Sprint training is the ultimate cognitive enhancer

[Carl-Richard]

Sprint training is when you do maximal effort (95-100%) for a short period of time (20-30 seconds), ideally while running.

Why maximal effort? Because solving difficult problems is like a sprint. Remember all the times you've read a difficult text and you feel like you're straining your brain while reading one particularly difficult sentence. Reading a sentence takes maximum a few seconds. Understanding or grasping the idea takes the time it takes to read the sentence and maybe a little more, but not much more. Either you grasp it there, or you don't.

You can try again, sprinting again, but chances are, if you read it a few times and you still don't understand, you probably won't understand it for a while (you have to e.g. read some other text or take a break). You have to make the sprint then and there. You have to engage in that level of intensity then and there, or else you won't grasp it.

Now, lower intensity training (e.g. moderate intensity cardio) might help you sift through more problems over a longer period of time and increasing your general work capacity, but the quality, the depth, the weight of the problem depends on your level of intensity. Thus training at maximum intensity will strongly increase your ability to solve difficult problems.

Also, I've noticed sprint training makes your thinking incredibly fast (the rate of thinking), which is maybe not so unexpected either. That's probably also a big part of solving difficult problems, of being able to present a wide range of alternatives in a short amount of time before your attention runs out.

Why ideally when running? Because you are biomechanically most equipped to expend the most energy per unit of time by moving your body in a way that resembles running. Running is not just about moving your feet; it involves the entire body, the upper body arguably just as much as the lower body. And you were built to run; there are millions of years of bipedal evolution driving your body to run, and therefore your body should expend the most energy by running (because energy spent running is essentially congruent to evolutionary fitness). Evolution fine-tuned your body to move your arms and legs in that specific way, so you should take advantage of that.


So far, I've made the case on a purely mechanistic ground, call it "philosophy of physiology". But you can also make the case on more concrete scientific and neurophysiological grounds. Sprint training, or more accurately in this case "working out until failure" (which is best achieved by sprinting until failure), induces the production of lactic acid, which is converted to lactate, which is a neurotransmitter that is involved in brain function. It increases BDNF (which increases the growth of neurons), it's involved in monoamine neurotransmitter synthesis (dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine), it's even used as an energy source for neurons.

However, sprinting until absolute failure is arguably not where you'll get the best overall effects, but rather when you try to sprint as fast as possible, because again, you want to strain your system at a maximum level and elevate your ceiling of intensity. It's an overall systemic adaptation towards maximal intensity that I believe should be the main goal.


Again, there are other cases to be made for again moderate intensity cardio, or 4x4 training (for increasing VO2 max), or even lifting weights, as these all produce their own particular signatures in the body and which feeds into the brain in their own unique ways. If you want to be a well-rounded person, you want to engage in all of it from time to time. But if you care about solving difficult problems, if you care about "thinking fast", and if you care about feeding your brain a very beneficial nutrient and signalling molecule (lactate), you should consider incorporating some form of sprint training (ideally running sprints) into your workout routine. Other alternatives than running sprints are assault bike, normal bike.

I find that I can only sprint around 1-2 times a week (on top of weight training 3.5 times a week) because it is very fatiguing. So keep that in mind, because fatigue will also inhibit cognitive functioning.

Edited July 12 by Carl-Richard

[LordFall]

I like the idea of practicing maximum effort regularly. Pushing limits is not usually something humans are comfortable doing but it is exhilarating and less monotonous than just tedious work all the time.

What do you mean by sprints other than running? 

[Carl-Richard]

19 minutes ago, LordFall said:

I like the idea of practicing maximum effort regularly. Pushing limits is not usually something humans are comfortable doing but it is exhilarating and less monotonous than just tedious work all the time.

Pushing to the limit is the greatest feeling in the world.

 

19 minutes ago, LordFall said:

What do you mean by sprints other than running? 

For example assault bike.

(Volume warning):

Or normal bike, but then you run into the issue of lesser upper body recruitment. I haven't tried assault bike yet, but my hunch is that sprinting is still better for maximizing energy output per unit of time again because of biomechanics. If your arms and legs are built to move a certain way, they will move better that way than if you move in some other way => better movement, more movement, more energy expenditure. Assault bike could lessen impact on joints, but I don't think impact is detrimental for expending energy (or maybe I need to think more about that).

Edited July 10 by Carl-Richard

[aurum]

Sprinting while running is high impact. Not nessesarily the best from a longevity standpoint, especially if you're getting older.

If you sprint on the beach / sand, it's less impact and trains a lot of other areas. You just can't do Vo2 max training that way since you likely won't hit max oxygen consumption.

[Carl-Richard]

51 minutes ago, aurum said:

Sprinting while running is high impact. Not nessesarily the best from a longevity standpoint, especially if you're getting older.

If you sprint on the beach / sand, it's less impact and trains a lot of other areas.

Bryan Johnson shoots shockwaves into his joints with a special-made device in order to improve his joints. Is that high impact?

 

51 minutes ago, aurum said:

You just can't do Vo2 max training that way since you likely won't hit max oxygen consumption.

VO2 max is definitely good for cognitive functioning. I just did 4x4 running. But there seems to be a trade-off between VO2 max and lactate. Lactate just makes my brain go insaneo mode.

I've actually noticed a distinct difference in the stink from my headset after a sprint vs a 4x4 run. Sprint produces a much more sour and unpleasant smell which I have to be more rigorous about wiping off, hence lactic acid.

Edited July 11 by Carl-Richard

[aurum]

Just now, Carl-Richard said:

Bryan Johnson shoots shockwaves into his joints with a special-made device in order to improve his joints. Is that high impact?

I don't know that reference.

My guess is probably not, if he's specifically doing it for joint health.

[Carl-Richard]

3 minutes ago, aurum said:

I don't know that reference.

My guess is probably not, if he's specifically doing it for joint health.

His commentary during it was "the more pain, the better" (paraphrasing).

7:14

 

 

[Natasha Tori Maru]

34 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

Pushing to the limit is the greatest feeling in the world.

YAS QUEEN <3

I'm not happy unless I'm a mess with tears and snot running down my face

[aurum]

6 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

His commentary during it was "the more pain, the better" (paraphrasing).

7:14

 

I see.

Yes, I know what this is. I have heard good things about shockwave from providers I know who use it.

I don't know if it's something you'd want to do everyday, but it seems like it can help people with inflammation conditions, e.g tendonitis.

It'll be interesting to see how daily application works out for Bryan. He tends to experiment and drop things a lot.

[Carl-Richard]

7 minutes ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

I'm not happy unless I'm a mess with tears and snot running down my face

🤩

Edited July 11 by Carl-Richard

[Natasha Tori Maru]

3 minutes ago, aurum said:

It'll be interesting to see how daily application works out for Bryan. He tends to experiment and drop things a lot.

I notice this about him. He also hasn't been fully transparent about some parts of his protocol.

Additionally - his big experiment is n=1, so I take it with caution.

His stuff about the basics is solid.

Edited July 11 by Natasha Tori Maru

[aurum]

1 minute ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

Additionally - his big experiment is n=1, so I take it with caution.

It's n=1, plus many advantages the average person will not have.

No one can afford to do the testing he does unless you're basically a billionaire.

[Natasha Tori Maru]

Just now, aurum said:

It's n=1, plus many advantages the average person will not have.

No one can afford to do the testing he does unless you're basically a billionaire.

Agree 100%

[Carl-Richard]

4 minutes ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

He also hasn't been fully transparent about some parts of his protocol.

Which parts? 🤔

[Natasha Tori Maru]

22 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

Which parts? 🤔

I think around his use of steroids.

He refused to release some biomarkers indicating exogenous steroid use.

I think he eventually came clean about it after. Genuinely struggling to remember - I could be wrong!

[Carl-Richard]

21 minutes ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

I think around his use of steroids.

He refused to release some biomarkers indicating exogenous steroid use.

I think he eventually came clean about it after. Genuinely struggling to remember - I could be wrong!

Hmm. I only know he took steroids at one point to offset the effects of calorie restriction, but now he has upped his calories and I think he also went off the steroids(?)

Edited July 11 by Carl-Richard

[Natasha Tori Maru]

Just now, Carl-Richard said:

Hmm. I only know he took steroids at one point to offset the effects of calorie-restriction, but now he has upped his calories and I think he also went off the steroids(?)

Definitely recall that - I think there were some biomarkers that indicate steroid use after that period. He never released them and wasn't able to answer/gave a non-answer to questions in interviews. If I can find it after work I'll link the interview! 

Overall he looks better on higher calories - but he looks his age. Probably prior damage, as it is my understanding he lived quite the unhealthy lifestyle prior to blueprint. 

I am more interested in his quality of life stuff over longevity

[RendHeaven]

I like bryan johnson but I would never elect to live like him.

the neurotic planning and scheming strikes me as autistic as fuck and I would personally find it suffocating.

I also think it's silly that he could just eat meat and go get sunlight, but instead he goes for vegan + 100 pills + TRT + expensive light therapy

But our goals are different. I want to live a simple virile life and don't really care about going past 70 or 80.

Johnson wants to unironically go well past 100. I just wonder what's the point

[Natasha Tori Maru]

53 minutes ago, RendHeaven said:

I like bryan johnson but I would never elect to live like him.

the neurotic planning and scheming strikes me as autistic as fuck and I would personally find it suffocating.

I also think it's silly that he could just eat meat and go get sunlight, but instead he goes for vegan + 100 pills + TRT + expensive light therapy

But our goals are different. I want to live a simple virile life and don't really care about going past 70 or 80.

Johnson wants to unironically go well past 100. I just wonder what's the point

I do agree with you here. 

He has sort of anesthetized himself from life. Lifespan vs Healthspan.

I get it - he is pursuing his meaning so the discipline isn't an issue.

But I feel like there are hardcore emotional issues and distancing. He seems present, but not intimate.

Feel being the operative word I use there >.>

[RendHeaven]

1 hour ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

But I feel like there are hardcore emotional issues and distancing. He seems present, but not intimate.

@Natasha Tori Maru He gives me the same pseudosociopathic optimized hollowness as the diary of a CEO guy