Strength Changes Everything The Exercise Coach

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about our optimal exercise program...
 
Brian and Amy break down some of the most common misconceptions around exercise and reveal how Exercise Coach clients are getting maximal results from only a couple 20-minute workouts each week. Learn the three most important aspects of exercise and why you need to think about exercise completely differently if you want to achieve the health and fitness results you want.
The manner in which we exercise really matters because what’s at stake is significant. Exercise is a strategy that people can use to improve their quality of life, so how you go about doing it matters. Many people avoid the gym because they are worried about getting hurt. This makes sticking with an exercise program especially challenging, which is where the Exercise Coach comes in. Effective personal strength training fundamentally changes what’s required to get the results people want from exercise. It changes every system of the body for the better. There are a lot of different ways to exercise, but at the Exercise Coach they’ve found that the evidence shows the superior method to be strength training. Exercise is a means to an end, not an end in itself. We need to think about what results we are trying to achieve and tailor the exercise to bring about those changes. You can exercise for health, fitness, or sports performance and they each have some overlap but are different ways to get the results you are trying to achieve. It’s important to understand what you are trying to do during a workout. Counting reps or total time moving aren’t very helpful. The real point of exercise is actually to stimulate the body’s natural ability to adapt to stress. When we exercise, there is an exercise effect that takes place which is often confused for the results of training. The results that we actually seek from exercise are adaptations produced by our bodies in response to the challenge of exercise. If we don’t exercise the way that’s appropriate for our goal, we may put in a lot of work and still not get the results that we want. The optimal exercise approach focuses on safety, effectiveness, and efficiency. This is the best way to compare the different approaches and figure out what’s appropriate for you. Exercise is nothing more than a stressor and only serves as a stimulus if it is sufficiently intense. We become stronger and fitter if the stressor is enough to force an adaptation. The stressor doesn’t produce the result, the body does when you give it the rest and nutrition it needs to accomplish that. The average amount of time it takes for your body to recover and become stronger is a couple of days which is why the Exercise Coach employs intense periods of exercise a couple of times a week. The frequency that we need to perform high intensity exercise is less when the intensity itself is higher. Muscle is the window to the rest of the body. Growing stronger makes the rest of your body more effective as well. The Exercise Coach approach is to get the maximal results in the shortest length of time. There is an inverse relationship between intensity and duration of exercise. The level of intensity required to create adaptations is high but doesn’t require much time. Studies have shown that a single set of exercises at the right level of intensity is more effective than multiple sets. Exercising intensely for 20 minutes is sufficient to achieve results. The conventional wisdom of needing to exercise more doesn’t bear out. Why not spend as little time as possible to get the best results you are looking for? Optimizing exercise allows you to enjoy more of the good things in life. Safety is essential for exercise. Many exercises can be fun but if the focus is on results, it’s better to avoid the risk. The biggest key to making exercise safe is being in control of the forces that are applied to the body. The key to reducing force in streng

Join us for this replay from the archives and learn more about our origin story...
 
Brian Cygan and Amy Hudson reveal the origin story of the Exercise Coach and the one book that completely changed the trajectory of Brian’s life by transforming his understanding of what strength training can do in your life and how quickly you can see results. Find out how the Exercise Coach is changing lives 20 minutes at a time.
The goal of the Strength Changes Everything podcast is to inspire and empower people to live life at their full physical potential. Simply put: strength changes everything. Effective personal strength training fundamentally changes everything about your body for the better. It also changes the requirements to get all of the health and fitness results that matter most to you. If you want to look better and feel better then this podcast is for you, especially if you’re over 40 and started experiencing the effects of the aging process, even if you’re not excited or interested in going to the gym. Brian is also going to discuss the Exercise Coach which is the application of the principles that flow out of the Strength Changes Everything philosophy. Brian has been in the fitness industry for the past 20 years and in the process has become pretty passionate about a few things, mainly the science and business of fitness and getting the value of fitness knowledge into the world. As a former athlete, Brian became very interested in the science of strength training which led to him going to school for kinesiology. The classical science aspects of his degree made sense to Brian, but his education left him with a lot of questions on the application of strength training. On the last day of his schooling, a classmate gave Brian a book to read called A Rational Approach to Strength Training, and just by reading the first few chapters, it transformed Brian’s understanding of exercise. Brian learned an approach to exercise that was very different from the approach that he had been exposed to in school or as an athlete. The new approach can be summed up in three things: the science says that exercise should be brief, intense, and infrequent. Brian tells the story of how he worked with a basketball player and helped him put on over 20 pounds of muscle over the course of 12 weeks while only exercising once a week for 20 minutes to get those results. Brian’s newfound approach caused a bit of conflict with the department he was working in and eventually, Brian decided to leave to find somewhere else he could apply those principles. He found a fitness studio that specialized in the application of those principles and after working there for a year found that he was extremely passionate about helping people of all ages and fitness levels. That was also around the time that Brian discovered his entrepreneurial spirit and when he and his wife co-founded a business called the Exercise Coach. Brian partnered up with another company called Exerbotics to launch the franchise. The technology they provided allowed them to standardize the approach and customize the plan more deeply for anyone that wanted to participate. Brian now has hundreds of locations of the Exercise Coach all over the country with plans to open more over the coming years. Amy’s story started off by being introduced to Brian many years ago in the Chicago area. She had recently given birth to her second child and was trying to get back to her pre-baby weight and found herself spending hours each week exercising in the only way that she knew which were long runs. Brian invited Amy and her husband to try out the Exercise Coach program and within six months, she noticed an incredible shift in her body composition. For the first time in her life, she felt athletic and capable. At the same time, they learned about the nutrition aspects of fitness and started making healthier choices. She got so excited about healthy eating that Amy started a blog on the topic. Onc

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about your energy systems and how effective strength training is in how they work...
 
Brian recently had a friend come into the Exercise Coach and he was shocked to find how quickly his heart rate went up after only 60 seconds of properly calibrated strength training exercise, despite being an avid runner. Discover how the three energy systems of the body work, and why high-intensity strength training is definitively the best way to renovate your muscles, heart, and lungs at the same time and combat type 2 diabetes and the most common age-related diseases people suffer from today. 
Brian had the opportunity to introduce a friend to the program at the Exercise Coach recently who was an avid runner, and he was quickly surprised at how effectively the program got his heart rate up despite his extensive cardiovascular training. Your heart and your lungs are pumps that respond to the demands being placed on your muscles at any given moment. Aerobic exercise is usually associated with a high heart rate, but that’s not the only time the aerobic energy system is engaged. In relative terms, the most aerobic thing you can do is sit and do nothing. There are three energy-producing systems in the body, and the aerobic oxidative system uses oxygen to produce energy. When we sit and do nothing, the aerobic oxidative system produces nearly 100% of the energy the body needs! When we start to do something more demanding, energy production shifts to become more anaerobic which is why strength training drives that sort of increased heart rate response. The more demand on the muscles, the greater the cardiovascular response. Many new clients have never experienced that kind of workout before getting started with the Exercise Coach. Strength training is the best kind of exercise you can do for diabetes. Out-of-control blood sugar leads to out-of-control inflammation, which is the root cause of all the major diseases associated with aging. As we age and lose muscle, our body becomes resistant to the effects of the hormone insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone that removes glucose from the bloodstream and insulin resistance becomes a real problem. Without being able to remove blood sugar from the bloodstream, due to our muscles diminishing over time, our insulin levels rise and that causes problems in addition to the issues caused by elevated blood sugar. The Strength Training at the Exercise Coach targets muscles that store sugar as glycogen. It renovates your body’s ability to store glycogen and reverses insulin resistance. This puts the body into a much better metabolic state and makes it easier to lose weight and transform your health. Stronger muscles equal stronger health. Type 2 muscle fibers are only used when they encounter demands that are greater than usual. Taking a walk or jogging won’t activate the type 2 muscle fibers in your body but strength training will. Your muscles get better at storing the glycogen they need to perform the demanding work required for strength training. That type of work needs the heart and lungs to increase their output to support what is happening metabolically. When you feel like you’re breathing hard after an intense exertion, that indicates that you’re doing the kind of work needed to renovate your type 2 muscle fibers. Strength training and whole food nutrition are the best things you can do to ward off the risks of type 2 diabetes and other age related diseases. Runners often find that there is missing muscle mass in their body when they go to the Exercise Coach and that the program allows them to perform at an even higher level.  
Link:
exercisecoach.com
 
 
This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to t

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about myths involving fitness...
 
Brian and Amy explore a couple of articles talking about the impacts of weight loss vs. exercise on longevity, and discuss the myths surrounding losing weight and achieving optimal physical health. Learn why focusing on losing weight is the wrong goal, and why a proper strength training program is the best way to maintain fitness as we age. 
There is a ton of information regarding health and fitness out there, and sometimes the info conflicts, so discerning the truth can be challenging. A recent article published in the New York Times essentially claimed that exercise is more important than weight loss for longevity. The behavior of exercising matters more statistically than losing weight, but that could be narrowed down to having a higher fitness level is more important than weight loss. Activity has its limitations related to weight loss and increasing longevity. Intentional exercise is a means to an end. The goal of which is to change the systems of the body for the better. Muscle quality is one of the #1 predictors of mortality. The exercise and muscle mass itself doesn’t increase your longevity, but they are correlated to the physiological effects that are. Weight loss is hard. It has to be combined with nutritional changes, and if your goal is to be thinner, the optimal path is to combine exercise that maximizes muscle health and proper whole foods nutrition. However, when it comes to overall health, there are positive changes outside of weight loss. The research looked at overweight and obese individuals with health problems, and they found that poeple that exercised effectively saw great results, whether or not they lost any weight. Exercising and improving the related biomarkers leads to better longevity, even more than people that simply lose weight by dieting. Blood pressure, cholesterol, and insulin resistance are the measures that truly indicate someone’s health and overall longevity, far more than their weight. There are a number of ways to lose weight that are extremely unhealthy. Cutting calories without strength training is one of the worst ways you can lose weight. Another study involved 81 sedentary overweight women and putting them into a walking program. At the end of 12 weeks, a few women had lost some body fat, but 55 of them had actually gained weight. Just moving your body will not cause weight loss, nor will it improve the systems of the body. In terms of exercise for anyone over the age of 30, we need to target the optimization of muscle mass and strength through exercise. Sarcopenia is the root cause of the deterioration of fitness as we age. Compared against each other, exercise is considerably more beneficial than simple weight loss. In some studies, weight loss had no improvement on mortality risk at all. Activity and weight loss are not enough. Even if you’ve had trouble losing weight in the past, you can make a huge difference in your health by starting an effective strength training program.  
Links:
exercisecoach.com
 
 
This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about dose-response and what it means for your fitness...
 
Learn how a little-known principle in exercise determines whether you get the fitness results you are looking for, or you just spend some time moving weights up and down at the gym. Find out why the dose-response to exercise is what you should really be paying attention to, and how it can guide you to easier fitness gains in a shorter amount of time.
More exercise is not necessarily better. The dose-response relationship applies not only to medication and stressors but also to exercise. It describes the magnitude of the response the body has in response to a stressor, in this case exercise and the response is the result that we are looking for. Your body is what produces the results and adaptations that you want, not the exercise. If the stress is of sufficient intensity or quality, you will get the response that you want. Just going through the motions of exercise won’t necessarily produce an adaptive response in the body. You also need to give the body enough time and resources to produce the response you are looking for. Exercising too often is actually preventing your body from adapting and growing. This is how athletes experience overtraining. The adaptations occur after the exercise session is complete, and only if the stimulus is of a high enough intensity and quality. Exercise is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Just putting in time exercising isn’t necessarily a good thing. A lot of what passes for exercise is just enjoyable activity, and it won’t trigger adaptations or reverse the effects of aging. Exercise impacts every system of the body. For every single exercise session, you should be able to measure the improvements in fitness level. This is a key component of the program at the Exercise Coach. When you don’t see improvements between sessions, it means one of two things. Either you need to increase the intensity of the exercise, or increase the amount of rest and recovery between sessions. Your dose-response is very individualized. The amount of stimulus you need to generate an adaptation will vary. At the Exercise Coach, client’s individual abilities are measured and programs are designed to be just the right fit for them. At the end of the day, the right intensity for one is different from the right intensity for another.  
Link:
exercisecoach.com
 
 
This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

Join us for this replay from the archives to learn more about how strength training should complement dieting for weight loss...
 
Dr. James Fisher answers the question “Why does muscle really matter for weight loss?” Find out why muscle mass should be a vital component of your weight loss strategy and why dieting without strength training is a recipe for long term disaster for your body. 
There is a direct connection between your body’s muscle mass and its metabolic effectiveness, the ability to lose fat and keep it off, and your overall health. Why does muscle matter for weight loss? Muscle is metabolic reactive and consumes calories just by existing. You will burn a larger number of calories on a daily basis by having more muscle mass than someone with less. Instead of thinking about weight loss, we should think of it as fat loss because we don’t want to lose just any kind of weight, we want to improve body composition. Focusing on weight loss can be discouraging when people lose less weight than they hoped without taking into account gains in muscle mass. Without strength training, any weight you lose with dieting or activity will not be as much fat as you could lose by incorporating strength training into your routine. Anyone who goes on a calorie reduction plan to lose weight will end up with about 50% of the weight loss occurring within their muscle mass, which is an absolute tragedy. We want to hang on to as much muscle mass as we can as we age. Diet and cardio without strength training exacerbate the loss of metabolically valuable muscle tissue. Protein is a great calorie to consume as it’s thermogenic and used to absorb some of the protein you take in. Government nutrition guidelines should be adjusted to account for this. Maintaining your muscle mass has the additional benefit of preventing and reducing injuries so you can continue enjoying aerobic activities as you age. Weight loss without strength training results in frailty. In the older population, people who are lean are generally weak and have poor mobility. The best thing to do is to focus on strength training to build muscle and improve quality of life along the way. If you increase the amount of muscle mass you have, you will burn more calories by default. Muscle also stores glucose, which will help you with insulin-related conditions like Diabetes.  
Link:
exercisecoach.com
 
 
This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.