Ever felt like the whirlwind of fitness advice on social media is more about flash than substance? My own journey—from grappling with self-doubt to gracing the pages of Ironman magazine—taught me to question the one-size-fits-all fitness philosophies peddled online. As Rob Maxwell, I'll share the stark reality of personal transformation, diving beyond the glossy images to the grittier truths of what it really takes to achieve your health and fitness goals. Be prepared for a candid discussion on why critical thinking is your most valuable gym partner and how my favorite exercises have evolved over time to match my changing body and ambitions.
Hear why elite athletes such as Michael Jordan and LeBron James don't play the influencer game, as their legacies aren't built on likes and shares but on sweat and dedication. Without a personal brand to sell, their insights on excellence are rarities, leaving us to sift through a sea of social media for genuine wisdom. With a focus on personal responsibility in our fitness endeavors, I urge you to anchor your trust in the bedrock of scientific evidence. In this episode, I'll guide you in muting the noise and tuning into the channels that offer true expertise in exercise physiology, nutrition, and sports psychology, empowering you to smartly navigate the fitness advice that floods our feeds.
Ever felt like the whirlwind of fitness advice on social media is more about flash than substance? My own journey—from grappling with self-doubt to gracing the pages of Ironman magazine—taught me to question the one-size-fits-all fitness philosophies peddled online. As Rob Maxwell, I'll share the stark reality of personal transformation, diving beyond the glossy images to the grittier truths of what it really takes to achieve your health and fitness goals. Be prepared for a candid discussion on why critical thinking is your most valuable gym partner and how my favorite exercises have evolved over time to match my changing body and ambitions.
Hear why elite athletes such as Michael Jordan and LeBron James don't play the influencer game, as their legacies aren't built on likes and shares but on sweat and dedication. Without a personal brand to sell, their insights on excellence are rarities, leaving us to sift through a sea of social media for genuine wisdom. With a focus on personal responsibility in our fitness endeavors, I urge you to anchor your trust in the bedrock of scientific evidence. In this episode, I'll guide you in muting the noise and tuning into the channels that offer true expertise in exercise physiology, nutrition, and sports psychology, empowering you to smartly navigate the fitness advice that floods our feeds.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to. There is a Method to the Madness. My name is Rob Maxwell, I'm an exercise physiologist and personal trainer. I'm the owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs and I've been in business since 1994. The purpose of this podcast is to talk to you about the science, about what works and what doesn't work and, most importantly, why. Hence the name the Method to the Madness.
Speaker 1:
Today I'm going to excite you with my favorite exercise in the gym. Before we get to that, let me thank Jonathan and Lynn Gilden of the Gilden Group at Realty Pros. You know what these two and their team are committed to providing the highest level of customer service and home selling and you know what they have the sales and reviews to back it up. So give them a shout 386-451-2412. All right, now to my favorite strength exercise in the gym. But you know what I've got to back up and tell a little story first.
Speaker 1:
So back in what was it? 1992 or 1993, so just before I got going in my career, I did my very first bodybuilding show, and this doesn't have too much to do with today's message, but I was extremely insecure about it. I was nervous, I was petrified. I'd been wanting to do a bodybuilding show for years prior to that basically chickened out a million times. Prior to that basically chickened out a million times Just felt like a lot of imposter syndrome, going through some chubby phases when I was in high school, just this am I really this good type of thing or whatever, just a lot of insecurity. But I finally got up and did it, very happy I did. I did pretty well. I think I was third in the middleweight class and it was a very big competitive class. So I really feel like I showed up that day and was my best and they sent you pictures.
Speaker 1:
If you ordered them back in those days you know this is long before iPhones and you know pictures we store on our phone. This is back when they literally were, you know, printed we store on our phone. This is back when they literally were you know printed paper, which maybe are more meaningful, I don't know. But anyway, I ordered the pictures and I was proud of myself and they came in the mail and one day I was looking at Ironman magazine, which used to be one of the top bodybuilding magazines in the country, along with Muscle and Fitness and Flex magazine, and that's another thing I miss. Actually, it's just like magazines. I know you can still get them, but they all seem to be like collector's deals now.
Speaker 1:
I don't know, I just like the physical print of getting the magazine in the mail, but I'll summon through this one. And it said if you feel like you've got the stuff or whatever you know, send in a picture and maybe we'll feature you in a locals hero section. So I sent in a picture and it was of my, it was a side chest pose and they told you to write a little bit about yourself. And I did. I gave a little, you know, biographical, and I absolutely thought it was going nowhere biographical. And I absolutely thought it was going nowhere. And then, crazy, I wasn't even like notified or anything, but I got this Ironman in the mail.
Speaker 1:
I got my magazine in the mail, like I did every month, and it was probably like a few months later and I opened it up and I'm thumbing through it and, sure enough, there I am, man in all my glory, a side chest pose in Ironman magazine. I'm like whoa, this is really cool. And here's the moral of today's story. So I read it. And number one they called me Bob. I'm like man, come on, not Bob, rob, robert, don't call me Bob. So they. I read about it and it said Bob's favorite exercise is the bench press. Now I don't ever remember saying that. I mean it could be true, it could not be true. I don't necessarily know that I've ever had a favorite exercise and I probably just gave away the rest of today's podcast, right. But I read it and I'm going God you God, half of this crap is made up Now very grateful to be in the magazine. It's still cool to me. I still have it, 30-year-old magazine, sitting in my closet. I'm proud of that. It's one of those things I want to keep.
Speaker 1:
But what I really learned was and this was 30 years ago how when we read about things in magazines and nowadays it would be more social media like they're not often true, they're exaggerated, they're just not real. Like that picture. I mean I don't think they photoshopped it. I mean they don't really. They didn't photoshop as much back then.
Speaker 1:
But you know, going into the show I definitely was in my peak. I mean, of course I was doing a competition. So I was in my peak, fitness, completely shaved. I mean we had to wear the pro tan back then. I mean they still do it, but more spray on a little more professionally done, but back then it was literally. It looked like what you would polish your shoes with. I mean, you rubbed it on your body. It looked ridiculous, but it browned you up so you looked more lean and cut. So that's all going on, even back then. And so, yeah, it's true, it's really me, but at the same time it's me like three days out of a year, I mean. So we got to be real careful about what we see and read. We have to be a lot smarter about our choices. Who we're going to follow and, as you know, probably know unless you're living under a rock, you know there there's influencers. Now that's literally a profession.
Speaker 1:
So the point of today's podcast is to say number one my favorite exercise varies. It varies on different days of the week. It varies on what I'm working on, like currently, because I'm getting over a knee issue that's been plaguing me for about a year. I've been and it's finally, I believe, to be 100%. I'm more focused on doing leg exercises like squats and leg press and step ups, because I feel the effectiveness of that and now that I know that my knee's better, I want to make it stronger. So my favorite kind of ebb and flows.
Speaker 1:
But, more importantly than that, what today's really about is who should you follow? Like I want to lead you to the science, I don't want you to follow me because I might have a good tricep or a good side pose, chest angle in a picture. I mean, I want you to understand that there are people out there, like myself and many others, who have taken the time to get the education in health and fitness and get the proper certification. So when somebody's saying this is my favorite exercise and they're showing you an exercise that they're doing nine times out of 10, they're not morbidly obese, they're not even somewhat overweight, they're usually chiseled bodies, which is absolutely great, right? I mean, what is wrong with striving to look better and feel better? Nothing. But that also doesn't mean that they know what they're talking about.
Speaker 1:
I mean a saying I've said for years, long before social media has existed, is you can't ask a racehorse how it got fast. I mean, the majority of professional physique athletes, like bodybuilders, had help. They had coaching. They were great athletes who were just doing what they knew to do and they got some help along the way with coaching and training and I'm not even talking about the pharmaceuticals, because they got help there too many of them but they don't necessarily. No, it's not even necessarily, unless it's a rare case where they went and they got further education, like Franco Colombo, the great bodybuilder who trained with Arnold Schwarzenegger was actually a chiropractor. Well, there you go. So he had some knowledge beyond most of his buddies.
Speaker 1:
And I'm not knocking on Arnold because I like Arnold. I think he's a great quote influencer in the real terms of the saying. I guess you know what I'm trying to say. Hey man, it's Monday, give me a break. I haven't even had my coffee yet and it's not even Monday.
Speaker 1:
Anyway, I like Schwarzenegger and one thing I really like about him is is he comes out now and he says that he doesn't have the science, he doesn't have the education, he doesn't have the nutritional knowledge. He does have experience, but he admits he doesn't have the other. So he hired a staff of physiologists and nutritionists who work for him on his new pump app. He has and his own podcast. So I admire that. And then he talks about the science based on what his cronies got him, because he's the voice, he's the front man, so to say. He's the David Lee Roth of the team, he's the Bono of the team. He's the Taylor Swift of the team. He follow the front people. Let's make sure they have the knowledge to be followed.
Speaker 1:
So first, don't worry about how they look so much. Don't worry about that so much. That again, you don't know how they got there, you don't know if it's photoshopped, you don't know how temporary it is, you don't know what they really look like. I mean, I saw a picture of gosh who was it? It was just the other day. He was in a polo shirt and jeans and he looked oh, it was Arnold. It was actually Arnold. It was a picture from probably the 19, I don't know, I would guess 80s, because he was standing with Wilt Chamberlain and Chamberlain, if you don't know, was like seven foot three, something like that, just a mammoth of a man, and he was standing next to Arnold. And the whole idea was to show you just how big he was, because Arnold was a six foot two bodybuilder. He was a pretty tall bodybuilder but he looked like a tiny person next to Wilt. But, more importantly than that, he was in like a polo shirt and jeans and I'm looking at him going. He doesn't look like anything but kind of a fairly skinny, normal dude in regular clothes and that's great. I mean that almost. I mean to me that's great, like I think that's a better look, personally, than like puffing out of your shirt and blowing it out. But on stage he looked remarkable because he knew how to pose, he knew he knew how to get ready for a show, he did everything he needed to do. So you know, you can't just tune into YouTube and Instagram and TikTok and all these things and see phenomenal bodies and start following them.
Speaker 1:
Second thing is when they start talking, and a lot of times when they start talking is when all hell breaks loose. All right, don't trust what they say unless they have their credentials next to their name. And if you don't know, go look. And if they're not posting them, there's a reason for that. So make sure that they have some sort of education to and if they're not posting them, there's a reason for that. So make sure that they have some sort of education to back up what they're talking about, because just because they're fit, it doesn't mean they're experts at all. That's like trying to say that a basketball player is an expert at his craft. No, he's great at his craft. If it was the case that he could just get out there and lead everybody. They wouldn't need coaching. They're phenomenal athletes, but it doesn't make them expert. They may know what works for them. They're not going to be able to probably teach you the fundamental of a free throw like a coach can, and they don't come out and say that, though, like there's something about that.
Speaker 1:
I don't know. Maybe it's because they make millions of dollars. They don't need to like sell themselves out on social media as influencers, because they're already making real money. I don't know why, but they don't do that right, they don't get out there. I've never heard any of these greats, whether it be Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant or LeBron James or Paolo Banchero.
Speaker 1:
Now I don't hear these guys coming out and talking about what it takes to be the best. They might talk about the effort it takes and how much they admire the work ethics of certain people, but they don't do that because they don't need to. Maybe I don't know, but you know what? All we can control is what what we do, and what I want us to do is to not pay attention to these silly things like what are my favorite exercises, or do this for your butt, or do this for your abs, unless they have the scientific background to help and guide you. Look it up. You don't have to sit there and be a victim all the time and say, well, they're on social media, they should know better. Well, look, there's nobody banning these people from social media. You have to be a big boy and a big girl and go. Do they have their credentials and go and look for yourself. I mute these people that annoy me. I unfollow people that I don't think know what they're talking about. Like that's my choice to do and I hope you do it too.
Speaker 1:
Please follow the science. There is such a thing as science. Follow it in exercise, physiology, nutrition and, yes, your social sciences too, like sports psychology. Follow the science and follow the best garage door company in Daytona Beach Overhead Door, owned by Zach and Jeff Hawk Consummate professionals the outright best in Daytona Beach and the state of Florida. If you need any help, if you don't have an overhead door, don't worry about it. They'll service what you do have. Give them a shout at overheaddoordaytonacom.