The importance of understanding muscle function and joint mechanics for effective training. Workouts tailored to specific goals and body mechanics, avoiding traditional barbell exercises in favor of free weights and cables to optimize range of motion and minimize joint strain. The significance of proper form, muscle exhaustion, and supplemental exercises for injury prevention and overall wellness.

Highlights of the Podcast

01:00 – The lifting part

02:09 – How do we fix the disease?

04:25 – The lateral part of your head versus the medial

06:40 – The muscles are completely exhausted

07:19 – The range of motion for your lap is here

08:09 – The biggest departure lifting for me.

09:38 – What does the musculature do

10:26 – Are you doing decompression or inversion tables?

11:26 – The musculature up to support you

12:15 – About Cholesterol

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:04] So.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:05] Obviously there’s a lot of.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:06] Lifting and.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:08] Working out.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:08] Going on and what we’re doing.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:10] I like to cover the biochemical stuff because it’s more fun for me. And I think it’s pieces that you’re not going to get elsewhere. The lifting part, you can.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:17] Get.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:18] Lots and lots of places.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:19] The at the end of the day.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:22] What we have to have for muscle growth is damage to muscle tissue.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:26] And then you.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:27] Have to have all the chemicals that help put it back together. The testosterone.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:30] You know.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:31] The compression stuff in collagen for.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:35] All the other.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:35] Amino acids, the ATP function, the oxygen like.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:38] That.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:39] All the chemistry stuff is more fun for me. So I do a.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:41] Lot more of that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:43] The lifting part.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:44] Is.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:45] The problem with the living part is that’s tight. So it is commitment and dedication. There’s so much more mental piece in.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:52] That that we’re.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:53] To get into a.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:53] Little bit more.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:55] As we go through, because that’s, that’s really, also really fun for the, the lifting part. I do the same exercises everyday. I’ve done everything the same two years I do in my home gym.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:06] You don’t need.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:07] A fancy gym.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:08] You don’t need, you know.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:09] A $500 a month gym or a $100 month gym.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:12] I have.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:13] Dumbbells and cables.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:14] And body weight. That’s all.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:15] I use.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:17] The at the end of the day.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:20] Muscles do one thing. They can track and they can track in a very specific movement.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:26] That we call.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:26] That the range of motion or the.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:28] From.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:29] Some of the abbreviations you can see.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:30] From.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:31] Range of motion.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:32] RR rr.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:33] O m is restricted range of motion. So what you do is.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:38] What I’ve.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:38] Always done is I’ve tried to figure out what is my goal. Like that’s all. That’s how I start all the things I do. Which is.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:47] Why a.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:48] Lot of times I do things differently than other people because when they get involved with something, they’re like, oh, this is what it really does.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:54] I’m like, all right. And I look at it and I go.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:57] What is my.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:57] Goal? And when I.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:59] Figure out what my goal is, it’ll alter the way I do things. So, for instance, medical is how do we make as much money as we can off your disease? My goal is, well, how do we fix the disease? So two different goals. So that way we have two different total outcomes. So with.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:15] Mine.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:16] It’s I want to grow this muscle.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:18] All right.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:19] How are we going to grow that muscle. Well what does that muscle do. It contracts. What is the range of motion that it contracts. So for instance the bicep.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:27] Is the arm comes together.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:30] This is this is the entirety of the motion. The biceps.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:33] Okay.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:33] So you should isolate that specific motion so the shoulder moves at all. You’re breaking form. If you’re backwards you’re swinging your weight. You’re breaking form. Which has to do is just isolate all of the movement into that one specific movement. And muscles we’re almost always hamstrings different. I think I think the hamstrings, the only one that activates more than one joint, which is a cool thing.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:01] And I’ll go into that later.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:02] I think that’s more nerdy than it is functional for this. So the bicep moves.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:09] The elbow joint. Okay. And it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:11] Approximates or brings it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:13] Together. Right. So it does this. When it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:16] Does.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:17] That how.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:18] Do I focus all the things around.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:20] That. How do.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:21] I resist that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:22] Motion.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:23] That’s how I focus on all my stuff.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:26] You know.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:26] You look at that and like, well, if you do hammer curls or you do preacher curls or you do, you know, this type of thing, it works the muscle differently.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:34] Not really. I mean, it might.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:36] Work a slightly, you know, a slight piece of it differently. You know, different if you’re trying to focus on a different head for bodybuilding or some like that, like in the quadricep by moving your feet around.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:46] Okay. Maybe, you know, maybe you’ll get a little.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:49] Bit more focus on one spot. Do you feel it more on one spot?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:53] And that’s great.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:54] Again, I’m not saying that there’s any wrong way to lift. Let me take that back. There’s a lot of wrong ways left. If you’re trying to focus on individual heads and, you know, tweak your feet like this or like that, or, you know, curl your pinky out a little bit more, that’s all in the five minutia stuff. And some of that stuff is beneficial. Some of it’s not.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:14] For the 99%.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:16] Of.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:16] People. Don’t worry about that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:19] Very much because you’re not going onstage. You don’t really care to that level.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:23] You know, getting the.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:24] 1% difference in the lateral part of your head versus the medial.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:27] Part doesn’t matter to you at all. And a lot.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:31] Of times, because you really see those changes when you’re at.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:35] You know.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:35] 4 or 5% body fat.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:37] And you’ve been doing.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:38] Them for a long time for a very specific.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:40] Goal.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:40] That’s the only time that you see those little tiny changes. People get discouraged by them, and so.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:45] They don’t want.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:46] To do them. So figure out how the joints works. Figure out how to resist that, risk that motion, and then do that. So that’s basically how all that. So you can do it a lot of different ways. And I’ll make some videos. I’ve made some I don’t know if anybody’s may care. So I’ll post some of those on the tours along this website here, which is very long.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:08] But.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:10] Like the way I do. My chest.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:11] Day is.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:12] I start off, I do six sets of press dumbbell press, and I do four sets for five sets of five table flies. That’s all I do.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:21] But when I.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:21] Do them, I start off and I go really slow, so I usually will get about seven reps my first three sets.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:29] And then, we’ll do.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:31] Three faster set, four faster sets at the end. And so I’ll get seven in the first three.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:38] And then I’ll do.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:39] 17 to.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:40] 20.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:40] On the last ones with the same.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:41] Weight. But I go.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:43] Really, really slow because the way I want to start this off is I want to exhaust the muscle.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:47] Again.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:48] However you’re lifting.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:50] If when you’re done lifting, you could do more. You failed.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:54] If you lifted heavy, if you lifted like you did, time under tension, if you did whatever you did.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:59] If when you.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:00] Get done with your workout, you could have done an extra set.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:03] You have.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:05] Because the point of the exercise is to damage the muscle as much as you possibly can while you’re in the gym, so that it can grow later.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:12] So that’s and then that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:14] Piece has a little bit of time to do to it. So I’ll finish out the second. But that’s the thing. So I go really slow. I usually do about a five by five. so five seconds, five seconds down. On each one of them. For the first one.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:29] My.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:30] Second, the third set, the last couple.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:32] Ones, we don’t.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:33] Get to five by five, but we get close.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:35] So.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:36] But the thing is that each one of those those sets, the muscles are completely exhausted. I can can’t do I can’t do eight.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:44] I can’t do an 8 or 9 throughout or I would.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:47] But I try to keep it to the point where the first ones are really slow. The second, you know, the third and fourth are maybe a little bit faster. So it’s five by five, five, six by six. And then towards the end it’s more or three 3 or 4 by four.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:01] So and I’m I think a video.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:03] Of this and I’ll post it here, which is really.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:05] Long.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:05] I want to talk about post on horse wellness.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:09] But that’s.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:09] That’s kind of what I’m talking about.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:10] So and then when I do.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:14] Last I do my last individual hands. I don’t use the bar. And the reason I don’t use the bar is because the range of motion for your lap is here. If you have a bar. My head’s in the way, so go back to Instagram. So here, that’s your lap movement. If you have a bar. My head, my shoulders are events in the way. So I actually got individual hands.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:37] Like that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:38] So I like to use a cable cross for that. I think the cable cross is best for that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:44] The.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:44] Wire, I think, is a terrible use because you got it behind your head and you’re not doing it right. Everything’s pitch wrong or for your chest. And now we’re talking about runway row. So that’s the way I like to do it. Yeah, I’m sure like to argue that, you know, using the bar. So that way.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:59] Whatever. I don’t care. But.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:01] I also like to break everything.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:02] Up with.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:03] Individual joints, individual functions. So, that’s the thing. That is probably the biggest departure lifting for me.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:11] With everybody else. I will.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:13] Not use bars when I work out. No benchmarks and squat bars. No hack squat bars like no bars. Each individual body part gets trained individually, so my.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:23] Right.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:23] Arm has this full range of motion. My left arm has this full range of motion.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:28] I mean.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:29] You just look at bench.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:30] Press, right?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:31] The natural range of motion of the shoulders is here. Your arms wants to come all the way across your body. You can’t do that with a bar because there’s a bar comes up. It’s restricting the range of motion of your shoulders. Which is why the vast majority of men who have been doing heavy bench for years have shoulder damage.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:50] You know.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:50] My shoulders were hurting. My dad had both of his shoulders go from bars. I quit using bars as soon as I could. Little. After a little after college, I realized that I couldn’t do it on my shoulders. Recovering.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:02] Messed up.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:03] So I went to dumbbells, and all of a sudden, now that I could do that range of motion and actually have everything come together the way the shoulder is designed to function. My shoulders quit.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:12] Hurting.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:12] So that’s the thing. That’s when I kind of clued.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:15] In that, oh.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:17] If we go back to the way the body actually works, what is my goal?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:20] My goal.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:20] Is to work that muscle joint, that muscle in that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:22] Joint.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:23] Well, if that joint can’t perform its natural, normal function, how am I.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:28] Working? Oh, I’m.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:29] Just damaging the joint.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:31] So that could put me into. Okay. What again?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:35] What are our goals? Our goals are to strengthen the musculature. What does the musculature do. And approximates a joint. And this tool for flexors and approximate joints. All right. So we’re bringing that joint closer together. How is that joint move. Oh I can’t do that. Full range of motion.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:49] With the.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:50] With the set. If I have with the bar I’m using with the exercise.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:53] I’m setup or I have.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:54] To change the exercise I’m doing to accommodate.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:57] With the body needs.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:59] And so that’s why I quit using bars. There’s a whole lot of things you can do with your legs that don’t require a squat bar that’s going to crush your spine and do all sorts of damage from your neck.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:08] All the way down. You know, but hold on.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:12] That’s your thing. If getting under a heavy amount of squat and lifting, that’s what clears your head. That’s what makes all the all the crazy go away. And that’s what makes you happy. Great. Let’s do that. Let’s just make sure that we’re, you know, balancing the spine. Is your testosterone high enough? Are you doing decompression or inversion tables? Are you, you know, taking care of your low back? Are you.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:31] Doing you know.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:32] SLR so you are you working? The musculature that’s protecting stabilizes your spine.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:37] Because you’re not.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:38] You’re going to have problems. Again, it’s a maintenance issue. It’s.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:42] You know, if we’re going to add.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:44] Damage to the body outside of what we should, we need to add maintenance to the body outside of what we normally would do to buffer that. That’s that’s the entirety of this whole thing. So if you are doing squats, make sure you’re doing extra work for your glutes. I sure you’re up here your glute.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:02] Made.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:02] For your, spinal sphere. Quadratus. For all the musculature in your lower back, make sure you guys are getting that work done.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:09] Because if you’re not.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:10] Doing that work, you’re going to.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:11] End up, you know.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:12] Damaging your spine. So I always tell people, you know, destroy hernias for one reason. A force is put in the spine. The spine is too weak to handle. The spine fails squats or pressure in the spine or forces in the spine.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:24] That are abnormal.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:25] So if you don’t build the musculature up to support you, just where the belt’s not going to get the job done, it’s going to give you this false sense of security, but it’s not going to get the job done. So strengthen the muscles. You’re the stabilizer, the pelvis, the pelvic floor.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:38] And the.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:38] Lower spines. Be hypercritical if you’re doing heavy squat.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:42] Again.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:42] You don’t have to have these squats. I don’t. I use body weight for my.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:47] But.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:47] That’s kind of kind of up to you guys how you want to.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:49] Play.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:50] If you guys have any questions. Questions at Thomas. Welcome. And we’ll start posting these videos.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:56] All the.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:57] Videos of what we’re doing for food and diet and all that type of stuff. And so these exercises give me pillars of wellness. Because you guys go check that out. You guys get all the supplements out there as well. So.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:08] All right, well, to tonight we’re doing a deal with Max.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:11] I think at 515 central time. About cholesterol. Heart attack strokes, planking. Some of the lies that are going.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:21] Around about that and, what you need to do.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:23] If you think you have any of those issues.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:26] It.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:26] Could save your if very well, could save your life or someone else’s life that you love. So watch it and share it with anybody you can.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:33] It’s a big, big deal. I’ll.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:35] Talk to you guys later today, and I’ll see you tonight. So thanks for your time.

As always if you have any questions, please send them to Questions@ChalmersWellness.com

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Dr. Matt Chalmers

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Before taking any action based on this information you should first consult with your physician or health care provider. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions regarding a medical condition, your health, or wellness.