Marquett Reveals the Brain Secret Elite Performers Know

[00:00:00]I think that they're they're often disconnected even when you're talking about going through primary school and they call it physical education when in actual fact it's not physical education. It's also training your ability to adapt to have grit or as you said anti-fragility. Uh so I agree with you there. Um let me share some questions um that folks may have sent in.

[00:00:22]>> Okay.

[00:00:22]>> All right. And by the way, shout out to Albatar and Gary supporting the work.

[00:00:26]May I also acknowledge Caleb. right support for this great knowledge. Oh, absolutely. And you know what? Let me compliment you too before I get into this because unfortunately I've gone to more school than I would have liked. It was mostly boring. You know, you're really good at explaining because there are a lot of folks who have knowledge, but it's a different thing to impart the knowledge. Right. A lot of academics are are great researchers but not great teachers. So, I appreciate you being able to articulate this. Absolutely.

[00:00:52]>> Um Shant Caleb writes tuition. Thank you for this live. Very informative. Oh, indeed. Now also acknowledge via super chat. Shout out to Elevate writes peace of saints tuition. Shout out to B type guy writes great information. Jabrezy writes since the human brain never evolved to deal with phone screens. Such things as fake or real aren't things the brain actually experiences. And safe and not safe are better descriptors. 21 years as a magician. I noticed this would I noticed this would love your thoughts in depth.

[00:01:27]>> Yeah, that's true. Um there's some research in the field of mental imagery uh that actually proves that point. It's not something I study. Um but when you compare things that you're imagining, >> thinking about and and things are actually happening in real life and you look at the patterns of brain activity, connectivity, physiological, I'm talking about peripheral physiological reactions, everything your body is expressing, >> it's pretty much no difference.

[00:01:53]>> And so it's scary because you have to we have to develop something we call metacognition, which is your ability >> to think about your thinking.

[00:02:04]>> Yes. Once you develop that you're good for life probably because then you start to be more critical about everything that go going through your head and reason for that is because yeah if there is a similar pattern of activity connectivity physical reactions then likelihood is it will have a subsequent effect on my life.

[00:02:24]>> Yes.

[00:02:24]>> So that's when you know when you look at Tony Robbins and etc why they're talking so much about mindset. Mhm.

[00:02:32]>> It's because there is a natural consequence to it. It's going to influence your your life.

[00:02:36]>> And you know, I would say Tony Robbins probably is chief among all the guys we can mention in the self-hel health space who's about like the the motion, right?

[00:02:44]He says motion creates emotion, >> right?

[00:02:47]>> So I I feel like now obviously he doesn't ever get as deep as you do, right? You're a PhD in neuroscience. I mean that's a different level. I got a couple questions for you. Um and this is really interesting stuff to me because I can't even get to my question. I have so many thoughts, but you know, cuz boxing has been my thing. And I know you said you've been doing BJJ for how long?

[00:03:07]>> 16 years.

[00:03:08]>> 16 years. I I asked him to I said, you know, you're in Brazil. Born and raised in Brazil. How popular is BJJ? You say it's right up there with soccer.

[00:03:15]>> Yes.

[00:03:15]>> Which is madness. Which is utter madness. Now, boxers, we make fun of the BJJ guys a lot. You guys like to hump each other, right? You know what I'm saying? You guys like to hump each other.

[00:03:23]>> Well, it happens, >> right? If I was bisexual, I'd try it out. But um you know w with with boxing and of course there's a lot of running.

[00:03:33]I discovered the the second wind, but I was always suspicious of the second win.

[00:03:37]Like >> what the hell is this? Is this a real biological reality? Is this my psyche saying fight harder?

[00:03:45]>> And then sometimes the second wind doesn't come. You know, you're like what in the hell? I was waiting for the recharge.

[00:03:51]>> Do you have any sense of what this concept of the second wind is? And whether you do or don't scientifically, is there a way to create it or drive it when I need it?

[00:04:02]>> What do you mean by second wind?

[00:04:03]>> Second wind, which is so like say you're >> Oh, second wind.

[00:04:06]>> Wind. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry.

[00:04:08]African-American accent.

[00:04:09]>> No, no, I got it. I got it.

[00:04:11]>> Yes.

[00:04:12]>> So, what do you mean by second wind?

[00:04:14]>> Second wind. So, this is the concept when you're you're maybe on a a long distance run and you you're supposed to be running 15 miles.

[00:04:23]>> You get to mile eight a man, I'm done. I don't I don't think I got anything left.

[00:04:27]And then you get a burst of energy that'll carry you through. Or you're boxing, you're in the eighth round and you you feel like you're worn out, but somewhere halfway through the ninth round, you get a burst of energy >> and you're able to perform at a higher level and recover during a time which theoretically performance should be trending downward.

[00:04:48]>> Okay. Okay. So, um there are many research studies in the field of mental fatigue. Okay.

[00:04:54]>> That look at like similar concepts and some of the mechanisms associated with that.

[00:04:59]>> Um there like studies they conducted with people like cyclists and they exercise all the way to the point of voluitional exhaustion.

[00:05:08]>> What?

[00:05:08]>> Vol like you can no longer exercise.

[00:05:12]>> Exhaustion like you're done >> but you decide that you're done >> mentally.

[00:05:17]>> Yeah. So you stop, right? So we say like we're going to do an incremental exercise test >> to the point of to the point of exhaustion and then when you can no longer exercise just stop.

[00:05:29]>> And so that's the protocol. So that's what the researchers tell the participants. So they exercise. So they start to increase the exercise intensity uh or they increase the uh they change the incline of the treadmill whatever that is until people get really fatigued. Heart rates through the roof.

[00:05:45]We're talking like 195 BPM.

[00:05:48]>> Okay.

[00:05:48]>> And then they're like, "I'm done."

[00:05:50]>> Mhm.

[00:05:50]>> So, okay. So, they stop the treadmill or the cycometer, the exercise bike, and they say, "Well, now you're going to do a sprint."

[00:05:58]>> Yeah.

[00:05:58]>> For 30 seconds, like a windgate test where basically people like throw up doing that. So, right after you think that you're done, >> we're going to do a maximal test >> and they do it, >> right? And so, there are many experiments about that. and then looking at the patterns of brain activity and then there are many theories about it's very controversial. Um so there are people fighting really hard for at least 20 years like trying to understand the mechanisms behind this but apparently it's part of the decision making process. You make the decision based on what we call reference points.

[00:06:34]>> Yes. So reference points matter >> because if I tell you that you have to run a marathon >> and all you've done in the past is run for five minutes.

[00:06:44]>> Even if your body could.

[00:06:46]>> Yes.

[00:06:46]>> You wouldn't.

[00:06:47]>> You don't believe it.

[00:06:48]>> Even if you believed in yourself, you wouldn't because you don't have the neurological structure to support that action.

[00:06:56]>> So you're saying real reference points in your experience.

[00:06:59]>> In your experience.

[00:07:00]>> Interesting. So now if you run a marathon, you're like, "Oh, next week there's a half marathon." Yeah.

[00:07:06]>> Right.

[00:07:06]>> And maybe that would be a maximal test, >> but your reference point is I've done this before.

[00:07:12]>> I can do that again. And maybe you're going to disappoint yourself, get frustrated like you're going to fail.

[00:07:18]>> But you having that reference point matters. And that's why we say you have to always that one of the principles of exercise training is the principle of progression. Mhm.

[00:07:29]>> And that applies to your neurological capacity. That applies to your physiological capacity and your your ability to deal with psychological stress >> because I've lift I lifted this weight before >> now. I'm going to do this again and I know that my body can handle it. And then the last the likelihood of uh getting injured drops. And that's all because you created that situation.

[00:07:54]You're exposed to that. How do you get exposed to that? you have to do it right. And so that's why you keep saying like push a little bit further, >> respecting the limits of physical capacity, >> respecting your biomechanical capacity, and respecting your self-efficacy.

[00:08:14]>> And that's your ability to think about what you can do.

[00:08:18]>> Because what we don't want people to do is to fail miserably every single time.

[00:08:25]Mhm.

[00:08:26]>> And then what's going to happen? You're going to just disengage from that activity, right? So, what we want is for you to surprise yourself with with a new performance. So, I say, "Let's lift 5 lbs." And you're like, "I can't do that." Okay. So, we're going to do it.

[00:08:40]>> Okay.

[00:08:40]>> And then you do it. You're like, "Now, we're going to lift six pounds, but I can't come I can't bring you to the gym on the first day and say, "You're going to lift 500 lb on the deadlift." And then what's going to happen? You've never done this. You're going to fail.

[00:08:52]And then you're going to fail. And then you're going to fail. So what are you going to think about yourself >> that you're a failure? No, it's just because the program was not designed in a way that allowed you to improve progressively, right? So um and then by creating this new reference point, we'll get to a point when you're lifting, when you're running, when you're boxing that you can use that motivation >> that you create, that system that you created to support your action, right?

[00:09:21]because you know >> in that and other things >> in other things too it's again it's a transferable skill >> like I can push a little bit harder I know I feel I'm about to die >> sure >> but in reality I've done this before >> so and then the other thing that happens neurologically you have this area in your brain called the dorsal prefrontal cortex and what >> one more time hit us with that word hit us with that word you said the dorsalateral prefrontal cortex So this is part of the central executive network and it's protecting you.

[00:09:54]>> So when you're exercising, >> if you don't have a a strong well-developed central executive network, the likelihood is you're going to stop.

[00:10:03]>> Okay.

[00:10:03]>> At like earlier than you should.

[00:10:05]>> Yes.

[00:10:06]>> So you have to train that >> path too.

[00:10:09]>> And how you train that stress, >> right?

[00:10:13]>> So when you're exercising, you have areas in your brain, very subcortical regions like very deep in your brain.

[00:10:20]They're sending motivational signals every time there is a reason for action.

[00:10:26]>> If you feel there's no reason to act and you will get to a point during the exercise that your brain will be will get very creative >> and tell you like why why you're doing this like >> oh you're hungry.

[00:10:36]>> You're hungry. That's that's enough for today. You're sleepy. You're hungry.

[00:10:39]Like let's just go home.

[00:10:42]>> Everything hurts.

[00:10:43]>> Your brain gets very creative and that's >> your brain trying to slow you down. When you measure EEG, so that's the electrical activity in your brain.

[00:10:52]>> Okay?

[00:10:52]>> What we see is that low frequency components of your EEG, >> there are low frequency waves, they upregulate. That means they're trying to slow your body down.

[00:11:05]>> We see this when people are fatigued, when they're exercising, when they're working too much.

[00:11:10]>> We see the low frequency waves getting up reggulated.

[00:11:14]>> So, how do you counteract the effects of that? by increasing high frequency waves and that's beta waves for example. So they're high frequency waves. Now it's only a matter of time until you stop exercising anyway because >> low frequency waves have a much more pronounced effect on your brain activity in general than high frequency waves.

[00:11:33]But for a short period of time >> are you saying that negativity is more powerful than positivity?

[00:11:38]>> It is. There is there's a brain a brain sorry a study in psychology that says bad's stronger than good or something like this. the title >> and that that again there's an evolutionary reason for that, right? So like you you're trying to protect yourself. Something bad happened when you're a kid. Then in the future you're going to remember that. There's a reason for that.

[00:12:00]>> The cost of not being scared of a lion or a large predator. It's too high.

[00:12:05]>> Exactly.

[00:12:06]>> So you're going to have to remember that. That has to have like a an effective memory associated with that.

[00:12:12]and it needs to be crystal clear to you at all times. So when something happens or it's related to that event >> then you're going to act accordingly to protect yourself. So there is a reason for that.

[00:12:25]>> So going back to the exercise when these things are happening you need again that area the central executive network but mainly the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex to protect you. And so what does it do?

[00:12:38]>> It tries to reduce the amount of cortisol. It tries to control the stress response for a short period of time. But how do you do that? Only if there is motivational signals feeding that area.

[00:12:53]>> Okay?

[00:12:53]>> Right? So when that stops and you get creative and you come up with reasons to stop, you stop.

[00:12:59]>> Right?

[00:12:59]>> Because fighting against those sensations, it's just too much in terms of energy costs >> for your brain is just too much. It's better to stop, recover, and do that again. And the way you create new reference points is by pushing a little bit harder every single day.

[00:13:15]>> So, so there is no substitute for preparation.

[00:13:20]>> No.

[00:13:20]>> Whatever you're going to do, you must be practiced and prepared. The the the idea that you're just going to show up and and do the thing is mostly not real unless you have a legitimate >> parallel experience that you can reference.

[00:13:35]>> Yeah.

[00:13:35]>> Okay. Fair enough.

[00:13:37]>> Okay.

[00:13:41]So, one thing I wonder, and I've not done a ton of research on this, but I think it's psychological. Similar to yourself, I'm more so into like I need to exercise seven days a week.

[00:13:55]>> Now, maybe two of the days might be a little less rigorous, very >> the muscle groups, but when I was training for boxing, they make you train every day.

[00:14:08]And so when I stopped competing, I always felt like, oh man, if I don't train every day, I'm be out of shape.

[00:14:14]I'm not going to be ready to not be ready to go, >> which is probably not true because, you know, boxing trainers are psychopaths.

[00:14:20]>> Um, so >> when I take that two those two days off and I start running again, I don't take two days. So this is when I like some issue in life or something like that.

[00:14:31]>> But when I come back, I'm I'm running.

[00:14:33]I'm like, oh man. Like I can feel it.

[00:14:36]when I was like really though >> have my muscles and my cardiovascular capacity changed significantly or is that primarily that system that you're talking about weighing against me performing >> primar is primarily psychological um um probably u the recovery matters so much >> right so I think we understand that and when we say it's like exercising every single day it's not that you have to be exercising maximum intensity is going for PR or whatever that is every single day >> because then again likelihood is you're going to get injured and then you have to stop for 6 months and then getting back on track is a much more difficult job and that's not what we want. There is a way of designing a micro cycle that's like what you're going to do in the week >> a micro cycle for months what what is the plan for the next two years. So everything needs to be perfectly designed >> and we also need what we call an adaptive training system that will take into account everything that's happening in your body in your life >> that will naturally influence your exercise performance and then adapt the system almost in real time. We have research about that. We're creating that system now.

[00:15:52]>> So you need recovery days.

[00:15:55]>> You need days that you're just going to go for a walk for 30 minutes. You need you need days that you're not going to do absolutely anything and just go to the sauna, the jacuzzi, and to the swimming pool and try to rest.

[00:16:05]>> And that's part of the training protocol. And then you also have to train your system to avoid exercise addiction, >> right?

[00:16:13]>> This man said exercise addiction. Yeah, >> that's a new one. That's a new one.

[00:16:18]>> A lot of people suffer from that.

[00:16:19]>> What are we talking about here?

[00:16:21]>> Yeah. So, like you you're not exercising for a day and then you're punishing yourself. Oh, that that becomes an issue, >> right? That becomes an issue because it's absolutely normal, recommended, natural for you to train your system for recovery, >> right? So, you need that and then you get stronger as a consequence.

[00:16:40]>> So, two days off, one day off and sometimes you shouldn't take any days off and that's okay. If that's part of the mac m macro cycle, that's how it was designed. respecting your internal load and understanding like when you look at how you're progressing, we can actually see in the data that it's supposed to be like that that week. It's called like a shock week. Um, and then you recover for two weeks. So, so there's a way to standardize that um to facilitate your your progress, right? So, so it's all part of that. So, you're not not everybody's supposed to exercise every single day. And then again if if that was the case then you could actually create some issues that you didn't have before.

[00:17:22]>> So again recovery extremely important if not equally important or more important.

[00:17:27]>> So recovery is truly a part of the exercise process. You know, one of my biggest challenges and it it's goes back to and I'm glad you you really have been harping on experience and practice because the hardest thing for me to do is a cool down stretch >> cuz and I've done damn near every sport cuz I'm black. That's what we do. Um and >> there was never a coach that was like, "Okay, we went hard.

[00:17:56]>> Now, let's stretch and and cool down after this extremely rigorous work." And >> so I'm in, you know, we'll go do some insane workout and then shower up and just go straight back to being sedentary or whatever life is and then you wake up and you can barely move because you didn't stretch out your me your muscles.

[00:18:13]>> My biggest issue.

[00:18:16]>> Couple questions for you. Let's see.

[00:18:17]Okay. And I think some more folks came in. Shout out to Jreezy comes back in.

[00:18:20]He's at a bowler alert. He writes, "What are your thoughts on mind and body going through high entropy task versus low entropy task over a duration of time and how they develop?" I'm not even going to lie. I don't even understand that. Uh hopefully you do. Uh he writes uh so a person who takes the easy route versus the complex route uh the effects on the mind body separately.

[00:18:47]>> Yeah. So uh my field is called psychopysiology.

[00:18:51]So psychophysiology psychophysiology >> psychophysiology. So that's the connection. It's the bridge between psychology and physiology. So we always say you have physiological responses, right? Everything that's happening externally or in your uh nervous system for example interpretation of that situation.

[00:19:13]>> And then you have a third element which is the connection between the two. So everything that's happening in the periphery of your body. Mhm.

[00:19:20]>> Let's say you know you something happens to your foot. I don't know you got injured for example. Okay.

[00:19:27]>> There is an emotion re associated with that.

[00:19:29]>> Yes.

[00:19:30]>> There are many emotions. In fact, there are many thoughts, emotions and cognitive functions that are going to change in reaction to something that's happening to your foot.

[00:19:37]>> Okay.

[00:19:38]>> The other way is also true. When you have an emotion and you're experiencing stress, for example, chronic stress for a week, your body will react to that.

[00:19:49]You could experience low back pain. You could experience muscle tension around the neck. You could experience uh changes in your blood pressure that are not necessarily positive in your heart rate. Uh all kinds of physical reactions as a consequent as a function of what you're feeling and thinking.

[00:20:07]>> So this is a psychossematic >> it's a psychosmatic response. It's a very good term. It's a field of psychosmatic medicine.

[00:20:13]>> So these things are directly connected to one another. Mhm.

[00:20:17]>> It's pretty much impossible to disentangle these mechanisms. They're connected. It's one thing.

[00:20:23]>> I wish it was. I wish we could. Yeah, we pretend.

[00:20:27]>> We pretend. We pretend.

[00:20:28]>> But then when you say like, "Oh, I have a I have a a headache." It's It's probably not, but there's always something. It's coming from somewhere.

[00:20:36]>> Yes.

[00:20:36]>> I almost I never get headaches.

[00:20:38]>> So, I know if I get one, >> there's a problem.

[00:20:41]>> There should be a reason.

[00:20:41]>> There's a problem. If I get one, there's a I never get headaches. Now, you notice women, they You ever noticed that? Is that just me?

[00:20:49]Okay, go ahead. Go ahead.

[00:20:50]>> So that again could be like hydration or it could be could be stress. We already know that you know and so it's very difficult to separate the mechanisms >> and so taking the easy route will have psychological, physiological, cognitive, behavioral effects associated with that.

[00:21:09]Um the difficult like the the more complex things that you do the challenges and etc. But we will have usually a more positive effect. Now there must be balance going back to the stress cycle. There are four steps. So we identify the stressor then you solve the problem that you have. That's called a resolution. You exercise. So you express your physical uh capacity.

[00:21:35]>> Oh. So so you identify the issue >> and you can put it back in the proper language but identify the issue.

[00:21:41]>> You said solve the issue and then exercise >> you need. Yeah. And then there's a a fourth step which is recovery >> and that is when you do something that's completely unproductive. It could be meditation for some people.

[00:21:55]>> It's unproductive but it is productive because it's necessary for the cycle.

[00:21:58]>> Exactly. Exactly. So we call unproductive because in theory in theory there are no direct benefits from that activity but there are direct benefits from that activity which is part of the recovery process and then you can start the cycle again.

[00:22:13]>> Mhm. Now looking at the the stress cycle we also have to remember something called psycho physiological states or profiles.

[00:22:23]>> Okay?

[00:22:23]>> And that is everything that you go through >> or I go through >> has an idiosyncratic pattern. What does that mean? Everything is individualized.

[00:22:34]>> I don't know what's good for you. I don't know what you like. I don't know how you're going to react to the same intervention. If I ask you to do breathing meditation, >> some people are going to get more anxious.

[00:22:44]>> Sure.

[00:22:45]>> And then they're going to perform worse.

[00:22:47]>> And that happens.

[00:22:48]>> Oh, but for 60 or 70% of the population when they do breathing meditation, they feel better, they perform better, they feel more relaxed. I get it. Yes.

[00:22:57]>> But there's people who are going to react the opposite way.

[00:23:00]>> So you never know what's the best strategy for each individual. And that's why working with data science, we create what we call individual machine learning models, which is like a research study for you.

[00:23:12]>> Got it?

[00:23:13]>> And then over time after a like getting a lot of data for a relatively long period of time, we can start to understand what helps you as a person, what helps you as an athlete, what helps you recover? Because it might be something that's extremely counterintuitive and that's okay. I think this is really the future of medicine. Obviously, sports science and I my guess is probably elite athletes are first going to get access to this, but it's the idea that >> I may be lactose intolerant, you're not lactose intolerant.

[00:23:46]>> And so, we need something that's going to respect the uniqueness so that we can get the performance that we want. Okay.

[00:23:52]And one thing I did want to ask you about is >> for an everyday person who might not have a team or scientists around them.

[00:24:01]>> If there were, you know, one or two tips you could give for them to drive their psychology or drive their performance or ease the psychological load of achieving at a high level, what would you recommend?

[00:24:12]>> Um, there two very important cognitive skills that I think everybody should uh develop. Well, inhibitory control matters obviously, but there well maybe three things and that's metacognition.

[00:24:24]So, think about your thinking and there's very simple recommendations how to do that. Just like sit for five minutes and then really like think >> in a non-judgmental way why you're thinking that way.

[00:24:35]>> Like just just you don't have to judge.

[00:24:37]Try to get rid of your you know preconceived ideas like why you're think why you're acting this way. Mhm.

[00:24:43]>> Like just just think about that and that's a good way of developing metacognition.