Total Results Blog

Knowledge is important, but people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. That is just one of the many important lessons that I have learned over the course of my 25 years in the exercise business. There is no greater teacher in this world than experience, and I have made more mistakes than I care to admit. I have tried my best to learn from those mistakes so that I do not repeat them, and I truly believe that if you have not failed at something, then you haven't tried. It has been an interesting and fulfilling journey, and it is one that I believe is just getting started.

When I began my career as an instructor I was fresh out of college, quite green, and knew very little about what constituted proper exercise. Fortunately, I had a couple things working in my favor: a natural curiosity and a desire to learn. This is how I came across the Super Slow Exercise Protocol, which is what the Total Results methodology is based upon. I worked in commercial gyms for several years attempting to apply this philosophy to the clients I was working with, and what I came to realize is that equipment and the studio environment matter. The exercise equipment should be made with the protocol in mind, and while you can perform the Total Results protocol with a variety of different equipment, the exercise experience is not the same if you are using machines with backward cams and poorly designed movement arms. Working with Super Slow Systems and MedX equipment changed everything. The same holds true for the exercise environment. I struggled for years in trying to get clients to focus while dealing with distractions like mirrors, crowds, music, and warm temperatures. A private and clinically-controlled environment is necessary so that the client and the instructor can completely focus on the task at hand. I developed a much greater appreciation for these aspects of the exercise experience when I went to work at Fairfax Racquet Club and Total Results, and have come to view them as non-negotiables.

After completing a few lower-level exercise certifications, I earned my first Super Slow Exercise Instructor certification in 2004. This involved six months of study and an internship at Exercise Defined in Georgetown under the tutelage of a Master Instructor, and I was an idealistic new instructor who did things exactly as Ken Hutchins did them. In fact, I can still remember the instructional scripts that I had to memorize for my practical exam. Over time, I learned to adopt my own teaching style and verbiage to best fit my personality. I am grateful that my former boss Tim Rankin gave me a lot of independence and plenty of room to make mistakes. Long and drawn out explanations, while appreciated by some clients, can often seem boring and overwhelming to others, so a balance must be struck. This has helped me to still be thorough while also more efficient when performing initial consultations.

It is important to be a good listener; this is something that we often think of as a passive activity, but it is really quite the opposite. Over the last few years I have worked to become a better listener, to simply hear what a client has to say rather than rush in with a response. Clients need to feel that their concerns are being heard, and listening is the best way to learn. There were times when I wasn't such a great listener, when I felt that what I had to say was more important. Consequently, I have lost clients over the years because of poor listening. Asking clients periodically for feedback gives them a feeling of investment, and we want them to know that they have some say in the direction of their workouts. I have learned that conducting regular check-ins and holding brief conversations now can stave off potential problems down the road. There is still a need to occasionally have some tough conversations, but if there is an environment of openness and honesty, clients are much more likely to take on a mindset of ownership and accountability.

Less is more when it comes to exercise instruction. I often tell clients that one of their goals should be to get me to shut up, because it means that they are executing better and there are fewer form discrepancies for me to correct. In turn, this allows me to conserve energy over the course of a long day. When I prepared to take my practical exam I had the tendency to overcorrect and talk too much; in fact, my Master Instructor had to tell me to stop babbling and say less. She was 100 percent right. I have learned to correct only when necessary, and that sometimes pre-emptive corrections go a long way. One of the most challenging concepts that I had to understand is that not everyone is as enthusiastic about exercise as I am. Some clients are very excited about the possibilities of what Total Results can do for them, while most trainees see this simply as a means to an end. I used to grow frustrated when I perceived that some of the people that I instructed simply didn't seem to have the same sense of urgency about exercise that I did. Over time I have come to recognize that every client has their own personality and their own values. It is my job to adapt my approach to best meet their needs, while at the same time staying true to our guiding philosophy.

I am still just as passionate about exercise as I was when my journey began over 25 years ago. If anything, the passage of time has helped me to become more appreciative and realize how fortunate I am to be able to do this for a living. There is less rigidity in my instructional mindset and I am far more adaptable than I was earlier in my career, which has probably gone a long way toward preserving my sanity. At the same time I must continue to learn and grow, and never be satisfied enough to rest on my laurels. Thank you to all the people who have helped me along the way, and thank you to all the clients that I have had the privilege to work with over the years. The best is yet to come!

Hall of Fame basketball coach Pat Riley says that life is a continuous learning process. If you don't strive to get better, you are bound to get worse. I approach exercise with a similar mindset. There is no greater teacher than experience, and while everything that I have learned over the years has come from somewhere else, some lessons have been learned the hard way. After talking with other exercise instructors over the years I have discovered that my early interest in weight training was similar to others that have gone on to work in this profession. The many mistakes that I have made over the years as far as my exercise routine is concerned have hopefully made me a little wiser, and have enabled me to pass along what I have learned.

My first exposure to weight training was in 8th grade PE class, when we did a unit on circuit training. It was nothing too in-depth, just some rudimentary explanation about a series of basic exercises on a Universal machine, but it spurred my interest enough to continue training that summer in preparation for 9th grade football. As I progressed through high school I continued to weight train year-round in the PE class that football players were expected to take. We were supervised by one of our football coaches, but there was no real scientific teaching or much in the way of structure. Even though there was very little record keeping, we managed to become stronger as a by-product of being teenagers going through puberty and having some exposure to weight training. The biggest mistake that I made during this time period was in not having a better understanding of nutrition and hydration. Looking back, I definitely did not drink enough water (this was before I knew how bad soft drinks are for you), nor did I consume enough of the quality protein that is necessary for building muscle.

My football career continued for a few years in college, as did my weight training. I was still as skinny as a rail - maybe 170 pounds - but I did have access to decent food in the dining hall. Once I stopped playing football my weight training became intermittent; some weeks I would workout and others I would not. There were weeks with no activity at all, and I definitely was not getting the full benefit of the gym membership that I was paying for. This was my big mistake at the time - not having a plan, the drive, or the understanding of the benefits I was missing out on. After I finished college I took a job as a personal trainer at Washington Sports Club.

Here I had access to a large facility and what I thought was excellent equipment (it was in short order that I learned otherwise). This was where I crafted an exercise routine straight out of the glossy pages of Muscle and Fitness magazine: four to five days a week of weight training with a split routine and different body parts on each day. Multiple sets of each movement and multiple movements for the same muscle groups. Sheer madness! There were so many mistakes during this period of my training life that it may be difficult to point them all out. I will do my best, though. For one, I am embarrassed at my inability to think critically during this period. I should have known better than to follow the examples of genetically gifted people who did not know the first thing about the way the body adapts to imposed stress. Along those lines, I had a poor understanding of the role that genetics plays in physical adaptations. I was training with way too much volume of exercise and not nearly enough intensity. The speed of movement that I used with each exercise was the standard Nautilus protocol of two seconds lifting the weight and four seconds lowering it. This was better than most of the gym rats that were around me but was still entirely too fast, and I am fortunate that I did not suffer any serious injuries. Because of the insane frequency with which I trained, I found myself getting sick with colds and flu more frequently; I was overtrained and under-recovered, thus stretching the limits of my immune system. Too much variety in exercise leads to an inability to master anything significant. As a result of all of these mistakes I wasted what could have been several productive years in my 20s by barking up the wrong tree. Fortunately, fate intervened.

I was introduced to Ken Hutchins' Super Slow Exercise Protocol by a good friend of mine, and almost immediately I knew that I had stumbled onto something big. This required some unlearning of a lot of the misguided ideas that I mistook for exercise truths. I made better physical improvements more quickly and in less time per week than I did by using conventional bodybuilding dogma. Most importantly I was not overtraining, so I rarely got sick, and because I was using a 10/10 speed there was virtually no risk for injury. Still, there were a few mistakes that I made during this period. The first was not learning about this methodology sooner! Second, it took me longer than it should have to recognize the importance that equipment design makes in terms of the exercise experience, but once I did my first workout with MedX and Super Slow Systems equipment I could not go back to using regular gym equipment. Lastly, even after I embraced a slow-speed, high-intensity exercise philosophy, it took me a while to come to grips with the mental components of exercise: focus, demeanor, and attitude. These are things that I still work on to this very day.

Just because I instruct exercise for a living doesn't mean that I haven't made mistakes along the way when it comes to my own training routine. Mistakes can perhaps be better classified as learning experiences, and I am certainly a work in progress. We grow by learning from mistakes and by working to not repeat them. Learning never stops. In my next article, I will profile some of the mistakes that I have made as an exercise instructor over the past 25 years. Thank you to all of you who have been a part of that journey..

Madison Cavanaugh is an author and researcher with over 40 years of experience as a journalist in the health and wellness genre. Most of her work is written under a pseudonym in order to protect her privacy and guard against attacks coming from the medical establishment. She has published eight books, including "The One-Minute Cure" which was first published in 2008. The second edition was released in 2021, right in the middle of the Covid hysteria.

The central focus of the book is hydrogen peroxide therapy, which has been used by 15,000 European doctors, has been in existence for 180 years, and is backed by over 91,000 studies that are currently in circulation. Hydrogen peroxide therapy has healed millions of patients suffering from a multitude of diseases, yet the American medical establishment minimizes, mocks, and even prohibits the administration of this therapy with the threat of license revocation. This is because the medical cartel (including insurance companies, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and doctors) see hydrogen peroxide therapy as something that can disrupt their gravy train, and more money can be made by treating patients rather than curing them or promoting preventative measures. As Ms. Cavanaugh states in the very first chapter, "It simply points to an ineffective medical system that is focused on illness rather than wellness, that promotes expensive (i.e., profit-driven), invasive, and potentially dangerous (or even deadly) medical procedures, drugs or treatments rather than simple, natural, inexpensive, effective treatments or therapies that have no side effects." It is also important to note that over 100,000 people die every year as a result of taking "properly prescribed" medications in hospitals.

What is hydrogen peroxide therapy and how does it work? First, it is critical that we understand the importance of oxygen in the human body. The author says that, "...oxygen comprises 62% to 71% of the body, and is the body's most abundant and essential element." Furthermore, "Ninety (90%) percent of all our biological energy comes from oxygen." We can survive for weeks without food and days without water, but we will die in just a few minutes with insufficient oxygen. This therapy involves either ingesting or inhaling a diluted amount of 35% food-grade hydrogen peroxide daily. Ms. Cavanaugh explains: "...hydrogen peroxide stimulates the movement of oxygen atoms from the bloodstream to the cells to a dramatically greater degree than is usually reached by other means. It does this by increasing oxygen and hemoglobin dissociation, thereby maximizing the delivery of oxygen from the blood to the cells. This delivery of the oxygen to the cells and tissues is essential for creating the oxygen boost necessary to maintaining a healthy environment that is inhospitable to disease (author's emphasis)." Dr. Christian Barnard, who completed the first successful heart transplant surgery in 1986, recommended hydrogen peroxide therapy to his patients in order to treat arthritis and other conditions related to aging. This therapy has been used successfully in treating COPD, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Type II diabetes.

How can you use this therapy at home? One of the best things about it is that you don't have to go to a doctor's office or a hospital in order to receive treatment. If you plan to ingest the hydrogen peroxide orally, the book provides a helpful dosage chart that you can use to reach therapeutic levels in your body, and then a maintenance dose to use thereafter. Add a few drops to distilled water as prescribed. If the taste is a problem, you can instead inhale the diluted hydrogen peroxide through a portable nebulizer. This is the favored intervention of Dr. Joseph Mercola for acute viral illnesses, and is an extremely effective treatment for Covid-19. Dr. Mercola recommends adding in a pinch of Himalayan sea salt to add electrolytes and protect against any potential lung damage. Hydrogen peroxide can also be administered intravenously, but that is probably not logistically feasible for most people to do at home.

Is hydrogen peroxide therapy too good to be true? Like many of you I have become skeptical about many things, but I pride myself on being able to keep an open mind. However, I have to admit that when I saw the words "The world's greatest healing miracle of all time" on the book cover, I was a little put off. Still, the fact that the book was recommended to me by a friend who shares with me a disdain for the medical establishment and whose opinion I trust was enough for me to read it. I found that Ms. Cavanaugh's work is thoroughly engaging and thought provoking, and I think we could be onto something. There is an extensive bibliography as well as a list of resources and providers by state. I would like to do more research before I start utilizing the therapy myself, and have purchased two other books on the subject. Naturally, I will share my findings with all of you, but for now I think "The One-Minute Cure" is definitely worth reading.

Finally, I will leave you with a quote from Ms. Cavanaugh that is sure to at least make you think critically. She says, "The irony of it all is that more people have died from preventable diseases than all the wars of the world combined as a direct result of the pharmaceutical business. These deaths were not just from the use of drugs but from the industry's suppression of information about non-drug health alternatives that could have kept people from dying (author's emphasis)."

You have probably heard me say this numerous times in the Total Results blog, but nothing in life is free, and nothing that is worthwhile has ever been achieved without real effort. That sounds like an obvious statement, but I believe that many people achieve some level of success in terms of their health but for whatever reason are unable to sustain it. Functional independence, staying out of the medical system, resistance to injury, and increased vitality all come with a cost. How important is it to you to remain in control of your own destiny? How badly do you want it? Before you answer those questions, you must understand that there is a price to be paid.

Some people look at high-intensity strength training as a chore. In some respect, that viewpoint is understandable; I would never classify a Total Results workout as fun, and I have never tried to sell that bill of goods to a prospective client. Even though a properly performed workout is intense and uncomfortable, one should look at it as an opportunity rather than drudgery. Every workout is a chance to accomplish something meaningful that will pay both immediate and future dividends. Realize how fortunate you are to be able to exercise once or twice per week, and remember that there are people with degenerative and debilitating conditions who would trade places with you in an instant.

Skeletal muscle is the engine of the body. It is the only type of muscle tissue over which you have volitional control (cardiac muscle and smooth muscle fibers contract automatically), and along with your bones, skeletal muscle does the most to determine your body's shape. Working to build muscle also has a profound impact on your mitochondria. Mitochondria are found in each of our body's cells, and they play an essential role by creating the necessary energy to drive cellular function and all of our body's processes. According to a study published in 2016 by Porter, Reidy, Bhattarai, Sidossis, and Rasmussen, "Collectively, 12 weeks of resistance exercise training resulted in qualitative and quantitative changes in skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration. Resistance exercise training appears to be a means to augment the respiratory capacity and intrinsic function of skeletal muscle mitochondria."

A member of my family, who is in her late 70s, recently suffered a fall and fractured her femur, three vertebrae, and lacerated her scalp. Accidents do happen, but I believe this one could have been prevented, or at least the damage could have been minimized if she had not stopped strength training over two years ago. As a result, she required surgery to repair her femur, a hospital stay, and is now undergoing a lengthy rehabilitation. I can tell you that inside the American medical system is not where you want to be. Doctors and nurses are overworked, the standard of care is iffy, and the conditions are not always great. Effective communication is hard to come by. Establishment medicine rarely looks at preventative care, and if you suffer from chronic disease and have to be in the belly of the beast, it is difficult to get out. The best thing you can do is to take care of yourself and not be in there in the first place.

Yes, there is a price to be paid for robust health. You can pay now or pay later, but one way or another that bill eventually comes due. That price is less than one hour of your time each week, but it requires focus, dedication, and a willingness to learn. Accept the fact that this is what it takes, and that in the grand scheme of things it is a small price to pay. Do you want to spend your middle and later years in and out of hospitals, doctor's offices, and rehabilitation centers, relying on mobility aids to get around? Or, would you rather have the ability to call your own shots? Don't be plagued by chronic diseases and injuries that could have been avoided. You only get one body; treasure it and treat it well. Total Results can help.

There is a common misconception in the fitness world that building strength and improving endurance are two separate things. Traditional gym logic says to use high weights and low repetitions to build strength, and to use lighter weights and high repetitions for endurance. You may or may not be surprised to hear me say this, but it's all utter nonsense. The fact of the matter is that strength and endurance are not diametrically opposed when it comes to exercise, but rather two sides of the same coin. Strength and endurance go hand in hand.

Most of us are familiar with the aerobic and anaerobic metabolic pathways from high school biology class. The aerobic pathway depends on the presence of oxygen to generate ATP (the main energy currency), while the anaerobic pathway does not need oxygen to produce energy. The aerobic pathway is used to a greater degree in lower-intensity activities such as jogging, walking, or biking, while the anerobic pathway comes more into play with activities such as short distance sprinting or throwing the shot put. It is important to understand that no matter what activity you perform, you cannot completely separate the two metabolic pathways. Yes, you will use one pathway to a greater degree than the other, depending on the nature of the physical task, but you will not be able to turn one off at the expense of the other. There is what is known in physiology as the size principle of muscle recruitment. Your slow-twitch muscle fibers (primarily effective in lower intensity activities) will be recruited first. If the task is more than the slow-twitch fibers can handle, the next fibers recruited will be the intermediate-twitch fibers. Only if the intensity of the activity is high will the fast-twitch fibers (which are capable of producing greater force) be recruited. This is where the Olympic-style weightlifting proponents get it wrong; they hold the misguided belief that by lifting explosively they can target just the fast-twitch fibers, which have the greatest capacity for growth. Muscle fibers are ALWAYS recruited sequentially in this order, no matter how you train with weights. The most effective way to recruit and fatigue all of your muscle fibers is to use the Total Results exercise protocol.

Speaking of Total Results exercise, how does the preceding information apply? Clients come to us for a variety of reasons: some want to get stronger, while others hope to ward off chronic disease and reduce their dependence on medications. There are a multitude of reasons why everybody should strength train, but what motivates you to start is a matter of personal preference. In order to stimulate optimal gains in strength, endurance or any other positive physical change, you must train to and beyond muscular failure. To ensure that we are properly incorporating the anaerobic and aerobic metabolic pathways, failure needs to occur somewhere between one and three minutes of time under load (TUL). Anything greater than three minutes and it becomes more of a steady-state activity, and the load isn't sufficient enough to merit the requisite level of effort. We keep detailed records of every workout, and we know that if we have increased your resistance on a given exercise relative to your previous session, you have increased your strength. Consequently, If your TUL increases by 20 seconds at the same weight as your previous workout, you have increased your muscular endurance. Record keeping is very important, as a critical component of improved client performance is knowledge of results. No matter what, strict form is a non-negotiable requirement.

These are some things that the "fitness gurus" rarely take into account. Strength and endurance are key components to a long and productive life. Just think of all the things that you will be able to do every day with less effort and energy expended. All of this can be achieved in less than one hour per week. Get Total Results today.