When setting up a workout, it’s important to focus on muscle engagement rather than just lifting heavy weights. Prioritizing proper form and controlled movements helps reduce the risk of injury while promoting muscle growth through effective recovery. Incorporating time under tension by slowing down reps and minimizing rest periods between sets can enhance fatigue, leading to better muscle development and improved stability.

For those working with limited equipment, adjusting rep speed and reducing breaks can maintain workout intensity. Tracking progress, whether on paper or digitally, allows for smarter adjustments to achieve fitness goals. Additionally, having a trainer provide real-time feedback ensures exercises are performed correctly, maximizing results and preventing injury.

Highlights of the Podcast

00:03 – Focus on Safe Muscle Growth

01:33 – Time Under Tension & Rest Periods

02:49 – Adapting Workouts on the Go

04:04 – Track Your Progress

09:34 – Trainer’s Guidance for Precision

Dr Matt Chalmers [00:00:03] Yeah. When we’re setting up our workouts, one of the things we want to make sure that we’re kind of working on is. And my one of my big things, the weight you’re using doesn’t have to be substantial. The idea that the only way to gain muscle mass, the only way to, you know, to get where you want to go is to use heavy weight is for heavier and heavier weights. And I don’t think isn’t addressing the goal that we need to kind of focus on, which is damaging the muscle tissue in a way that promotes the best possible healing or regeneration of that tissue. So the premise behind this is. If you if you gain quicker with heavier weight. But the chances of injury are much, much higher, then what ends up happening more often than not is that you have an injury this that you back further, keeping it from getting where you need to go at all. The other thing we end up with is because the pressures are higher at the uses of the range of motion, because the angles, the chances then are also higher to damage the limit to the joint. So while we need to increase our weight, we need to kind of maintain that function somewhere in there. So the idea is that with as you’re going through, you use all of the active functions, all of the levers, you have to start to kind of affect where you’re trying to go. So. You know, it’s not just weight. You’ve got you’ve got rep count.

Dr Matt Chalmers [00:01:33] So you are doing more reps. We’ve got time and attention to on slower. One of the best things you can do is shorten the time between your breaks down. You know, it’s amazing how you do a weight, you know, let’s say a set of 12, right? And then you give yourself 2 or 3 minutes and you do notice that, well, tonight that wasn’t that hard. Okay. Same exact thing. Cut that in half. Instead of giving yourself 2 or 3 minutes to yourself, 1 or 2 minutes break. I think you’ll find that it’s a whole lot harder to do that Your muscles fatigue much faster if you tear them apart. That’s easier. Fail faster. Not that you’re speeding up the reps, but you’re cutting the time between the sets down. And then you multiply that with more time and attention. So you’re you’re slowing down how quickly you move away. So, you know, if it’s one, two, if you go one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, that type of thing. What ends up happening is that the your body has again maintained substantially better control all of the little joints that you balance coordination. So that function goes up, stability with the weight goes up. And it’s it’s quite a bit harder.

Dr Matt Chalmers [00:02:49] So if you use more time interventions, you’re moving your weight slower and the time between your sets you’ve cut down and so you have less time between them. This is what I talk about, what I’m talking about using time as one of the big things to work with. This is also a phenomenal thing to do if you’re traveling. So let’s say that you, you know, normally go to a gym and they’ve got 100 pound dumbbells for chest work or whatever. Right. They’ve got 65 pound dumbbells. But you go to a hotel, they they’ll have 56 sets. They might tell you a better idea. They usually use 65 pound males to do chest work. And the gym that you’re in only has 50s. Great. Hey, not a horrible thing, right? You still want to get a good workout? Cool. Usually do. So just for easy numbers, for 5 to 10 to four sets of 15. Doing half as fast and then, you know, cut yourself down 30s between your breaks. Cool. Well, the only upside down to this is if you have some the registry or you’re tracking your exercises, your workouts better, which is something we should all be doing anyway because you can’t really make substantial changes. You can’t test any variables, you can’t see what works and what doesn’t unless you write it down and track it.

Dr Matt Chalmers [00:04:04] So, you know, whether you have an app, whether you’re just writing down paper, like whatever it is, write them down. I like digital stuff, so I like even if you’re writing them down, like take a picture or transfer to translate that into something digital. So it’s easier to search, easier to hold on to data. It will actually be a little bit easier. But keep track of that. Okay. How many you know, what exercises I do, How many steps I do, how many reps did I do of that of that set? And then how long did it take you not to be like it took me 3.5 seconds per rep, just like when I lay down to do the exercise or when I started the exercise. What time was it when I finished with time? It okay? Roughly how long did it take me to do those 10 or 12 reps? Right. And then you’re okay. Cool. I’m going to be after I’ve done that, a tracksuit. My normal workout is, you know, wait times, sets, reps, all that stuff. I’m going to start manipulating that. Then I start going through me like, all right, if normally I gave myself three minute break between sets, let’s do the same way. Must be the same rep count for 30s off of that, you know.

Dr Matt Chalmers [00:05:11] So. All right, cool. Let’s walk through that. So three minutes yourself. 2.5 minutes. Time it. Watch it. And then when you get to tune it again and just see how your workout changes. See what your heart rate does. See how quickly you fatigue. You know, if you really do force up to 12 in that last set, you usually get 11 or 12. And it’s you know, usually get them. But it’s all little struggle. See if you can’t get those last two. See if you know, if you start failing on the third set, you can only get ten on the third set. So this is kind of what we’re trying to do. The idea is that we push ourselves to the point of failure. So our bodies have to adapt as long as you teach your body. Hey, I asked something of you today. You were not able to complete it. You failed. You need to get better. Like, that’s basically what we’re trying to teach the body every time. And the fun thing is, is that if that’s the goal, if your body fails you well. So it’s kind of interesting, little anemic, but that’s kind of how we start looking at is the, you know, if you’ve got through your workout. Okay, great. Did you accomplish your goal? Maybe not, right? Because if the goal is to grow the muscles as fast as you can, grow the stability, the balance, the coordination as best you can, if you get through your workout every time, you’re obviously not pushing hard enough not to be a not be that guy. But that’s the thing.

Dr Matt Chalmers [00:06:28] Now, again, remember, we can’t always. Keep adding weight. That’s not gonna be something that’s safe or logical. But we can always make like, the top, you know, if you start doing super steps and things like that. So when you’re looking at your workout, if you’re like, Hey, you know, especially if you’re looking to workout properly, like, this is the best motion, this is us. Range of motion functions as this, a range of motion function for this muscle, right? So like biceps, like I’m a big alternating standing, alternating bicep curl fat. I don’t think there’s a whole lot of motion function that is better than that. So if you stay with that one exercise for sure, I only get bored. Great. Start messing with time. All right, cool. Can I do the same reps with twice as long or 30s longer? Right. So usually take a minute and a half. Can I take two minutes? Get to your minute and 45 seconds to do this. Know that should be your next goal is not just going up and way. It’s not just going to rep which is slowing it down or you feel like and you’re like, Hey, I’m using 3.5 minutes between steps. I’m pretty ready to go the next time I go,.

Dr Matt Chalmers [00:07:29] What if I took 30, 20 30s off my rest period and see what that does to my workout? I think that you guys, if you guys start looking at it that way, that’s going to be able to take the same best motion exercise and allow you to change up your workouts a little bit so that you don’t get bored with your workouts. It’s always a challenge, but you also start getting more fatigued. You start feeling the muscles are failing faster. This are failing more often, which means you’re going to get better growth function out of it, which means are going to get better functionality too. Because if you’re focusing on, Hey, I want the best exercise or the best range of motion, the best balance coordination function. So which is if you look at my favorite one for four squats or single like squats and the difference between like platform. So like when I do mine, I have a bench that I do bench presses like that on in the top a little wobbly. Well, on top of that I put a booster ball and so it’s completely decentralized.

Dr Matt Chalmers [00:08:25] So it rattles and it moves and it’s all squishy to destabilize that from my ankles to my balance and coordination and my stability gets worked just as much more than my my legs, too. And the other thing is, is it can destabilize my ankle, my hip, my knee in my low back, all at one side have to work by themselves. This week it’s a lot stronger. So I love that exercise and I think that’s the best exercise I can do for that, for the goals I’m trying to get in. The way that you don’t get bored with it is you increase the reps, you slow down how often you know how long it takes you to do it. So you increased the amount of time taking throughout the whole exercise. You can also, you know, like I said, cut the breaks down between and then I’ll tell you, when I do that with my legs, it’s my legs just start frying. You know, I’ve been doing body basically bodyweight single like slots for a while and I still get to the point where I have to, like, hobble back to work, you know, after I get done. I did legs yesterday and, you know, I got done 30 minutes later now. So, you know, wobbling around up here like I, you know, done 10,000 pound leg flex.

Dr Matt Chalmers [00:09:34] So, you know, that is something that I would tell you is one of the best things that you can do when you’re looking at your workout to not only get the gains you’re wanting, but to also avoid the injuries. And so, you know, and by the way, the very best way to do any of those things is to do it with a trainer. Like if you really want that, you really want the financial, the knife on it, get a really good body, get a really good trainer because you need somebody there to be like that. That rep wasn’t perfect. You need to pull your knee and you need to lean this like you need to do this more how your elbow is the wrong spot. Because again, if we really want to maximize the force and the growth and the functionality of a muscle group motion, you need somebody there to watch you and be like, That was a perfect move at this fight, do these things. And so that’s the type of thing Chelsea do to factor in is are you doing the exercise perfect? And we can talk about that on later. But a great trainer will help you kind of make sure you’re doing that. So many questions is questions at George Morningstar.com. Drop in the comments and we’ll get it knocked out. Thanks for your time.

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Dr. Matt Chalmers

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