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 Only 3 Fitness Metrics That Actually Matter
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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 . Hello everybody , rob here and we're going to talk about some fitness .
Speaker 1Over the last week or so I've been sending out our emails and been talking a lot about the metrics and giving you different metrics that matter and things like that . Metrics and giving you different metrics that matter and things like that . So I decided I'm going to do an entire podcast on what ones we should be paying attention to and what ones we should just let go by the wayside , because you know we got enough to think about without being hammered by influencers and marketers and people basically trying to sell you a bill of goods and a bunch of snake oil , like things you should pay attention to and things you shouldn't , and whatnot , and you know it's pretty simple . Now , before I get into that . Let me say , though , that metrics do matter . I've always said that if you can measure it , you can manage it , and that's nothing , of course , I created , but it's true in fitness too . If we can really put an objective goal by something , we're more likely to do the behavior that's going to bring that goal about . So it does matter .
Speaker 1The things I've always done since I started out was I'll do an assessment with somebody and I will test the five health components of physical fitness in one way shape or form , and those are muscular strength , muscular endurance , cardiorespiratory , body composition and flexibility , and from there get some objective numbers of where somebody is , and then make goals where they most need to be . So , for example , if they have a very healthy body fat percentage , that's not going to be on our priority list , but maybe the same person is lower in muscular strength as seen by the push-ups that they did in their assessment . Then we are going to build the program more towards strength and a little bit less towards food and body composition . So that , I believe , has always worked , taking more of a scientific approach to training . So metrics absolutely do matter .
Speaker 1We just have to know what to pay attention to and in the era of , you know , ai and an era of all the new technology , it can get quite confusing . All right , so the other day I talked about calories , calories being a metric that matters , and it is . I mean , I'm just going to kind of briefly sort of go through the ones that work and then the ones not to pay attention to , and then reinforce the ones that work again , because I believe that's what we should always do is end on a positive , whatever we're doing . So calories is a metric that we should pay attention to . I mean , plain and simple . There are other variables involved with weight loss . There's a lot of different things , but it still is going to come down to if we want to lose weight , we need to eat less than we burn , plain and simple . If we want to maintain , we bring in the human body in food is calories . I mean calories are a unit of energy , so calories are a metric we should , if we want to lose weight or if our goal is to maintain our weight pay attention to .
Speaker 1Does that mean we need to be obsessed every way , you know ? Do we have to be like , oh man , this , this and this ? Well , no , but again , I don't want to get into all of that . I want to make it clear that they matter and how you deal with it is important . You know like I can't control all of the different types of folks in different conditions that might be out there . So if you've been told by your therapist or your general practitioner to not count calories because it's taken you down a bad road before , like either disordered eating or eating disorder , then by all means you need to listen to them .
Speaker 1But that doesn't change the facts . Sometimes we really struggle with that as society . So well , I thought we weren't supposed to do that . Well , they weren't supposed to do that . But if you are overweight and you don't have a tendency towards obsessing over that , then you do need to do that . Or you should do that , or it should help you .
Speaker 1And I think that's why so many people are afraid these days to come out and give people the declarations of what they should do , because not everything is black and white . I mean to lose weight , we have to take in less than we put out . That's pretty black and white . But whether or not you can do that safely and healthfully , I can't answer that I can . I like to track , I like to look at it . I'm not trying to lose weight , but I do like to pay attention to that and it works for me . And no , I don't get obsessed over it , it's just kind of like interesting information that I can utilize . Okay , so calories count , weight Checking , the body weight Hate to break it to you folks .
Speaker 1Metrics do matter . If we pay attention to how much we weigh , studies have shown it that people that tend to weigh on a regular basis , normally every day , tend to manage their weight over their lifetime better than people that don't . All right . So again , just like the calories . If you have gotten obsessed in the past with the scale and it has led you down an unhealthy road of addiction or eating disorder or whatever , then no , it is not for you .
Speaker 1But the research states those that continue to monitor their weight stay at a healthy weight and that's really the key . A lot of people can lose weight . Can people lose the weight they need to lose and maintain ? It is the more harder question , right or harder solution harder thing to do . Well , studies show that if we continue to maintain or monitor our weight , we will maintain our weight better . And again , yes , people can get obsessed .
Speaker 1And also , yes , weight isn't everything . That's a fact . I mean , body composition matters , there's no question about it . So a person who's muscular and weighs more is absolutely healthier than a person that has more body fat and weighs more . Yes , weight isn't everything . So we have to remember , with these metrics , we have to take all of that into consideration . Two things can be true at the same time , and that seems to be a hard concept for people to understand in society . Regarding everything , two things can be true at the same time . Keeping a regular check on our weight helps us maintain our weight , and weight isn't everything . Both things can be true , but it is a metric that we should pay attention to .
Speaker 1All right , here's another one , a metric that matters . Studies have shown that people that can do regular pushups and one of the latest studies was 11 . Why , I don't know , who cares , but 11 . 11 . Are far less likely to have issues in older age with muscle loss and strength loss . So , yes , the amount of push-ups is a metric that we can pay attention to just like everything else . That doesn't mean if you can't do push-ups because maybe you tore your rotator cuff back in 1975 and you haven't really been able to do exercises similar to that in a long time doesn't mean you're screwed . It just is a metric that matters . Why ? Well , most likely because it's one of the best representations of upper body strength . So , yes , it is something that we should pay attention to . We use it in our assessments all the time .
Speaker 1First , we'll see can they do a standard push-up ? I mean , if they can , that's already a good metric . Wow , you can do a push-up . If you can do 10 push-ups I mean 10 standard push-ups I think you're fit , you're going to be fit . The metric says 11 , whatever , but you're going to be fit To work up to that . Yeah , modified is great . We have to remember two things can be true at the same time . The standard push-up is a metric that longevity specialists have looked at and determined . It matters as far as how many you can do and your ability to age gracefully . So to say there is a direct causation effect or at least I should say a direct correlation effect to that for sure , and not everybody can do them for different reasons . Right Doesn't mean it's not a good metric . It means that you may not be able to do them , but we should pay attention to the gist of it with that .
Speaker 1Now , a quick side note . With this one , I will say that those are three metrics we really should be paying attention to , and I'm going to further explain that when I talk about the ones we shouldn't . But those are like three that really tend to matter Calories , weighing ourselves , push-ups but I got a little caveat to this push-up one . With push-ups and other bodyweight exercises , I mean they are fantastic . But lately , if you've been paying attention to the news and especially all over social media , well , we've had different politicians and government officials like jumping on this . I don't know . Basically , I don't care what side of the aisle you're on , and I think both sides have been doing it . So I guess it really doesn't matter , but acting kind of like children , like hearing that , oh , you know you're not alpha , you can't do this .
Speaker 1So they've been posting these videos of themselves doing . One of them I saw was pull-ups and push-ups , and then another one I saw yesterday was bench presses . I'm like , oh God , right , but the pull-ups and the push-ups that I saw online . So again , most people turned it into partisan . So if they were on their side of the aisle , they thought it was great that they were doing them . If they were on the opposite side of the aisle , they made fun of them . And I'm going to take it from an exercise physiologist slash personal trainer , strength and conditioning coach . That was easy to say . So all three . I'm just basically trying to say , hey , I'm going to take this from a very professional standpoint and tell you , the pull ups and push ups that I witnessed sucked , so nobody should be counting any of those that they were doing . So when we talk about these metrics , we have to do them correctly , all right .
Speaker 1In this case they were saying that they were doing . I think it was 50 pull upsups broken up and then 100 push-ups broken up , or something like that . From what I saw , there wasn't one pull-up done . I mean they might have said they did 50 . I mean one guy did them halfway down , like barely even came down , and then threw his chin back over the bar . Another guy had some assistance the whole time he was doing it still didn't do them right . The other guy went the opposite route . He went down but he barely went up . So they were not full pull-ups . There was not a single pull-up completed by either of them .
Speaker 1And then I mean , and pull-ups are hard , I mean , guys , if you're gonna try to show off with the videos going , oh my god , maybe pick something you can actually do . That still surprises me sometimes when people of that level don't have handlers around , going bro , like you don't want to post some pull-ups trust me , you don't want to but I guess they have all their yes men around who are telling them how wonderful they are , I don't know . And then their pushups oh my goodness , like I'm sorry , but a remotely athletic male should be able to do a decent amount of pushups , like at least five . And their pushups were . It's so funny because in the Max Fit Games we did I even did a whole video on don't do bro pushups and they were so doing bro pushups . It was a joke which means basically lie on the floor and come up maybe two inches and go back down Like elbows are like so far away from lockout , it's not even a pushup . And they're both doing them and looking at each other like little kids . I'm like , guys , you are not setting an example of what we need to be doing because you are teaching horrible form .
Speaker 1And I know both of these guys , important people , and they could have got somebody from the military . You know , I mean , gosh , the military has great standards . I mean , the academies do a great job . They could have got some of their generals or something out there . You know that are still super fit to do this for them . And you know , go , hey , you know they're going to now demonstrate what we want the country to do . That would be awesome , but they didn't , and that's not good . And then , real quickly , moving on to the bench press thing I saw yesterday both parties had one hundred and thirty five pounds in the bar and it was an alpha off I want to call it who can do more . And both of them got made fun of extremely bad and it was probably something they shouldn't have done . So then we'll wrap this up .
Speaker 1So does the bench press metric matter ? Not at all . People Push-ups yes , bench press no . But the moral of this quick little side story is if you're gonna do it , do it right , okay . So when they say 11 push-ups , they mean 11 push-ups . They don't mean 11 , bro pushups , they don't mean 11 , like , go a quarter of the way down and go back up pushups . No , they mean full range of motion . Pushups to where your arms are parallel when you're at the bottom and your elbows are locked out when you're at the top . That is an actual pushup , and the hips and the sternum and the chest stay in alignment the whole time . That's a push-up .
Speaker 1So when we test our metrics , they have to be done right . So now let's talk about some of them that we don't need to be paying attention to . So , in any order not really of order of importance but your watches that tell you how many calories you're burning during activity . That's not a metric you need to pay attention to , because number one it really doesn't matter how many calories you're burning during activity . That's not a metric you need to pay attention to , because number one it really doesn't matter how many calories you burn when you strength train . That's not the point of strength training . You really aren't going to burn a ton of calories during strength training . That's not the point , because there's rest involved . There's work for 10 to 30 seconds and then there's rest to the next machine . There's not going to be a lot of calories burned during a strength training session . So that metric doesn't matter .
Speaker 1When you go to cardio , it's probably not going to be overly accurate . It's using your body heat and your temperature to try to read how many calories . It's a halfway decent assessment , but not a great assessment . And when it comes to calories , that can matter greatly . So you might think , well , it's only off by 50 calories . Well , that's a lot . So don't even use that .
Speaker 1When you use your smartwatches which is fine for exercise Use it for heart rate , for sure you can see how well you're recovering . Use it as sort of a track to time it . So then if you forget , you know you can go back and look , but you don't need to use it for the calorie burn . That's a metric that does not matter . Now , how about a lot of the strength numbers at your gym ? Well , here's the thing with that . Absolutely , strength matters . I mean , there's no question , if you can lift more load than you used to , you're getting stronger . Here's the problem with that . Unless it's barbell or dumbbells , you don't know if it's all the same . So if you can say well , you know , I think I'm getting stronger because you know , when I'm at your gym I do this , but when I go on a cruise I do this and it's more weight . It's like well , we don't know that it's equal , right Matter of fact . I know it is not equal Every selectorized machine out there , and this isn't a bad thing , but they're different .
Speaker 1They have different cams in them , they have different lengths of how far the stack moves . They have different geometry as far as where the handles go . The guide rods might be better oiled on some and less oiled on others , which is going to create either less friction or more friction . So that's going to change the numbers . If there's rust on the guide rod , that's going to form resistance . That wasn't there . If it's a smooth guide rod , I mean it doesn't matter . Even a Smith machine , which all look almost the same , they're all going to be different .
Speaker 1Now , if you're comparing your numbers to your numbers at your location , yes , that metric matters . But If you go into it fatigued , you may not get the same number . So kind of like body weight . Two things can be true at the same time . Or I should say weighing yourself , yes , if your numbers are going up on a regular basis at your gym using the same consistent exercises and machines , yes , that matters , and you may have days where you're more fatigued . Or you did another exercise in front of an exercise which changed the number on the second exercise and then it's going to show less strength and also that doesn't matter . So two things can be true at the same time . Overall , I wouldn't worry about comparing your numbers that you're seeing at your gym with numbers other people are doing at their gym .
Speaker 1I would not pay attention to that metric if you are . For example , if somebody gets on their social media platform and says I did 20 reps at 150 pounds on the leg press , and then you can maybe get all proud of yourself and say you did 200 pounds for the same amount of reps on your leg press . You don't know if the leg presses match up with each other , so don't compare those numbers . Those are metrics that do not matter . All right , here's a metric , another metric you don't really need to pay attention to . I gave you three to focus on and now I'm going to give you three , not to .
Speaker 1The next one is your macro nutrients . Okay , that's an obsession . That's probably the one I see the most online . Oh , count your macros , count your carb grams , count your protein grams , count your fat grams . Look , weight loss is going to come down the calories and everybody having different body weights and different conditions . There isn't going to be a macro number that is ideal for everybody across the board .
Speaker 1So your protein numbers ? I mean , yes , we do need protein , sure , but your protein numbers are going to change based on your body weight , based on your activity level and based on whether or not you have medical conditions or not . So a person that's been told they need to protect their kidneys doesn't need to be on a higher protein diet . So when you see these different stats out there where they say you need so many grams of protein per day , that is nine times out of ten somebody trying to sell you protein or a meal plan . We all need protein and we need to time it and we need to have it frequently . All this is true , but the actual metric of how much per day is so variable that , instead of counting it , you should just pay attention to it and figure it out for yourself . One way you can know are you recovering from your workouts ? Well , are you not recovering ? Well ? Well , if you are , you probably are getting enough protein . If you're not , maybe you're not .
Speaker 1But the point is we don't need to count our macronutrients . Okay , carbohydrates same thing . Now , again , you have to remember . Two things can be true at the same time . So if your doctor says , look , you are diabetic , you do have to count your carb grams , I need you to count this , then count them . That's different . I'm talking about the general population that doesn't have issues with this , doesn't need to be trying to figure out how many carbohydrates they need .
Speaker 1We need a balance of all three macronutrients . We don't need to be on a low-carb diet . We don't need to be on a high-protein diet , we don't need to be on a zero-fat diet . We need to have all three in proper balance . We do not necessarily need to count our macronutrients and get to a certain point . It's usually protein where people do it . Well , not too many people count the fat , but a lot of people will count protein to try to get it up and they'll count their carbs to try to get it down .
Speaker 1Both thinking is off . Okay , we need all three . We need to learn how to think for ourselves and go I need nutrient dense foods . So not all carbohydrates are the same , and that's another big reason that you shouldn't count , because there's a huge difference between a sweet potato and a bag of Twizzlers . Okay , both are carbs , both are going to count as carbs . Huge , huge difference .
Speaker 1So we need to think about are these nutrient-dense , good , out-of-the-ground carbohydrates or is this processed sugar ? You say , well then , maybe I should count sugar . No , you shouldn't , because , again , if you put a banana into your MyFitnessPal , you're going to see that it's pretty darn high in sugar . And a banana sugar it's fructose isn't nearly as problematic . It's not problematic at all , actually . But it's not that problem that when you see the processed sugar like the Twizzler why do I have Twizzlers on my mind ? I had no idea . When I thought of pure sugar , that's what came to my mind .
Speaker 1And final thing on this endurance athletes , they need some sugar anyway . They need real pure sugar during their endurance events . So we just can't use that as a metric . Okay , so no on comparing your weights to other people at the gym . Ignore that metric . No on exercise caloric expenditure during or after workouts no . And macronutrients no . Those are three metrics I don't want you to pay attention to . Do pay attention to your calories , do pay attention to your weight and do see if you can and try to improve your push-ups . Okay , metrics matter , but they have to be the right metrics . Thank 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 .
