too gassed going into each exercise. But then we just execute the workout. And then after we've explained it, we start doing it and we execute it. It's really a big win-win for clients. Now let me tell you, the majority of clients that I've had through the years, and I've been doing this for 31 years now, since 1994. I've been in different locations. I've been probably in this one the longest, but I've been in different locations. Let me tell you, it's not always like the acute cases that we trainers get, you know, like what was that silly show that was on, and it turned out so much of it was fraudulent. Uh biggest loser? Was that the one? Yeah, I think so. But um, you know, they they were really kind of like bullying and uh, you know, making the contestants do these outrageous things and you know, they make it look really cool, you know. I think they had them on uh a roof of a workout building one time, and they're flipping tires, they're doing all this stuff that overweight and obese people really should not be doing. It was all for TV. It was it was a total joke. But those people, the contestants of that show, and you know, many others that we think of are not the typical types that hire personal trainers. Like I would call that an acute case, like somebody who really needs to get some fitness going, or there's going to be a cardiac intervention really soon, and they probably need to be worried or doing something about that too. That's what people think of sometimes. Or people think of like celebrity, you know, celebrity fitness, the perfect bodies of males or females getting like trained to be a little bit better by a trainer. That neither one of those cases are very typical. What's typical is your average guy, gal, your hardworking business person, the person who has an important job. I mean, all jobs are important, but they feel like their job is important. They work a pretty rigorous schedule, and uh, you know, or it might be retirees who have worked hard their whole life, but you know, people that are just looking to get in better shape. Not, they're not in horrible shape. It's people that are looking to get in better shape, whether it be lose a few pounds or most likely increase their ADLs, activities of daily living, get stronger, feel better about themselves. It's your, you know, your average busy Joe for the most part. That's your most typical clientele. And they're the types that just don't want to have to think about anything else. They want to come to the gym and do what they're supposed to do and hit their goals. Like that's what they're most interested in doing. And the business people are usually the most efficient at that. Like they don't want to waste any time. They're like, they only got so many hours in the day, and when they get to the gym, they want it to be as efficient as possible. They want to cut through all the crap. So it's really just your average person who needs to be in better shape. Like that is the most common client. And we need that. Like the country needs that. I mean, you figure if only 20% of the people are taking an advantage of that, can you imagine how much more fit our country would be if more people took advantage of that and started exercising? So decision fatigue is one of the things that good personal coaching or an accountability partner that knows what they're doing can help you with. And all the clients that are listening to this, which I think most of my clients do, they're shaking their head going, Yep, that's a big perk. I just show up and they tell me what to do. And so far, so good. But for those that have not tried it and you are out there kind of floundering around, and that's the very reason because you're going to gyms and you're just not doing it because you don't know what to do when you get there. I mean, really consider reaching out and getting a pro to help you because that's what pros do. And there's nothing wrong with that. Again, you don't have to be in an acute stage of being out of shape to need a trainer. It's just you need somebody to get you going, to show you what you're supposed to do and to help you to do it. Okay. So I hope you learned a little bit about decision fatigue. And um, I'm gonna pick up on more of these as we go on. Please check out the book. It'll be out very, very soon. I'll be putting links in the emails and on the websites, and it'll be on Amazon. So until next time, be Max Fit and B Max Well. Thank you for listening to today's program. I ask you to please follow the show wherever you get your podcast, 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.

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Rob Maxwell

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