017: Conquering Assumed Limits Through the Different Levels of Training

How do we know when too much IS too much? In today's episode we talk about how our assumed limits can limit our ability to push forward. Oftentimes, negative self-talk and doubt can hinder our capabilities to dream big and conquer our perceived limitations. Furthermore, it is essential to acknowledge and expand upon our realistic expectations by working with and not against the variables that life has given us. We all have different gifts, talents, and life experiences. Lean on your unique voice to enhance your environment and personal experiences. Lastly, I expand upon last week's discussion on my fitness protocol for fat loss and describe the different levels of training. By developing a better awareness of the different levels of training, we can then cultivate a training program that caters to progressive overload while reducing the chances of injury.

As Dr. Andy Galpin would say, "If you have a body then you are an athlete." We are all living through the beautiful game of fitness and life. Take every opportunity to take on challenges and defeat our assumed limits. Choose growth and move the game forward. 

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Transcript

Dream like there is no tomorrow. And for those that never believed in you, dream beyond your deepest desires, while remaining humble in the present. Dream with your heart. Dream with your soul. Dream to love.

how's it everyone? My name is Mike Cabuco, and welcome to another episode of The Love Notes for Live Podcast. Your creative space for amplifying greatness through gratitude. So I heard the craziest thing on the morning local news the other day. Did you know that the researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, developed this thing called smart Leggings that can tell you if you've worked out too much? How about someone designed clothing that tells people that they need to pick up the pace?

At first when I heard the news, I thought it was one of those here we go again. I mean, why develop smart leggings when you could just opt for a smart vest that they already use in soccer or football? I mean, why the need for another type of wearable tech? But before I got too judgy sitting on my high throne on the top of Mount Judge-more, I did some more due diligence and look further into this 1-minute headline that got me triggered in the first place. So these smart leggings consisted of an electronic yarn mechanism that could sense through electricity when someone is approaching exhaustion.

The team at ETH Zurich claimed that the device could detect abnormal shifts in movements by measuring differences in the electric field. It's still a bit hard for me to wrap my head around it, but if I understand the process correctly, the device records electrical signals produced by movement and then compares it to a predictive model based on data points marked by exhaustion. The technology sounds promising, and to be honest with you all, I admit I overreacted. When I first heard the news, I didn't have an open mind about it and my initial assumption made a you know what of me. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was completely in the wrong for not giving this innovative idea any attention.

Imagine if you could design a wearable tech that doesn't heavily rely on GPS tech but rather focus directly on monitoring intricate changes in movement. I mean, think smart jerseys or uniforms for athletes that can be utilized during training or in game and could predict performance thresholds patterns for progress and the moment you approach overtraining or injury smart fibers. I like the idea and I do hope the team over at ETH Zurich continues to make progress with their wearable tech. Until then, well, we'll have to go old school with our training and focus more on personal performance metrics and knowing when too much is too much. But that's the tricky part.

How do we know when too much is too much? I've observed a lot of different types that hang around the gym. I know I should just focus on my own training, but when they're swinging kettlebells in your face without any consideration, it's kind of hard to ignore, isn't it? I'd love to say I'm the most resilient guy in the gym, but distractions are distractions. It's kind of like these little kids that I saw playing at church the other Sunday during Easter mass.

And while the mom was trying to de-escalate the situation, the dad was just like, la la la. Whose kids? What kids? Oh, they're not my kids. So I'm just going to sit here, stare straight and act like everything is A-OK.

But I digress. Anyways, among the different types that roll through the gym, I'm a bit concerned with the hype guy who likes to dance on the edge of maximum performance, maximum effort and maximum injury. Unfortunately, not everyone that hits the gym is aware of the relationship between form, volume and intensity. And there's always that one type that looks like minutes away from injury every time they pick up the weights. I do feel bad and I feel like I should say something, but I realize some people want to learn the hard way.

Yeah, you know, learn through experience. And to be fair, I'm not perfect. And when I was younger, I didn't have the proper education between form, volume and intensity as well. Which brings me to a beautiful discussion on the different levels of training proposed by Dr. Andy Galpin on the Huberman Lab podcast.

So from what I gather, there are four levels of training overload, functional overreaching, nonfunctional overreaching and overtraining. So the first level is called overload. This can be considered as your daily workout and any form of exercise in which you are overloading your body. The marker for overload is fatigue and your acute or immediate performance can go down from overload, we can expect a recovery period of minutes to days. Next up is the second level, which is called functional overreaching.

Now, this stage of training is what Dr. Galpin refers to as the golden target, where we hit acute bouts of insults. In other words, the golden target is defined by a short period of intense activity in which we experience short term physical injury. So the classical example is progressive weight training. So let's say one week you were able to bench the bar plus 245 plates for six reps at four sets.

Then the following week, to achieve functional overreaching, you would then either add more weight or more reps. If you successfully completed the exercise with proper form, then you hit the golden target. Functional overreaching is key for raising the bar, improving your baseline performance, and a true marker for growth. Also, keep in mind another good indicator that you are in the sweet spot of training is that your recovery period is usually around a few days to a week or so. So compared to the overload phase, your body is going to go through a long-term adaptation.

So it also makes sense that your recovery will also take longer. Now, the third level is called nonfunctional overreaching. This concept was actually new to me until I heard Dr. Galpin's explanation, but it totally makes sense. So nonfunctional overreaching is when you continue to train, ramp up the intensity and or volume, but you do not see a net positive benefit.

A good example of this was just a few months ago. So my ego got the best of me. I'm sorry. It happens. And while I was performing a conventional deadlift, I had too much weight on, too much confidence, and when I pulled up, I barely got the weight off the ground before I yeah, I herniated a disc and I felt an electric shock go through my legs.

Too much weight, too much ego, and not enough careful planning. It was such a strange feeling, and for the next few weeks, I had to reduce my weight load and build myself back up to baseline. Thankfully, it only took me about four weeks to recover from my training mistake, but it was a great lesson, nonetheless. Which leads us to the fourth level of training, called overtraining, or long-term downtime. Overtraining is mind over manner manifested to an extreme level, and it ain't the best place to be in, especially if you're an athlete, professional or not.

Once you surpass overtraining, it will take months to a year to fully recover from the insults, physical and mental injuries included. And as an athlete, this is the game that we all play. Knowing when to push and knowing when to pull. Well, it's a high stakes game of knowing when too much is too much. But here's the overarching predicament.

You won't know what too much feels like until you push yourself past your assumed limits. That's the beautiful game of fitness in life. And we all share this common perception of what we think our limits are. When we stop short of what we can truly accomplish, we limit our opportunities for growth and a chance to shift the trajectory of our lives for the better. We all hold the power to move the game of life forward.

And it all starts with one decision. It all starts with a choice to do better, take the risk and charge beyond our assumed limits, move forward by identifying and adapting to the changing variables of life. Now, I'm currently a week and a half into my Q Two fitness protocol, which revolves around a twelve week cut, and I'm feeling pretty good so far. I believe most of it is due to being really strict with my macro spread, and to be honest, I misspoke in the last podcast episode, and I was overestimating my cutting calories and macros. So just to clarify, my daily caloric intake is 1935, with my target macro set at 158 grams of protein, 219 grams of carbohydrates, and 47 grams of fat.

So far, I'm tracking correctly downward without any reduction in strength. So when I originally wrote the draft for this episode, I wanted to get really NIT picky with the deets about my program, but I felt it was necessary to address the core principles instead. So I wanted to provide you all with my thought process instead, built upon the knowledge I've gained through my various mentors. And I also recalled this interaction I had with my coworker months ago. He asked for some fitness advice, and after I gave my disclaimer that I'm just a regular dude that didn't do anything special, I tried to explain my fitness protocol to the best of my ability.

Well, at the time, I thought I did do it justice, but after seeing the look of confusion on his face, I felt like I could have done a better job. So I'd like to wrap up today's podcast episode with my thoughts on training for fat loss, with an emphasis on nutrition as a review. Calories in, calories out. CICO as Dr. Ley Norton would like to say it, you need to be in a hypocaloric or in a caloric deficit to lose weight.

There's no way around it. And you can't out train your nutrition no matter how hard you work. Sure, there might be rare outliers, but for the majority of the rest of the world, this formula yeah, kind of holds true. Now, this doesn't mean you can't enhance fat loss through intentional training. So if we recall our discussion on the physiology of fat loss, we know that fat loss occurs through respiration and by deductive reasoning.

It would highlight the importance of choosing training routines that forces you to be in an elevated respiratory state. And that doesn't necessarily mean to do a lot of cardio, for example. We can achieve this same level of effort through modifying our weight training protocol by shifting our attention to more intensity at higher volume while still focusing on form. The key is to find a suitable number of reps versus sets to achieve a level of effort that forces you to breathe more. Also, let's say you don't have access to more weights and you wanted to increase your training load.

Well, then we can modify the duration of our rest between our sets. So rather than taking it maybe like a minute break, you would cut that down to 30 seconds and then proceed with the exercise. This too also encourages us to breathe more and burn more calories. In addition, we can utilize high intensity interval training to promote fat loss. For example, interval sprinting allows us to increase our epoch EPOC or exercise post oxygen consumption.

So in my cutting training protocol, I set aside a day where I spend 40 minutes toggling back and forth between jogging and sprinting. This is typically done on my active recovery day, kind of. I mean, it's not really active recovery, but I usually set one day to do my Anaerobic/Aerobic combo cardio. So in this HIIT or hit exercise, I proceed by warming up for ten minutes and then I'll engage in a 1 minute sprint and then de-load with two minutes of jogging. And I'll continue this cycle until the 40 minutes mark.

In addition, as the workout progresses, I'll increase my sprint speed during every cycle iteration. Also, while this is great for reducing our fat stores, it also acts as a stimulant to improve my overall speed, which is a metric I'm trying to get better at right now. So can you lose weight without lifting weights? Yes, of course, you could also lose weight without even exercising, but it all goes back to energy expenditure. TDE calories in, calories out.

There's no escaping the laws of thermodynamics. But if I can make a case for the weights, weight training helps us optimize our body for maximum performance. Think of it like a fine tuned Porsche 911 GT3 RS. That car can go. But with the right love and care, oh yeah, that car can seriously go.

Go straight to the moon and beyond. So when we optimize our muscles and we optimize our strengths, we give the body the necessary tools to become a lean, mean, fat burning machine. So in summary, remember this calories in, calories out. And don't forget to attend to your respiratory needs through exercise. I think that wasn't too oversimplified, right?

Right? Yeah, I think that sounds about right. Right? Once again, I'm open to new information and I will adjust my perspective as necessary. What works for me now can be further improved and at the same time will not work for everyone.

Everyone is unique. Use my knowledge as words of encouragement, not dictation. I'm just like you and I'm learning little by little each and every day. So be open to new ways to grow. Remember, we are all living through the beautiful game of fitness in life.

Take every opportunity to take on challenges and defeat our assumed limits, choose growth and move the game forward.

Thanks, y'all for tuning in to another episode of the Love Nose for Life podcasts. I look forward to continuing this conversation of awareness and amplifying greatness through gratitude. My book, Love Notes for Life is now available online at Barnes and Noble with the direct link in the show notes below. If you're enjoying the Love Notes for Life podcast, please subscribe and leave a five-star rating on Spotify, Apple and other major podcast platforms.

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Sorry about that. Little corny. I hope you all enjoy the Chapter One collection, and thank you so much for the support. The overwhelming positive response has been incredible and this is only just the beginning. Let's just say I've already started working on the Chapter Two collection, if I might say anywho.

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Thanks, y'all, for the support, and always remember, there is beauty in knowing that there is only one of you. Take care.