Total Results Blog

Many people are on the fence about the idea of working with an exercise instructor. This can be for several reasons. Certainly cost is an important factor. This is completely understandable, as today it seems like the price of almost everything is going up. People are looking for ways to cut expenses wherever they can, and in many ways this is a fiscally responsible mindset. Another reason is that most people think they can do just fine on their own. Based on what they read on social media or see on YouTube, they believe they have what it takes to make consistent progress by themselves. Finally, there is an aversion by many to the idea of hard work. Left to their own devices, many people will simply take the easy way out and accept the status quo. "I'll get to it eventually", is what they tell themselves. What if "eventually" never comes?

I believe that everyone can and should participate in regular Total Results exercise sessions. It is no secret to regular readers of this blog that I am a part owner of this company and have dedicated over 25 years of my life to teaching and inspiring people to become the best versions of themselves. Yes, I am biased in favor of this exercise methodology, but I practice everything that I preach. Without these weekly workouts, I would not have been able to play competitive flag football injury-free and at a very high level into my mid-40s. I could not withstand the rigors of working full-time and balancing a busy football coaching schedule if I did not exercise with a maximum effort once a week for 20 minutes. A genetic marvel I am not; I simply see the numerous values to this form of exercise.

So why should you exercise at Total Results?

There is an accountability factor that comes with being a Total Results client. Having an appointment (and paying for it ahead of time) makes most people less likely to blow off a workout when it's cold outside or they don't feel like getting out of bed. Just knowing that there is an instructor there waiting for you to arrive makes people take ownership. A knowledgeable instructor that forges a personal connection with a client will push that client to a greater level of effort and performance than they can possibly achieve on their own. When it comes to exercise, most people simply don't know what they don't know. Very few people are capable of training with the requisite effort and attention to detail that is required to achieve meaningful and lasting physical improvements. This type of effort is uncomfortable and can be difficult to deal with emotionally if no instructor is present to guide you through the process. While this level of intensity is unpleasant and definitely not fun, it is a biological necessity in order to spur the body to make positive changes. Only a Total Results instructor can do this.

People who attempt to exercise on their own are at a far greater risk for injury than they are if they are properly supervised. Again, most people don't know what they don't know. Training in a haphazard fashion in a distraction-filled environment (read: a commercial gym) is a bad idea. You are likely using substandard equipment and dealing with a crowd, which is not conducive to a meaningful exercise experience. You need someone to teach you, in a private environment which will foster optimal concentration. Exercise instruction involves making corrections to form and execution; this is done to maximize safety as well as efficiency in loading and inroading the target muscles. Please do not take these corrections personally! Our intention is not to injure feelings, but rather to be constructive. My eventual goal is to say as little as possible during a workout - this means that there is very little to correct. Our recommendation is for you to adopt a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset; this means that you approach workouts with the idea that there is always room for improvement, rather than believing you have gone as far as you can go. Nobody is a finished product. We have clients who have worked with us for over a decade and are still making incremental progress.

A Total Results instructor will help you to sort through misinformation, particularly with regard to nutrition as well as additional activity outside of your regular workouts. We don't have all of the answers, but we consistently strive to learn more so that we can pass along what we have learned to you. It is our belief that learning never stops. We will help you to sort out what is fact and what is fiction with regard to nutrition.

We know that Total Results exercise is hard; nothing worthwhile in life was ever achieved without effort. Encouragement from your instructor will help you to push through when times get tough. You can't find that in your basement or in a commercial gym. Sure, our services aren't cheap, but you can pay now or pay later in the form of decreased health markers and a loss of functional independence. Be empowered! Your age or current level of conditioning should not deter you. Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor, continued to take philosophy lessons in his later years in order to ,"Learn that which I do not yet know." What better way is there to take control of your life than to bring in someone to teach you a better way? Choose Total Results and start your journey today.

Most, if not all of us, will experience moments or periods of self-doubt. This is perfectly natural; if you are doing something that is challenging you will inevitably ask yourself, "Can I really do this?" It is through experience and overcoming adversity that we truly learn what we are made of. Hard times make tough people, and once you face difficult circumstances you learn that you have more intestinal fortitude than you originally thought. The power of self-belief isn't innate; it is something that can be developed and strengthened over time.

Negative thoughts can be very powerful and difficult to defeat. I am often reminded of the old Henry Ford quote: "If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." The human brain is hardwired to remember negative events far more clearly than positive events, and the inevitable mistakes that occur when learning a new skill are often interpreted as negative events. I see these mistakes as positive opportunities for correction; this is why teaching and coaching must involve encouragement and positive reinforcement, while still making corrections and emphasizing accountability. Success breeds confidence, and confidence ensures continued success as long as you focus on doing the little things right. Nothing creates more confidence than doing something that you did not think was possible.

Once you finish a hard workout, shed a few pounds, or complete your first half marathon (as one Total Results recently did), that accomplishment can never be erased. If you have done something once, you can do it again. Coaches that take over losing programs often face the difficulty of getting their players to believe they can win, especially if they start the season by losing a few games. The breakthrough occurs when what they do in practice transfers into a real game scenario, which leads to a win. That first taste of success is self-perpetuating, which leads to belief in yourself. It is no different in the field of exercise.

The mind controls the body. Sure, there will be some days when you don't feel like exercising. You might be tired, stressed, and overscheduled, but don't break the commitment that you made to yourself. You cannot control most of life's circumstances, but you can always control your effort, attitude, and focus. Don't take the easy way out! Positive thinking can move mountains. When you are pushing on that movement arm and it hardly seems like it will budge, continue to give your best effort. Even when you think you cannot go on, always believe that you can. Take pride in what you are doing; you are working harder than most of the people on this planet.

Another quote from the esteemed Henry Ford: "Anyone who keeps learning stays young." Not only do we want to help you develop stronger muscles and improved conditioning, we also want to develop your ability to believe in yourself. With the proper mindset, the sky is the limit. We believe in you!

Long-term Total Results clients and regular readers of this blog know that I put very little stock into what is touted by the mainstream fitness industry. What they constitute as exercise is recreation at best, and at its worst it borders on malfeasance. When I have these discussions with people the response I often receive is, "Okay Matt, so what do you consider exercise?" In order to define something, you have to clarify what it is not. An all-inclusive definition accomplishes nothing, and according to the establishment fitness industry, just about any type of activity fits the bill. The best (and only, to date) definition of exercise comes from Ken Hutchins. He defines exercise as, "A process whereby the body performs work of a demanding nature, in accordance with muscle and joint function, in a clinically-controlled environment, within the constraints of safety, meaningfully loading the muscular structures to inroad their strength levels to stimulate a growth mechanism within minimum time." You will notice that nowhere in that definition does it say anything about aerobics, or stretching; exercise needs to be demanding (i.e. - hard), it needs to correspond with proper body function, and it needs to be controlled. It is not haphazard - it must be purposeful.

So the true essence of exercise is inroad. But what does inroad mean? A simple explanation describes it as the depth of muscular fatigue due to exercise (high-intensity weight training). Let's look a little closer. Ken gives a great explanation of inroad in Super Slow: The Ultimate Exercise Protocol. Let's say that you have a starting strength of 120 pounds, but perform a barbell curl with 70 pounds (since you are utilizing a 10/10 speed and will not have the aid of momentum). You perform several repetitions but eventually reach momentary muscular failure, meaning that your muscles' force output is now less than the weight of the barbell. This means that you have inroaded (fatigued) your strength level by 58 percent (70/120 = 58.3%). If you are using Total Results exercise protocol (and you should), this would only take between one and three minutes to achieve.

Why is this important? Much of what occurs metabolically as a result of exercise remains unknown, but we do know a few things. We know that the human body, by nature, is a logical entity. It wants to maintain homeostasis and conserve resources whenever possible (think of how difficult it is for many people to lose weight by conventional methods). We must give the body a significant reason to mobilize its resources and make physiological changes; there must be some sort of perceived threat. High intensity weight training is the threat that spurs the body into action. If we inroad the muscles deeply enough in a systemic fashion (i.e. - in a full body workout) we cross over a metabolic threshold that triggers a growth mechanism. Muscle tissue is broken down over the course of a 20 minute workout, and over the course of the next three to seven days this tissue is repaired and made stronger, along with replenishment of carbohydrate stores that were spent as a result of glycogen and ATP (adenosine triphosphate) being burned. Bear in mind that these changes can only occur in the presence of adequate nutrition, sleep, hydration, stress management, and not overdoing it with additional physical activity in the time between workouts.

How can you maximize your ability to inroad? It starts with having the correct mental approach. For the twenty minutes that you exercise, you should be 100 percent focused on your workout. Put aside all potential distractions, such as your phone, your work responsibilities, and any other of life's problems, and commit yourself completely to the task at hand. Maintain attention to detail as far as speed of movement, pace, turnarounds, and application of the squeeze technique are concerned. Be willing to pay the price; accept that for the next twenty minutes you will experience muscular discomfort, but also know that feeling is temporary. See the big picture and do not allow momentary unpleasantness to derail you from achieving something that is meaningful and lasting. After the workout you should feel fatigued but not beaten down. We want to stimulate physical improvements (which should leave you feeling tired) without grinding you into a nub. If you feel completely spent after a workout it means one of two things: you are either an Alpha subject (something that Ken refers to in his book) with superior neurological efficiency, or you are not satisfying your recovery requirements and may need to reduce your training frequency and/or volume. Most clients that exercise in the morning remark that it gives them a boost of energy that carries them for several hours into their day.

There is often a debate on exercise message boards about which is more important: form or time under load (TUL/repetitions). Ken also discusses this in Super Slow: The Ultimate Exercise Protocol. This brings to mind the assumed versus the real objective of exercise. Most people figure that they should try to complete as many repetitions as possible with as much weight as they can handle. This is incorrect; not only does this mindset lend itself to unsafe behavior and potential injury, it completely ignores the correlation between momentum and unloading of the musculature. The real objective of exercise is to systematically recruit and fatigue the muscle fibers deeply enough to stimulate an adaptive response. One should use a weight that they can safely handle at a 10/10 speed that will cause them to reach momentary muscular failure somewhere between one and three minutes of elapsed time. This time frame allows us to involve the aerobic and anaerobic metabolic pathways and recruit the greatest amount of muscle fibers. Analytically-inclined clients love to look at their progress charts to see how they are doing, but their weights and TUL only tell part of the story. I am happy to explain to them how they are progressing both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Thorough inroad is the straw that stirs the drink as far as exercise is concerned. Better form leads to a higher quality of stimulus, but it is what you do in between workouts that will have the greatest impact on the physical changes that are produced. No matter your neurological efficiency or the genetic hand you have been dealt, Total Results is the best way to maximize your physical capability. Share your experience with a friend and spread the word!

Gardiner Harris was the public health and pharmaceutical writer for the New York Times, and before that he wrote for The Wall Street Journal. He is now a freelance journalist. Harris is also the author of a novel called "Hazard", which centers around the toxic effects of exposure to coal dust. I first became aware of the author through a documentary called "Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders", and he was a contributor to that project. "No More Tears" was published in 2025.

This book is a comprehensive examination of the history of Johnson & Johnson. For all of its breakthroughs and positive contributions as a healthcare conglomerate, J&J also has a very dark history that it would rather you not know about. The company was founded in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1887 by three brothers: Robert Wood Johnson, Edward Mead Johnson, and James Wood Johnson. J&J initially focused on mass producing cotton and gauze bandages, and mostly concentrated on selling to doctors and hospitals. The company's first big money-making product was introduced in 1894 - Johnson's Baby Powder - which contained Italian talc (in blocks it is known as soapstone, and is also used to make sinks, stoves, and electric switchboards). By 1967 there was concern about the safety of talc, and an internal memo acknowledged that it contained trace quantities of two kinds of asbestos, which is known to cause cancer. Rather than publicly acknowledge and solve the problem, company executives devised a plan to discredit the studies that confirmed the dangers. By 1989, most other companies had switched to using corn starch in their baby powder; J&J continued to use talc because it created higher profit margins. A class action lawsuit ensued, and the plaintiffs were awarded a total of $550 million dollars in compensatory damages. Punitive damages totaled $2.5 billion dollars. Years later, it would be acknowledged by a J&J representative that false statements were made under oath about the safety of Johnson's Baby Powder.

Tylenol is probably the most well-known over the counter pain reliever on the planet. It was developed by McNeil Laboratories and became part of the J&J line of consumer products when J&J acquired McNeil in 1959. Most people who were alive in the 1980s are aware of the Tylenol Murders case of 1982, where several people died after ingesting Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. This was the impetus for the tamper-resistant packaging that is so ubiquitous today. Unfortunately, these are not the only deaths connected to Tylenol. The active ingredient in Tylenol is acetaminophen; according to the author, "More than a century after its discovery, scientists still don't know how acetaminophen works." Anthony Benedi, a former staffer for president George H.W. Bush slipped into a coma and sustained brain swelling and liver failure following a bout with the flu in which he consumed the recommended dosage of Extra Strength Tylenol. On average, Benedi drank between two and three glasses of wine per night, which is the average alcohol consumption for American men. Following a liver and kidney transplant, Benedi sued J&J and was awarded $9 million dollars in damages. Harris goes on to say, "Documents revealed in Benedi's case showed that Johnson & Johnson had known for years that moderate drinkers - a description that applies to most Americans - could suffer catastrophic liver damage from ordinary doses of Tylenol." Finally, the author says, "Acetaminophen has for decades been the nation's leading cause of acute liver failure."

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a synthetic form of a protein that increases the body's production of red blood cells. It is a banned substance in competitive athletics; many of us remember that Lance Armstrong won seven Tour de France titles in part due to his secret use of the drug, and he was subsequently stripped of those titles. The reason it is a banned substance is because the stimulation of red blood cell production thickens the blood, leading to an increased risk for heart attacks, strokes, and embolisms. Even worse, according to the author, "A researcher named Athanasius Anagnostou from Brown University added EPO to a petri dish filled with cancer cells and found that the drug supercharged the cells' growth - the opposite of what anyone wanted to happen." Johnson & Johnson developed their own version of EPO - called Procrit - and by 1998 it had become the company's most profitable product. The problem was the increased risk for cancer in patients that took the drug. In the words of Dr. Otis Brawley, the longtime chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, "What data do you have to assure me that this is not Miracle-Gro for cancer?" J&J started an EPO study in cervical cancer patients in 2001, with 109 patients participating. Within two years that study was stopped because patients given EPO were dying at a much more rapid rate than in the control group. J&J knew this, yet the results of the study were never published.

Johnson and Johnson entered the medical implant business in 1998 when it purchased DePuy Orthopaedics. Hip implants were first invented in the 1950s, and the linings between the steel cups and balls were made of Teflon, which worked well for a while but eventually wore away and required revision surgeries. Eventually the linings were made of heavier plastics, but in the 1960s two surgeons came up with the idea of using metal instead of plastic so that the implant would last a lifetime. Unfortunately, friction between the ball and the cup could result in tiny metal shavings that "killed surrounding tissue, loosened the joints, and released toxic ions that poisoned patients' hearts, brains, and eyes." J&J's metal-on-metal hip implant was called the ASR XL; they stopped selling it in 2013 after the FDA strengthened hip implant regulations. According to the author, "Johnson & Johnson settled the many lawsuits involving problems with ASR XL implantations for $2.5 billion."

These are not the only examples of unethical behavior. In the early 1970s J&J hired Dr. Albert M. Kligman to conduct a study as to what would happen to humans and rabbits if they were injected with talc and asbestos. As the author explains, "Kligman was a problematic researcher, to say the least. For many years, he had conducted tests of Johnson's Baby Powder, as well as Band-Aids, shampoos, and other drugs, on African American prisoners and mentally disabled children. These experiments were often exquisitely painful for his vulnerable subjects." Finally in 2021, J&J expressed remorse for allowing such experimentation to be conducted. Too little, too late.

Why is this book important? Most people don't realize just how many products fall under the J&J banner (I did not either, until I read this book). Pharmaceutical companies pay enormous fines for misdeeds and look at it simply as the cost of doing business. J&J is no different. Harris states, "Between 2010 and 2021, J&J spent $25 billion on litigation." That doesn't even include the bribes given to doctors and hospitals to get them to prescribe their drugs and other products. Another point to consider is that the FDA is not really looking out for you. There are numerous examples given where the agency looks the other way or is actively complicit in J&J's unethical behavior.

Gardiner Harris has done an outstanding job of writing and researching "No More Tears." Near the end of the book, he lists several suggestions for how the system can be dramatically improved. You deserve better than the corruption that has gone on for decades. I encourage all of you to read this book and decide for yourselves.

Diagnosis of chronic disease has skyrocketed over the last 40 years. According to the National Cancer Institute, this is defined as "a disease or condition that usually lasts for 3 months or longer and may get worse over time." We have seen many medical conditions among Total Results clients, but some of the most common chronic debilities that we have encountered are osteoarthritis, heart disease, and diabetes. These chronic conditions certainly bring with them their own set of challenges, such as obtaining medical clearance from a physician and helping the client to overcome their underlying fears related to exercising with these conditions, but we have been very successful at helping clients with chronic disease to improve their health and quality of life. As we will discuss further, there is both a genetic and lifestyle component that can increase your risk for developing a chronic disease.

Osteoarthritis is probably the most common chronic condition that Total Results clients encounter. This can be characterized by pain, stiffness, and swelling in the joints. Osteoarthritis is more common in people who have performed repetitive movements for long periods of time, or if they have suffered a previous injury to a joint (for example, if you have sustained knee cartilage or ligament damage you are more likely to experience osteoarthritis later in life). The older we get, the greater the likelihood that we will experience osteoarthritis in one or more of our joints. In your Total Results workouts, the first two repetitions of each exercise serve as a warm-up to lubricate your joints and reduce pain (it's also why we typically perform the Leg Curl exercise before the Leg Press, so that your knees are limbered up). It is our job as instructors to find the client's safe and pain-free range of motion, so that the musculature can be stimulated while minimizing joint pain.

Heart disease comes in many different forms; in fact, two of our current clients had significant heart procedures performed prior to starting at Total Results. Obviously, the heart is the most important muscle in the body; however, you cannot volitionally control the contraction of your cardiac muscle. Skeletal muscle is the only type of muscle tissue that you contract at will, and while most cardiologists require a patient to perform cardiac rehabilitation before giving them clearance to begin or resume exercise, I believe that strength training is the most effective form of cardiac rehabilitation. Helping doctors to understand the nature of our program has always been a big challenge, but it is important to build trust with the client and communicate effectively with their doctor. We will work with the cardiologist to formulate the best course of action and ease the client into the program.

Diabetes can take on two forms: Type I and Type II. Type I diabetes is typically diagnosed in childhood or young adulthood, and is characterized by the pancreas producing an insufficient amount of insulin. Type II diabetes occurs later in life, and usually involves the body being unable to produce enough insulin or an inability to use the insulin it produces. High blood sugar is a corresponding factor. Prediabetes is a precursor to Type II diabetes, and many clients have come to us after being diagnosed with the condition. The good news is that Type I diabetes can be managed (although not completely reversed), and Type II diabetes can be completely reversed with deliberate action and lifestyle changes. High intensity strength training is important from a standpoint of building muscle and changing your body composition, but also going to muscular failure will help to reduce glycogen (stored form of carbohydrate) stores in your liver and muscle cells. This will help you to improve your insulin sensitivity and level out your blood sugar.

We have also worked with clients that have autoimmune conditions. This is when the body's immune system mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells. A few conditions that we have encountered include Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Celiac Disease. When clients suffering from these diseases are dealing with flare-ups, it can greatly impact their workouts. Sometimes they cannot workout at all during a flare-up, while other times their strength and endurance are significantly compromised. Communication between client and instructor is paramount, and we must treat each occurrence individually. There is no one-size-fits-all plan when this happens, but we adapt the best that we can.

There is plenty that we can recommend to help you if you are battling a chronic disease. You must realize that chronic disease doesn't happen overnight, and an immediate reversal is unrealistic. It is important to recognize that a change in your daily habits is essential. This involves not just incorporating high-intensity exercise into your life, but also improving your sleep habits, managing stress, and adding in low-level movement several times per week. What you put into your body makes all the difference in the world; avoid inflammatory foods such as seed oils, processed foods, and sugar. In order to preserve your physical independence and build strength, you must lift heavy things! Stay educated about your disease and other chronic diseases; we frequently give book recommendations that you will find helpful.

Together we can reverse your chronic disease! It all starts with a single step.