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
Why Support And Accountability Win In The Gym
Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...
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Welcome to There is a Method to the Magnet. My name is Rob Maxwell, and I'm an exercise physiologist and personal training. I am the owner of Maxwell's Fitness Program, and I've been in business since 1994. The purpose of this podcast is to get to the real deal of what really worked and most importantly why did it work. Thanks to the name, there is a method to the magnet. Before I get started today, let me thank Jonathan and Lynn Gilded of the Gilding Group ELT 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. Coach Rob here. I don't know what time you are listening to this, but good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever time you're listening to it. I'm told a lot of people listen to it on the way to the gym, or sometimes when they're at the gym. So that absolutely works. That's a time that I listen to a lot of podcasts as well. Sometimes when I'm doing my cardio, sometimes when I'm driving in, and uh sometimes I listen to my own podcast. I want to uh listen to it critically and see what we can do better. So um, anyway, glad you're listening. Glad you are attempting to get more physically well and improve your lifestyle, because that's the biggest part of all this. It's not a temporary thing, in my estimation, as far as living the healthier lifestyle. It is about trying to exercise every day, if not almost every day, or I should say almost every day, if not every day, trying to make the best food choices you can make each and every day. I mean, it truly should be a new lifestyle, or hopefully something that appeals to you to make it a new lifestyle and not just a temporary thing. You know, we're closing out the year, unbelievably. We're in December now, and uh, you know, soon everybody's gonna be making their New Year's resolutions and the gym fills up, and people start talking about it, talking about weight loss. And, you know, in my 30 plus years of doing this, uh, I can share with you that almost that has never been a success as far as people saying they're gonna they're they have a uh commitment to lose, say, 10 or 15 pounds or whatever, call it a resolution, you know, call it what you want, and then they either don't do it or maybe they do do it, and then they put the weight back on. So really it's about trying to catch that healthy lifestyle to the best of your ability. It doesn't have to be a perfectionistic lifestyle, just a good, healthy lifestyle, which is, I think, very attainable for everybody. All right, so that's my little mini rant. Now let's get into the subject of the day, which is going to be getting support from your workout partner or trainer or accountability partner. So by now, I hope you have picked up my new book, Training for Life. And uh, as I've said already in a podcast, I'm cleaning up a couple of the errors that I found in it. Uh, not throwing the editing company under the bus, but uh they did mess, I think, 10 things up I sent back. So they are fixing that because I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I didn't like it. And uh they are fixing it, but hopefully you can see the forest through the trees if you caught any of it and see the main point of the book, which is that uh we have a big, big, big activity problem in this country. Only 20% of our population are taking the advantage of the benefits of exercise. So that means that only 20% are doing the 150 minutes per week of aerobic exercise plus the two days of strength training. I mean, 80% of the people are not doing that. That is a big problem. Even if someone didn't clean up their diet, although that's really hard not to do when you start exercising. Studies have found that just by exercising alone, you start to make better food choices. It's just kind of evolves that way. But even if you didn't, you still get the benefits of exercise. And that 150 minutes per week plus the two days of strength training equates to about 1.8% of your week time wise. So clearly there is a problem. Why aren't people really committing to that? Do they not believe it? Do they think it has to be so much more? Is it still not worth it to them? Um, somebody told me today as they were warming up on the bike at the gym. They asked me my thoughts because a uh a very well-known public figure, which uh tends to be in the news quite often, and some of the things that we hear is just ludicrous. But this is one of them where apparently I didn't hear this, but he had said he doesn't exercise because he believes we only have a limited amount of energy, so he doesn't want to use it up. Um, if anybody's listening to that, just know that that is completely ridiculous. And obviously, that's just an excuse for being lazy in this situation. Um and there's no truth to it. There used to be people that ran around and said the same thing about heart rate, that your heart only has so many beats in a lifetime. So if you elevate your heart rate unnecessarily, you are going to die younger. Okay, these things, people are not true. So if we're really believing that the complete ludicrous stuff, I mean, I don't know. I don't think you'd be listening to this podcast, but you know, who knows? Anyway, it is not true. So the first part of my book, I talk about what the problems are. And um, you know, a lot of it is lack of education in the trainers that are out there kind of pushing different things. There is an ignorance among the population believing what they think they have to do. There is the myth of time, meaning people think they don't have enough time. There is the myth of distance, people think that uh, you know, that they have to go too far to exercise, which I'm trying to dispel absolutely is not true. There is the, you know, the belief of a possible laziness gene in human beings, which they really haven't been able to show. And so I discount that one in my book. But there is a theory called the thrifty gene theory, which essentially means that we save some of our energy so we can uh, you know, kill our food, so to say. So this would have been more applicable way, way back when we were hunting for our own food. But there is some belief in the thrifty gene theory as far as maybe it relates to exercise, but most likely not, regarding that. So, and then I get into the meat and the potatoes of the book, which is what are the solutions to these alleged problems? And one of them is accountability, as I've talked about. Another one is being pushed or motivation, which I talk about. Another one is education. So a solution is to actually educate the people so they know what to do and know what not to do. Another one, and that's the one I'm going to focus on today, is support. And then finally, one that I've already covered is the problem of decision fatigue. So a good trainer or accountability partner will help people with that because studies show that the more decisions somebody has to make, the less likely it is that they want to make another one. So, in other words, they don't go to the gym because they're thinking, I don't know what to do, I'm not sure what to do, I'm not sure what I want to do. So, having your trainer or an accountability partner helps that because they kind of make the decisions for you or help you make them. All right. But today I'm gonna focus on support. That is a big part of personal training. Like as a trainer, there's a lot of variables you need to have. And some of it is learning and education, meaning I believe there should be a level of education involved. I mean, ideally, a bachelor's degree or master's degree. I personally have a master's degree. To me, it was very, very important to become educated in that. I think it's important, but not necessarily critical. I do think it's critical to have the proper certification. So, or in some states, the proper licensing. I do think that is very, very important. There are only four organizations that are accredited. Um, so I do believe it's important to have one of them. I believe it's important to have experience. I always used to tell students that I used to teach when they wanted to be personal trainers. I used to tell them, look, you've got to be your first client. That's where the experience begins. You have to know yourself what has worked for you. Now, that is not enough all by itself. There are too many trainers out there that that's all they have. They've had some luck or some experience with success with themselves. And when I say luck, I don't mean that in a bad way. I just mean like they have shown some success with themselves, and that's great, but there needs to be more than that to know how to work with other people. You do need a scientific foundation, and you do need otherly experience with that. So, you know, just having it by itself is not enough, but I do think a trainer needs it. Like for me, that's where I started. I started working out at a pretty young age. I was a late teen. I got into it really heavily, like 1920, early 20s. I mean, I was real into it doing some bodybuilding. Um, it was my lifestyle. I trained every day while going to college. Like it was a big, big part of my life. I was my first client. Like I knew how to work out. Like I knew my way around a weight room. I knew my way around a gym. And I think that's really, really important. Now, for me, it wasn't enough. I felt like I needed to get more scientific training. So when I had a uh, you know, an epiphany and decided I wanted to leave the psychology field working as a counselor and get into it, I wanted to get specific education. So I went back for my master's because I already had a bachelor's in psychology. So for me, it was really important to do that. And then I went on and got my certification, and I built a lot of experience through the years of being a personal trainer. So I think that's the foundation of success with a trainer. But like the big thing I want to talk about today is the support factor. I think you also, as an effective trainer, need to have a lot of empathy and compassion and a willingness and a desire to support your clients. You know, it's easy to start to like some of your clients. And you might find that funny and go, don't you like all of them? No, and that's not overly critical. Like, you're not gonna always like all of your customers. I would say that through 30 years, I've liked almost all of them. I don't know, 80%. And there's been 20% or so, you know, some that uh I kept training or trained with one of my trainers for years and years and years. I just, you know, never particularly liked them. That's normal. I'm sure I've gone places where some of the staff or whatever, they don't like me. Like we're not going to like everybody. But I do think it's critical that we support and love everybody, which means that you are doing what is best for the individual. Like there might be people that are just, you know, hard to like. I mean, you know, I mean, they come in, they're cranky, they complain a lot, um, you know, they they they're a little too unmotivated, you know. Um, I don't know. Maybe they have like very outspoken political beliefs that go against my belief, or maybe they have outspoken religious beliefs, you know, who knows? I mean, people just might say things that you're just like, uh, this person. I mean, that's gonna happen, and that's okay, but it's not okay to not care about their progress and care about them as your client. I think that's really hard for some trainers to get. Like, how do they support somebody if they don't particularly like somebody? I do think that has been kind of an, I don't know if it's a um an immaturity thing I've seen with some trainers, or maybe it they're just not cut out for it. But they tend to like really, really jive with people they jive with personally, but then they don't at all with people they don't. And, you know, I don't know that to me, that's not professional. I mean, there's always gonna be an element of I just can't work with that person. And I don't. I mean, there's gonna be that, but I mean, sometimes somebody's just not gonna have the type of personality that you would like to go have coffee with or whatever. And that's okay. But I've seen some trainers and they're really inconsistent, like they're gonna have a ton of energy for the people that they jive with or like. Like they're gonna be lit up, they're gonna be fired up, they're gonna be excitable, they're gonna smile more, they're gonna spot more, they're gonna say more encouraging things. But then if they're working with somebody that they don't jive with over and over, they don't do that. And that's to me, that's like a boundary issue. Like they don't know how to be professional. Um and as a trainer, I think you really have to have that in your heart, you know, almost like the servant mentality, so to say. Like there are plenty of people, like I said. I mean, there are people, gosh, you know, probably even today. What time is it for me? 11:35 for me. So it's still pretty early in the day. I'm sure I had a client or two I didn't necessarily jive with or like particularly. I mean, it's possible, but I know that my training methodology doesn't change because I want to support them. There might be people that I absolutely don't agree with what they do in their personal lives. Like maybe they're just, you know, I don't know, not the most responsible parents in the world, or, you know, um just have different belief systems I don't have. Or, like I said, they're personally obnoxious or loud or attention-seeking, whatever it might be. I still want to celebrate their fitness successes with them. And I think that's really, really important because when we're supporting our clients, or you are supporting your accountability partner or your workout partner, like that is ultimately what you are supporting. And people need that. We want to celebrate our fitness successes, even if we don't 100% agree with them per se. Like, you know, maybe as a trainer, you've been trying to get your client to work more on flexibility, and you're really pushing them to work on it more, and they don't seem to do it as much as you think they should, but they have a win somewhere else, like they finally do 15 push-ups or something. Well, you still want to support them, you still want to be there, you go. I mean, that's moving in the right direction. I say that all the time with people. It's like we're moving in the right direction. I'm working with a guy now, and um, you know, he he's uh he's a hard worker, and I love working with him and he sees all kinds of success. And um, his latest goal is he really wants to improve his pull-ups. I mean, at first he just wanted to be able to do one or two, and now he's at like five or six. So I said by the end of the month, you know, maybe we hit eight. But like when he gets one more than last time, like that's a huge success. And we want to support that. I mean, that's just valid anyway. Like, I think that's super cool anyway. So that's kind of easy to support. But even if it wasn't, we still want to support it. Because what I try to get some trainers to understand, like some that I've known through the years, is like their success is your success. It's our success. So we want to support that. Like, even if, again, the person and you don't see eye to eye in some areas of life, if they're losing weight under your tutelage, it is also your success. You want to support that. And I just think that being a supportive trainer or accountability partner is worth so much. It's it's worth that weight in gold, so to say. I mean, you know, I was talking about a little bit of the, I don't know, call them cynical, negative, you know, where we don't always like everybody, but that is such a small part, you know. Now I want to focus on what happens most of the time. And that is, you know, you really make great working relationships with people when you've been doing this as long as I have. I mean, I have had clients have kids, very young kids, babies, when I first started training them, and now these babies come to the gym. I mean, that's crazy to me. Like, that's the kind of support, you know, you get to know your clients really, really well. You you forge great professional relationships with them, you know. I mean, gosh, we're like bartenders in many ways, you know. We hear all kinds of different stories from people, you know, people will vent, people will need advice. There are some things, you know, we we shouldn't ever compromise our scope of practice and give advice on, but that doesn't mean we can't listen and be supportive. I mean, sometimes it goes such a long way to just listen to somebody and say, I get it, I get it, you know. Well, you know what? We're here for you. You know, keep showing up to the gym, and you know what? You know, you're gonna feel better when you work out. I mean, that kind of support is so important. I mean, people are people and humans are humans, so there's going to be different things that go on in people's lives, and it is so important to support them. I mean, I've had people, you know, start with me in their early 70s and then work out with me until they passed in their late 90s. You know, this has literally happened. It's like you get to know them so well and support them through so many different things. And it is so critical to have that friend at the gym, you know, that person that you look forward to seeing. I shared it in my book, but like all through my teen years and my early 20s, I mean, really all the way through, I always had a workout partner. Like your workout partner becomes almost like the second most important partnership in your life, you know. I don't know, some might say they're they're most important, you know. I wouldn't say that, but you know, it it's so important. Like that workout partner gets to know you. They know when you're going to basically um quit, you know. Like I've been doing this so long, I can read people's mannerisms. Like I know exactly when they're getting ready to stop on a set when I know they have four more reps in them. They they change something in their grip or they change their breathing a little bit or they change their tempo. Like, I know. Like some people literally let out like audible cues where I know what they're going to do. And that workout partner is there to help you through that because we all need that little bit of a push. And it was so critical for me to have that support waiting at the gym. You know, whether it be I got there first and waited for my partner, I can remember uh, you know, a good friend. I'm I'm still good friends with him to this day. My my friend Jim Moore, you know, he uh he does all kinds of great work out there and he has stayed in shape all these years, you know. And when we were in our 20s, we did our first bodybuilding show together and we worked out at a gym in Daytona Beach called World Gym. And I can remember most of the time I think I would get there before him. I think I lived a little closer, and uh I would go upstairs and and sit on the life cycle and wait, you know, and just be doing my cardio before he got there. And you can see the front door when people walk in from up there. So I'd always be sitting up there and be like, oh, there he is, you know. Oh, cool. All right, Jim's here, you know. It's a good feeling. And I'm sure, you know, he felt the same way if he got there before me. But it's like knowing you're gonna meet somebody really helps you get there. And knowing you're gonna meet somebody you like and that's there to support you, and you're there to support them really makes a difference. It just makes getting out the door so much easier. I train a couple ladies who um, you know, they they run with a group of four or five people every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. And I know they feel the same way about their running partners. Like they get there really early at like 5 or 5 30. And, you know, they know they're gonna be there, they know they're gonna be there to support each other through their goals, through the, you know, through the running, through the grinding. And it just makes it so much easier to get there. So if you don't have that, I really suggest you look for it. Look for somebody that's an accountability partner, somebody you can walk with, somebody you can run with, somebody you can go to the gym with. You know, if you have the budget, a personal trainer that can fill that role for you, because it really, really, really is absolutely going to help you. I know that I need it myself. We all need it. So, you know what? Get out there and get yourself a good old workout partner, workout friend, and take advantage of that relationship that's out there for you. Thanks everybody for listening to today's show. I want to ask you to please hit automatic download from wherever you get your podcast from. It really helps me and it really helps the show. Now I'd like to take a second to thank our sponsors. Without them, we would not be able to have the podcast. First overhead door of Daytona Beach. They are the area's premier garage door company. They have the best product and the best service. I personally vouch for Jeff and Zach Hawk. They are great people. If you have any garage door needs, please give them a call. 386-222-3165. Now I'm very, very happy and excited to announce we have a new sponsor, Procharge Liquid Protein Enhancer. Each container has 40 grams of protein. And what's really cool about this is it's very portable. 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