Did you know that it's possible to reach muscular failure with a smile on your face, and wanting the set not to end, because it feels so good?

Sounds crazy, right? If anything, many people compare this kind of training to "torture." After all, how can you be smiling while your muscles are taken to the very limit of their full potential, with the intense burning and metabolic demand that involves?

The answer is Mindful Strength Training to Failure (MSTF), a term Philip Shepherd and I coined for our upcoming book. It all comes down to what's going on in your brain.

Last week, we explained the biology of the "giving up" response. Basically, the stress neurotransmitter norepinephrine activates glia cells, which signal the brain to stop any voluntary muscular contraction.

The good news is there are ways to interrupt this process.

Norepinephrine is considered a "here and now" neurochemical. Alongside others like serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins, these neurotransmitters allow us to experience the present condition of our body and mind. Meanwhile, dopamine is an anticipatory neurotransmitter. It's a feel-good chemical that we release in anticipation of a reward outside our reach. It's what gives us the motivation to get out of bed, provide for our family, challenge ourselves, grow our knowledge, have more life experiences, and achieve something new. It's called "the molecule of more" because, in essence, it never gets satisfied; it always wants more.

As the authors of the book The Molecule of More explain, when our dopamine goes up, our "here and now" neurotransmitters go down, and vice versa.

So in order to lower norepinephrine and delay our "giving up" response, we need to raise our dopamine.

You know when you get to the end of a set at NET, and you feel the urge to give up and drop the weight? Some groundbreaking new research is starting to explain what's going on biologically in your brain during that experience.

According to a 2019 study published in Cell, giving up is a hardwired response, and once it gets activated, there is not much we can do about it. Let's take a closer look!

Today, as I was virtually training our client Jane, I mentioned that I've been getting more absent-minded than usual in the past few weeks. She replied that this is a common trend these days and I am not an anomaly.

This makes sense, if you think about it. I spend most days in the same familiar environment around my house, doing virtual training sessions and looking after the kids, maybe getting outside once a day. I do go to NET a couple times a week, too, but that's pretty much it.

What I suspect is happening is that our brains are getting grossly under-stimulated due to our quarantined lifestyle. Humans are the kind of animal that needs to move around in order to get food and procreate. That's just what we do, and our bodies and brains expect a certain level of stimulation. Studies show that only two weeks of inactivity leads to a whopping 7% increase in fat in the abdominal area.

Did you know that continued practice of progressive resistance training (a form of strength training where the resistance is increased progressively as we get stronger) will both improve your cognitive function and quite literally make positive physiological changes to your brain?

For example, in one study, researchers found that after 6 month of progressive resistance training, people improved their cognition, increased their grey matter in the posterior cingulate area of the brain, and reversed the progression of "white matter hyperintensities" (a sign of cerebrovascular disease) in several brain areas. All of these benefits will lessen our chances of developing cognitive impairment as we get older.

This is a major finding!

To eat well and stay strong and healthy during this period of quarantine, we suggest you try a low-carb diet with intermittent fasting

1. Fast every day for 18-20 hours

That means you eat all your meals within a 4- to 6-hour window, like 12 pm to 6 pm. Outside of that window, you can have calorie-free drinks like water, black coffee, or teas.

Do not eat last meal at least 3 hrs before going to bed.

So much science suggests that fasting is good for our cellular health, metabolic health, mental health, and our lifespan. I and several NET clients have had great success with intermittent fasting.

Recently Andrei was interviewed by Truth Not Trends (TNT) podcast hosts. Give it a listen when you have a chance.

In this interview we emphasize the importance of prioritizing the muscle over the movement. We feel this is a key requirement for a quality training, and how and why it became NET's 1st training principle.

And of course we talk about other interesting (at least to us) and related subjects.

Leading researchers in the field of longevity from MIT and Harvard have identified several anti-aging genes, which produce proteins called sirtuins. In simpler organisms and animals, these genes protect organisms from deterioration. They also reverse age-related mitochondrial deterioration (mitochrondria help produce energy within your cells), help facilitate mitochondrial biogenesis (process by which cells increase mitochondrial mass), and prolong life. Basically, once these genes are activated, they can increase an organism's health and lifespan.

Why is prioritizing correct muscle/s recruitment more important than focusing on the movement itself? If we primarily focus on the movement we will likely be under-working the targeted muscle groups more often than we think. On the other hand, giving more priority to the muscles we are trying to target will result not only in more superior training effect ­- it will also re-wire your brain, literally.