The Maffetone Method Part 1: What is it?

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Want exercise to be fun, non-stressful and actually effective? Well, Dr. Maffetone has been claiming for almost 30 years now to provide just that, and a lot of people appear to agree with him. So, it seems worthwhile having a look at what he says.

I have divided this discussion into three parts: an explanation of the theory behind the method, how to apply the method, and then verdict/feedback on it. Welcome, to part 1.

Dr. Phillip Maffetone has published numerous books over the years detailing different aspects of his approach (it should be noted that it is not a strict formula, but more of a set of guiding principals for approaching health and fitness). The most recent is 'The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing', which I have to admit I haven't read yet. His seminal work was 'The Maffetone Method' which came out in 1999, but he acknowledges on his webpage that it is outdated now. On his webpage there is also a lot of useful info, and there are various discussions about the method on health/fitness forums (both positive and negative). I’ll be working mainly from The Maffetone Method and his webpage, as well as other articles.

The Maffetone Method, according to the book, is ‘The Holistic, Low-Stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness’. It was developed by Dr. Maffetone after working as a sports physician for many years and found the ‘no pain – no gain’ theory did not get the results he or his clients wanted.

I first heard about this program through my eldest brother. He was on Reserves Officer training with the Australian Army and it was recommended to him by one of the Personal Training instructors, who spoke very highly of it. He said he had used it to get army personnel into exceptional shape, even in their later life.

The first thing to note is that the focus is on developing health, not just fitness. Maffetone gives the example that when he was younger he worked his way up to doing the New York Marathon, but did huge amounts of damage to his body while doing it. He decided he might have been fit enough to run the marathon, but did not have the underlying health to do it properly.

So what is the method? According to the introduction, the important features of the method are:

1. The best exercises for burning fat and improving your health is aerobic.
2. Exercise should be fun. If it’s a chore, something’s not right.
3. Excess stress is bad, and an improper exercise program can increase stress.
4. Many People eat far more carbohydrates than necessary, and more people than we realize are carbohydrate intolerant.
5. Certain dietary fats are good.

He also mentions quite a bit in the book barefoot/minimalist running.

Some of the concepts are not particularly unique, such as exercise should be fun, stress is bad, and some fats are good. Though it is good that he points out exercise stress needs to be taken into account with all other stresses in your life.

Some of the concepts are whole movements in themselves such as the reduced carbohydrates (his is similar to the paleo-method of eating) and minimalist running.

For me, the most interesting concept was that the best exercise for health and fitness training is aerobic. I had heard before that it was best for burning fat, but assumed that training as an athlete you would need to be doing mostly high intensity training.

However, his claim is that for at least the first 3-4months, and then as the majority of training after that, exercise should be at a low heart rate and should leave you feeling like you could do the entire work out again. Of course, I thought about this today as I staggered back from CrossFit barely able to raise my arms to swig from my water bottle.

So, to conclude about his method let me quote from his webpage:

"There are many different facets of health and fitness that also must work together to create optimum human potential—like you felt when you were younger and full of vigor. This approach is a way for an individual to more objectively look at his or her whole life, and address any and all factors that are not working most advantageous for optimal health and fitness. These factors include ones diet or nutritional status, exercise routine, and how physical, chemical and mental stresses are best regulated."

In the next post, I'll look more into what is involved in training according to Maffetone.

A fuller list of his works for those interested:
Complementary Sports Medicine (Human Kinetics, 1999);
The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-Stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness (Ragged Mountain Press/McGraw Hill, 1999);
Fix Your Feet: Build the Best Foundation for Healthy, Pain-Free Knees, Hips, and Spine (Lyons Press, 2004);
In Fitness and In Health (David Barmore, 1993-2009, five editions.);
The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing (Skyhorse Publishing, September 2010);
The Big Book of Health and Fitness (Skyhorse Publishing, December 2011)

What is Fitness?

Fitness Definition

Where better to start than with a definition (yup, it's the old academic coming out in me). However, people do have seriously different concepts of what fitness is, so it's not as silly as it sounds.

A very detailed definition that I rather like comes from the Crossfit Journal. If you have never heard of Crossfit, they are insane and I love them, so you will hear more about the program. Feel free to check it out at www.crossfit.com

In their introductory journal article they have a very long and detailed definition of various aspects which should be considered under fitness which I recommend reading. However, these are summarised into ten points.

"GENERAL PHYSICAL SKILLS
If your goal is optimum physical competence then all the general physical skills must be considered:

1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance - The ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen.
2. Stamina - The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.
3. Strength - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.
4. Flexibility - the ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.
5. Power - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.
6. Speed - The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.
7. Coordination - The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.
8. Agility - The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.
9. Balance - The ability to control the placement of the bodies center of gravity in relation to its support base.
10. Accuracy - The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity."


Having said that, my absolute favourite definition of fitness/laziness comes from Terry Pratchett:
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In a sense that his tutors couldn't quite define, and much to their annoyance, Victor Tugelbend was also the laziest person in the history of the world.

Not simply, ordinarily lazy. Ordinary laziness was merely the absence of effort. Victor had passed through there a long time ago, had gone straight through commonplace idleness and out on the far side. He put more effort into avoiding work than most people put into hard labour...

People who didn't apply themselves to the facts in hand might have thought that Victor Tugelbend would be fat and unhealthy. In fact, he was undoubtedly the most athletically-inclined student in the University. Having to haul around extra poundage was far too much effort, so he saw to it that he never put it on and he kept himself in trim because doing things with decent muscles was far less effort than trying to achieve things with bags of flab.

Moving Pictures, Terry Pratchett.

So, my basic definition of fitness is to be able to do anything required with ease.

Fitness Tests

So, I'll finish today with two general fitness tests for you to try.

Australian Army: 
The Australian Army measure three things for fitness: push-ups, sit ups and then the infamous beep test (also known as shuttle run) or sometimes a 2.4km run.
You can download an MP3 for the shuttle run from the Defence Force website. There appears also to be some apps for this which could work well but I haven't tried any yet.

Male requirement: 15 Push-ups, 45 Sit-ups, 7.5 Shuttle run score
Female requirement: 8 Push-ups, 45 Sit-ups, 7.5 Shuttle run score

For Special Forces Direct Recruiting Scheme (SFDRS) candidates, the PFA standards are:
Male requirement: 30 Push-ups, 60 Sit-ups, 10.1 Shuttle run score

As you can tell from the above Crossfit definition, this doesn't cover a lot of areas such as flexibility or agility. However, it can be nice to know you are fit enough to get into the army.


BUPA:
I also have downloaded for free an app on my phone (I'm an apple girl, so I don't know if there is an android equivalent) by BUPA (It's an Australian health fund) that starts with a fitness test in four areas: flexibility, balance, core and strength.

Flexibility:
Keeping your legs straight, bend from standing to try and touch your toes, being careful of your back.
1 point if you can get just beyond your knees.
2 points if you can get halfway down your shins
3 points if you can get to your ankles
4 points if you can touch your toes.

Balance:
Stand on one foot with your other leg bent at 90 degrees (like you are about to step up onto a box) for as long as you can. You may use your arms to balance, but cannot hold onto anything.
1 point for 0 seconds
2 points for 5-10seconds
3 points for 15 seconds
4 points for 20+ seconds

Core:
The plank test. Start by lying on your front, tuck your toes under and push up onto your forearms. You should aim to maintain a flat spine. Hold it for as long as possible without dropping or raising your hips.




(image stolen from: femalesintraininggym.com, no it's not me, sadly)

1 point for 10 seconds
2 points for 20 seconds
3 points for 40 seconds
4 points for 1+ minutes.

Strength:
Distance hop test. Measure out 6 meters on a flat area. The aim is to cover the 6ms in as few hops as possible. Hops are on one foot only.
1 point for 7+ hops.
2 Points for 6 hops
3 points for 5 hops
4 points for 4 hops.

Based on these four exercises, BUPA suggest you identify where you need to improve (though this doesn't take into account cardio at all, which the beep test does).

So, try doing both tests and if you are confident, post below your scores.