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 Science Behind Exercise Thresholds: What Actually Works and Why
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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 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. 386-451-2412. What is going on? Everybody, rob here to talk about some exercise, fitness and normally some diet information, but not today.
Speaker 1:So I was looking at my statistics for the podcast this morning on the server that hosts it. It's called Buzzsprout and I was looking at like the top five podcasts of all time as far as downloads go and the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines has been number one for a very long time and it's got like close to 500 downloads. It's creeping up there to almost 500. I think it's like 480 or something. But what surprised me was number two, and what it was or is is the ACSM guidelines. So it is a second time that I did the guidelines and I thought to myself, wow, these are number one and two. One of them is pretty old, the other one's over a couple of years as well, but you know there's been older ones. But you know there's been older ones, and it struck me that these are obviously really popular subjects, the guidelines. So we're going to talk about them again Because obviously, if there is this much attention going in one direction, it must be very important for people and it is. It really, really, really is. So that's what I'm going to talk about today the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines.
Speaker 1:So first you need to understand that the American College of Sports Medicine is pretty much like the Grand Poobah in the exercise science world. They are the certifying body, they give out all of the different protocols. They have so many different branches under them, from orthopedic surgery to cardiac rehabilitation, to strength and conditioning, to personal training, to, um, oh, you just name it. I mean I could go on and on with the different certifications and areas, but they're by far not just for, say, physical training. They are over so many things and give us the guidelines. And you know what I really like about the ACSM compared to some of the other agencies. And the other agencies are good For example, the National Strength and Conditioning Association, there's the American Council on Exercise, there is the National Academy of Sports Medicine. But again, the ACSM is over everybody. So they take into account all different forms of sports medicine. Like I said, that could be cardiac rehabilitation, that could be cardiologists, that could be orthopedic surgeons. They get into everything. So the way they go about giving their recommendations I really like too.
Speaker 1:So when I was teaching sports medicine, so I taught college and I also taught different workshops. So I taught some workshops for the American College of Sports Medicine and I taught some workshops for the American College of Sports Medicine and I taught some workshops for NASM National Academy of Sports Medicine. And the complaints from students who were trying to learn the ACSM's personal training certification was that they left a lot of leeway. Like what they were really saying was they don't like that. They won't give you a cookie cutter answer for things. And personally I like that. Like I like guidelines versus recipes, because I believe that everybody's individual and trainers have to use their brains to come up with the right plan. So there's going to be guidelines. Now, all four of the big agencies I just mentioned, it's really the same thing. They say the same thing, but a couple of them, I will say, will give people more cookie cutter programs of what they should be doing, like black and white absolutes. That I just don't agree with. So the criticism coming from the newbie students not after they get in it for a while, they begin to appreciate why there's ranges and guidelines. But was the fact that it was like well, just tell me to do 30 minutes a day? I'm like, well, they can't, because it's not that simple. So what they focus on instead, that, I think, is very critical.
Speaker 1:And the main thing I'm going to talk about today is thresholds, and thresholds mean that it's the point where you start to get benefit. They make it very clear that no one on earth knows the maximal amount of exercise and training that you need. Like if anybody says, nope, this is the cutoff, they don't know because we don't know people's recoveries. We have no idea about who can handle this or who can handle that. Like you can say you know what. Everybody should exercise for two hours a day. And for some young person with high levels of testosterone and progesterone and all the hormones they may have at their peak, and they have a perfect skeletal system. They're not banged up by anything. That might be fine and that might be great. And for somebody older who's got some arthritis, who has some decline in their hormones, that's going to like maybe not put them in the hospital, but it's definitely going to wipe them out.
Speaker 1:So we don't know. There's way too many variables to determine the maximal amount of exercise. That's where trial and error for the individual comes in and as a trainer, we help people get there. But we can't even tell people that, like we can say well, these are the things to look for. If you start losing motivation for training, you might be overtraining. If your resting pulse is higher in the training, you might be overtraining. If your resting pulse is higher in the morning, you might be overtraining. If your soreness doesn't go away after a few days, you might be overtraining. Like, we have things to look for, but we can't tell people the exact amount of maximal exercise that they need. So guidelines definitely matter and I want to talk about the thresholds because obviously it's an important topic, since people keep going back to the guidelines.
Speaker 1:So first we need to understand that they talk about five different areas. The health components to physical fitness are cardiorespiratory exercise, muscular strength exercise, muscular endurance, exercise flexibility. And then we have body composition. Okay, now, body composition is your ratio to height, weight, body fat. That's what that is. So then we take the other two strength ones. That's what that is. So then we take the other two strength ones, which is muscular endurance, muscular strength, and we lump them together and go muscular fitness. So the three guidelines we need to really think about is going to be muscular fitness, cardio and flexibility. So let's talk about the guidelines and the thresholds.
Speaker 1:You know, for some people, the minimal recommendation of 150 minutes per week of moderate cardiorespiratory exercise. For some people, they literally will do that in a single training session on the weekends. Right, yes, the answer is yes, because they're going to do a long run and they're runners. And I'm not saying this is good, I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just trying to like point out that we have a huge gap between the people where that's absolutely. They would look at me and go. That's nothing as a recommendation. 150 minutes a week, that's 30 minutes five times a week. I mean, who doesn't do that, I'll look at them and go 75% of the country doesn't do them, doesn't do that Because statistics show that only 25% of our nation, united States, meets that recommendation.
Speaker 1:And then on the opposite end, you'll have those people that go wow, that's going to be a battle to get in and I would say that's most people. So we have a huge dichotomy of the haves and the have-nots with exercise in this country. We just do worldwide. It's pretty much statistically the same thing, but I'm just going to focus here. So the minimal is 150 minutes and, as I said, some people look at that as like nothing and other people look at that as I don't even know if I'll ever be able to do that. So it's very hard and you know both sides need to hear the truth and that is yeah, that is the threshold. Like you might go well, I can't do that and I can say okay, I get it. At the same time, don't expect to get the benefits for cardio respiratory exercise if you're not doing it. Like that is the threshold, no matter where you are on the spectrum. Now I will say that a lot of research says if you doubled that and went up to 300 minutes, most likely you are doing your maximal. Again, I already stated, nobody knows for sure, but most likely you're getting all the benefits you can out of cardio and you're going to get all of what we call the adaptations. And the adaptations are the semi-permanent changes. They're the things that you want, like we do the cardio, so we get adaptations, and the adaptations are not going to occur until we get to roughly 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week. So that's the threshold for duration.
Speaker 1:The threshold for intensity is moderate and we can get into the weeds a little bit on that right and I think it's really unnecessary. You can use maximal heart rate formula. You can use what we call heart rate reserve formula. You can determine and use your VO2 max. You can use what are called METs. You can use rate of perceived exertion. If you've already tuned me out, good, because you don't have to worry about any of that. If you just get out there and do your 150 minutes, so roughly 30 minutes five times per week, get your heart rate up elevated. So moderate means I just like to basically tell people that let's just learn what moderate should feel like so you can carry on a conversation but you can't yammer the whole time Like maybe it's not the time you get into your political diatribe while you're out doing your cardio, because if you can carry it out the whole way and give everybody every song and dance of the speech you just saw, you're probably not working hard enough. Now if you can't get a word out edgewise, you're working too hard. So really moderate is just elevate that heart rate, be able to communicate, be able to talk a little bit. I know it sounds kind of subjective, but that's why I don't even think you need to worry about that a whole lot. Just get out and do the minutes, get out and do the reps and that's pretty much where you need to be on that. Now, as far as the guidelines on mode, it's very clear. Mode is what you do to do it. So the mode is very clear Anything that uses your larger muscle groups and is continuous and sustainable I mean this is from the horse's mouth, you know a lot of people say well, you know, pickleball is cardio.
Speaker 1:No, it's not why? Well, what part do you not understand about continuous? It's stop and start. So the heart needs to be elevated and remain elevated to get the cardiovascular, get all of the complete cardiovascular benefits, vascular benefits. So anything you use that's continuous and using the larger muscle groups, like your legs, if you're, you know if you're rowing and you know you're using the larger muscles of your lats and everything, that's fine. You can do 150 minutes per week. That's roughly 30 minutes five times per week and you're going to be in a moderate zone. I mean that's what we have to do, like us exercise physiologists are trying to get everybody to that and then go from there. Then we can go okay. So what's the maximal number where you're going to feel like you have your life Because, again, some people don't love it, some people do and you're going to get all the benefits?
Speaker 1:Now the ACSM does get into the weeds a little bit and talk about how, if you did vigorous exercise, which is basically more like running, something that really gets the heart rate up, you can get away with doing less than 150 minutes per week. As an exercise physiologist, I have to tell you that there is a relationship between duration and intensity. That's true, but I don't want you to get into the weeds on that. I want you to keep it simple, stupid, like one of my sayings on my board says, and just think about 150 minutes per week. If you're not there, get there. I just had a client start up a few weeks ago, very motivated, and his goal was to get up to 150. And I believe he already has and now he's a little bit over that. It's like, ok, now let's hold off and we'll go from there, because that's a great baseline where you're going to get benefits from it.
Speaker 1:Of the newbie students get upset because they're like you know why doesn't the ACSM tell me that we should all be squatting and bench pressing and pulling like lap pull downs and tell me I should be doing three sets of 12 and blah, blah, blah? Because they can't. They're going to give you guidelines and you, as the trainer, have to make it all work. You have to use your own brain. So what they do say is to get the benefits, the threshold is two to three days per week of frequency. Start with that frequency. Frequency matters a little bit more than the cardio. Not that you want to do 150 minutes all in one day that's probably not best. But the problem with strength training is you definitely have to do it frequently enough or you're going to atrophy. So really, the threshold baseline for strength training to get the benefits is two days per week. They say two to three because there's been a lot of research on what is better and statistically speaking, they found that two days has 95% of the benefits as three days. And yes, there's a lot of variables how hard you work and all those things, okay. So again, that's why there's.
Speaker 1:You know it's not black and white completely, but we do know we have to get in at least two days a week of strength training. What's two days a week? All the major muscle groups need to be covered. What's two days a week? Well, all the major muscle groups need to be covered, and there are 11. The glutes, the quads, the hamstrings, the pets, pecs. The pets yes, hazel and Kitty, my two pets yes, no, not them. The pecs, the lats, the rhomboids, the deltoids, the biceps, the triceps, the spinal erectors, the gastrocnemius, which is the calves, and the rectus and transverse abdominals. All the major muscle groups need to be covered two times per week.
Speaker 1:And again, the newbie students I'm pointing it out because they probably have the same questions. You might, they go well, does that mean do a split routine or a full body? And the ACSM says we don't care, make sure that every muscle group gets trained two to three times per week. Figure out your own schedule, whether you can do that daily and split it up, or two to three times a week, working your whole body at one point. Those are your options and those are equal options. Again, they'd say well, is it better to work out every day? No, you can get just an intense, good workout with a full body workout than you can splitting it up. It really just comes down to time and preference, plain and simple.
Speaker 1:I have my gym here. I have a gym at my house. I like to work out so often I will split it up because I like to train a lot for my brain, it's very good for my stress levels, for anxiety. It just gets me in the right mood. So I will train a lot. For that. I still follow the guidelines. I don't train the muscle groups more than two times per week. Sometimes I just split it up and if I don't have the time, if I'm traveling, then I don't split it up. I'll do a full body Like.
Speaker 1:Those are the things we need to hear from the guidelines, because too many influencers and morons on social media will be telling you to you know, go do this particular workout for your glutes, quads and pecs or something, and you have to do this, this and this and the real research says, no, you don't. It's a lot more simple than that. Okay, now, as far as sets and reps, again it's a little bit gray. They say you know, as long as you're training every muscle group and you're doing anywhere from one to three sets, you have to keep in mind that there are many exercises that work the same muscle group. So when you go, well, I only actually do one set of that, like, well, no, you don't. You did squats and you did leg extensions and you did Bulgarian split squats, so you actually did three sets for your quads. So again, there's a lot of gray area where people make it more complicated than it really is.
Speaker 1:And the ACSM has said somewhere between one and three sets per exercisewhere from, say. I mean they have a pretty wide range, anywhere from, say, five to 20 repetitions and even lower if you're training for maximal strength. But for most people they see benefit between eight and 15 repetitions. But again, there's a lot of variables. There's been studies that have shown super high reps work, like 30. And there's been studies that show that lower reps work and it really depends on your tempo, your intensity, your focus, and I always tell people keep it simple. Stupid, nobody knows the perfect ideal rep range. Stupid, nobody knows the perfect ideal rep range. Eventually you figure it out what it is for you.
Speaker 1:I see a lot of clients during the week we have. I don't know, it depends on the time of year, but you know, anywhere from, say, 60 to 80 people come through the gym in a week. That's a lot of people and I can promise you that almost every one of them has a different set number, rep number. I should say that works for them. Because some go faster, it's like, okay, we have to have them do more repetitions because they're not slowing down. Some people go slower okay, you're going to have to do some more repetitions because you know. Or the other way around you have to do less repetitions because you know your time window where you're going to get benefits is going to drag on. So everybody's a little bit different and sometimes exercises are different. If there's a really long range of motion, like a squat or a leg extension for your forearms or a calf raise the ankles, it's going to be more repetitions because it's such a short range of motion. So there isn't an ideal rep range.
Speaker 1:You know, we always say at my gym if it's burning, it's working. That's the key. Are you getting stimulus to those muscle groups? Are you getting stimulus to every muscle groups? Are you getting stimulus to every one of those 11 muscle groups two times per week? I mean, that's the key, that's the baseline to get the morphological benefits to the muscles. That's the baseline, just like cardio has a baseline. That's the baseline.
Speaker 1:As far as intensity goes, all the studies show that you should get as close to failure as you can Like. Get close meaning each set should be. Get there, I should say, as hard as it can be, that when you finish your last repetition you can say to yourself I don't think I could have done another one in good form. Good form is always the key. So that's the intensity. All right.
Speaker 1:When it comes to flexibility, we've got baselines on that too the frequency to get the maximal benefit. No, not the maximal Rob. Why are you telling them that to get the baseline benefits is more than the others? You need to get in at least five days per week of stretching those muscles to get the baseline benefits. And the baseline benefits for flexibility is quite simple Are you getting more flexible? Stretch often enough. Your muscles will shorten right back to normal the very next day, if not sooner, probably in that day. Right, we've all felt that we get good and stretched out after a stretching session. A few hours go by and we're just as tight. So what you're trying to do is that football or other sports analogy of pound the rock right Every day. Hit that rock a little bit, chip at it every day, because then you're improving your flexibility, your lengthening of your muscles to the point yes, you tighten back up, but you don't tighten back up as bad as you used to.
Speaker 1:Flexibility, my friends, is all about frequency. You have to hit it often, which is why it's got the highest, the longest baseline of all of them. You need at least five days of stretching. I tell people five to seven. Stretch every day Everything. No, not necessarily Stretch your problem areas. For me it's my quads, I've got to hit them. For me, I attack it much more than once per day. I attack it two to three times per day. Does not have to be long and I'll get into that in a second. But just understand first that the frequency baseline for flexibility is five days, preferably longer, and the reason is because the muscles shorten almost instantly afterwards and you're just trying to pound the rock so you can make it a little bit more flexible day in and day out, so your baseline becomes better.
Speaker 1:The good thing is you don't have to hold the stretches very long. The studies show that if you can hold a stretch for 10 seconds, you're starting to lengthen it. Right, and no more than, say, 60 seconds Can you go longer if you want to. Yes, so no more means that you're probably not getting much more out of that stretch by holding it longer. I tell people to work with frequency. Instead, hold for 10 to 20 seconds, take a break, do it again, take a break, do it again. Do it frequently throughout the day.
Speaker 1:I've got the benefit of working with people, so I'll be stretching either with them when I have them stretch, and sometimes when they're doing a set, I'll just start stretching my quads as they're doing a leg extension. I mean, why not? I'm standing there anyway, and I recommend that that's what you do too. Intensity, very simple to the point of stretch, not pain, just to the point where you feel the muscle being lengthened. You hold that All right. So within that, as you see, you have a ton of wiggle room. You have a lot of things to figure out what works best for you. I mean, this is the stuff I love to do.
Speaker 1:My latest client is really good because he'll ask these questions. He'll say so. With these 150 minutes, how do you suggest? I split this up? And, based on conversations I've had with him about his schedule and just the other day I said well, yeah, on the weekend it makes more sense to do a little bit longer and then during the week maybe a little bit shorter 20 to 30 minutes. So you're getting in your 150 minutes.
Speaker 1:So, but overall, I don't want people to think that like there's a magic formula, because there isn't. It's taking this information and going how do we get all this in in your schedule? And I think so many people need that, right, I mean, 75% of our country needs it. I'm not saying everybody knows this. I don't think everybody knows the recommendations and, by the way, I will say that I do think they're pretty modest. You know I don't agree with the people that are like oh, that's nothing, but the people that look at me and say that's an awful lot, I'll go. Well, I don't know, dude, like you know, studies show that people spend two and a half hours on social media per day and another three and a half hours streaming or watching TV. So is it really asking a lot to go for your 30 minute power walk in the morning? I don't think so.
Speaker 1:And the cool thing about cardio is again like it's pretty darn subjective. You know, like there's been every study in the world that is like compared heart rate reserve which is one cardiac and I'm going to get into it because it doesn't matter but it's one cardiac formula, one target heart rate formula that compares it against max heart rate formula and then they compare it back to rate of perceived exertion. And you know, at the end of the day everybody goes well, it doesn't matter. Like, as long as you know your heart rate is elevated, it doesn't matter. So you know, I don't know, I don't think there's really a good enough excuse to not get out there and do 30 minutes almost every day per week.
Speaker 1:You know, like nobody says you have to go run a 10 minute mile for 30 minutes. I mean, you just have to get out and move for 30 minutes. And for somebody really fit that, say, power walks all the time. You know they might get in two and a half miles or two miles in that time, right, okay. For somebody who's not, they might get in. You know. A little over a mile, okay. I mean nobody's saying you have to perform, just get out and move. You know a little over a mile, okay. I mean nobody's saying you have to perform, just get out and move, you know. I mean, oh man, I could do a whole podcast on walking and I really think I need to.
Speaker 1:But if I mean, if you go back to every great philosopher, all of them talk about the beautiful things that happen on a walk, like the way it clears your mind, the way that you're getting exercise, for me it's a meditation. For me it's a way to come up with ideas. For me it's a way to solve problems. I mean, when I say walk, sometimes it's a run, but I do both. So I really don't think it's asking a lot to get that in. All, right, I'm not going to say it's nothing. I do think it's going to take a commitment from you, but I don't think it's asking a lot.
Speaker 1:But getting back to what I was saying, that's what I like to do. I like to take these guidelines and help people and go OK. So how are we going to make this happen? You know a client the other day I said to her. I said you know, accountability works and because she did her homework and she shot back, so does planning. And I'm like amen, I mean, that is so true If you really plan it out. You know, I told somebody the other day. I said you know, first thing in the morning you're struggling getting this. Okay, before you figured out what's going on, before you checked your phone, before you've done those things, get out and start Like for them. I think that's going to work For you maybe not, but we got to plan, we got to think about it because it can happen, and then in the gym itself, and then I'll just wrap this up in the gym itself.
Speaker 1:When it comes to strength training, again, there's no perfect plan. That's where you know you understanding that you have to get there two times per week, you have to train your whole body and then, hopefully, you have a good trainer that helps you, like modify exercises or help you figure out what exercises work, which muscle group. You know we do it a lot of different ways here, Like I have a couple of base workouts that I do with people. That just works really well for timing purposes, works really well with getting everything in. We have one where we do the standard 10 to 11 exercises and we'll do one to two sets approaching failure and you know that's it, and then they move on. And then we have another that we call more of a mini circuit, where you're doing less exercises but you're doing more of the same exercise. You're going to go around and do like three rounds and I'm just trying to get you to understand that there's no perfect workout, but both of them hit all the muscle groups.
Speaker 1:So that's the important part is understanding when you go to the gym, have you covered everything to the best of your ability, like? It really is so much more simple than some of these people make it out to be. Everybody's different and you don't have to necessarily go somewhere to do it. One of my remote clients she's a physician and she gets it in her dictation room. She literally does her workout before she goes home because she has small kids and she wants to get the workout in before she gets home and gets distracted. And she has two pound dumbbells in this office and that's it. But we get it done.
Speaker 1:Doing body weight exercises, you can go to a big old gym like LA Fitness and use the machines and train all those muscle groups. Great, that's great. My studio has, you know, somewhere in between not all the machines like these huge gyms and obviously more than two pounders, and that's great too. But what really is the important part is knowing how to train each muscle group, and it really isn't rocket science, it's just showing up and having a capable person. Help you do it, help you get started, help you to continue to go, whatever it takes. But that's what I want you to focus on.
Speaker 1:All right, I want you to ask yourself after you finish this podcast am I hitting all three recommendations? Am I getting in 150 minutes of cardio? Check. Am I getting to the gym and training all of my muscle groups at least two times a week? Check. Am I stretching my muscles five times per week? Check. Can you say check 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.
