Located in Sterling, VA (703) 421-1200

The Journey of Success by Matthew Romans

At Total Results, our primary purpose is to educate our clients about proper exercise and nutrition, and to give them the tools to unlock their body's potential. As most of our readers know, our exercise philosophy is built on principles learned from classic biology, chemistry, and physics, and we customize our clients' workout frequency, volume, and selection/sequence of exercises to best meet their needs. The journey that a Total Results client takes in order to optimize their health and fitness has many levels, and each one of them is supervised by their exercise instructor. I call it the Journey of Success.

It all starts with your first inquiry. Perhaps you did an internet search and found our name, or maybe you were referred by a current or former client. Since our exercise philosophy is very different from what you'll find in the mainstream fitness industry, this is something that is unfamiliar to most people. That is something to be celebrated! It shows that you are an outside-the-box thinker, and that you are willing to challenge yourself and learn about something new. You are exactly the type of person we love to work with.

The next step is to schedule an initial consultation. This consultation usually lasts about an hour and is very comprehensive. We want to find out about your health and exercise history so that we can customize your workout exercise selection, machine settings, volume, and frequency. During the consultation we also go over some safety do's and don'ts (also known as preliminary considerations) prior to putting you through a sample workout. There is a lot of ground to cover prior to entering the workout area; this emphasizes our commitment to your safety, it gives you a first-hand idea of what our exercise philosophy is all about, and shows you how unique our exercise environment is. After going through the initial consultation, you will probably understand more about exercise than 75 percent of the people in the mainstream fitness industry.

Once you decide to become a Total Results client, you and your instructor determine your exercise frequency. Most of our clients start exercising twice per week, but multiple factors may necessitate once per week workouts for you. The first several sessions are geared toward teaching you our exercise protocol, determining proper exercise settings, selecting appropriate resistance, and working on correct breathing. These initial sessions are absolutely critical for establishing good habits and maintaining the focus necessary to achieve optimal results down the road. As you more consistently demonstrate proper form, speed of movement, turnaround technique, and deeper levels of concentration, your resistance will become more meaningful (read: heavier) and you will start to work at a higher level of exercise intensity, This means that you are acquiring skill and becoming more proficient at performing each exercise. You probably feel a little more fatigued with each exercise and at the end of each workout. Momentary muscular failure is not far away.

As your exercise intensity rises, your instructor will reiterate to you the primary objective of each exercise: to inroad (fatigue) the muscular structures as deeply and safely as you can. This is very different than mainstream fitness programs where the goal is to lift as much weight as possible, as many times as possible. The point will eventually come where, despite your best efforts, forward movement of the machine's movement arm is simply not possible in good form. Congratulations! You have achieved momentary muscular failure. However, you're not quite finished. It's important to continue to push against that immovable object for an additional five to ten seconds to ensure that we have reached muscular failure. This is the thorough inroad portion of the exercise and finishing this last part, no matter how uncomfortable it is, is essential in order to achieve the most effective exercise stimulus possible. This is the stimulus that the body needs in order to build muscle and bone, improve cardiovascular and metabolic conditioning, enhance flexibility, and maintain insulin sensitivity. While the word failure has a negative connotation in most other walks of life, in the field of exercise it spells success! Repeating this process for every exercise of every workout is the key to optimizing your genetic blueprint.

As the old Chinese saying goes, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." While most of us perform a task with the end goal in mind, it's important to think about the process as well. Education should be a lifelong undertaking, and it's important to take the time to celebrate what you learn and the things you accomplish along the way. A Total Results workout is a challenging and rewarding experience, and taking on that challenge week after week and month after month is the safest and most effective way to achieve your optimal health and fitness. Taking your first step on the journey of success is only a phone call away.

Posted March 26, 2019 by Matthew Romans