Dynamic Intelligence - The Goldilocks Training Zone
"Friday is my leg day, and I never miss my leg day. Regardless of my status, I'm really making sure I finish my load. I'm proud of it."
“I follow this new online app program strictly. I think it's really helping me. I finished all the classes and have a 90-day streak. I never missed a day. I'm proud of it.”
“My two-year-old woke up a couple of times last night, but that should not stop me from training. I finished my load.”
“I train seven times a week, of course. I'm quite serious about the training. Rest is for the weak.”
"I had a really stressful week. My boss is a total dope, but luckily, I finished all my training load. I didn't miss a session."
These are highly respected individuals in the gym or, more generally, in life. They stick to a very strict pattern and usually get quite fit. These people introduced a constant into their lives: the training schedule or training load. They prioritise the training load, ensuring they follow a specific pattern. However, it is not best to prioritise the training load itself, because the training load is not the deciding factor in whether you benefit from exercise or staying dynamic. It is actually how much your body and mind can recover healthily from the training mode that matters the most. In other words, the hypercompensation, or the additional part that your body recovered, is the net gain of the result of any training.
Let’s examine what hypercompensation means more closely. The term is commonly used in strength or cardio training to describe how, after a rest period following a training session, the body slightly exceeds its previous level. This minor improvement indicates a gain in health. For instance, when you lift 50 kg of weights, your muscles develop micro-tears. During recovery, your body repairs these tiny damages. As a result, you may be able to lift more than 50 kg next time. Similarly, when we run slightly faster than our usual pace, our body adapts by making the heart muscle work harder, increasing mitochondria production, and generating more haemoglobin to carry extra oxygen. These adaptations, caused by running just a bit faster, help us improve our speed and cope with the new pace in future runs.
However, for our bodies, the load doesn’t come only from training; it comes from all types. The body is fundamentally, biologically, a stress-management machine. Any change introduced into this system will be absorbed and adapted by the body. From a physiological perspective, training is certainly one of the major stressors. But other stresses also utilise our body’s recovery and adaptability, which should be considered when we assess our overall stress levels. For example, information overload, relationship challenges, and fear and uncertainty about the future. Let’s divide this stress load into three categories to properly measure the overall load on the body.
The first category of stress is mechanical and physiological. All types of training fall into this category, such as stress training, running, and mobility stretching. Beyond training, there are many other sources of mechanical and stress load. Illness is a major category of mechanical and physiological stress. When we are unwell, our bodies need to produce a lot of chemicals that fight antigens and help repair tissue, which can increase overall stress on the body. Additionally, other mechanical and physiological stressors include environmental changes, such as shifts from cold to hot weather or vice versa, which require the body to adapt, as well as disruptions to sleep patterns. Sometimes we deliberately introduce non-training stress. For instance, when trying to lose weight, we might create a calorie deficit. Eating a bit less cuts the body’s energy supply for repair, which can be considered a stress factor. These factors all contribute to the system’s overall stress.
The second category is cognitive load. Cognitive load simply refers to how many things we need to think about. Work pressure can sometimes relate to cognitive load, but it can also stem from uncertainty and poor relationships. Decision fatigue is also a significant part of cognitive load. As discussed in the emotional intelligence chapter, people have a limited capacity for making decisions. If we make too many decisions, our neural systems become fatigued, and we need to use our recovery resources to repair them. Receiving too much information in a short time can also increase cognitive load. For example, when we adapt to a new environment, such as a new job or study setting, there are many things to remember and understand, which can temporarily cause stress and reduce our body’s ability to handle other stressors.
The third type of stress load is emotional load. Emotions can be quite costly. We can only produce a limited number of emotions within a certain period. Whether it’s happiness, sadness, worry, or anxiety, intense emotions can disrupt our neurological and physical systems. When we fear something or are uncertain about the future, our emotional load increases. Think of a time when we anticipated a stressful event; the anticipation alone can make us feel exhausted. Other types of emotional stress include handling many tasks at once, tight deadlines, fear of failure, or rapid context switching—these are common reasons for high emotional load. As discussed in the Relationship Intelligence and Financial Intelligence chapter, finance and relationships can also be sources of stress. These factors are often overlooked.
Basically, our bodies take all this stress and add it up. There isn’t a separate budget for different types of stress; the stress budget is universal. That means that when we’re under a lot of emotional stress, our physical strength and speed decrease. If we’re in financial trouble, we can’t physically do as much hard training. That’s why the saying in the gym at the very beginning of this chapter is often problematic because it treats the training load as constant. Instead, we should consider all stress in our calculations. Essentially, there is only one stress indicator within us: the universal stress load.
We have now defined the universal stress load. Keep this in mind, and let's move on to defining the universal recovery budget. The universal recovery budget refers to the capacity we have, within a given period, to recover from the universal stress load. This includes not only daily training load but all types of stressors.
The universal recovery budget has internal factors, such as:
• our age
• our gender
• our baseline metabolic health
• our baseline systemic inflammation profile
• our baseline healthy gut functioning
• our baseline sleep duration and quality
• our general resilience to changes
The universal recovery budget also depends on external factors, meaning how our environment helps or hinders our recovery. For example:
• Our recent hydration status
• Our recent relationships with others
• Our recent work conditions
• Our recent social support
• Our baseline anxiety level
• The availability of healthy food and nutrition
• Our ability to relax and unwind at the end of each day
These factors significantly influence recovery, even though they are external. This is called the Universal Recovery Budget.
Now we have the two important factors defined: the Universal Stress Load and the Universal Recovery Budget. We can introduce the core part of this chapter: the Goldilock Training Zone. Let's first introduce an equation:
Adaptation = Recovery Capacity − Stress Load
When adaptation is positive, meaning recovery capacity exceeds the stress load, we are improving ourselves. It is important to be clear that the stress load includes all types of stress, so we need to ensure that training stress—which provides the greatest benefit from training results—increases only. This is because only then will it enable supercompensation. Essentially, we aim to adjust the training load by considering our overall stress and recovery capacity, ensuring that recovery exceeds the total stress and that the training-related stress keeps increasing. During this process, we upgrade our body. To illustrate how to adjust training load with respect to overall recovery and stress, let’s consider an example of an imaginary person, Bob Smith. Bob knows he can recover from his 5 weekly training sessions with his normal sleep and food routine. He trains twice with cardio and three times with weights. His work has been relatively steady. Recently, Bob took on an extra project with a strict deadline and faced unexpected expenses due to insurance payments. Consequently, Bob realises his overall recovery capacity has been reduced because of the increased workload and financial stress. To prevent overtraining, Bob reduced his sessions from 5 to 4, maintaining a positive adaptation balance. This way, he avoids overtraining and lowers the risk of injury.
When the adaptation is negative, meaning recovery capacity is less than the stress load, it indicates a degradation phase, which signifies being too stressed overall. Note that since stress is not only caused by training, it's quite possible for people to enter the degradation mode without increasing their training load. Let's look at a concrete example. Alice trains three times a week. This has been effective and provides her with exercise benefits. However, recently Alice moved to a new house, and there are many things to organise after the renovation. Several parts of the house are not functioning properly, and Alice has to take on a project manager role to fix everything. This has added stress to Alice. But because Alice is not wealthy and understands the adaptation equation, she sticks to her training schedule very strictly. As a result, her recovery capacity gets overused, and Alice experiences a downward trend in her overall health during this period. Usually, this decline can be corrected by adjusting either our training plan or overall stress levels. However, if Alice remains in this degradation state for a long time, it can cause long-term harm, such as hormonal imbalance or adrenaline fatigue.
It is very rare for adaptation to be zero. This indicates we have a precise, balanced level of recovery and stress load. When this occurs, it essentially means we are maintaining. We are not adding extra stress through training; instead, we've simply used up our recovery capacity exactly. In practice, this happens when people have already reached a high level of fitness. There’s no need to push beyond the limit, and these individuals are happy to maintain that level. For example, when a 60-year-old reaches a total of 250 kg across squats, bench press, and deadlifts, there’s typically no need to push further. Maintaining this level of strength is more than enough. Prioritising maintenance over additional weight progression is key. In this case, it’s best for the individual to introduce just enough training stress to use their full recovery capacity and sustain their fitness level.
So, what exactly is the Godilock Training Zone? It’s basically about understanding how much recovery our bodies can handle over a given period, through self-awareness and mindful awareness of our situation. It also means recognising when we’re pushing our stress levels beyond just training. Plus, it involves adjusting our training methods to maintain a balanced overall stress and recovery. Simply put, it’s about ensuring that our recovery capacity minus the stress we put on ourselves is enough to keep making steady progress without risking overtraining. The goal of the Godilock Training Zone is to do just enough training to make the most of our recovery, leading to healthy, consistent improvements.
黄金训练区
走进任何一家健身房，下面这样的对话都非常常见。
“星期五是我的练腿日，我从不缺席。不管状态如何，我都会确保完成我的训练量。我为此感到自豪。”
“我严格按照这个新的线上应用程序训练。我觉得它真的很有帮助。我完成了所有课程，已经连续坚持了90天。我从未缺席一天。我为此感到自豪。”
“我两岁的孩子昨晚醒了好几次，但那不应该阻止我训练。我完成了我的训练量。”
“我一周训练七次，当然。我对训练非常认真。休息是给弱者的。”
“这周真的压力很大。我老板简直糟透了，不过幸运的是，我完成了所有训练量。我没有缺席任何一次训练。”
这些人在健身房里，或者更广泛地说，在生活中，往往都是备受尊敬的人。他们坚持严格的模式，通常也练得相当不错。这些人给自己的生活引入了一个常量：训练计划或训练负荷。他们优先考虑训练负荷，确保自己遵循某种固定模式。然而，将训练负荷本身作为优先事项并非最佳做法，因为训练负荷并不是决定你是否从运动中受益、是否保持动态状态的关键因素。真正重要的是，你的身体和大脑能否从训练状态中健康地恢复。换句话说，超量恢复，或者说身体在恢复过程中额外增加的那一部分，才是任何训练结果的净收益。
让我们更仔细地审视一下“超量恢复”这一概念。这个术语常用于力量或心肺训练中，用来描述在一次训练后的休息期之后，身体能力略微超过之前水平的现象。这种微小的提升意味着健康的进步。例如，当你举起50公斤的重量时，你的肌肉会产生微小撕裂。在恢复过程中，身体会修复这些细微损伤。结果是，下次你可能能够举起超过50公斤的重量。同样地，当我们以略快于平常的速度跑步时，身体会通过让心肌更加用力工作、增加线粒体数量以及生成更多血红蛋白来携带额外氧气，从而进行适应。这些由于跑得稍快一点而产生的适应，帮助我们提高速度，并在未来的跑步中更好地应对新的节奏。
然而，对我们的身体而言，负荷并不仅仅来自训练，它来自各种来源。身体从根本上说，在生物学意义上，是一台压力管理机器。任何被引入系统的变化，都会被身体吸收并进行适应。从生理角度来看，训练当然是主要压力源之一。但其他压力同样会占用我们身体的恢复与适应能力，因此在评估整体压力水平时也应被纳入考虑。例如：信息过载、人际关系挑战，以及对未来的恐惧与不确定性。为了更准确地衡量身体所承受的整体负荷，我们可以将压力负荷分为三个类别。
第一类压力是机械性与生理性压力。所有类型的训练都属于这一类，例如力量训练、跑步以及活动拉伸。除了训练之外，还有许多其他来源会带来机械性与生理性压力。疾病是这一类别中的重要组成部分。当我们生病时，身体需要产生大量化学物质来对抗抗原并修复组织，这会增加整体压力。此外，其他机械性与生理性压力还包括环境变化，例如从寒冷转向炎热或从炎热转向寒冷，这些都需要身体进行适应，以及睡眠节律的紊乱。有时我们还会主动引入非训练性压力。例如，在减重过程中，我们可能会制造热量赤字。吃得稍少，会削减身体用于修复的能量供应，这本身也可以被视为一种压力因素。这些因素都会增加系统的总体压力。
第二类是认知负荷。认知负荷简单来说，就是我们需要思考多少事情。工作压力有时与认知负荷有关，但它也可能源于不确定性或糟糕的人际关系。决策疲劳也是认知负荷的重要组成部分。正如在情绪智力章节中所讨论的，人类的决策能力是有限的。如果我们做出过多决策，神经系统就会疲劳，我们必须动用恢复资源来修复它。短时间内接收过多信息也会增加认知负荷。例如，当我们适应一个新环境，比如新的工作或学习环境时，需要记住和理解许多新事物，这会暂时造成压力，并降低身体应对其他压力源的能力。
第三类压力负荷是情绪负荷。情绪是相当“昂贵”的。我们在一定时间内只能产生有限数量的情绪。无论是快乐、悲伤、担忧还是焦虑，强烈情绪都会干扰我们的神经系统和生理系统。当我们对某件事感到恐惧，或对未来感到不确定时，情绪负荷就会增加。回想一下，当我们预期某个压力事件时，仅仅是这种期待本身，就足以让人感到精疲力竭。其他类型的情绪压力包括同时处理过多事务、紧迫的截止日期、对失败的恐惧或频繁的情境切换——这些都是高情绪负荷的常见原因。正如在关系智力与财务智力章节中所讨论的，财务与人际关系也可能成为压力来源。这些因素往往被忽视。
从根本上说，我们的身体会将所有这些压力加总起来。不同类型的压力并没有各自独立的预算；压力预算是统一的。这意味着，当我们承受大量情绪压力时，身体的力量和速度都会下降。如果我们陷入财务困境，就无法在身体上承受同样强度的高强度训练。这也是为什么本章开头在健身房里听到的那些说法往往存在问题，因为它们将训练负荷视为恒定不变。相反，我们应当在计算时考虑所有压力。从本质上讲，我们体内只有一个压力指标：普遍压力负荷。
我们现在已经定义了普遍压力负荷。请记住这一点，接下来让我们定义普遍恢复预算。普遍恢复预算是指，在一个特定时间段内，我们从普遍压力负荷中恢复的能力。这不仅包括每日训练负荷，还包括所有类型的压力源。
普遍恢复预算包含内部因素，例如：
• 我们的年龄
• 我们的性别
• 我们的基础代谢健康状况
• 我们的基础系统性炎症水平
• 我们的基础肠道健康功能
• 我们的基础睡眠时长与质量
• 我们对变化的整体韧性
普遍恢复预算也取决于外部因素，即环境如何帮助或阻碍我们的恢复。例如：
• 我们近期的水分状态
• 我们近期的人际关系状况
• 我们近期的工作环境
• 我们近期获得的社会支持
• 我们的基础焦虑水平
• 健康食物与营养的可获得性
• 我们每天结束时放松与缓解压力的能力
尽管这些因素属于外部条件，但它们都会显著影响恢复。这被称为普遍恢复预算。
现在我们已经定义了两个重要因素：普遍压力负荷与普遍恢复预算。接下来可以引出本章的核心部分：黄金训练区。首先我们引入一个方程：
适应 = 恢复能力 − 压力负荷
当适应为正值，即恢复能力大于压力负荷时，我们就在进步。必须明确的是，压力负荷包括所有类型的压力，因此我们需要确保训练压力——也就是带来最大训练收益的那部分压力——得以提升。因为只有这样，才能实现超量恢复。从本质上说，我们的目标是通过考虑整体压力与恢复能力来调整训练负荷，确保恢复能力超过总压力，同时与训练相关的压力持续增加。在这个过程中，我们升级我们的身体。为了说明如何根据整体恢复与压力来调整训练负荷，让我们来看一个虚构人物的例子，Bob Smith。Bob知道，在保持正常睡眠与饮食的情况下，他可以恢复每周5次训练。他进行两次有氧训练和三次力量训练。他的工作一直比较稳定。最近，Bob接手了一个截止日期严格的额外项目，并因保险支付而面临意外支出。因此，Bob意识到，由于工作量增加和财务压力上升，他的整体恢复能力下降了。为了防止过度训练，Bob将训练次数从5次减少到4次，以维持正向适应平衡。通过这种方式，他避免了过度训练，并降低了受伤风险。
当适应为负值，即恢复能力小于压力负荷时，就表示进入退化阶段，这意味着整体压力过大。请注意，由于压力不仅来自训练，即使训练负荷没有增加，人们也完全可能进入退化模式。让我们来看一个具体例子。Alice每周训练三次，这一直很有效，也让她获得运动收益。然而，最近Alice搬进了新房，装修后有许多事情需要整理。房子的多个部分出现问题，Alice不得不承担项目经理的角色来修复一切。这为她增加了额外压力。但由于Alice并不富裕，而且理解适应方程，她仍然非常严格地坚持自己的训练计划。结果，她的恢复能力被过度消耗，在这段时间内整体健康呈现下降趋势。通常情况下，这种下降可以通过调整训练计划或降低整体压力来纠正。然而，如果Alice长时间停留在这种退化状态，就可能造成长期损害，例如激素失衡或肾上腺疲劳。
适应为零的情况非常罕见。这意味着恢复与压力负荷达到精确平衡。在这种情况下，本质上就是维持状态。我们没有通过训练增加额外压力，而只是刚好用尽恢复能力。在实践中，这种情况通常发生在已经达到较高体能水平的人身上。此时无需再进一步突破极限，这些人也乐于维持现有水平。例如，当一位60岁的人在深蹲、卧推和硬拉三项总和达到250公斤时，通常没有必要再继续突破。维持这一力量水平已经绰绰有余。优先考虑维持，而非继续增加重量，是关键。在这种情况下，最佳策略是引入恰到好处的训练压力，充分利用恢复能力，从而保持体能水平。
那么，究竟什么是黄金训练区？它本质上是通过自我觉察与对情境的觉察，理解在一个特定时间段内我们的身体能够承受多少恢复任务。它也意味着识别我们是否在训练之外不断推高整体压力水平。同时，它还涉及根据整体压力与恢复状况调整训练方式。简单来说，就是确保“恢复能力减去我们施加的压力”之后仍然保持正值，从而持续稳步进步，而不陷入过度训练的风险。黄金训练区的目标，是进行恰到好处的训练，最大化利用恢复能力，实现健康而持续的提升。
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