In this episode of the Flex Diet Podcast, I talk with my good buddy Chad Landers, veteran trainer, strength coach, and author of Building Strength and Muscle After 50, about how to keep gaining strength and muscle as you get older without falling off the “injury cliff.” We dig into why consistency matters most, how progress often drops in steps after injuries, and why smart modifications beat worshipping any single lift. Chad shares lessons from coaching clients for decades, including balancing pressing with back work, using better technique (like pause benching), and building conditioning with tools like the fan bike, rower, and step mill. We also cover practical programming, tracking PRs beyond 1RM, and why it’s never “too late” to start training—especially after 50.
In this episode of the Flex Diet Podcast, I talk with my good buddy Chad Landers, veteran trainer, strength coach, and author of Building Strength and Muscle After 50, about how to keep gaining strength and muscle as you get older without falling off the “injury cliff.” We dig into why consistency matters most, how progress often drops in steps after injuries, and why smart modifications beat worshipping any single lift.
Chad shares lessons from coaching clients for decades, including balancing pressing with back work, using better technique (like pause benching), and building conditioning with tools like the fan bike, rower, and step mill. We also cover practical programming, tracking PRs beyond 1RM, and why it’s never “too late” to start training—especially after 50.
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Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Flex Diet Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Mike T. Nelson. On this podcast, we talk about all things to increase performance, add muscle, and do all of it within a flexible framework without destroying your health. Today on the podcast, my good buddy, Chad Landers. He is a veteran, a personal trainer, strength coach, and now an author and owner of Push Private Fitness in Los Angeles.
He's been actively coaching clients for over 30-plus years, and most of that time, uh, at Push. Uh, he was named the 2018 NSCA Personal Trainer of the Year. His background includes a kinesiology degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, plus graduate d- diplomat in sports nutrition from the International Olympic Committee.
What I love about Chad is he is practicing it himself and has experience working [00:01:00] with real-life clients, like I said, for over three decades. Uh, he's trained many famous people, including Duff McKagan, Jerry Cantrell, Stephen Perkins, Catherine Dent, and many, many others. He has a brand-new book out now, published by Human Kinetics, titled Building Strength and Muscle After 50, and we talk a lot about that in the show today with Chad.
Uh, everything from how to stay consistent, even if that means you have to downshift what you're doing, why you need to avoid the big injury cliff, to modify exercises, don't necessarily worship them. Like, there's a lot of really good workarounds you can do. Uh, train the stuff you tend to ignore, such as, uh, most guys especially, is the back, cardio, work capacity, and much, much more.
So I think I really enjoyed this podcast. I've been... [00:02:00] have the luxury of knowing Chad for, oh man, probably well over, uh, a decade now, and I always learn some cool stuff every time we get to chat together. If you want more information from me, you can hop onto my free newsletter. We'll go to the link down below, get free daily updates from myself, content very similar to this podcast, and try to make them research-based, but also, uh, interesting and hopefully entertaining for you.
And then thank you as always for listening to the podcast. We really appreciate it. Make sure to check out all of Chad's stuff. We'll put his links down below, including the book, uh, which is actually really good. I'm not just saying that 'cause he's a good buddy of mine, but, uh, he did a really good job with it.
And it's principle-based, so even if you're in your 30s or 40s or younger, I think you can still get a ton out of the book. And I, I would even go so far as to almost recommend it for people who are even [00:03:00] very new to strength training. Again, these lessons are almost timeless. There are things that are very specific for people who are older, but it's not just a gimmicky do these couple things.
It's based on actual solid advice. So make sure to check that out. And without further ado, here is our podcast with Mr. Chad Landers.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Welcome to the podcast. How are you today, Chad? All
Chad Landers: right. I'm good, man. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And, and you've got a, a brand new book out about strength training for people over 50, and-
Chad Landers: I do ... yeah,
Dr MIke T Nelson : let's show the cover. Yeah, if they're watching the video- ... it's awesome. Ooh.
Chad Landers: It's really close up if you see in
Dr MIke T Nelson : the video.
Chad Landers: Yeah.
Dr MIke T Nelson : I, I feel like 50 is the new 40 now.
Would you agree with that?
Chad Landers: You know, I certainly hope so. I like to delude myself. You know, I'm, I'm 57 now, and I-
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah ...
Chad Landers: of course, have- The aches and pains that go along with being [00:04:00] 57, but I will say overall I don't feel a whole lot different than I did at 30 or 40 or, or 50 even, which is now seven years ago.
So, uh, I definitely feel like I'm living proof that a lifetime of strength training has big dividends. And even if you haven't been doing it for a lifetime, as I talk about in the book, there's no better time to start than right now, 'cause it's only gonna get worse the longer you wait.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. And I got six years till I'm 57, so that, that gives me hope.
Um, but at 51 I, I kinda feel similar. Like, I really, I haven't noticed really too much of a difference. The only thing I've noticed, and maybe you've noticed this too, is that, um, I can't be quite as stupid as when I was younger.
Chad Landers: That
Dr MIke T Nelson : is a fact. And if I stop and do F all nothing, like not even go to maintenance mode, just, just become like a, a slug with my couch for a couple [00:05:00] days- Right
I feel like I regress backwards so much faster. But as long as I'm keep doing something, I mean, I've even, you know, gone down to maintenance from even kiteboarding and stuff like that, and that's been fine.
Chad Landers: Sure.
Dr MIke T Nelson : But if I just stop doing everything, I do feel like I just slide backwards much faster. I don't know if you've noticed that at all or not.
Chad Landers: Yeah, I mean, I've noticed it both in my own training but also with clients, 'cause I've had- Sure ... you know, clients of all ages, and I've had, uh, one of my clients is, is 76. I've been training him since he was 50. Oh, that's so cool. 26 years I've been training... So I've seen him through his 50s, his 60s, now into the mid-70s.
Um, and he's as strong or, or stronger than he's ever been. But, you know, uh, the first thing I ask every client when they come in through the door is, "How you feeling today? Anything hurt since the last workout?" Or whatever. And we have to make a lot more concessions to the aches and pains. And it may not have been anything we did in the prior workout.
It may be he tried to do this project at home that he probably [00:06:00] should've hired somebody else to do. But, you know, he wants his independence as, as well- Yeah ... as a fit 76-year-old. So he'll come in and, uh, maybe his back's tweaked or whatever, so we make some concessions to that. But he's pretty good about, uh, making sure he's got that consistency regardless of what condition he's in, unless he's absolutely s- you know, if he's sick, stay home obviously.
Yeah. But, um, but he's good about, you know, coming in and doing what he can on a given day. And if that's regressed quite a bit intentionally, uh, from the prior workouts, that's okay. We- we'll get it back. You know, we always get it back. But, um, as you get older, uh, as you said, the, the stupid things have a lot bigger impact.
And so- And bigger cost. Yeah. If you take a little injury and you ignore it and make it a big injury, it takes you a lot longer to come back. And I talk about that in the book, that one of the biggest things that is gonna get in your way of progress a- at any age really, but over 50 certainly, is a lack of [00:07:00] consistency.
And the number one thing that gets in the way of consistency is injury. 'Cause if you get injured, you just either have to train around it, or some people may be too scared. They may not know what to do, how to train around something, so they may just do nothing like, like you said, and that regression is very quick, especially if they haven't been training very long.
So, uh, I'm always about consistency, you know, playing the long game, l- living to fight another day and, and that kinda thing.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah, one of the big opening, I guess, revelation things, so I've looked at these statistics that show that, you know, as you get older, you know, your function kinda drops and you get closer to mortality.
And whether they're looking at, you know, strength or all these different metrics, you see this graph where it hits a, you know, peak and then it slowly kinda drops. And I'm like, "Okay, yeah, that, that kinda makes sense. I get it." But the part that blew me away was if you look at the individual data, because this is aggregated over, you know, hundreds of thousands of things in the different studies, the graph looks [00:08:00] really kinda like this smooth downward trend.
But when you look at it on an individual basis, what you see is it's actually a step function, meaning it's not this nice smooth thing. It's going good and then whomp, something happens and you drop. You kinda get back a little bit- Right ... and whomp, it drops again. And you realize when you look in the data that that's when people get injured.
And when they get injured, they, you know, maybe get laid up, they can't do anything for two, three, four, six weeks, couple months, whatever. Or God forbid, they're on bed rest, which is just notoriously horrible for everything. For sure. And they never quite get back to where they were before, before another injury.
And so it's, that to me was, like, super enlightening where, yeah, the data's real, but like you said, if you can just not have these major catastrophic injuries, you're so gonna be, like, stacking the deck in your favor.
Chad Landers: Right. Absolutely. And you know, I, I'm, got as much ego as the next person, and I still like-
you know, I post bench press videos- Yeah ... I'm still [00:09:00] doing heavy, heavy lifting and stuff. But I listen to my body now. I took about probably th- almost three months off of barbell bench pressing, and actually got with a, a physical therapist in my neighborhood, and, and we worked hard on just rotator cuff stuff.
Mm. Because that was my weak link, and I d- would, you know, I'd make sure I fit bench in, but then I wouldn't do the accessory stuff and, and the rotator cuff stuff that I should've been doing. And so, um, it's just f- whether you bench press heavy or not doesn't matter, but it's just finding what works for you in terms of, of rest and recovery.
D- do you need to get regular massages or, or, you know, use maybe a little lighter weights for a higher rep scheme than you're used to using when you were younger or what- whatever it is, just to try to avoid excessive wear and tear. 'Cause it happens naturally. I mean, my knees are kinda shot. Um, and I didn't know it.
I didn't know I was doing [00:10:00] anything necessarily detrimental to them. But when I was doing three lift power lifting and my squat was getting pretty heavy, and I was doing a lot of it in a short period of time, and I developed Baker cysts. And I didn't- Oh, yeah ... even know what a Baker cyst was. I had no idea.
I just, I thought I had, like, a popliteal strain or something. Uh, I didn't know what was going on behind my knees, but it, you know, I kept trying to lift heavy and whatever. And one day, uh, I woke up and I had this pain in my calf and a swollen ankle, and I thought, "Oh, my God, I've got, like, a blood clot. I've got a DVT.
I, I need to go to the doctor." And they had me come in and they scanned me, you know, from, from groin to foot, and they were like, "No, you don't have a DVT. We think you have a ruptured Baker cyst," because they present like a DVT. And- Mm ... sure enough, had MRIs and all that, and, and my articular cartilage in my knees is worn away, basically.
And that may have happened whether or not I'd been- squatting heavy or not. I have no way of knowing. Sure. I have no old [00:11:00] MRIs to compare it to. Uh, but that's something that is real and has affected me, so I felt like I had two choices. I could try to still squat heavy and deal with these Baker cysts, and wear down my knees quicker, and need a knee replacement, but since I don't wanna do that, I modify my training.
I can do things like hex bar deadlift, and I can even leg press. Maybe I don't have the greatest depth on it in the world, but, but I can work around it, and not set off my knees, and not have knee pain, and I can walk around pain-free at 57. So, you know, I'm, I'm trying to avoid any kind of need for knee replacement as much as I can.
'Cause I know we're, like, on the verge of having injectable stuff that's gonna just help you regrow- Sure ... your own cartilage or, or whatever. And so it's like I'm not gonna go and have this fake knee put in at some point that I could have avoided if I just trained a little more sensibly. 'Cause, you know, I don't, I don't care if I don't, you know, squat 350 anymore.
Big deal. [00:12:00]
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. That's, that's where I'm at, 'cause I have some older clients, even younger clients, who are right on the edge of... Usually it's knee replacement's the big one right now. And same thing, I've been telling them for a couple years, I'm like, "By all means, I'm not an orthopedics. Talk to your doc.
Like, ask him, you know, is there anything that's gonna make it better, anything that's gonna make it worse?" And I'm just like, "Anything we can do to buy you just two more years." Because I do think that with cellular therapies, maybe it's peptides, maybe it's something else, who knows, that the people I've talked to in the biomed industry, they're all pretty positive that in the next two to four years, like, I think the joint replacements are gonna go down quite a bit.
And I'm like, either way, if we buy you, let's say, another two years, and you do need it replaced, like, that's gonna be another add on, that two more years to the end. Because as soon as you have something replaced, there's a limited lifespan- Right ... of all those things, and how much they can do after it [00:13:00] wears out, and things like that.
Chad Landers: Sure. And, and depending on how long that client has been training with you, an extra two years of training is gonna make them more resilient if they do- Yes ... have the surgery. So they're gonna be able to come back from the surgery quicker anyway. So there's, there's really no downside to continuing training, uh, as long as you're not doing anything to hasten the decline of, of the knee or, or whatever joint you're talking about.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. That's what I was having. Like, go back to your orthopedic. Ask him, "Is there anything you shouldn't do now that if they do need to replace it, it's gonna be much harder? If not, okay, then that gives us a little more leeway, you know, to, to kinda play, you know, play with things and, and go from there." And like you even said about decisions, like, I had that probably two years ago.
Like, I would go, like, kiteboarding, and a couple times, man, my knees were just killing me. And I'm like, "Okay," like, "What am I, what am I doing here?" You know? Right. And I realized- Oh, one, I'm probably l- landing jumps [00:14:00] too hard that I shouldn't be landing, so I need to figure, from a skill standpoint, I need to figure out softer landings, better technique.
Don't just, you know, what I call pull and pray. Send the bar and hopefully I land it. Right? Get up from 20 feet up or whatever.
Chad Landers: Oh,
Dr MIke T Nelson : God. And then the other part I realized was I'm like, oh, obviously if I'm doing a heavy impact, like what is ... If I were to pick, you know, air quote, one muscle, what is probably the main muscle?
Probably the quads are doing a lot of that eccentric braking. Sure. And so then like, you know, I'll go to the gym and I'll do some quad specific stuff. So I did a hack squat, I did a belt squat where you, you know, push your knees really far forward. And I realized, I'm like, oh my God, my quads are pathetically weak.
You know, because I had done a lot of hamstring and a lot of glute stuff, you know, a lot of, you know, squatting and deadlifting and things like that. But I always kinda poo-pooed all the, oh, you know, quad specific stuff. Like, no one really needs that. And, you know, after doing a lot more of that work for even just a [00:15:00] year, like, oh my God, my knees feel so much better.
I can handle a little bit heavier impacts. And so I think a lot of times, like you were saying too, it's decide what are the things you're doing that you might need to change, and then finding an effective way to, to work around it that works for you too.
Chad Landers: Sure. And I know a lot of ... I, I don't employ it a whole lot, at least not, you know, with, with clients, it's a bit cumbersome, but blood flow restriction training.
Sure. You can lift a lot lighter, especially on something like a leg extension machine, uh, and get massive amount of, of blood flow to the area, which, which helps with any kind of possible healing that you can, you can do. And, and gives the quads a nice stimulus too. So there's, there's definitely ways around it.
Um, we don't need to stop training, but we may need to modify training. And, you know, if I had to g- give up barbell bench press, I certainly would. I'm able to, to do it now, and b- since I've done the, the rotator cuff specific work, uh, knock on wood, they're feeling good. And so I'm, I'm [00:16:00] gonna roll with it as long as I can.
But I'm, I'm not above, like, say, wholesale leaving an exercise out that I, that I used to do, like a, like a barbell back squat. I, I just don't do it anymore.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. How is the bench going? I've seen your videos and stuff. It looks like it's going pretty good.
Chad Landers: Yeah, considering I hadn't really benched in about three months, and I'm, I'm really
I eased back into it. I'm not trying to see what my actual one rep max is at this point. Um, but, like- One week I just threw 225 on there and that, that felt good. So this week I ended up throwing 245 on there and that felt good. And I was by myself, and I don't like really to unrack stuff by myself above about 245, 250.
So I probably could have gone heavier and for maybe one to three, uh, but I'm like, "You know, this 245, I haven't even done that for a few months, so I'll, I'll take that, that victory." Uh, it was, it was improvement. And so I always tell my clients, [00:17:00] "Don't get greedy." And so I had to tell it to myself, "Okay, don't get greedy.
You already did 245. You didn't do that last week. So next week you wanna do 250, 255, go for it then." Um, but knock on wood, uh, everything in the last couple days since that bench workout, shoulders are feeling good. I did my... I do, I do one day a week now where I do this kinda 10, 12 exercise rotator cuff specific thing.
And, and just doing that once a week has paid some big dividends. And then I'll do a, you know, a few things like, is in my book for a, for a warmup before I do, you know, benching and stuff like that. But for me it, it does benefit to do that rotator cuff specific stuff because I was so, you know, anterior dominant with all the, the heavy benching that I just needed to spend more time working on the backside.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. I, I always feel like certain exercises kinda have their own risk-reward profile, and as I get older, like, anything where I'm taking a [00:18:00] heavy load into an eccentric right away, I get a little more nervous. Like, um, potentially a heavy squat, potentially a heavy bench press, whether using dumbbells or a bar.
And then, like, a deadlift is, like, the inverse, is like, just as soon as my form even changes a little bit, like, I'm done. You know? Because- Right ... that, that has the inverse property where, "Oh, I can get it a little bit more," and your back does some weird thing, goes in a position- ... it hasn't been, and then you're, you're screwed.
Chad Landers: Right.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Any tips for people looking to increase their bench press? I guess if, if you pull... Well, I mean, I go to a commercial gym only twice a week now, but it still feels like Monday is national- Is bench day ... bench press day.
Chad Landers: Right?
Dr MIke T Nelson : I just think of this, oh, this one kid who's there. He seems really nice, but he's, you know, maybe 5'8", a buck 60, if that.
And you can tell he just wants to do 225. And oh, the last time I watched it, I [00:19:00] literally thought, "I'm gonna have to throw battery acid in my eyes to stop watching this." 'Cause he gets a, a lift off, which was good, and the guy's watching him, and he literally goes from the top all the way down. Like, his chest was bouncing so much I thought he was gonna, like, crack his ribs.
His butt's, you know, like, a foot off the bench, and I'm just, like, going, "Oh, no. This is so bad."
Chad Landers: Yeah. That's the, that's the, you know, the ego o- of youth is- You know ... like, nobody gives a shit if you bench 225 or not. Nobody cares. It, it, nobody cares. Nobody cares if I can still bench press 300. My wife doesn't care.
D- doesn't- No. My clients don't care. Nothing changes. Nobody cares. Yeah, nothing changes. Even when I finally did bench 300, I didn't bench 300 till I was, like, 48 years old. It was so, like, anti-climactic, 'cause- Yeah. ... here I'd been wanting to do this, like, my whole life, and I finally got there, and it was like no fanfare, no big deal.
I was like, no- nobody cared. And, you know, it is, it is what it is. Um, so yeah, if somebody like [00:20:00] that obviously, um, would, would benefit from doing proper technique first and foremost, and get on e- even something, you know, more simple like, you know, Jim Wendler's 531 or- Sure ... some overall or, or five by five or whatever.
Um, some real, you know, strength building program that's set up with a spreadsheet, and, and ego can kinda be kept at bay because you're, you're doing specifically what the program says. Um, but with- from a technique standpoint, the biggest thing I think that anybody should do, especially if they're gonna do competitive bench press, is pause bench presses.
'Cause you gotta pause and wait for the press command anyway. So get used to pause benching. And I- I've seen so many guys who could, you know, said they could bench so much weight and, and touch and go with a little bit of a bounce. Yeah, they could eke it out, but you give them a competition pause and they're pegged.
They're, they're not- ... getting it off their chest. And I've seen that in competitions with, [00:21:00] with, with young guys, even guys with coaches, and they're, they use their opener as, like, what they think their one-rep max is, and they get stapled and they can't go any lighter. So they, you know, they're out of the competition.
Get stapled
Dr MIke T Nelson : again.
Chad Landers: Yeah, just th- three staples. I'm like- ... what are you thinking, you know? Nobody cares what you open with. You just, you get in the competition. So, so yeah, I think pause bench press is huge. Um, you know, and for people who aren't competitive bench pressers and who are older, if you don't have the range of motion in your shoulders, if you can't quite touch your chest, that's okay.
You know, I'll, I'll do intentionally like one-inch pauses where I don't even go and, and- Mm-hmm ... and touch my chest. I'll keep it a, an inch off the chest, so I'm making sure not, just not even any- imperceptible little momentum from coming down off my chest. So, um, yeah, I, I don't think that everybody needs to be barbell bench pressing and, and certainly not competition barbell bench pressing.
Um, if you can and you do it, [00:22:00] can do it safely and you love it like me, yeah, go for it. Uh, but nothing wrong with machines, nothing wrong with dumbbells, nothing wrong with cables. Actually, from a, a chest development standpoint, probably prefer cables. I like the continuous tension that cables provide. And so, a- and with a lot lighter weights too, for that matter.
And so I like being able to progress as far as I can with a lighter weight, and then earning that heavier weight. And usually when it comes to the big three, we're just trying to lift heavier and heavier and heavier, regardless of if form is starting to break down or whatever, 'cause ego gets in our way.
But nobody really gets ego on, like, incline cable flies, you know? They just don't, don't tend to do that. So it's, it's a little safer, I think.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. And I'm a big fan of even just a slight incline with just dumbbells, because you can
Chad Landers: get- I've always done
Dr MIke T Nelson : that, um- ... a little more range of motion. You can, you're not kind of fixed into one path and that kind of thing, too.
Chad Landers: Yeah. Whenever I, I dumbbell bench, I actually don't do it on a flat ever. [00:23:00] Uh- Mm-hmm ... it's setting one on my bench. So, um, and what ends up happening, especially if I arch even just a little bit, it ends up being like a flat dumbbell bench- Yeah. ... anyway, so, so I'm getting the effect of, of without, you know, having it all, all the way flat.
Um, but I'll still do, you know, m- more traditional incline stuff at a 45-degree incline or a 30-degree or, you know, whatever. But, um, but yeah, if I'm thinking to replace the barbell flat bench, I will do that dumbbell, but with that slight angle like you're talking about.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Do you have any... I know like Poliquin was b- big on ratios of, you know, pressing to pulling and all that kind of stuff.
Do you have any sort of... 'Cause you've been doing this stuff with- a, a long period of time, and obviously we'll get into the book and worked with a wide variety of clients. On any, like, programming metrics or strength metrics from a bench press to, like, a row in terms of, like, a ratio of strength? 'Cause I've seen- Right
one... [00:24:00] None, probably none of the clients I have now, but I can think of one guy in particular, like seven years ago. I think his dumbbell bench press, I think, was, like, he was using 85 pounds for five reps, but his, like, one arm dumbbell row was, like, 45 pounds. And I'm like, "Oh, yikes." That, that just seems like a really skewed ratio.
Do you have any kind of-
Chad Landers: Sure ...
Dr MIke T Nelson : ratio-
Chad Landers: Well, I- ...
Dr MIke T Nelson : rules of thumb?
Chad Landers: I, I, I don't really, other than to make sure that you're doing back work. Yes. 'Cause so many guys especially, you know, they do what they can see in the mirror. So they work their pecs, they work their biceps, and to hell with everything else. Uh, but you know, I don't do, like, you know, some coaches will say, "Oh, you need a two to one ratio of- pulling to pushing and all that.
It's like, no, I think a, a one-to-one ratio is fine. What I think people tend to do, uh, with back exercises is use shitty form. And so especially, like, uh, I posted a video the other day of my bench, and then followed up by the Hammer Strength isolateral low row. Yes.
Dr MIke T Nelson : I
Chad Landers: love that. And I... Yeah, and when I [00:25:00] show that technique, um, on the video, you can see I draw my shoulders back first before I ever bend my elbows, and then pull back and, and keep my chest elevated.
I'm not trying to turn it either into a crappy bicep exercise or a lower back exercise by pulling off of it. It's supposed to be a, a chest-supported row. So I, I try to keep, you know, at least my solar plexus pasted against the pad. Uh, and, you know, I'm doing three plates on each side on that, that low row, so it's fairly equivalent to my bench press strength.
But, um, you know, I think it depends on what I used. If I used dumbbells, I'd probably do, you know, 55 or 60-pound dumbbells. Yeah. I probably wouldn't be able to do anywhere close to that. So, um, I think as long as you're, you know, working the backside and, and y- you know, I'm, I'm guilty of it, and I have been in the past, where it's like, "Okay, well, I g- I got benching, and, oh, and I got a client coming in.
I don't really have time to do back." Yeah. You know? And so you gotta, you know, get out of your own way [00:26:00] sometimes. And so, uh, so yeah, as long as I'm doing ... In, in, in my book, like, uh, I have predominantly full body workouts, so there's gonna be some type of pulling motion every workout. Horizontal, vertical, or what I call hybrid ones, which the Hammer Strength has an isolateral front pulldown they call it.
Nice. Uh, the, the, the angle of that, it kinda starts as a bit of a pulldown and ends up at the same point as the row. So I, I really love that machine too. So what I tend to do is, is, uh, antagonistic pair s- those things. So I'll do that particular, uh, front pulldown machine with an incline chest exercise.
I'll do... I have an assisted chin or, or regular pull-ups if you're strong enough. Um, I'll do that with overhead pressing. Yeah. And then with bench press I'll do, you know, more traditional rowing, typically with the Hammer Strength since I have it, but it could be a, you know, a cable row or it could be a, a Pendlay row or, or whatever you've got.
But yeah, I, I do think you need to, you know, make sure you're getting [00:27:00] that posterior stuff in 'cause, uh, especially if you're nuts about the bench press like I am, 'cause you're invariably gonna bench too much and not and not, you know, pull enough.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. That's one thing I saw was, like, just the pairings, and that's...
It's one of those concepts, like, I, I don't know who I stole it from originally, but I wish I would have programmed more of that sooner because I think... So if you look at, like, dumbbell bench press and one arm dumbbell row, which is something I use, like, all the freaking time, and variations of, it's like you- If you're cramped for time by definition of alternating, at least I know you're probably getting some rowing in with your bench pressing.
Or if I program a block of bench pressing and then a block of rowing, I notice the rowing got skipped, like, a lot of the time.
Chad Landers: Right.
Dr MIke T Nelson : And then, you know, you, you're doing the opposite motions, so you get a little bit of rest for the other muscle, you get the antagonist pairing, you get the... Like, I like the, the scapular movement even, 'cause a lot of the times in bench press your [00:28:00] scapulas are pinned.
Right. And then when I row, I like the scapula to come all the way out at the bottom and get that nice stretch so I'm getting a little bit more movement to the muscle too, not just leaving it pinned all the time. And yeah, I just love that type of pairing or, you know, leg extension with leg curls, and it, it- Sure
just seems like it's, from a performance standpoint and an efficiency standpoint, it just works so well.
Chad Landers: Yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah, I think for me, what, uh, since I, I don't typically do, like, super sets or giant sets or things like that- Yeah ... with clients. I'm typically more of a, a straight sets guy. So pretty much every workout actually starts with the back thing.
Now, because they've come to see me, they're gonna do back no matter what, no matter where I put it in the workout. But because for most people that's the most neglected thing, at least for upper body, um, and the thing they have, like, the least kind of mind-muscle connection [00:29:00] to, I like to do back stuff when they're fresh, make sure we can do that hard.
And, and it kinda helps to warm up that whole shoulder girdle too if they are gonna bench. Now, uh, that wouldn't be for somebody who's powerlifting. Sure. I'm not gonna do super heavy sets and sets of rows before we, we bench press. That's a, a little different situation. But for the average person who's, you know, just doing, you know, whatever exercises that they like to do, I don't mind not starting with bench press.
I, I would, I'd much rather actually start with the back. And in, in the book I, I have a programming where I do a lot of cardio intervals in between. Mm-hmm. So rather than doing a, a set, w- we'll do all of our sets, if it's three sets or whatever, on bench, then we'll go do a two-minute interval. Then we'll go to the back exerc- or the chest exercise or whatever, then we'll do another two-minute interval, then a leg thing, 'cause now they're good and warmed up 'cause they've had a couple of intervals aside from whatever warmup they did at the beginning.
So we're able to get that effect of the [00:30:00] straight sets and the heavy work, and I tend to take, you know, close to three-minute rest, uh, between sets with people. Um, but then we do get that, a little bit of that high intensity interval stimulus, and their heart rate does stay a bit higher during the weight training than it would have had we not interspersed those in between.
So I really love those for- general fitness enthusiasts who just wanna be strong and have decent cardiac output too. It's not gonna put you at the, you know, elite levels of VO2 max just doing that stuff. But for the average client who's pressed for time, and I'm only gonna see them one to three hours a week, I, I like, you know, doing it like that.
So at least what's under my supervision I know is, is good solid work.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah, 'cause you also know that, I'm sure you have a lot of clients who are very compliant in their off days, and I'm sure you got a lot of clients who, if you're not there, probably do F-all, nothing.
Chad Landers: That's exactly it. And I tell people that when they first sign up with me.
I'm like, "Okay." You know, uh, 'cause I'm not gonna try [00:31:00] to, you know, hammer somebody to come in three times a week. I know that gets expensive, you know? Yeah. But I'm like, "Look, if you're active outside of the gym, if you go to, you know, Pilates or yoga," and all that kind of stuff's common in LA. Uh, uh, y- you hike, you, you whatever.
You're very active. Two days a week, if you're consistent and don't miss workouts, you can see fine progress. Oh, yeah. I've had tons of clients over decades that have worked out strength training twice a week and had, had fine progress. But I go, "But if you're not gonna do anything at all, if you know if you don't have an appointment with me, you're just not gonna do anything, you might wanna consider th- three days a week, um, you know, if, if money's not an issue."
So, um, I, I personally think most people should aim for three days a week if they can, but if long as they're consistent with two, that'll be good. But the, you know, the average person, every other week something comes up and they have to cancel a workout. So if they're a three-day-a-week person that has to cancel a workout and they get two in, we're still good.
If they're a two-day-a-week [00:32:00] person, they have to cancel a workout fairly regularly, the, the one day a week is ... I mean, it's better than nothing, but it really, progress kinda grinds to a halt, especially if they're not doing anything outside of seeing me. It's like, well, I'm, I'm happy to see you, but the, you know, we need to do some more work.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. That's the first thing I do with writing programs is like, "What is your constraint?" And the people will overestimate the time they can dedicate. They'll be like, "Oh, I can do an hour Monday through Friday." "Okay, let's start with Monday, Wednesday, Friday for like 45 minutes, and then let's give you some cardio to do Tuesday, Thursday," and then in the back of my head I'm like, "I'm gonna see if you actually do it," you know?
Chad Landers: Right. Yeah, absolutely. And people have the best intentions. It's not like they're- Oh, of
Dr MIke T Nelson : course. Yeah,
Chad Landers: yeah ... lying to you. They're not lying. They, they really think they're gonna do it. Yeah. But, um, you know, it's like people that wanna buy a $7,000 treadmill or elliptical or something for their home. And they'll ask me, and I'll say, "Well, why don't you just go outside and go for a [00:33:00] walk the, the days of the week and the time you think you're gonna be able to devote to it?"
That's a little different in, in Minneapolis in the winter. Yeah, sure. But in LA, you know, it's sunny year-round. Yeah. And so I'm like, "Do that. If you can make yourself go-" And get up and just go outside and w- and walk consistently, A, you're gonna be way ahead of the game anyway. But B, if you still feel like you're gonna be even more consistent with it by buying this expensive treadmill, then, then go ahead and do it.
But prove to yourself that you're gonna hold yourself accountable to even doing activity, period. And that's free. Just put on your tennis shoes and get the hell outside. Um, but if you, if you can't do that, you're not gonna do it just because you bought some expensive thing. I know tons of people, myself included, who have stuff at their house that ends up being like a clothes drying rack.
Yeah. You know? It's just- We, we don't use it. I mean, uh, at home, it c- it can be too easy to be distracted by other stuff. Uh, not that there's anything wrong with, with people who have nice home gyms and, and utilize [00:34:00] them, but, you know, a lot of people don't. A lot of people need the accountability of, of seeing someone like me or going to a specific place to really get it done, 'cause, you know, y- you just gotta know yourself.
It's, it's the same thing with, with food. It's like, if you know you can't resist a certain food, then don't keep it in your house. It's just gonna be a constant temptation to you. So, you know, uh, I, I try to set myself and, and clients up for success, you know? And everybody's gotta know themselves really well, and there's not some cookie cutter thing where you can say, "Okay, you do this, and you're gonna get the same results as everybody else who's, who's done this."
It's like, nah, you, we gotta figure out what makes you tick and what is gonna work for consistency for the long haul, 'cause this is a, a lifetime commitment, you know, s- being in shape and, and being healthy. This is not an intervention. This is, um, you know, how can we make this last a lifetime? So I'm not in any rush to make, you know, huge changes.
[00:35:00] For a lot of people, just showing up and lifting weights two to three days a week is a huge change to their life. Oh, yeah. So the last thing I wanna try to do is put them on some kinda crazy diet, you know? Most people will invariably, when they start working out regularly, will start eating better, just, uh, because they like it.
They like how they, they feel. Uh, and they wanna kinda support their training. And they'll usually start drinking less, because the first time they come in to do a workout and they're a little bit hungover- ... maybe from having too much the night before, like, "Oh my God, my performance is like crap. I feel like crap."
And they don't like that. Um, but if they haven't been working out, they don't really realize how good they can feel, so the things that may be making them feel a little run down or, or down, they, they just don't recognize it. So I think, you know, getting in the gym, starting and being consistent pays so many dividends outside of the gym by how people's lifestyle just naturally kinda gravitates towards supporting the gym.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. Do you have any [00:36:00] cardiovascular equipment recommendations? My argument is I would, again, it's whatever people are gonna do by far away trumps whatever's optimal. There's no question. Uh, and if you're in Minnesota and you can buy a cheap treadmill to get your steps in, by all means, get, get a treadmill, even though I'm not a big fan of them.
But-
Chad Landers: Right ...
Dr MIke T Nelson : my counter-argument would be I like the rower or the assault bike or even a bike, because you can do a little bit low intensity. It is a little bit harder, but I find that you can actually do pretty high intensity with people who I don't trust to sprint or run or have knee issues or have a- Right
you know, a freaky shoulder or things like that. Like, you could get some pretty high-intensity stuff in by using those pieces of equipment, and sometimes if it saves you the trip to the gym to do it, I would make an argument that if you're motivated, do that first and then, you know, work with someone like yourself at the gym for, you know, two or three days a week on more of the, the strength training.[00:37:00]
I think you can get- Right ... a lot of runway out of that. I don't know if you have any preference on that.
Chad Landers: Sure. No, I, I agree with you. I think probably my favorite for most clients is a fan bike, whatever one- Yeah, definitely ... you wanna use. An AirDyne or a- Sure ... Echo Bike or whatever. Uh, does- the brand doesn't matter.
Um, I like the fan bike because as anybody who's done it knows, no matter how hard you work, you're gonna find what your peak is. Oh, yeah. And for some people it might be 45 RPMs. For other people it might be 60 or 70 RPMs or whatever, but people are always shocked by how difficult that is. And I like that you're working upper and lower body at the same time, so that's great.
I like the Concept2 for the same reason. I find that a little bit more challenging for people to get good technique on. Sure. And it can be a little bit rougher on the lower back for a lot of people- Sure ... especially if they don't have great technique, but I still love it. It's probably the thing that [00:38:00] I use the most, um, myself in training.
Uh, but with clients it tends to be the fan bike. For zone two stuff, just because of my knees, I prefer the recumbent bike. Um, I'm able to have a pretty decent level of tension on the bike, even staying in zone two, which as an old guy is, is fairly w- low heart rate. But, um, I can, I can get a decent tension on there, so I get a, a, a bit of a quad stimulus from it as well, which is nice since I'm not squatting so heavy.
And if you've ever seen a sprint cyclist's thighs- Oh, yeah, huge ... they're pr- pretty damn huge. So not that my legs are like that by any stretch, but I do get, you know, some stimulus which, which does feel good. Um, a lot of people for years have poo-pooed the elliptical. I think the elliptical's a fine piece of equipment.
Uh, different brands, depending on how they adjust, might- Work better for certain heights people and, and that kind of thing. But, you know, again, [00:39:00] I like something that's, that's less impactful. It has the option of upper and lower at the same time. I wear a heart rate strap. I wear a Polar strap, so it, it gets my heart rate up fine.
So it, it gets my heart rate up better than the treadmill. I can't run on my knees. Yeah. But I can't really walk fast enough at a high enough incline to get my heart rate as high as the elliptical will, for whatever reason. So, uh, yeah, I, I like the, the elliptical, and I think for a, a lot of people that, especially who aren't dyed-in-the-wool athletes, I think that can be a great thing for the home.
Um, I think Airdynes, you know, they're probably the cheapest thing and the, the smallest footprint for your space. But don't get on a fan bike thinking that you're gonna do zone two on that for, like- Yeah, it's hard to do low intensity ... 30 to 60 minutes. Yeah, it ain't gonna happen. But, but people think that, I think.
They don't- Yeah ... I mean, nowadays people are more cognizant of what high intensity interval training is and that type of thing. But in the old days, people were just thinking [00:40:00] cardio. So they would go to a store that had stuff like an AirDyne and, and get on it for, like, a minute, and be like, "Oh, yeah, this is great."
And then they get it home, and they think they're gonna do a half an hour on it, and it's like, "Oh my God, I'm, like, dying after the second minute." So, uh, I do think people need to kinda just be aware that it is for a specific purpose. It, it's... If interval training is your thing, um, which I think, you know, for most people the, the bang for your buck time-wise is, is- Sure
so much better with, with that. Um, or I, I love your, uh, six-minute protocol on the, on the- Yeah ... Concept2. Yeah. Um, that, that, that's... I do that quite a bit, actually. Um, so, uh, a- anything like that that can, can save me time, uh, I, I like. And like I said, with the, with the home people in mind, I think the AirDyne is, is great if you're using it, you know, for the right purpose, just because it's so much less expensive and takes up so much less space.
And you can usually find them on Craigslist or something like that pretty cheap, 'cause people have bought them [00:41:00] thinking they're gonna use them, and they never do 'cause they're so hard.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. I found for lower to moderate intensity, even up to zone, maybe zone four, depending upon where you're at, like, just buy an old bike, put road tires on it.
I still have my mountain bike from high school. That's how- Oh, wow ... old it is. And just buy a used, like, fluid trainer on the back, you know, so the back wheel's the only thing spinning. You don't need any fancy metrics. I have a $20 Garmin thing I just slapped onto the back axle. It only tells me speed. You don't need power.
And that's, like, a really cheap way to do some low to moderate intensity stuff. I mean, it's not the most comfortable thing. Bike seats are still not that fun. Yeah. But for people looking, if they can't find anything used, like, that's a pretty inexpensive way of, you know, having some metrics and something that doesn't take up a massive footprint for pretty inexpensive money, too.
Chad Landers: Sure, yeah. A lot less expensive than a recumbent bike. I mean, I, I love-
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah ...
Chad Landers: my recumbent bikes, but you're not gonna get one [00:42:00] of those for near as cheap as you could do that setup like you're talking.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. And so what do you do for the intervals between training? Like, just tell us a little bit more about what that looks like, what are you trying to achieve, what modalities do you use?
Chad Landers: So typically, I mean, it kinda depends on the client and, and what they, what they like, uh, 'cause obviously it has to be enjoyable. And I don't do it with every client. There's some clients who are very active outside of the gym, especially for cardio. They might be avid runners or, or hikers or whatever. So I don't feel the need to do interval stuff with them.
They can just work on strength training with me. But people who need it, uh, a- and who aren't a- afraid to work hard, um, will generally be the Airdyne. It'll, it'll be the, the Fan Bike just because, as I said earlier, it's so easy to dial it in for the individual. And it doesn't matter to me if they're only going [00:43:00] 35 RPM.
If that's hard for them, then great. But, and then we can also know that when they're able to do 40 RPM or 45 or 50 or whatever, um, that they're, they're getting better. We don't need anything, you know, super fancy to tell us that other than their, um, uh, ability to exert effort is, is better. Um, I'll, I'll usually start with two-minute intervals on that, and if people get pretty adept at that and I think I can push them, I will, the last 10 seconds of the two minutes, I will have them try to hit a PR.
Mm. Nice. How high can you push the RPMs? And so I would not do that on day one with somebody I'd never trained before- ... 'cause they would throw up- Yeah ... in all likelihood. But if I see that somebody handles the two minutes, and some people don't. Some people, two minutes on a Fan Bike will wreck them, and we'll have to take quite a bit of rest before we go back to that next weight training exercise.
Uh, but people whose conditioning i- is pretty good and they start being able to handle the, the [00:44:00] two minutes no problem, I'll do that two minutes with a 10-second sprint at the end. Um, I've used the Concept2 as well, but again, it's just so much harder to teach proper technique. And for, for some people that are very in tune with their bodies, I've had, you know, worked with dancers and different types, that's not a problem.
You know, we can, we can teach them pretty quickly, and other people are, like, physically dyslexic, and it's just not worth our time- Yeah ... to try to, to try to- Yeah, no ... make that work for them. We'll use something else. I do have a, a StepMill. That's the re- Oh, those are cool ... revolving staircase. Yeah, so I've had that for, for many, many years.
You may not see them a whole lot anymore, but, um, I find that, uh, I, I like that, like for, um, Stephen Perkins, the, the drummer from Jane's Addiction- Yeah So he's one of my clients. He's, he's on the back cover of my book. Um, for him, because he does so much with his upper body drumming- Yeah ... not that he's not using his [00:45:00] lower body too, he is, but especially the upper body.
So I don't really feel like I want to do intervals with him where I'm using the rower or the fan bike, 'cause I want to avoid that extra upper body wear and tear on him- Yep ... on, on his shoulders. So with him, I will use the step mill, and especially before he's gonna go out on tour, we really push the, the, the two-minute intervals on the step mill and get his cardio conditioning up.
'Cause then he... 'Cause if you ever seen, either seen him in person or, or seen a video of him play, the guy's a maniac. He's crazy. Yeah. He's a g- great drummer. So for him, each song, and their songs aren't necessarily short songs. There can be, you know, some- Yeah, they're long songs at times. Yeah. There can be some long ones, and he's going for it, so, so he needs to have, you know, that level of conditioning.
So for him, I gravitate towards that step mill. Um, I find a lot of, of women like the step mill 'cause it just makes them feel like they're working their, their booty more, which fine, you know, I, I'm- Yeah. ... [00:46:00] I'm with whatever people will do and they will like, um, 'cause it's, it's all about that consistency thing, you know, always.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. I'm always fascinated by the conditioning of drummers in particular, um, especially in more, I guess you could say kind of the alternative metal area, because it seems to be a lot more active, and it's, it's crazy to me to watch the different styles. So someone like him versus, um, I'm blanking on the guy's name, but the drummer for Lorna Shore, amazing drummer, but he's just, he's so quiet and efficient, but he's doing crazy stuff-
like just nasal breathing the whole time. Wow. And then you compare him to, like, um, like Eli, Eli Kosterhoff, who's in Slipknot now, used to be in Sepultura. He just looks like he's gonna fucking kill everything- ... like every single time, but he'll do it for longer songs, back-to-back songs, [00:47:00] and I'm like, how do...
Just the level of conditioning to pull that off. And then you've got a handful of drummers, like the former drummer who used to be with Atreyu before, when Alex was singing with them. Now he would do some vocals. Um, I also think of, um, uh, Brann Daller from Mastodon does a lot of vocals while drumming.
Crazy. And that to me is just another level. So now you're drumming. So not only are you doing multiple things at once, you have to have breath control and to sing- ... some clean lyrics on the top of doing all this stuff. It to me is just mind-blowing.
Chad Landers: Yeah, it really is. It's unbelievable. Another, uh, one of my clients is another drummer, Jimmy DeAnda.
He's Bulletboys' drummer. Oh, nice. He's also... Yeah, he's also done some stuff, uh, with George Lynch and, and a little bit substituting in with Ratt and stuff. Oh, cool. Well, Jimmy's a different style of, of drummer than, than Perkins is. And Jimmy is going for it, like, like hitting those skins hard. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, he's like, [00:48:00] it's like a fight, you know?
So- Yeah ... so yeah, there are different styles, but, uh, but they all need to be in, in incredible shape. It really is. And that's actually why Jimmy had started seeing me, because, uh, he saw what kind of shape Perkins was in, and he's like, "You know, I'm having a little, a little trouble now getting through sets on tour.
I'm just, I'm not in the shape that I used to be in." So, uh, that's how I, I, I started training him. And, and he kind of just completely did, did a 180 with where he was headed versus what he's at now. Now, you know, he's, he... They're both a, a year older than me, so they're 58, and they're fucking great, man.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah.
I also think of singers the same way. Like, some singers are very stationary. Some move around a lot. Like, I think of Mike Muir from, uh, Suicidal Tendencies, who's... God, he's gotta be getting close to 60, I think, now. And I saw him live a couple years ago, and he's, like, running around the stage the whole time, and didn't miss a beat singing or anything like that [00:49:00] either.
And to do that for extended periods of time, I think people underestimate the amount of conditioning you have to have to pull that off and not have it affect the vocals at the same time.
Chad Landers: Oh, yeah. I mean, l- look at Mick Jagger.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah, Jagger.
Chad Landers: How old is he? The dude's in his 80s. He's in his 80s. Now, I did not know this.
Actually, J- Jimmy DeAnda, I think, or was it Perkins? O- one of them, I think it was Perkins, told me that Mick Jagger's dad was like the Jack LaLanne of Great Britain. He was like- Oh, I didn't know that ... some big fitness... Yeah, he was some big fitness guru. So, um, Mick kinda had that instilled in him at a young age.
And when you think about it, you, looking back f- from the '60s on, he's never been a guy who has been overweight. Oh, no. If anything, he would look underweight, you know, almost. Looks the same almost. Yeah, exactly. You know, just, um, a little older. So, so yeah, it's, it's amazing how much you can do if you just stay consistent in doing it.
It... And it's a cliche, but use it or lose it is just [00:50:00] truer and truer the older you get. And sometimes you don't realize it until you get older because, you know, I could skip months of training when I was younger and jump back into it pretty quickly and, you know, not even get that sore or whatever. But now, like you said, I miss a couple weeks, and it's like, oh, man.
Oof, yeah. It's a slog to get back into this. So, so yeah, consistency is king.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Do you find that there's- My guess is similarities between musical artists and even, like, I guess I group them as Hollywood performers, that there seems to be a much more emphasis now on, lack for a better word, like healthy aging.
I think with, like, performers, you have the physical aspect of, "Oh my God, I went and did that show. It wasn't as good as I think it should've been. Oh my God, I better start training." You know? Right. It seems like there's a lot more... I mean, I can go down the list of how many people I know in different bands who, you know, their training is pretty, you know, [00:51:00] legit.
Um, you know, Matt Heafy from, uh, Trivium, like, does a lot of BJJ while he's training, has a nutritionist, has a trainer. Very dedicated, obviously, you know, singing, doing long shows. It seems to be that that's more of the trend now, like the, you know, Lemmy of the past who was just a genetic freak who I don't know how he could live that way-
and pull it off, but he did. Like, those people are very far and few between now it seems.
Chad Landers: Yeah, I think that's kind of, you know, indicative of nowadays performers of any kind are in, in such the public eye-
Dr MIke T Nelson : For sure ...
Chad Landers: more so, 'cause before there was internet, I, and I'm old enough to remember- Yeah, yeah ... before there was internet.
So unless you saw somebody on, like, People Magazine or, uh, Tiger Beat or whatever- ... um, you know, it, people had, had privacy and now there's, you know, there's paparazzi all around taking bad pictures of [00:52:00] you. So there's not wanting to, to look bad in the public. Um, there's obviously wanting to perform better.
Um, but then I think at least in LA, because we are such a fitness culture, and so it's y- you don't wanna be kinda left out of that. Mm-hmm. You don't wanna be the oddball, and especially when other people in your sphere, other actors, other musicians, whatever, you're like, "Well, I don't wanna be the schlub- Yeah
that's, you know, that's still trying to, you know, go out there and, and get it done. So, so yeah. But, um, you know, we- we're still fighting the couch is, is our biggest, uh, adversary when it comes to fitness. Most people still aren't training. Um, I would say, you know, 85% of people over 50, I think is what I had in the book when I looked it up, um, 85% of people don't weight train two days a week or more.
That's [00:53:00] a lot of people who are missing out on the benefits of that. So, um, in LA we tend to get a skewed version of what most people are doing, 'cause like s- it's, it's not unusual. I mean, I'm, I'm a, a fit guy and stuff for 57, but- You know, you see guys in their 70s here who look damn good- Oh, sure, yeah ... and you're like, "Holy crap," you know?
This is, like, amazing. Um, and men and women both. And so, um, you know, I think it's trying to, to maybe reach those people where... And I, you know, I grew up in Illinois. I, I remember what it was like in the winter, and you'd wear so many layers. Nobody'd see your body, so- Yeah ... uh, you'd, you know, put on some poundage in the winter and then try to, you know, take it off in the spring before the pools opened and, and that kinda thing.
Um, but I think for kind of a more mature crowd who that maybe is not a motivator anymore, they're not thinking about going to the pool this summer, um, th- it's gotta get back [00:54:00] to that, that health and, and lifestyle component of it. Because you don't have to be resigned to the rocking chair in your 50s or, or 60s or even 70s.
And, and the clients that I've worked with over the years are, are, are living proof of that. You can do, uh, amazing things, but you do have to do it. It's not gonna happen accidentally. It's not gonna happen because you decided to take this protein powder or take creatine or whatever it is if you're not- Or this new peptide powder
training ... '
Dr MIke T Nelson : cause you gotta do peptides, bro. I mean,
Chad Landers: come on. Oh my God. I know. It's like, get your BP-157 or, you know, whatever they all are. It's like, um, yeah, let's not even go down that rabbit hole. Um, but yeah, I think, you know, most people need to just, you know, get off their butts and, and get moving and make that a consistent part of their, their lifestyle.
And far too many people, um, you know, they may have... I talk about it in the [00:55:00] book. They, they have kids, and they may have older parents who they're now taking care of, and so they're being pulled in a lot of different directions. And their careers are usually still going strong, and they may be busier than ever at their career 'cause now they're, like, the CEO or, or, you know, the VP or whatever.
And so they are busy, and they, but they still gotta find time to do it because when you've got that many areas of your life pulling you in these different directions, you need to be fit, and you need to be resilient, and you need to be able to withstand that to be able to achieve your ultimate goal of taking care of everybody else.
You have to take care of yourself first to be able to take care of everybody else. It's just like flying in a plane. You know, put your oxygen mask on first, then put it on the kids or on grandpa or whatever, you know? You gotta do that w- with your fitness. You gotta take care of yourself first, and then you're gonna be able...
Not only you're gonna be a good example for everybody else in your life, uh, but you're gonna actually be able to be more resilient and handle all the stresses and everything that go along [00:56:00] with all that responsibility.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah, agree. Uh, so tell us a little bit more about the book. Why did you decide to write it?
I know it's specifically for people over 50, which, which I think is great because I- Oh man, I'm sure you get these comments all the time. I've had people younger than me, by like 10 years, are like, "Oh man, I don't wanna train anymore. It's just too late." "I can't do it." I'm like, "What are you thinking?" Right.
"You're 42."
Chad Landers: Exactly. Well, I, I'm pretty sure I talk about it in the book, I, I can't remember, but a quote that I always use, uh, in everyday life with clients, when somebody comes in and like, "Well, I'm too old to, to do this." I go, "No, you're too old not to do it." Yeah. 'Cause if you- It's even more important now.
Yeah, it's more critical you do at this age, 'cause you are slowly circling the drain, and we are gonna try to, you know, put a, put a stopper in that drain for a bit and, and reverse course for a little while, and then, you know, keep your head above water for as long as we can. So, so yeah, you're, you're, you're too old not to work out.
S- start working [00:57:00] out now, get as strong as you can while you're as young as you're ever gonna be, and then try to maintain that for as long as you can. And, and that's really my goal with myself and, and with all my clients.
Dr MIke T Nelson : It's a weird paradox where people are like, "I'm too old to start now." I'm like, "But you realize if you wait, you're gonna be older."
Right. So let's say that was a valid excuse. That would almost be the reason, like you mentioned, to start now. That would be the reason to, let's go now and not wait another 10 years, because how much function and muscle and things you're gonna lose, it does accelerate as you get older. So I agree. Oh, yeah.
That's a reason to start sooner, not later.
Chad Landers: Yeah, exactly, and that's one of the benefits of... I've been a, I've been a personal trainer in LA for over 33 years. I've had a gym for 23 years, and I've had clients who've been with me 25, 26, you know, 30 years. Oh, it's so crazy. So [00:58:00] yeah, so I've seen people through seasons of their life, if from 30s, 40s, 50s or 50s, 60s, 70s, whatever that is.
And every single one, the, the earlier they started, the better they were able to maintain it. Now, that doesn't mean that it's not beneficial to start if you are older. I had a client who didn't start training with me till she was 87, and she continued to get stronger up on into her 90s until she, you know, she passed away from cancer at 95.
But, um, o- one of my actually f- favorite parts of my career, and, you know, the, the celebrity stuff is fun and the, the book is fun and all that, but that client who passed away at 95, I got a text from her daughter after she passed that thanked me because even on- At the end, in the hospital before she died, she was able to get up and go to the bathroom herself.
Mm. Yeah. She [00:59:00] did not have to lay there in her own filth as she, you know, went on to the next realm. So for me, that's like a powerful, powerful thing, and it's way more important to me to give somebody, like, dignity in their death because they were able to still be functional. Um, th- there's no, no better thing in, in my career than that really.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. And you've probably maybe noticed this in your own life, that I think... I don't ever wanna say I'm not ever gonna be training for performance, but there becomes a time point where, like we kind of tossed at the beginning, what is the cost of it? And I'm putting this off as long as possible, like accepting that now I'm just trying to protect the downside.
But I think the way you protect- That's right ... the downside is by still ironically pushing performance in an intelligent manner. So I don't think the mindset- Right ... ever really changes.
Chad Landers: No. I, I talk about it in the book. Um, [01:00:00] I still try with every client, every workout to set a PR. Yeah. Now, that is not what you think in terms of one rep maxes.
It has nothing to do with one rep max. But, you know, I'm old school. I keep a written log. I don't use an iPad or anything. And trainers who don't keep logs of their clients' workouts, period, just drive me crazy- Oh, that's my biggest pet peeve ... 'cause then it's just about... Yeah. It's like all you're trying to do is get them tired- Yeah, yeah
and, you know, then run 'em out. But you don't know that they're gonna progress. But my clients, I have everything written down that they've ever done. I have 30-some years of, of workout books that I just can't throw away 'cause I- Yeah,
Dr MIke T Nelson : I
Chad Landers: know ... it's my history. And so I can look at all this and I can say, "Okay," then I'll tell everybody this every workout, "Okay, the last time we did this exercise, we did three sets of eight with this weight."
I go, "Let's try to beat it. If we nine or 10 even on one set, great. Let's see what happens." Yeah. And we'll see what happens. And that's how we stack days. And so it'll happen, like sometimes people will struggle. They'll [01:01:00] get like 10, 10, eight, uh, on something, and they just can't get past that 10, 10, 8. So I may lighten it up and may do some, some higher reps for a week, see what happens, and go back to the heavier.
Or if, if somebody's stuck, especially if it's a little higher rep range, if they're stuck with like 15, 15 and 11, well, I'm not gonna wait there until we get three sets of 15. I'm like, you know what? Depending on what the exercise is, we'll go up a, a certain amount of weight, whether it's five pounds or 25 pounds, if it's a leg press or something.
Yeah, yeah. But we'll, um, we'll, we'll go up and just back the reps off to three of 10 'cause at that point there's- I, I don't find the benefit to struggling on that third set. For whatever reason, they're too tired, and we've tried this two or three times, and it hasn't improved, so their form is good, let's just go heavier and, and, and see what happens.
Um, but, you know, progress is, is never linear. Uh, uh, you know, it's fits and spurts, and you'll be [01:02:00] stuck at something for a while, and then all of a sudden you'll have this big jump up where you did, like, s- six more total reps than you did the workout before. I had that happen with a client today and I'm like, "Holy crap," you know?
"What happened?" Yeah. You know, this is, this is great. Um, but, but that's, you know, to be expected, 'cause there's so many factors outside of the workout that really are determining what they come in with on that day, you know? Their, their sleep, their stress, their diet, all, all that kinda stuff. So, so yeah, the only way that I can guarantee that clients are improving is to keep track of it, and then g- get their buy-in by saying, "Okay, this is what we did before.
This is what we're trying now." And usually what, what will happen is I will have to actually rein clients in, 'cause they wanna beat those numbers so badly that they might let their form start to suffer. Be like, "No, no," you know? "That, that doesn't count." We gotta, you know, do it with good form. But, um, but yeah, I think, you know, you can, you can make clients a part of the process just by hitting those [01:03:00] types of PRs without having to grind somebody down to a nub every workout and prove what a badass trainer you are, 'cause I can make somebody, you know, puke or whatever.
Yeah. It's,
Dr MIke T Nelson : like,
Chad Landers: ridiculous.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. That's the old, I think it was a Mel Siff quote, like, "Any monkey can make you sweat," right? It's just, like-
Chad Landers: Absolutely ... to,
Dr MIke T Nelson : to make something hard isn't that hard to do, doesn't require a lot of skill set. But to make them progress, like in your case, for decades, that, that's, that's a skill set.
Chad Landers: Yeah, and it's, you know, it's one of those things that you don't know what you don't know. So you are, you know, blessed, I guess, with, with clients that have certain afflictions or, or things that come up in their life, and you have to find a way around that. Um, even just yesterday I, I had a client and I did something with them that I've never done in, in 33 years.
I just kinda changed something 'cause I thought, "Well, you know what?" this might work. Something popped into my head when I [01:04:00] saw how, how they were doing a, a l- a lying leg curl with the, the furniture sliders, and so I, I grabbed my, my NT loop, 'cause they were fine on the eccentric, but they just didn't quite have the s- strength for the concentric.
Mm. So I put the NT loop around their hips- Yeah, yeah ... held them up a little bit, and said, "Okay, try it now." And they were able to do it and get through it, and so then I was able to use, on the second set, a little less support from me, and they were still able to do it. And the final set I really didn't give them any, I just was there more for moral support, and they, you know, saw my hands there holding the strap, but I wasn't lifting at all.
And they were able to do the exercise, but we just had to kinda get 'em over that, that mental hurdle. Well, um, the longer you've been in the game, the more those kinda things come up because you're like, "Oh, let me, let me try this. This might work. I've, I've, I've seen something, you know, similar before." So I had that happen, um, with my client Barbara, who I talk about in the book.
I [01:05:00] trained her for 25 years. Uh, she survived breast cancer and a, and a bad fall where she shattered her arm, and they said, you know, she'd never have use of her hand again and shouldn't lift more than five or 10 pounds. And then we slowly rehabbed her from that, and at 70 years old she won the World Bench Press Championships in Prague.
Nice. You know? That's amazing. So yeah. And so, um, w- with her, after she'd had b- the breast cancer and the, the sentinel node removed, um, and this was on the opposite side of her body that she'd had the shattered arm, she couldn't lift her arm overhead. And so I'm trying to figure this out, what can she do, and she would, she would do this exercise in rehab where she had to, like, crawl her hand up the wall.
Mm. Yep. So she could get her arm overhead, but she couldn't lift it up overhead from- Mm ... the side. So I'm like, "All right, let's try this." So she crawled up. I go, "Just lower it. Just do the- Yep ... the eccentric." And she lowered it, and when she realized mentally that she could actually go through the range of [01:06:00] motion- Yep
it didn't take her long before she was able to do the concentric too. Yeah. But you had to have that ability to think outside of the box and be like, "Okay, well, I know you can get your arm overhead. Let's just see what happens if you can lower it." If she couldn't lower it, if it was somehow locked up or she had zero control over it and it just fell- Yeah
that would've been a different story. But, you know, it... I think the more experience you have, the more you're able to figure things out that might work in a certain situation. And sometimes you're right and sometimes you're wrong, but at least you're, you're more likely to have something that's gonna help somebody rather than just resign them, you know, to the dustbin.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah. Awesome. So tell us more, where can, uh, people get the book? I know it's out now. How can they pick it up?
Chad Landers: Yeah, well, pretty much anywhere you buy books, it's available. It's w- you know, worldwide, so whether it's Amazon or Barnes & Noble or, or Books-A-Million. It's on Apple Books, on Google Books, um, I mean, everywhere you get a book.
You can certainly go to the [01:07:00] publisher, Human Kinetics. Um, I like to support, you know, smaller businesses, so if you- For sure ... if you'd rather do that and go directly to Human Kinetics rather than go through Amazon or something, that, that's great, too. Um, it's, it's all good. Uh, but I think for Gen Xers like myself, um, aside from the, the workout stuff that's in there and the things I address with, you know, medications or, or certain adjustments you may need to make for exercises, uh, I think you'll like the '80s references that I sprinkle throughout.
Oh, yeah. 'Cause you're not gonna find too many... Yeah, you're not gonna find too many fitness books that talk about movies like Can't Buy Me Love or Miami Vice or Dungeons- Yep ... and Dragons or stuff like that. So I tried to make it an enjoyable read so that people would wanna continue reading and actually get the, the nuts and bolts of the information.
The workouts themselves y- you could do if you were 20, 30, 40, that doesn't matter. The reason that it's geared to somebody 50 plus is, um, that's what Human Kinetics [01:08:00] wanted. I happen to have had a lot of experience training people in that age group, and I happen to be in that age group. So the fact that I had all those things going for me, I think lent itself to me, um, writing this book.
But it's definitely different than most fitness books that you will, will read. It's still, you know, evidence-based stuff, but it's maybe a little less dry and academic than, than typically what you would see. So I'm hoping because of that, that people will, will, will give it a chance, and then will implement the workouts.
'Cause the workouts are... There's, there's nothing crazy in there, you know. They're, they're simple, they're straightforward. Most of them are full-body workouts, whether you have two, three, or, or even four days a week to devote to it. Um, we talk about nutrition in chapter three. We talk about recovery and cardio in chapter 14.
So there's something there really, uh, for everybody. And whether you're, you're 50, or you are gonna be someday, it's, uh, I think a, a good book to help get you there [01:09:00] and thrive beyond.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Yeah, and it's a very easy read, and I like that it was very complete. Like, you've got everything there. You've got the samples.
You've got your, you know, warm-ups and special cases and all that kind of stuff. So I think it was nice because it gets rid of all the excuses most people would have if they're 50 and trying to lift. It's like, no, like go to this chapter, go to the next chapter- ... go to the next chapter. Like, for literally the price of the book, like they're, they're all good to go.
So I would, yeah, highly recommend people check it out. I think it turned out really good. I appreciate you being on the show.
Chad Landers: Oh, so thank you. I appreciate it, and I appreciate you giving me a, a chance to get more people aware of the book. Um, I ... My, my big hope is just that, that people implement it. Uh, it's not about book sales.
You know, that's, that's great, but it's really just about getting information into people's hands, that 85% who aren't using it, 'cause most of the time, um, e- even this book is geared toward the intermediate [01:10:00] lifter who has access to a full gym. Sure. But I tried to give options in there for people who maybe hadn't been working out in a while, or even had, had never really worked out.
Um, and in each of the exercises, there's a section at, at the end of the description called Chad's Take, and in Chad's Take, that's where I talk about all those little idiosyncrasies that, well, if you feel this, you may need to try this instead. Um, and that's been a really, a, a big hit for a lot of the people who, who've read the book.
They really appreciate that. And I tried to make a book that was as close to training with me in person as it could be. And so my clients who do train with me who've read the book, they said I, I did a good job of that. So if you ever thought, you know, you might wanna train with somebody like me, the book is, is probably the closest thing that you've got out there right now, unless you live in LA, then give me a call.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Awesome. Uh, thank you so much. We'll put a link down below for the book. I would highly recommend everyone check it out. And, uh, thank you so much for your time today, Chad. [01:11:00] I really appreciate it. This was great.
Chad Landers: All right. Thanks, Mike. It was fun.
Dr MIke T Nelson : Thank you
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for listening to the podcast today. Huge thanks to Chad for coming on the podcast and discussing his brand new book from Human Kinetics, which I highly recommend you check out, called Building Strength and Muscle After 50. You can find it on the Human Kinetics website we put in down below.
You can also find it, uh, through your favorite bookseller, Amazon, and pretty much any place, uh, books are sold. So again, I've really enjoyed it. I thought it turned out really, really well. And make sure to check out Chad on the old Instagram and all the social media stuff. If you're in the Los Angeles area, I don't know if he's taking any clients right now or not, but you can inquire with him.
If you want more information from myself, make sure to hop on to the free newsletter. Put a link down below. Try to send you entertaining content and [01:12:00] research-based stuff that's also practical that you can use. And if you don't like it, you can unsubscribe. No worries. And we send you a cool free gift when you sign up too.
So, uh, check that out below. And as always, thank you so much for listening to the podcast. If you could help us out with the old algorithms, give us a thumbs up, download, subscribe, stars, whatever the old algorithms need right now to show actual human interaction. Uh, it does go a long way to help with distribution of the podcast since this is all organic-based growth.
So thank you so much for that. And if you even have a minute or two, if you could leave us a review, especially on iTunes, uh, that makes a huge difference, uh, with the, the rankings, distribution, and everything else. Uh, as always, if someone you think may enjoy this one, please forward it to us, share it with us online.
Make sure to tag myself so I can say thanks along with Chad. [01:13:00] Thank you so much for listening. Got ton of great guests coming up here on the podcast. As always, thank you so much. Talk to you next week
Speaker 2: There's something wrong with this hearing aid.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what's wrong?
Speaker 2: I can't hear with it.
Speaker 3: Oh, no wonder. It's too
far away.
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