All About Fitness

ALL successful exercise programs have one thing in common: they adhere to the established principles of exercise program design. It's true, any experienced strength coach or personal trainer can watch any workout and know within a few minutes whether the person who designed it knew what they were doing or not (in many cases, it's the latter). Very similar to the craft of cooking, there are specific principles that dictate how an exercise program should be designed and formatted, and if you know how to cook then you should be able to learn how to design your own exercise program. Chapter 2, part 4 of Smarter Workouts: The Science of Exercise Made Simple explains the variables of exercise program design and why each one is important for helping exercise make the desired changes to your body. It's all about how to design the workouts that change your body on this episode of All About Fitness. GNARLY NUTRITION: Visit goGnarly.com and enter promo code AAFITNESS to get 15% off your entire purchase today Learn ho

Do muscles really have memory? How does your brain tell which muscles to move and how hard they should work? Is it possible to learn how to shoot a basketball like Steph Curry? Dr. John Krakauer is a professor of Neurology who runs the Center for Motor Learning and Brain Repair at Johns Hopkins University (he's a smart dude who knows why and how we move). Dr. Krakauer is an expert in the field of neurophysiology which is the science of how our brain controls our movements. On this episode, originally recorded in 2019, Dr. Krakauer discusses how your brain learns movement patterns, what that means for your workout routines and whether or not it really is possible to teach an old human new tricks. Learn all about the science of how your brain learns movement on this episode of All About Fitness. GNARLY NUTRITION: Don’t wait! Visit goGnarly.com and enter promo code AAFITNESS to get 15% off your entire purchase today  Learn how to design your own workouts; order a copy of Smarter Workouts: the Science of Exerc

Living in 2022 is great: we can have almost anything we want delivered to us by simply swiping our phones; however is this much automation a good thing? As humans we were all born knowing how to move, but modern society has evolved to a point where movement is not necessary, the result is that many of us are simply moving less. When we move less, we lose our ability to move well which could result in an injury when we exercise. Gray Cook is a physical therapist and strength coach who has helped many elite athletes to dominate their sport. Years ago, Gray identified the lack of coordinated movement as primary reason why many athletes fail to achieve success or become injured; as a result, he and his colleague, Dr. Lee Burton developed the Functional Movement Screen as a system for classifying movement ability. Gray talks about the Functional Movement Screen and how it can be used to identify potential muscle imbalances that could become an injury. Originally. recorded in the fall of 2017, learn all about the r

This audio book series of Smarter Workouts: The Science of Exercise Made Simple is continuing with Chapter 2: How Exercise Changes Your Body. In this episode you will learn about how your heart functions during physical activity, why it's important to pay attention to the 3 laws of physics when you're planning your workouts and the variables that are a component of EVERY exercise program. It's all about the science of exercise program design on this episode of All About Fitness. GNARLY NUTRITION: Visit goGnarly.com and enter promo code AAFITNESS to get 15% off your entire purchase today Learn how to design your own workouts; order a copy of Smarter Workouts: the Science of Exercise Made Simple https://amzn.to/3dBVfg4 Learn how exercise can slow the aging process and allow you to add YEARS to your life with Ageless Intensity: High Intensity Workouts to Slow the Aging Process https://amzn.to/3eYieSC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the difference between different types of strength training? Why should your workouts focus on metabolic conditioning instead of cardio? Smarter Workouts was written expressly to help you learn the science of how your body adapts to exercise; currently this is an audiobook series going chapter-by-chapter to help you learn more about how exercise changes your body. This episode picks up on Chapter 2 and covers the benefits of core strength training and metabolic conditioning. In addition, you will learn more about calories and what can help you to burn more of them. SPONSORS BUTCHERBOX: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/aafitness and use code AAFITNESS to get one 10-14 lb Turkey FREE in your first box. GNARLY NUTRITION: Visit goGnarly.com and enter promo code AAFITNESS to get 15% off your entire purchase today Learn how to design your own workouts; order a copy of Smarter Workouts: the Science of Exercise Made Simple https://amzn.to/3dBVfg4 Learn how exercise can slow the aging process and allow you to

Continuing with the series, this episode transitions to Chapter 2 of Smarter Workouts: The Science of Exercise Made Simple and is titled, Movement and Intensity in Practice. Mobility, strength training and metabolic conditioning are the the 3 primary components of a well-designed exercise program. This episode addresses each of these components and why they are so essential for your workout program. Learn all about the essential components of a workout on this episode of All About Fitness. SPONSORS BUTCHERBOX: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/aafitness and use code AAFITNESS to get one 10-14 lb Turkey FREE in your first box. GNARLY NUTRITION: Visit goGnarly.com and enter promo code AAFITNESS to get 15% off your entire purchase today Learn how to design your own workouts; order a copy of Smarter Workouts: the Science of Exercise Made Simple https://amzn.to/3dBVfg4 Learn how exercise can slow the aging process and allow you to add YEARS to your life with Ageless Intensity: High Intensity Workouts to Slow the A

Functional training is a popular fitness phrase that can mean different things to different people. Coach Mike Boyle describes functional training as training for a purpose, but in reality, functional training simply refers to an exercise program that is designed to help you move and perform better as opposed to simply looking better. The traditional approach to physical therapy is for a therapist to work on the joint or body part that is not working or in pain. Gary Gray is a physical therapist who needed a way to help his patients without having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment; since he couldn't afford expensive muscle-isolation machines, Gary focused on helping his clients by treating the entire body as opposed to just a particular body-part or joint as a result, the concept of functional training was born (this was the 1980s, btw). Gary Gray has evolved his approach of working with the entire body and created the Gray Institute to teach physical therapists, personal trainers and str

This episode continues with chapter 1 from Smarter Workouts and addresses why it is important to include the different components of exercise: mobility, strength training and metabolic conditioning into a cohesive, effective exercise program. Any mode of exercise is better than nothing, however your body needs different types of movement at varying levels of intensity in order for exercise to produce the best results and this episode will help you to understand why. Listen and learn all about how your body responds to exercise on this episode of All About Fitness. SPONSORS BUTCHERBOX: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/aafitness and use code AAFITNESS to get one 10-14 lb Turkey FREE in your first box. GNARLY NUTRITION: Visit goGnarly.com and enter promo code AAFITNESS to get 15% off your entire purchase today Learn how to design your own workouts; order a copy of Smarter Workouts: the Science of Exercise Made Simple https://amzn.to/3dBVfg4 Learn how exercise can slow the aging process and allow you to add YEA

This episode continues with chapter 1 from Smarter Workouts that addresses how exercise changes your body. Your muscles use two different types of energy to produce movement: mechanical and metabolic; this episode covers the basics of energy metabolism and how your muscles convert the food you eat into the energy used to move your body. In addition, you'll be surprised at which part of your body is REALLY responsible for the changes that you experience as the result of your workout program. Listen and learn all about how exercise changes your body on this episode of All About Fitness. SPONSORS BUTCHERBOX: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/aafitness and use code AAFITNESS to get one 10-14 lb Turkey FREE in your first box. GNARLY NUTRITION: Visit goGnarly.com and enter promo code AAFITNESS to get 15% off your entire purchase today Learn how to design your own workouts; order a copy of Smarter Workouts: the Science of Exercise Made Simple https://amzn.to/3dBVfg4 Learn how exercise can slow the aging process and

This episode of All About Fitness picks up in chapter 1 Smarter Workouts: The Science of Exercise Made Simple where you will learn how exercise influences change in your muscles. Chapter 1 covers how exercise changes the body; it's important understand that exercise is a physical stress imposed upon the body and that different types of stress cause different reactions in your muscles. There are two specific types of stress stimulus that cause muscle growth: metabolic and mechanical overload; in this section of Smarter Workouts you will learn what those are and how they change your muscles. Finally, your muscles contain different types of muscle fibers which themselves respond to various types of exercise. If you know how your body responds to exercise, then you will know the best types of exercise that are right for your body. SPONSORS BUTCHERBOX: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/aafitness and use code AAFITNESS to get one 10-14 lb Turkey FREE in your first box. GNARLY NUTRITION: Visit goGnarly.com and enter

Smarter Workouts: The Science of Exercise Made Simple was written to help you understand how exercise changes your body and the most effective exercise solutions to help enhance your quality of life. Chapter 1 of Smarter Workouts is titled, "How Exercise Changes Your Body" and organizes exercise into three main categories: force production (which includes the entire spectrum of endurance, strength and power), mobility and metabolic conditioning. Muscles control physical force in your body; when a muscle contracts it produce a force to move an object, when a load is heavier than a muscle can control, it responds to that external force by lengthening. In the first part of How Exercise Changes Your Body, you will start learning about how your muscles work and the most effective ways to use exercise to make them more efficient at generating force. Tip: form follows function; helping your muscles to perform more effectively is the first step towards helping them look their best. SPONSORS BUTCHERBOX: Sign up today

Do you want to know how to design your own workout program? Do you want to learn the most effective exercises for your body? Do you want to understand the science of how exercise changes your body? All About Fitness is back from a brief hiatus with a little twist, before returning to our interview format, we’re going to do a book-on-tape; specifically my first book, Smarter Workouts: The Science of Exercise Made Simple.  In this series, I will be reading from the book and providing commentary on how to apply the information to your own workouts. If you have a copy of Smarter Workouts, you can follow along and take notes. In a 20 year career as a fitness educator, I have worked with national certifications and equipment companies to educate thousands of personal trainers all over the world; by listening to this series and learning the information in Smarter Workouts, you too will have the same foundation of knowledge as a certified personal trainer (no, you will not be certified as a personal trainer, but you

What are some tried and true techniques for getting stronger? Is there a difference between big muscle and strong muscle? Why can a shorter person lift more weight than a taller one? This special episode of All About Fitness attempts to answer these questions. while providing the origin story on how host, Pete McCall, started his career in fitness industry. Chris Hodson is a plumbing contractor in North County San Diego who has been a lifelong fan of the iron game; he knows a lot about the science of getting stronger and was one of the people who motivated Pete to pursue his interest in strength training when they worked out together in college. Chris shares what he has learned in a lifetime of reading about various strength-training techniques and how you can apply them to your workouts. On this episode of All About Fitness, it's all about the gym science of strength training with Chris Hodson. https://petemccallfitness.com Sign up for the mailing list to receive a free chapter from Smarter Workouts Fo

Do you love going to the gym but dread going to your job? Are you interested in making a career change to help people change their lives? Have you ever thought about becoming a personal trainer but didn't know how? If you answered yes to all of these questions, then this episode is for you! Dan Duran is a vice-president for the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA) and he talks about how he went from a government job with a secure salary to working as a personal trainer, in his forties. Dan shares what motivated him to become a personal trainer and how we was able to match his previous salary doing a job that he absolutely loved. Learn all about how to become a fitness professional on this episode of All About Fitness. To learn more about how to become a personal trainer through the ISSA, visit their website: https://www.issaonline.com/ Yes, you can get great education content on Instagram, follow: @issaonline https://petemccallfitness.com Sign up for the mailing list to receive a free chapter

The human body is made to move, all of the joint structures and muscle attachments are aligned to allow our muscles to harness energy from gravity while walking. When 4 legged animals are born, they know how to walk almost immediately; when a human is born, it takes about a year to learn how to walk. When was the last time that you saw a baby doing crunches or biceps curls? The human body is programmed to move as an integrated system of many muscles working together so exercise programs that focus on one muscle group at a time work against our inherent physiology. Dr. Lee Burton is a founder Functional Movement Systems and one of the leading experts on understanding how and why that humans are designed to move. Dr. Burton helped create the Functional Movement Screen to provide a system for coaches and personal trainers to help athletes train with a lower risk of injury. On this episode, Dr. Burton talks about how the body is designed to function and shares why it is so important to take a movement-first appro

Sleep, it's something that we all do, but the fact is that we probably do not do enough of it. Sleep is the time when our body repairs itself and should be considered an essential component of a comprehensive fitness program. Dr. Craig Heller is a professor of biology at Stanford University and has been studying why we sleep and the ways that sleep can support physical performance. Learn all about how sleep supports your workouts as well as ways that you can improve your sleep hygiene to achieve optimal health on this episode of All About Fitness. https://petemccallfitness.com Sign up for the mailing list to receive a free chapter from Smarter Workouts Follow Pete on Instagram: @AllAboutFitnesspodcast  Order a copy of Ageless Intensity: High Intensity Workouts to Slow the Aging Process:   https://amzn.to/3mH3HNf Order a copy of Smarter Workouts: The Science of Exercise Made Simple https://amzn.to/3fub1Yl (both of the links above are affiliate links, a commission will be earned with purchase)  Get re

Got glutes? Because of its role in controlling human movement, and probably because it's one of the most visible muscles in the human body, people are always interested in learning how to develop a stronger gluteus maximus. Dr. Bret Contreras is a personal trainer who popularized the barbell hip thrust exercise. Not only did Dr. Contreras successfully use the exercise to help many of the female figure competitors he works with prepare for their competitions, BUT he also studied the benefits of the exercise as he worked on his PhD. On this episode of All About Fitness, Bret shares how he developed the barbell hip thrust and we discuss what makes it an effective exercise for strengthening your bottom line. Follow Bret on Insta: @BretContreras1 Learn about the science of training your glutes, buy Bret's book: Glute Lab: The Art and Science of Physique Training https://amzn.to/3KrwAFf (an affiliate link, a commission will be earned) https://petemccallfitness.com Sign up for the mailing list to receive a fre

Mixed-martial arts (MMA) is one of the most physically demanding sports on the planet and the individuals who compete are some of the toughest and fittest people you could ever meet. MMA is associated with unreal levels of fitness, so the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), one of the first professional MMA leagues in the United States, partnered with fitness industry experts to start UFC Gyms. However, UFC Gyms are not just for MMA athletes, they have the resources to help anyone work towards any exercise or fitness goal. Adam Sedlak is the Chief Executive Officer of UFC Gym and on this episode he not only talks about what makes UFC Gyms a different type of fitness experience but shares how you could open one of your own. On this episode of All About Fitness, it's all about the business of fitness with one of the leading executives in the industry. Learn more about UFC Gyms HERE https://petemccallfitness.com Sign up for the mailing list to receive a free chapter from Smarter Workouts Follow Pete on In

From Jazzercise founder Judi Sheppard Misset to five-time CrossFit Champion, Tia-Clair Toomey, women have played a significant role in influencing and promoting popular fitness trends. In her book, Let's Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World, journalist Danielle Friedman reveals the fascinating history of women's fitness culture. Each chapter of Let's Get Physical reviews a different era of the fitness industry and identifies an important woman who influenced it; the outcome is a fast-paced and entertaining journey through the evolution of the modern fitness industry. On this episode of All About Fitness, Danielle shares what motivated her to tell the story of how women have influenced the fitness industry and what she learned from digging into that history. Order a copy of Let's Get Physical: https://amzn.to/3qFVaLG (a commission will be earned) To learn more about journalist and author Danielle Friedman, visit her online home HERE https://petemccallfitness.com Sign up for the

The proliferation of boutique fitness studios and multi-service health clubs all over the world combined with the popularity of Insta-famous social media fitness stars make it seem like fitness is a recent trend; however, humans have been exercising since the dawn of time. Part history, part biography, 'Sweat: A History of Exercise' by Bill Hayes is a journey through the years to understand why and how humans feel compelled to exercise. Bill is a gifted writer who creates an engaging narrative to help the reader understand what drives humans to be fit and how that has evolved over the years. Bill Hayes joins Pete to talk about why he wrote the book, what he was surprised to learn and how that has influenced his personal exercise program. It's all about the history of fitness on this episode of All About Fitness. USE THIS LINK to Purchase a copy of Sweat: A History of Exercise: https://amzn.to/3CZ838g (a commission will be earned) https://petemccallfitness.com Sign up for the mailing list to receive a free c