Total Results Blog

You do not need to be a genetic marvel to experience life-changing physical improvements from Total Results exercise. Most of our clients are regular folks who simply want to become the best and healthiest versions of themselves. With our guidance, they learn the basic physiological principles of high-intensity exercise, master proper form and speed of movement, increase their tolerance for exertional discomfort, and acquire the ability to train with great effort. If everything goes right, clients will grow mentally stronger in addition to gaining physical strength and endurance. Many have asked the question: how much of it is mental and how much is physical?

Success is dependent on several factors. There are a few "non-negotiables" that, in my opinion, you either have or you do not. These non-negotiables can be influenced by your instructor, to a point, but in reality they need to already be present. It all starts with attitude; a positive attitude can achieve great things, but a negative attitude will doom you from the start. Do you look forward to each workout as an opportunity to improve, or are you dreading coming in for your session? Only you know what is truly in your heart. The second factor is a willingness to learn. For over 90 percent of our clients, the Total Results exercise philosophy runs counter to everything they think they know or have heard about physical training. Therefore, it is a new concept to them and they should approach it as a learner and a beginner. Unless a new Total Results client has previously worked with an instructor that I know and can vouch for their qualifications (Case in point: years ago I had a client who moved to the DC area from Orlando and had trained regularly with Ken Hutchins. I knew then that I could skip ahead a few chapters.), I will treat them as if they are a beginner. The third factor is coachability. We can define coachability as, "the willingness and ability to seek, receive, and act upon constructive feedback to improve your performance." I will take it a step further and say that being coachable entails receiving instruction and executing it to the best of your ability the first time you are asked. Part of an instructor's job is to be critical and correct mistakes as they happen, while at the same time praising effort and recognizing proper execution. Please remember that all of this is done not to injure feelings, but to ensure the best possible performance and outcome.

There are some factors that are trainable and can be developed over time. Focus can be defined as the ability to concentrate on one task at a time. This is a critical component of our philosophy, and it is why we have designed a private and distraction-free exercise environment in our studio. Focus is required not just to ensure the highest quality exercise stimulus (the main purpose of the workout), but also to maintain client safety. It is important to shut everything else out for 20 minutes and devote your complete attention to your workout. Grit is a term made popular by psychologist and author Angela Duckworth in her 2016 book of the same name. Duckworth believes that grit has four psychological assets:

• Interest: A deep passion and genuine enjoyment for what you do.

• Practice: The relentless dedication to deliberate practice, consistently focusing on improvement and and working on weaknesses

• Purpose: The belief that your work is profoundly meaningful and contributes to the well-being of others.

• Hope: A rising-to-the-occasion perseverance; the optimistic belief that you can overcome challenges and that your effort will make a difference.

At Total Results, grit can entail not quitting in spite of feeling significant exertional discomfort, overcoming the psychological hurdle of reaching muscular failure and not being able to move the movement arm, but also showing up for each session even if your progress has slowed or life presents challenges. Will you take responsibility or make excuses? Finally, we can talk about desire. Some may debate as to whether this can be developed or not, but I believe it can. How important is it to you to make physical improvements? This is hard; are you willing to do what it takes? Some sacrifices will be involved; every time you say yes to something that means you have to say no to something else. You have an early morning workout tomorrow; saying yes to going to bed early means you're saying no to staying up late to binge-watch that Netflix series. In my opinion, desire can grow as soon as you start to experience some tangible progress, but remember that there will be obstacles in your path.

One cannot completely discount certain genetic factors that will impact training results. We can define neurological efficiency as the percentage of muscle fibers that can be recruited in an all-out effort, and the number typically falls between ten and forty percent. This is largely pre-determined by birth, and the more neurologically efficient you are the deeper you can inroad (fatigue) your muscles in a given exercise. Limb length is fairly self-explanatory, but it has an impact on leverage and what your range of motion is on certain exercises. Tendon insertion angle is the exact degree at which muscle fibers attach to a tendon or where a tendon attaches to a bone. Longer muscle bellies (the contractile area between tendons) generally mean a greater potential capacity for strength. Finally, fiber type makeup can be described as the different types of muscle fibers that make up your skeletal muscle. For simplicity, you have Type I fibers (which are slow twitch), Type IIA fibers (which are fast-twitch oxidative), and Type IIB fibers (which are fast-twitch-glycolytic). Type I fibers are largely for endurance activities, Type IIA are intermediate, and Type IIB fibers are for explosive and short-term physical feats (think sprinters and football linebackers). Type IIB fibers also have the greatest potential for growth, while Type 1 fibers do not. The only way to concretely learn your fiber type makeup is to have a muscle biopsy performed; most people aren't all THAT curious. You have no control over your fiber type makeup; you can either thank or scold your parents for that, depending on your preference. The best thing you can do is to make yourself as strong as is humanly possible and maximize your genetic blueprint.

This brings us back to our original question: how much of it is mental and how much of it is physical? I think it is impossible to give an exact percentage of each, but suffice to say that we are training your mind as well as your body. Clients would do well to focus on improving the things that are within their control and not spend time and energy worrying about what they cannot change. Keep in mind that of the three types of muscle (skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle) in the human body, only your skeletal muscle can be contracted volitionally. Your brain controls your body's movements, but don't allow your brain to quit before your body has reached its limit! If you are strong mentally but are not physically recovered because you are overtrained, you will perform poorly. Worse yet, injury and illness are much more likely to occur. On the other hand, if you do not approach your workouts with the right mindset you will not succeed. Lastly, if you are physically rested and mentally alert, you still cannot "outrun" a bad diet. The safest conclusion that we can make is that the mental and physical components go hand in hand; they are like two sides of the same coin.

Teaching involves putting across concepts and information to another person in a manner that they can understand. There is an old saying: "If you really want to learn how to do something, teach it." Try it sometime, and you'll be amazed at how much you have to absorb and grasp before you can communicate it to someone else. I think you will also find that breaking concepts down and making them simple will produce a faster rate of absorption on the part of the person you are teaching. I gain a tremendous amount of satisfaction from both instructing exercise and coaching high school football. While the settings in which each takes place are very different, the two entities are a lot more alike than one might think. Whether you are coaching a sport or instructing high-intensity exercise, it all comes down to one's ability to be an effective teacher.

At my core, I have always considered myself a teacher. Whether I am coaching a 16 year old quarterback or instructing a 60 year old entrepreneur, at the heart of it I am building relationships. We are in the people business. It is important to connect with the person that I am working with on more than just a superficial level, and they need to know that I have their best interest at heart. I must not simply demonstrate my competence, skill, and knowledge, but also earn their trust. This means that I must do what I say I'm going to do, every time, and also acknowledge mistakes when they inevitably occur. It is also critical to communicate expectations with both client and player right at the beginning of the relationship; this way there are no surprises. I do this with clients during an initial consultation and with players at the beginning of every season. There must be a buy-in on the part of the client and player; in order for success to occur they have to want it just as much as I do. Whether you are in the exercise studio or on the football field, you must have focus; if you are distracted it will not work. All of this is explained at the beginning of the relationship.

One of my coaching mentors, Al Thomas (who won eight high school state championships as a head coach and multiple conference championships as a collegiate defensive coordinator,) was fond of saying, "It's not what you teach, it's what you emphasize." I disagree slightly with Coach Thomas; there are certain things that should be emphasized above others, but what you teach needs to be strongly rooted in the fundamentals. When I instruct exercise, the first several sessions are all about establishing a good foundation in fundamental technique, speed of movement, proper breathing, and working to keep your emotions in check as intensity of effort increases. I utilize a cadence count to help clients develop a feel for proper speed of movement in each exercise. During individual periods with quarterbacks, you will often hear me count, "1, 2, 3, and throw" as they take their drops and prepare to throw. I always emphasize the significance of making quick decisions and throwing the ball on time. The importance of repetition cannot be underestimated; in fact, my high school coach Terry Changuris often said, "Repetition, repetition, repetition!" Whether in exercise or football, teaching points must be repeated over and over before mastery can occur. Sure, saying the same things over and over can become a little monotonous (I often wonder how many times I say the phrase "breathe freely" during the course of a normal workday), but it is an essential component of teaching and learning.

As I mentioned in my last article, simple is always better. This is as true in football as it is in exercise. When I coach football, I am working with 14 to 17 year old young men whose brains are still developing. At Total Results most of our clients are adults, but nearly all of them are relative novices when it comes to high-intensity exercise. In either endeavor I am not working with experts, so I need to break things down in simple terms that are easily understood. When I first became certified as a Super Slow instructor over 20 years ago, the practical portion of the exam involved memorizing long scripts for introducing and teaching exercises to new clients. For years, I would recite these scripts verbatim as I put clients on machines for the first time. While this was useful in theory, in practice I found that trainees had a difficult time following along and their attention began to waver. Eventually, I shortened the introduction for each exercise and found that clients learned better by doing than by simply listening to me talk. Initial consultations now take less time than they used to; what once lasted nearly 90 minutes now typically takes less than one hour. It is important not to overwhelm the client with information. Yes, certain key points (like preliminary considerations) need to be explained before the sample workout can commence, but prospective clients should not feel like they will be tested on all this information at the end of the consultation. When teaching throwing mechanics to quarterbacks, I have found it effective to break the skill down into smaller components (establishing your base, stepping toward your target/separating your front hand from the football, rotating the back hip/trunk, leading with the elbow, releasing the ball, and following through) and then put them all together. Quizzing the kids on certain plays and formations, as well as occasionally having them teach a skill back to me are potent strategies to gauge learning.

I will say that an exercise studio and a football field are very different settings. As such, my presence and personality are in contrast with one another when I have a stopwatch around my neck as opposed to a whistle. When I instruct exercise I have a clinical demeanor. This is because exercise is something that should be taken very seriously, but also because I do not want to distract the client while they are in the middle of a session. A clinical demeanor also helps me to preserve energy over the course of a twelve hour workday. The nature of football is different; while I am also enthusiastic about exercise I must be a little more muted so that I do not lose proper perspective. With football I am a bit more demonstrative, and emotions play a large role in the character of the sport. Practices last no more than two hours, so it's more of a sprint than a marathon. Don't get me wrong, I take football incredibly seriously. However, at the end of the day it is supposed to be fun for both players and coaches alike. I have even found slight differences in my personality depending on what position I am coaching. I coached the offensive line for the previous three seasons, and found myself to be a little more vocal and fiery than when coaching quarterbacks. When coaching signal callers I am usually more even keeled and cerebral. Either way, all the yelling and screaming in the world is not a substitute for effective teaching.

At the end of the day, it is about teaching. No matter what you are teaching, success is dependent upon one's ability to connect, communicate, and demonstrate competence. Different people, young and old, learn in different ways, so you must be able to modify and adapt your methods based on whom you are teaching. Expectations should be mutually understood at the beginning of the relationship so that there are no surprises, and there must be a clear methodology that is in line with the desired outcomes. The teacher and student must be on the same page. As Hall of Fame coach Nick Saban famously once said, "If you're not teaching it that way, you must be allowing it to happen that way."

Effective exercise doesn't mean that you have to reinvent the wheel. Even in high-intensity training circles, there is considerable debate as to how to construct a workout regimen. People in our profession often spend a large portion of their day on message boards or going back and forth on social media about the structure of their workouts. It sounds to me that these folks have entirely too much time on their hands. I would rather spend my day instructing clients than waste time debating minutiae. Most Total Results clients are new to weight training and have never trained with a protocol that resembles ours. Why would we want to overcomplicate things? In my opinion, simple is always better than complex.

There is beauty in simplicity, and this is especially true whenever you are teaching something to someone else. Yet, for a variety of reasons unknown to me, some folks have a tendency to make life more complicated than it needs to be. I see this quite often in football. Many coaches try to have a play in their playbook for every situation or contingency. It is great to be prepared, but some people take this mindset a little too far. What they fail to understand is that not only do you have a limited amount of practice time per week, the players still need to be able to absorb the concepts that you are teaching. Instead of just executing and playing fast, the players have to think their way through their assignments. It is always better to run a smaller number of plays from multiple formations and execute them well than it is to have a million plays that are mediocre. Football is a much more simple game than most people realize.

By the same token, effective exercise is not particularly complex either. In order to stimulate physical improvements of any kind, you must create a significant stimulus. There are a couple of concepts that should be understood at the beginning. First, exercise must be of a high enough intensity for the body to mobilize its limited resources to make physical improvements. This is why we utilize a slow speed of movement; it enables us to recruit a greater amount of motor units (because momentum is minimized), which will result in a greater depth of fatigue (inroad). There is something in physiology that is referred to as the "All or Nothing" principle. A motor unit is a nerve cell and all the muscle fibers it innervates. When a motor unit is recruited, all of the individual fibers of that unit will contract, or none of them will. There are no half measures. Taking each exercise to muscular failure ensures that we have recruited and fatigued as many motor units as possible and given a maximum effort. That is the stimulus that we seek.

The second thing we must understand is that we are working with a few limitations. Exercise has a narrow therapeutic window; this means that we need to find the right dosage. Just like with medication, too much can have a toxic effect, and not enough does not bring about the desired change. One needs far less exercise than they realize, and it is very easy to overtrain. This is why our workouts are so brief and infrequent; we want to stimulate improvements without causing injury or illness along the way. One or two sessions per week for twenty minutes is not just something that we can get away with; it is a biological necessity. The body typically requires between 48 to 72 hours to recover from a workout, which is why we train no more than twice per week. Because we have these constraints, exercise routines should be fairly simple. We perform full-body workouts that typically consist of five to seven exercises of one set each. There is an equal emphasis on pushing and pulling exercises, as well as a balance between upper body and lower body exercises. Cervical, thoracic, and lumbar muscles are engaged in the course of our workouts, and clients typically rotate between only two different workouts. Because clients only come once or twice per week, there simply isn't enough time to master more than two routines. Some fitness professionals espouse the idea of "muscle confusion" and change up their workouts frequently. This is a mistake, as it does not allow you to master the basics and help your body to recruit muscle in established motor pathways. Split routines are a waste of time; not only do they lead to stagnation of progress and overtraining, they fly in the face of logic. Your body functions as a unit, it is not just the sum of its parts. Since it is a unit, it should be trained as such. Compound exercises are more efficient for engaging a greater amount of muscle, and they are the easiest movements for a novice client to master.

None of the above ideas are particularly original; these are principles that have been understood for over a half century. Some people want to be complex because it gives them a greater sense of self-importance. We just want to help people get stronger and fitter in a safe and efficient manner so that they can squeeze more out of life. A simple, balanced, and brief exercise program will provide the stimulation that you need without overtraining. Total Results can help you do just that.

The main objective of exercise, in a nutshell, is to create a stimulus. This stimulus is what the body interprets as an existential threat, and it triggers a growth mechanism. In turn, the body then mobilizes its resources to make physical improvements. These improvements are many, but they include strength (the muscles' capacity to produce force), bone remodeling, as well as metabolic and cardiovascular conditioning. Everything that we do at Total Results is geared toward achieving the most effective stimulus possible without overtaxing the body along the way. While different people have different ideas about what they want to accomplish by being stronger and fitter, it is important to not get bogged down in minutiae. You should see the big picture and realize that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Most clients have some exercises that they like or dislike more than others. That's simply human nature. It is also normal to place a greater amount of importance on certain exercises. One of our clients judges the efficacy of her workout solely on how she performs on the Lumbar Extension exercise. Certainly some exercises are going to have a greater metabolic impact than others (think Leg Press versus Cervical Extension), but that doesn't mean that each exercise isn't important in its own right. You should not "save" your effort or hold back on certain exercises because you want to perform better in time under load (TUL) on another. Remember that "better" is a relative term, and form trumps everything else. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You will create a more effective exercise stimulus if you give a maximum effort on every exercise. Sure, you may achieve a shorter TUL on the Chest Press if you inroad more deeply on the Leg Press (since those exercises are often done in consecutive order), but so what? Your body doesn't really know or care what your TUL was on a given exercise; all it knows is that motor units are being recruited and resources are being depleted as you go through the workout.

Strive for perfect form on every repetition of every exercise that you perform. It is easy to lose sight of what is important, especially as you become more proficient and begin to train with greater effort. When movement becomes a struggle it is very tempting to commit form discrepancies simply to complete one more repetition. However, today's shoddy technique can become tomorrow's injury. See the big picture and remember that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Better technical form leads to greater motor unit recruitment, which in turn creates a more effective stimulus. It is the responsibility of the instructor to repeat the mantra of safety, and you cannot reap the benefits of high-intensity exercise if you are injured. Just because you may have a more difficult time with form on certain exercises does not mean that we will avoid them. We want to improve your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Try to maintain a growth mindset and strive for one percent improvement in each session.

I often talk about how unique the Total Results exercise environment is, relative to commercial gyms and other exercise studios. This is not done in a boastful manner, but our concept does set us apart from everyone else. For many first time Total Results clients, walking into our studio can be a strange experience. They are often used to more crowded, hot, and noisy settings, and can find the quiet to be a little unsettling at first. Some folks even complain about the cold temperature in the workout space, and there is often a natural tendency to bundle up in order to keep warm. Please understand that everything in our workout space, from the temperature to the fans, as well as the type of equipment that we have and where it is spaced on the floor, is all designed with the purpose of maximizing your exercise experience. Don't focus on negative things like the initial cold temperatures, or that a fan is blowing on you. Instead, realize that these are essential elements of the ideal exercise environment. Sacrifice a little comfort now for a larger reward at the finish line. We have a much larger purpose than simply moving weights around for twenty minutes.

By choosing Total Results, you are already on the road less traveled. If what we were doing was easy, everybody would do it. It takes drive, determination, and a willingness to be challenged in order to reach your physical potential. Combine that with big picture thinking and you have an unstoppable combination. Be a part of something that can push you to new heights that you did not believe were possible. Choose Total Results.

Most of us are dealing with something at any given time. Modern life provides numerous sources of stress, such as work, family, health, and even the economic and political climate. Social media can give you an update in real time, as if you didn't already have enough going on. Achieving balance and finding your metaphorical footing can be a tricky proposition, but one should take comfort in knowing that there are many people out there who are dealing with similar circumstances. In fact, some Total Results clients are working to overcome psychological hurdles that are associated with exercise.

One root cause of a mental hang-up can be injury. This could be an injury that was recently suffered, or an injury from a long time ago. There can be physical pain as well as a loss of confidence as a result of the injury. I have met with prospective clients in initial consultations whose injuries were so significant that it has prevented them from exercising for years. It is important to keep in mind that things are generally neither as good nor as bad as they seem at the moment. Try to maintain an even keel; never get too high after a great workout or too low after a subpar session. When clients return to exercise following an injury, we often avoid certain movements for a short period of time. Once the injured area has recovered, we can reintroduce these exercises by using a Timed Static Contraction. When a dynamic movement is once again appropriate, we often reduce the resistance on these exercises, particularly those exercises that involve the injured area. The real key is for us to find a pain-free range of motion and emphasize perfect form and speed of movement as we work back up to a higher level of intensity.

Novice Total Results clients often have a difficult time recognizing the difference between pain and discomfort. Training with the degree of effort and focus that our protocol dictates while using a very slow speed of movement is something that is completely new for most people. Exertional discomfort (or "burn," as it is often called) is a natural by-product of high-intensity weight training, and while it can be disconcerting and uncomfortable it is not an indication that any harm has occurred. A dull ache is a good thing, since it means you are giving great effort, and it is temporary. Sometimes we make more out of something that it really is, and while in the heat of the moment it may seem scary there is nothing to fear. Once you experience it you know what to expect moving forward, and your tolerance for discomfort will improve over time. Pain is something sharp or sudden that occurs, and is usually indicative of a true injury. This must be acknowledged and communicated right away, so that the proper steps can be taken. The safety of our clients is paramount, and even though we like to say that our exercise protocol is safer than stepping off a curb, there are rare instances when something goes wrong. Help us to keep you safe!

Once a client achieves the ability to train with a high level of intensity, starting exercises from the bottom out position can become a mental challenge. There is an occasional delay between when the brain sends the impulse for the muscles to fire and the moment that the machine's movement arm moves. This delay lasts fractions of a second, but in your mind's perception it can feel like an eternity. It can become a self-fulfilling prophecy; once you convince yourself that you can't move the weight, the weight doesn't move. This is something that happens to most clients at least once, and usually occurs on either the Leg Press or the Lumbar Extension exercises. It is completely normal, but it is also mental. Sometimes you just need to regain your confidence. One approach is to start the exercise from the end point. The client begins the movement from the most contracted position and starts with a negative excursion. This demonstrates to them that the weight is not too heavy and that they can handle it. Another option is to lower the resistance and have them start from the bottom out position. Once they are able to start the exercise from that position, their mental block has been overcome.

Some clients only measure their progress by their time under load (TUL) or how much weight they lift on a given exercise. Not only is this short-sighted, but it can set them up for disappointment if they do not increase in either category for a few workouts. There are numerous ways to chart your progress! As an instructor, I go to great lengths to highlight other measurable markers besides poundages and TUL. We often talk about the seen versus the unseen benefits of high-intensity exercise. Resistance to injury, energy levels, and the ability to do every day tasks with less effort should be viewed through a qualitative rather than a quantitative lens. It is also helpful to look back at where you were and how you felt on a daily basis when you started at Total Results and compare that to where you are now. Being more resistant to injury, having stable blood sugar and hormone levels, and being more physically active with less energy expended are wonderful by-products of the work you have put in. Try to see the big picture.

Author Ryan Holiday said in his outstanding book "The Obstacle is the Way," that, "The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition." Looking at things from a different perspective is a healthy way to break through and be better than you were before. We can help you to overcome psychological hurdles and be the best version of yourself. Get locked in today!