Latest / The Electrical Show / How You Can Approach Health & Fitness As An Electrician

Transcript

How You Can Approach Health & Fitness As An Electrician · The Electrical Show

0:01
The Electrical Show with Thomas Naji sponsored by Boss Professional, Powerful power Tools,
0:07
measuring tools and Experts Accessories. Right, Welcome to the Electrical Show with Bosh
0:15
Professional. Here on fixed Radio. I Thomas Naji and once again we've got
0:19
Paul Meanan on my right hand side, and over the next hour we are
0:23
going to be looking at health and fitness. Now we're going to be joined
0:27
by a personal trainer, Max Forcet, So he's going to talk to us
0:31
about the benefits of keeping fit as a tradesman. Now, we all know
0:34
that tradesmen don't have exactly the best diet, should we say, I mean
0:39
Paul is flexing his muscles here as we speak. So we are going to
0:42
be talking about personal health and fitness and those sort of things. Now we're
0:46
going to be getting advice how we can fit this into our schedules because we
0:49
are as tradesmen, we are a busy body of people. Now, before
0:53
we get into that, there is a little life sort of a life lesson
0:57
I want to share. We've been doing the show long now, two four
1:02
years. I was going to say two of four years. Wow, Okay,
1:06
there was We talk about building businesses and try how to stay afloat and
1:10
all of these important things. Now, there was a study that was done
1:14
by I don't hold me to it was ox think was Oxford University, and
1:19
it's called the marshmallow Test. Have I spoken to you about this mark before
1:22
or not? No? Not that okay, So for anybody, some people
1:26
will automatically have heard this and some won't. Have you heard of it,
1:29
Paul, No, No, Max, you heard of it. This is
1:32
Max, the personal trainer we're going to be talking about. Okay. So
1:34
Oxford University did a study. It was it was groundbreaking. It was called
1:38
the marshmallow test. And the idea was they got fifty I think it was
1:42
fifty or fifty five children between eight and ten, so super you know,
1:48
super malleable kids. And the idea was that one at a time, they
1:51
put them in a room and it was completely bare. There was just a
1:53
table, a chair, a plate. On the plate was a marshmallow.
1:56
The kids would walk in one at a time, sit down, and the
1:59
guy who was doing the experiment said, we're going to leave you in this
2:01
room for ten minutes. And basically, you can have one marshmallow now,
2:07
but if you can wait for ten minutes, we'll come back and you can
2:10
have two. And they went away and the child made their decision, and
2:15
then they brought the next child in and just they replicated the test over and
2:17
over again until they went through fifty kids. And what they found was amazing.
2:22
They stayed in touch after they did the test. They stayed in touch
2:23
with these kids until they've grown up into adulthood, thirties and forties. And
2:27
what they found was the kids who were able to show the delay of gratification,
2:31
the kids who were able to wait the ten minutes and have two marshmallows,
2:36
generally were performing better in life. So they had better wages in their
2:40
jobs, they had generally a better home, better car, better sense of
2:46
well being and personal being. Now people do argue, what the difference,
2:50
you know, how can you quantify, you know, how successful someone is,
2:53
And most people will say money, but it does go a long way
2:55
to you know, we go on about how to make a business survive and
3:00
stuff, but actually just using that one experiment, like all you need is
3:04
just perseverance, a bit of bit of gritten backbone and the delay of gratification.
3:08
That's probably one of the most important things that the ability to say Okay,
3:12
I'm going to hang off on that because if I can work a bit
3:14
harder now and just delay what I want now, we can actually just do
3:17
joy. The delay of gratification is super important. I'm getting a vision that
3:22
I'm the kid who took the marshmallow first. I know, mate, I
3:25
haven't trying to be the second. The wait to the ten minutes. Yeah,
3:30
I just thought it was super interesting because that's it's one of those things
3:34
that actually we don't really talk about. All you need is perseverance, a
3:37
bit of grit, and just to be able to have that delay of gratification.
3:39
I can see this being a very deep episode. Honestly, we should
3:43
do nighttime Naga. I'm totally down for it. We shall have Calling again.
3:46
I'm going to I'm going to apply for it anyway. Fix Radio time
3:51
to crack on. I'm Thomas Najie with Paul Mean and and joining us on
3:55
the electrical show is personal trainer Max Force It now. Max, welcome to
4:00
the show. Actually, I forgot to properly introduce you in the last link,
4:03
so I do apologize and tell us a bit about yourself. Why did
4:08
you get into this line of work? Yeah? So I've been going to
4:12
the gym now for I think about three years. I started when I was
4:15
about sixteen, and I've just always really really enjoyed working out. And I
4:17
don't really know what it is. It's just I love feeling the pain of
4:21
going to the gym and just effectively torturing myself and coming out the other side
4:27
with a crazy pump. So I just thought, I'm spending so much time
4:30
at the gym anyway, i might as well just make it into something where
4:31
I'm earning a bit of million money out of it as well. Yeah,
4:33
exactly. Now, trades people do an already physical job for the most part,
4:39
So I mean this is we're talking about this in two dimensions here,
4:44
because for anybody who doesn't know, Max is actually training me and you've been
4:48
doing it for one nine yeah, but nine weeks. Yeah, So I
4:54
kind of already know the answer to this. But why is it important to
4:57
make this extra effort to get some form of physical some form of physical exercise
5:01
rather than just what you do. Yes, I mean it comes down to
5:04
a lot of reasons. The biggest one is probably injury prevention, because especially
5:10
as a tradesman, you're you're constantly using your joints and your your bones and
5:14
your muscles to pick things up and so on. Yeah, so you want
5:16
to make sure that you're not actually gonna harm yourself over time, because if
5:20
you do, they can be detrimental to your job because you're you're you know,
5:24
you can't work for the next two months and you don't have any income
5:28
coming in. Obviously, there are a ton of other reasons, like just
5:30
getting in better shape if you're you know, the whole thing about having that
5:33
butt crack out as a tradesman, you don't really want that anymore, so,
5:39
you know, becoming that buff tradesman and thousands of builders around the UK
5:43
you feel all nodding right now. I can actually tell you a story about
5:46
that, but no way could it make it onto the radio. Yeah,
5:48
we need, we need an after nine o'clock. So I'm telling you we
5:51
need, we need our own show, that second show. Yeah you can
5:55
try now. I had a very traumatic experience with a butt crack and I'm
5:59
leaving it there anyway, moving on, what the what are the mental benefits
6:03
to this? Because I know, I mean certainly from my perspective after and
6:08
in fact, because we're going to get to you, Paul in the second.
6:11
But I know from my perspective when since I've been doing this, I
6:15
am far less irritable during the day. I'm absolutely without a shadow of the
6:18
doubt. I mean, I'm doing it if anybody doesn't know, I'm doing
6:21
it four times a week, so I go Monday's, Wednesday, Thursday,
6:25
Fridays, but without a doubt. I am much more calmer and chilled out
6:29
at work. Yeah, I mean, it's because you're you're putting all that
6:31
energy, in all that anger into the gym. The anger of it is
6:35
it's nearly that used to. I mean, you see all these people after
6:38
a breakup, they go to the gym just because it's it's so good in
6:41
terms of therapy like that. It just really I swear the gym is full
6:44
of single people because everybody there it's the same crowd. And then they're five
6:46
days a week of like do you not have social lives? Literally, Well,
6:51
we're going to come and back and we're going to talk about what kind
6:54
of workout are going to benefit trades people who are similar to myself. The
6:59
Electrical Show on fixed radio. You're listening to The Electrical Show with us today
7:04
to talk about how working out regularly will help benefit you, and to do
7:10
that is what to explain that is personal train up max force it Now Max,
7:15
let's take a look at someone like me, for instance, So I'm
7:16
mid thirties, well, I mean actually close to forty or thirty seven.
7:20
You don't look at day of a twenty seven. I appreciate it, but
7:28
we don't know. We both know that's not true. So I'd like to
7:30
think I'm relatively fit and healthy now anyway, But what kind of workouts would
7:35
benefit somebody in mid thirties? What sort of workouts are we looking at?
7:39
Yeah, so I mean in general, when you go to the gym,
7:42
you want to have some goal. Because if you're going just for the health,
7:45
then you can kind of have an all round thing. But in general,
7:48
you're looking to build some muscle or loose some fire, you know,
7:50
get a bit stronger, whatever that looks like for you. So there are
7:54
different ways of training for each one. You can either train with more reps
7:57
that's more hypertrophy, or less reps and higher weight and that's just that's more
8:01
building for strength. So if I mean, if you're just looking to just
8:05
get a bit healthier like yourself. Then I'd say like six to eight rep
8:09
range for most exercises, then going for compound exercises, kin to target the
8:13
whole body as many muscle groups as possible, and just like going like four
8:18
times a week and just basically like giving yourself enough time to build the muscle,
8:26
build the strength, and lose the fat ale at once. Really and
8:28
having a pattern is important. Numerous people have said this, So like,
8:31
if you're going, say three or four times a week, you have to
8:35
have set because the people who just sort of aimlessly wander around the gym and
8:39
they just do a little bit of everything. Yeah, but that's almost not
8:41
I mean it's not bad, because any exercise is better than none, but
8:43
it's better to have a structured plan, I guess, isn't it. Yeah,
8:46
yeah, it's better. I mean, as you said, you can
8:48
do anything, and as long as you're committed to it and you're doing it
8:50
every week, you will something will change. But having a plan is like
8:54
set in stone, where say like Monday, Wednesday, Friday you go to
8:58
the gym each a week just means that your body has enough time to kind
9:03
of get into that rhythm and recover at the times it needs to recover.
9:07
What about time? What sort of time commitments would we need to be putting
9:11
into it? I mean, I guess it depends on what your goal is
9:13
at the end of the day. For me, I wanted to lose body
9:16
fat and just build muscles. So literally what you just said there, yeah,
9:20
and I'm on week nine now, yeah, what sort of I mean,
9:22
I'm doing it four times a week. But not everybody has got that
9:26
level of time. So how much to what sort of time commitments are we
9:28
talking about here for the average person? You think? So it really depends.
9:31
As you said, everyone has a different time schedule, so you have
9:35
to be creative with it to some extent. But as long as you're going
9:37
three to five times a week, anything more, you don't have enough time
9:39
to recover, and anything less you just don't really have enough time to target
9:43
everything. So as a minimum, I'd say about three times a week and
9:46
then like forty five minutes a day as a minimum, which allows you to
9:52
maybe do like the compound exercises, like three or four exercises, giving you
9:56
enough coverage to at least see something. Time you're mentioning compound exercise, there
10:01
just being the audience up to speak, what are we talking about? And
10:05
we say compound exercise. What is it we're actually talking about? So there
10:07
are two types of exercises. The compound exercise, which essentially targets a large
10:11
amount of muscle groups in one go, so like a deadlift or a squat.
10:15
Like a deadlift, your targeting your glutes, your quads, your lower
10:18
back. But then there's also the isolation exercises, which is more like a
10:22
bicep car for instance, where you're only targeting one specific muscle group. Cool
10:26
okay, Paul, Oh, cool in the room. Look you don't look
10:33
a day of a thirty man, honestly. Okay, why are you laughing?
10:37
Our producers laughing there? Thanks Mark, thank you, you got my
10:41
back. Have you found it? Because you've all because when I started working
10:45
out? Did you? When did you start? Because you've been working out
10:48
really regly, haven't you. I have been trying to find that balance.
10:52
So for me, at six am every morning, my gym opens and I'm
10:54
trying to be there. Although if there's something more important I have to do
10:58
at work than I'll skip it. But I I yeah, I'm trying to
11:03
get a regular pattern. It's really difficult because sometimes I injure quite easily.
11:09
But I've been on this journey for about four months now, and I mean
11:11
I used to go to the gym for ten years solid I loved it,
11:15
and I fell out of love because work was too much. I'm now loving
11:18
it again. I'm just I don't. I can't do the stuff you're doing.
11:22
I'm doing purely cardio. I'm trying to exercise my heart because I've got
11:26
af and my cardiologist said, just just work out your heart and just stick
11:31
to that. So I'm just trying to do mild cardio. And I mean
11:33
I can do weights, but not to that level of all the barbells and
11:37
deadlifts. I'll break me back. Do you want to show me? What
11:39
about somebody who's packing a bit more weight? Shall we say me? I
11:45
did not say that, No, fact, I looked away when I said
11:48
that. So giving up producer a little chuckle with here are we what about
11:54
a guy who's packing a bit more weight? What sort of exercises where they
11:58
be looking at? So if the goalie to lose weight, then you want
12:01
to do some cardio, But I wouldn't go for a full hit workout like
12:05
an insane amount of cardio, because the thing is with cardio is you're burning
12:09
the muscle at the same time as you're burning the fat. Yeah, so
12:13
you want to make sure that if you are doing cardio, you're still eating
12:15
enough, but you're also adding in strength training so you can build the muscle
12:18
at the same time. So if someone wants to do it, thank you
12:22
very much. I literally when you went out, I literally did that,
12:26
but I did it in my head. I was like, oh wow,
12:28
I actually didn't know it. Yeah, I didn't know that. Yeah.
12:31
Super interesting. All right, well, look coming up, we're going to
12:33
talk about the approach to fitness with someone a little bit older. Fixed Radio.
12:39
This is the Electrical show. I'm Thomas Naji with Paul Mean and here
12:41
on the right hand side, and we've been looking into how you can approach
12:46
health and fitness as a trades person. Now, Max, so let's take
12:50
someone in their fifty somebody more mature, shall we say, as our next
12:56
example. How different I mean, if anything, I guess, is the
12:58
approach to how you would plan a workout for somebody who's a bit older.
13:01
So actually, somebody who's a bit older and maybe coming into their retirement who's
13:05
got more time on their hands. How would you deal with something like that?
13:07
What's the best sort of approach? Yeah, I mean, again,
13:11
it really depends on the person themselves. I mean, the age doesn't really
13:15
have that much of an impact unless it's more like sort of like seventy above
13:18
or under eighteen. But for someone like someone fifty years old, you know,
13:24
let's say they've been to tradesmus for a while, they're retiring now they
13:26
have more time, but they're a bit crippled. That is true. That's
13:31
actually my next question. Yeah, then I we'd probably be looking at ways
13:37
to strengthen the joints and just keeping the mobility there and giving themselves a bit
13:41
of flexibility. So strength training is actually probably the best way to do that
13:46
because it allows the joints to stay malleable, and what you know, we're
13:52
building up the muscle, so we're building up the joints at the same time.
13:56
You actually were just talking because we were talking about this. For tradesmen,
14:00
who are by default groundworkers people do really hard physical jobs, there's going
14:05
to be they're essentially going to be in not worse shape, but you know
14:09
what I mean, when they get older, they are they are shots a
14:15
lot of certain trades. I mean, my brother's hardd flawer. His knees
14:18
are shot to piece. That was it. I was looking for an example
14:20
ground workers who will spend forty five minutes constantly on the shovel. But then
14:26
when they're eating their tea, they look like they're about to die. They
14:28
look crippled, but they're not. They're just they've solid graft us and they've
14:33
almost programmed their body and their muscle memory to do certain things really well.
14:37
And the rest of it it's a huge struggle. Yeah, I see that
14:39
a lot. That's why when going to the gym, you need to make
14:43
sure that you're constantly updating and changing your program at least every two months,
14:46
because you if you're doing the same thing over and over again. One,
14:50
it's extremely boring after a while, but too your muscles just get used to
14:54
it and you end up not actually progressing as far as you could be.
14:56
So you want to kind of shock the muscle into changing an exercise. Learn
15:00
something new again today, then right, but changed something? Does that does
15:03
that mean that my program's about because we just got the hangar dip. You've
15:09
got to incorporated progressive overload by which means increasing the weight, increasing the reps
15:15
over time, which is what we're doing. So in fairness, I had
15:16
a personal trainer for years and there was not one session the same ever.
15:20
Yeah, yeah, not one. It was mind blowing. It hurt like
15:24
hell. I hated it while I was doing it. Afterwards felt a million
15:26
bucks. It is mad though, Like I remember when I started, like
15:30
only nine weeks ago. But a dip. I mean, it's difficult to
15:33
explain what a dip is through the voice of radio, but I could.
15:37
I literally couldn't do and I walked in. I was like, yeah,
15:39
this is all right, It's how hard can this be? I mean,
15:41
yeah, I under a squad, I'm above average fitness. I think,
15:45
yeah right, But literally, wasn't it. I couldn't do a thing.
15:48
I literally could not do a single dip doing negatives instead doing half an absolutely
15:52
bizarre. I mean it's when you actually realize when you go into a gym
15:54
and you realize actually how unfit you are. It's phenomenal. Your body's not
15:58
used to certain perhaps it's literally just not used to it. You have to
16:00
build those muscles up. But I mean then you know, nine weeks later,
16:03
you're now attaching twenty kilos to your that is true, and wrapping out
16:08
for eight or something. I did eighty was it? I did eighty six?
16:14
I did eighty six dips I assisted and I had to use the box
16:15
of the final thirteen to get to one hundred. Yeah, so it is
16:18
possible. Just a bit of a bit of grit is what you need.
16:22
Definitely. So what about attitude before we go to the next link. What's
16:25
the right kind of attitude to come to you with someone looking to improve their
16:30
health and fitness, because you've got to it's ultimately you've got to have that
16:33
attitude to do it, haven't you. Yeah, So, I mean it
16:37
really is knowing. It's understanding the expectations when you come into something because you're
16:41
not going to get instant results. That's never going to happen. And it's
16:45
also understanding that you need to have some level of commitment and you know,
16:48
as a personal trainer, I can definitely help with that. That's kind of
16:51
like where I lie in terms of like habits and behavioral lifestyle. You're like
16:56
the Army brigadier. Yeah literally, yeah, you literally break your pa tough
17:06
you just getting started? Yes, yeah, all right, Well, let's
17:08
come back to wrap this up. We're running out of time here this hour
17:11
on Fix Radio, The Builders Station, The Electrical Show Thursday from three and
17:17
catch up anytime at Fix Radio dot co dot uk The Builders Station, Fix
17:22
Radio. That's about it for today's Electrical show, where we've been talking to
17:26
personal trainer Max. We've been finding out how we can approach health and fitness
17:30
as a busy, highly stressed out trades person. Me included Max, why
17:36
why is it worth engaging with a professional like you, you know, for
17:41
a personal training? Why is it worth doing that? Well, I mean
17:45
it's kind of doing it yourself. You're going to be able to do it,
17:48
but it will just take a lot lot longer to actually end up figuring
17:52
things out. I mean, I take it back to when I started the
17:53
gym about three years ago. I would go, I went there. I
17:56
mean, I was a lot more keen to work out, so it was
17:59
a bit different. But I would just try a machine and go, Actually,
18:00
no, I really don't like that one. I've no idea how to
18:03
use it. I go to the next one and I keep going, and
18:04
I had no idea what I was doing. So being able to kind of
18:07
consult with a professional, someone with expertise and knowledge on how to how to
18:12
get in shape without trialing and erroring everything. It's really quite beneficial. On
18:18
top of that, you know, let's say you do lose all your weight
18:22
over time, you then want to keep it off right, and so it's
18:25
about having someone to continuously motivate you and keep you committed and accountable really and
18:30
knowing how to actually use everything, because that's one of the things you've taught
18:33
me. Actually knowing you look at a machine or something you think a straightforward
18:37
and if you've got the little pictures and you just follow what it says,
18:40
but actually doing it is one thing. But doing it with good form,
18:44
yeah, without having somebody to actually stand there and literally like physically show you
18:48
how to do it. Yeah, And there are always those little tiny things
18:51
that you could change. It would make a massive difference. For instance,
18:52
I mean when we were doing the chess cable flies straighten in your arms makes
18:56
a huge difference. Which is actually my first actual one of my favorite exercises
19:02
where you hold one of my favorites. Yeah, I love that one too.
19:04
What sort of examples of people have you have you helped up till now.
19:10
I mean a great example is you nine weeks huge compared to what I
19:15
just hear my biceps now like this, those four show gun shows actually actually
19:23
sort of outshine me there. Sorry, love to watch your not just a
19:33
fuel tank for a love machinery anyway. Sorry, all right, Well,
19:37
obviously my guns are very impressive. But beyond me not sick? What examples
19:45
of other people have you helped? Because you've got a wide list of people,
19:48
I mean, all walks of life coming to you, I guess,
19:49
yeah, I mean I mean in terms of like the type of people I
19:55
prefer training, I mean tradesmen in particular, but like people who were actively
20:00
doing things and have sort of like a desire to get themselves into better shape
20:06
whatever. That looks like. It's the willpower to do it, really,
20:07
isn't it. Yeah Yeah, yeah, that commitment, and obviously I help
20:10
with that, but having that already in place is quite beneficial, cause it
20:14
makes a big difference. That's certainly what I find. Like when you go
20:17
into the gym on your own, it's yeah, it's all right, but
20:19
like when there's two of us, you can just you just bounce off each
20:22
other exactly. It just makes that big person to really get you to do
20:26
things and go past failure. Like you call banter and abuse, you just
20:29
push yourself past failure constantly. Well yeah, I kind of. I've learned
20:33
the really hard and painful way. So I came off the tools. Long
20:36
story short, I came off tools because I've got authrotis and miss spine.
20:38
The last time, I've got four disks that are damaged. The last two
20:42
burst when I was getting out of a pit in Cambridge after joining a cable
20:47
and that was kind of when I realized I need to go to see an
20:48
osteopath, best of all worlds osteopath after a few years when you're throwing your
20:52
money away and actually learn how to look after your body, stabilize your core
20:55
strength, stabilize you know, because you're getting injured from the simplest of stuff.
21:00
And because it wasn't on the tools as much. When I did get
21:03
on the tools, it was more injuries, quicker and faster. And I
21:06
went and got a personal trainer. And if it weren't for him, I
21:07
would be in a wheelchair. Period. They're worth the money be in a
21:11
wheelchair. There is no ethnal butts. If I did not use personal trainer,
21:15
I'd be in a wheelchair. And what frustrates me the most for the
21:18
last seven years have been some of the most horrid of my life because I've
21:22
lost a lot of friends COVID, diabetes, heart condition and all sorts.
21:26
And now that I've realized the mental health benefits of just having that you time
21:33
and pushing yourselder for this huge Yeah, it's beyond belief. And I know
21:36
so many people who if it wasn't for the gym, would not be alive
21:40
today, and that's people in the trades. So it massively makes an impact.
21:42
You've got to find the discipline inside yourself to be determined enough to make
21:48
the change, and it's the hardest thing you'll ever do, and it's an
21:51
ongoing journey in my opinion one hundred percent. That is also probably one of
21:53
the biggest things that we spoke about it the other week. Wasn't it just
21:56
how how I mean, certainly for me, how less irritable you are at
22:00
work because you just take away frustration out on in the evening when you yeah,
22:06
when you stand there and say that's what you've got and they're like,
22:10
yeah, Max, thank you very much for coming in today before we go,
22:15
how can people connect with you? What's your best way to do so?
22:18
My website is Herculesium dot com. Herculesium That's what I'm going to be,
22:22
hercules Herculesium. How do we spell that herculesium? It has a bit
22:25
of a mouth on H E R C U L E S y um dot
22:30
com. Perfect. There you go, Max, Thank you very much for
22:32
coming in today. You're a gentle Thank you sir. You can hear the
22:34
show again from ten pm with more great music, and you can also download
22:38
the show as a podcast. You can find the links to the podcast,
22:41
news and competitions by signing up to the Electrical Show newsletter. If you want
22:45
to sign up, which of course you do, head to fix Radio dot
22:48
co dot uk and click join our community on the home page.