Science-Supported Tools to Accelerate Your Fitness Goals

00:00:00.000 | - Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast,

00:00:02.280 | where we discuss science and science-based tools

00:00:04.880 | for everyday life.

00:00:05.900 | I'm Andrew Huberman,

00:00:10.360 | and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology

00:00:13.240 | at Stanford School of Medicine.

00:00:15.120 | Today, we are discussing ways to improve your fitness.

00:00:18.000 | In particular, we are going to discuss tools

00:00:19.740 | that you can incorporate into your existing fitness routine

00:00:22.840 | that will allow you to make significant improvement

00:00:25.340 | without having to invest a lot of extra time.

00:00:28.160 | Most all of the tools we are going to discuss today

00:00:29.960 | were gleaned from the six episodes that we did

00:00:32.400 | with Dr. Andy Galpin.

00:00:34.240 | We provide a link to those full episodes

00:00:36.160 | in the show note captions, of course.

00:00:37.720 | Now those episodes included a very large number of protocols,

00:00:41.120 | everything from how to build a fitness routine,

00:00:43.080 | how to enhance recovery, nutrition and supplementation,

00:00:46.280 | exercises and routines aimed specifically at strength

00:00:50.460 | or hypertrophy or endurance or building anaerobic capacity.

00:00:54.480 | What I've done is to select key protocols

00:00:56.320 | from those episodes that I myself have started

00:00:58.920 | to incorporate into my existing fitness routine

00:01:01.640 | and that I think will be especially beneficial

00:01:04.240 | and frankly fun for you to incorporate

00:01:06.420 | into your fitness routine.

00:01:08.280 | Now, a little bit later in this episode,

00:01:09.760 | I review the key components of any fitness program.

00:01:12.860 | That is the number and type

00:01:14.640 | of cardiovascular training sessions

00:01:16.480 | and resistance training sessions that are essential

00:01:18.840 | for everyone to include as a template or a foundation

00:01:22.320 | for their overall fitness program.

00:01:24.120 | Now, a little bit later in the episode,

00:01:25.520 | I will be sure to review what are the essential components

00:01:28.480 | of any fitness program.

00:01:30.040 | So the number and type of resistance training sessions,

00:01:32.720 | the number and type of cardiovascular training sessions,

00:01:35.720 | as well as some of the elements of how those are arranged

00:01:38.280 | to ensure proper and adequate recovery between sessions

00:01:41.380 | so that you can continue to make ongoing progress.

00:01:44.160 | However, the bulk of today's discussion is going to focus

00:01:46.920 | on tools that you can use, again, very easily, very quickly,

00:01:51.160 | in some cases, even saving you time

00:01:53.660 | during your fitness regimen

00:01:55.520 | in order to improve all aspects of your fitness,

00:01:58.240 | your endurance, your muscular endurance,

00:01:59.840 | your anaerobic capacity, your recovery, your strength,

00:02:02.520 | your hypertrophy.

00:02:03.760 | And in describing these tools to improve your fitness,

00:02:06.760 | it also provides an opportunity for each and all of us

00:02:08.960 | to step back from our existing fitness routine

00:02:11.600 | and ask whether or not it's really checking off

00:02:13.720 | all the boxes that are necessary,

00:02:15.480 | as well as where we can be more economical

00:02:17.680 | with our time and our efforts

00:02:19.020 | in order to reach our specific goals

00:02:20.920 | related to exercise and performance.

00:02:23.320 | So by the end of today's episode,

00:02:24.600 | you can be sure that you have at least one

00:02:26.520 | and as many as 12 tools that you can incorporate

00:02:28.940 | into your existing fitness routine,

00:02:30.620 | again, without adding much additional time or effort,

00:02:33.600 | that are sure to accelerate your progress.

00:02:35.960 | Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast

00:02:38.680 | is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford.

00:02:41.400 | It is, however, part of my desire and effort

00:02:43.400 | to bring zero cost to consumer information about science

00:02:46.000 | and science-related tools to the general public.

00:02:48.600 | In keeping with that theme,

00:02:49.680 | I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast.

00:02:52.420 | Our first sponsor is Element.

00:02:54.360 | Element is an electrolyte drink

00:02:55.880 | that has everything you need and nothing you don't.

00:02:58.600 | That means plenty of salt, sodium, magnesium, and potassium,

00:03:02.440 | the electrolytes, but no sugar.

00:03:04.700 | Having adequate electrolytes is absolutely critical

00:03:07.000 | to cellular function, in particular, the function of neurons.

00:03:10.280 | In order for your neurons to function properly,

00:03:12.360 | you need electrolytes in your system

00:03:14.660 | and you need to be well-hydrated.

00:03:16.440 | There's a lot of research to support the fact

00:03:18.040 | that if you are even mildly dehydrated,

00:03:20.640 | that your cognition suffers,

00:03:22.440 | your physical performance suffers,

00:03:24.420 | and your sleep can also suffer.

00:03:27.080 | So getting adequate electrolytes and hydration is key,

00:03:29.420 | and Element allows you to do that.

00:03:31.160 | I typically mix Element into 16 to 32 ounces of water

00:03:34.700 | and drink that first thing in the morning.

00:03:36.420 | I'll also drink another one during exercise,

00:03:38.540 | and sometimes another one after exercise as well,

00:03:41.840 | especially if I've been sweating a lot

00:03:43.260 | or it's a particularly hot day.

00:03:44.840 | If you'd like to try Element,

00:03:46.000 | you can go to drinkelement.com/huberman,

00:03:48.800 | and that's spelled L-M-N-T.com/huberman.

00:03:52.160 | And you can claim a free sample pack with your purchase.

00:03:55.200 | Again, that's drinkelement, L-M-N-T.com/huberman

00:03:58.260 | to claim a free sample pack.

00:04:00.020 | Today's episode is also brought to us by Helix Sleep.

00:04:02.520 | Helix Sleep makes mattresses and pillows

00:04:04.440 | that are the absolute highest quality.

00:04:06.660 | I've talked many times before on this podcast

00:04:08.440 | about the fact that sleep is the foundation

00:04:10.540 | of mental health, physical health, and performance.

00:04:12.880 | And I say that because when we are not sleeping well

00:04:15.120 | or enough, all of those things suffer.

00:04:17.340 | Conversely, when we are sleeping well

00:04:19.280 | and we're sleeping enough, all of those things improve.

00:04:22.120 | One of the key elements to getting a great night's sleep

00:04:24.440 | is to have the proper mattress.

00:04:26.280 | Helix mattresses are different

00:04:27.580 | because they are customized to your unique sleep needs.

00:04:30.080 | So if you go to their website

00:04:31.120 | and take a brief two-minute quiz,

00:04:32.620 | they will match you to a mattress

00:04:34.160 | that's ideal for your sleep needs.

00:04:36.000 | The quiz asks questions such as,

00:04:37.440 | do you sleep on your back, your side, or your stomach?

00:04:39.340 | Perhaps you don't know, that's fine too.

00:04:41.620 | Or do you tend to run hot or cold during the night?

00:04:43.880 | Things of that sort that allow them to match you

00:04:46.060 | to a mattress that will give you

00:04:48.400 | the best possible night's sleep.

00:04:49.960 | I started sleeping on a Helix mattress a few years ago,

00:04:52.180 | and it has vastly improved my sleep.

00:04:54.600 | If you're interested in upgrading your mattress,

00:04:56.260 | you can go to helixsleep.com/huberman

00:04:58.800 | to take that two-minute sleep quiz,

00:05:00.240 | and they'll match you to a customized mattress.

00:05:02.440 | You can also get up to $350 off any mattress order

00:05:05.360 | and two free pillows.

00:05:06.780 | Again, if you're interested,

00:05:08.020 | you can go to helixsleep.com/huberman

00:05:10.360 | for up to $350 off and two free pillows.

00:05:13.800 | Let's talk about tools to improve your fitness.

00:05:17.080 | Before we do that, however,

00:05:18.520 | I just want to briefly remind everybody

00:05:20.680 | what constitutes a core or a foundational fitness program.

00:05:24.860 | Now, what I'm about to describe is not for the athlete

00:05:27.560 | that's trying to just improve one aspect

00:05:30.480 | of fitness or sports performance.

00:05:32.360 | So for instance, if you are a powerlifter

00:05:34.800 | and your main goal is to move more weight

00:05:37.260 | on the core powerlifting movements,

00:05:39.720 | or if you are somebody training for a marathon,

00:05:42.800 | it's likely that your core fitness program

00:05:45.680 | will differ substantially from what I'm about to describe.

00:05:48.360 | However, the vast majority of you

00:05:50.760 | are almost certainly trying to have some level

00:05:53.020 | of cardiovascular fitness.

00:05:54.680 | So the ability perhaps to run a mile or more,

00:05:57.780 | certainly to be able to walk up a flight of stairs

00:05:59.840 | without getting winded.

00:06:01.060 | You almost certainly want some degree of strength,

00:06:03.480 | the ability to perhaps pick up a heavy load of groceries

00:06:06.800 | and carry it in one arm

00:06:08.700 | as you carry something else in the other arm.

00:06:10.800 | You want the ability to help move furniture.

00:06:13.020 | You want the ability certainly to not injure yourself

00:06:15.880 | when performing daily tasks.

00:06:17.760 | And perhaps you also want to be able to go out

00:06:19.640 | and play a pickup game of basketball or soccer,

00:06:22.500 | or to go out on a long hike with the family

00:06:24.660 | without feeling so sore

00:06:26.420 | that you have to rest in bed the next day.

00:06:28.520 | An optimal fitness program of the sort that was covered

00:06:31.080 | in the optimal fitness protocols episode that I did

00:06:34.220 | is therefore one that checks off the major boxes

00:06:37.000 | that science tells us are important

00:06:38.920 | for health span and for lifespan,

00:06:40.640 | and that can also help us improve various aspects

00:06:43.340 | of performance and improve various aspects of aesthetics,

00:06:47.580 | whether it's fat loss or muscle growth, if we choose.

00:06:50.660 | So without going into that program in a lot of detail,

00:06:53.500 | the core elements of it are that it include

00:06:56.240 | at least 150 minutes,

00:06:58.100 | and ideally more like 200 minutes per week

00:07:00.980 | of so-called zone two cardio.

00:07:02.900 | I'll talk a little bit more about zone two cardio

00:07:04.600 | a little bit later in the episode.

00:07:06.120 | But zone two cardio is, for those of you that don't know,

00:07:09.700 | the type of cardiovascular exercise that you can do

00:07:12.540 | while maintaining a conversation without getting winded,

00:07:15.540 | but that if you were to push a little bit harder,

00:07:18.200 | that you would find it hard to complete your sentences.

00:07:21.060 | In general, zone two cardio is the sort

00:07:23.400 | that you can do while purely nasal breathing,

00:07:25.900 | unless you need to talk, of course,

00:07:27.100 | it's perfectly fine to talk while doing zone two cardio.

00:07:29.380 | And again, the scientific research tells us

00:07:31.620 | that we should all be getting at least 150 minutes

00:07:34.380 | and probably more like 200 minutes

00:07:35.920 | of zone two cardio per week.

00:07:38.380 | Now, in addition to that,

00:07:39.780 | a foundational or optimal fitness program for most people

00:07:43.020 | is going to include anywhere from two to four

00:07:46.260 | cardiovascular training sessions that are separate,

00:07:48.900 | that's right, separate from the zone two cardio,

00:07:51.860 | as well as two to four resistance or strength training,

00:07:54.900 | sometimes also aimed at hypertrophy

00:07:56.620 | or muscle growth training sessions.

00:07:58.940 | Now, we have to acknowledge that most people

00:08:01.100 | are probably not going to hit the upper threshold

00:08:03.860 | of all of those three things.

00:08:05.180 | Most people simply do not have the time and/or discipline

00:08:09.040 | to get 200 minutes of zone two cardio per week

00:08:11.580 | plus four resistance training sessions

00:08:14.040 | plus four cardiovascular training sessions

00:08:16.540 | that are separate from the zone two cardio.

00:08:18.820 | As a consequence, the optimal fitness program

00:08:21.160 | that I described in that episode,

00:08:23.060 | and by the way, it's the program

00:08:24.380 | that I've essentially followed

00:08:25.620 | for the last 30 years or more,

00:08:28.140 | includes three cardiovascular training sessions.

00:08:31.180 | So one longer duration,

00:08:33.660 | sort of typical endurance type training,

00:08:35.900 | this would be a long, slow jog or a long hike,

00:08:38.080 | one day per week,

00:08:39.400 | as well as a shorter cardiovascular training session

00:08:42.180 | of about 25 to 30 minutes,

00:08:44.620 | moving a bit faster, getting the heart rate up a bit more,

00:08:47.140 | breathing a little bit harder,

00:08:48.560 | as well as one very short cardiovascular training session

00:08:52.000 | that would fall under the category

00:08:53.440 | of high-intensity interval training,

00:08:54.880 | things like sprints,

00:08:56.160 | which don't necessarily have to be done running,

00:08:57.900 | could be done on a rower, could be done on a bike, et cetera.

00:09:01.280 | So three cardiovascular training sessions,

00:09:03.320 | as well as three resistance training sessions.

00:09:06.760 | I want to acknowledge that resistance training

00:09:09.060 | can be done with body weight,

00:09:10.280 | can be done with weights, with machines.

00:09:12.140 | I talked about the differing virtues

00:09:13.740 | of one approach versus another,

00:09:15.420 | but nonetheless, three resistance training sessions,

00:09:18.540 | one focusing specifically on leg training,

00:09:22.240 | one focused specifically on torso training,

00:09:25.140 | that's right, chest, shoulders, and back altogether,

00:09:27.320 | as well as some neck training for important reasons

00:09:29.440 | that were mentioned in that episode,

00:09:30.980 | and then a third session

00:09:32.860 | that was aimed at somewhat smaller body parts,

00:09:35.540 | biceps, triceps, calves,

00:09:37.260 | and some other small body parts

00:09:38.620 | that tend to be neglected

00:09:40.340 | and that are important to train

00:09:42.720 | if one wants to encourage muscular balance,

00:09:45.060 | both aesthetically and structurally to avoid injury

00:09:47.600 | and have excellent posture.

00:09:49.560 | So those were the core elements

00:09:51.680 | of that foundational fitness program.

00:09:53.480 | And I mentioned then, and I'll mention again now,

00:09:55.840 | that that program is not a mandate.

00:09:58.160 | It is not an absolute requirement for anyone to follow.

00:10:01.560 | It was simply meant as a template

00:10:03.140 | from which people could evaluate

00:10:04.680 | their own existing fitness program,

00:10:06.640 | perhaps modify it somewhat or a lot,

00:10:08.880 | or if you were interested in trying

00:10:10.180 | that specific fitness program, that you could do that.

00:10:13.160 | And we have provided a link

00:10:14.560 | both to that episode in the show note captions,

00:10:17.480 | but we've also provided a link to a table or chart

00:10:20.040 | that describes that foundational fitness program.

00:10:22.940 | It provides examples of different cardiovascular training

00:10:25.840 | and resistance type training sessions,

00:10:27.920 | and it describes some potential exercises

00:10:30.520 | and the rationale for those exercises

00:10:32.360 | and the rationale for selecting

00:10:34.040 | particular repetition ranges and rest between sets.

00:10:36.780 | All of that information is available completely, zero cost.

00:10:39.640 | You don't even need to sign up for anything.

00:10:41.040 | You simply go to the link

00:10:42.720 | that we provided in the show note captions,

00:10:44.440 | and there's a downloadable PDF there for you to explore.

00:10:47.900 | Now, in addition to the solo episode

00:10:49.560 | that I did about optimal fitness protocols,

00:10:52.260 | we did a six-episode guest series with Dr. Andy Galpin,

00:10:55.940 | who is a professor of physiology at Cal State Fullerton

00:10:58.820 | and a world expert in all aspects

00:11:01.200 | of exercise and muscle physiology.

00:11:03.480 | That episode described a lot of the science

00:11:05.760 | and in particular science-backed tools

00:11:08.400 | for improving everything from long distance endurance

00:11:11.360 | to anaerobic capacity, strength, hypertrophy, speed,

00:11:15.600 | power, recovery, nutrition, supplementation,

00:11:19.000 | and ways to develop a year-long program

00:11:21.800 | that will ensure you ongoing progress.

00:11:24.400 | In that series, Dr. Andy Galpin provided

00:11:26.360 | an enormous amount of valuable information

00:11:29.400 | such that anyone and everyone,

00:11:31.200 | meaning the person who's just interested

00:11:33.480 | in starting a fitness program

00:11:35.080 | or improving their existing fitness program,

00:11:37.760 | or the elite athlete who's interested

00:11:40.280 | in improving their sprint times or their jump height

00:11:43.340 | or their powerlifting or their marathon time,

00:11:46.100 | could clearly benefit from some or all of the protocols

00:11:49.080 | that he described.

00:11:50.560 | Now, because that series is so extensive

00:11:52.480 | in terms of its depth and breadth,

00:11:54.240 | again, providing so much value at zero cost,

00:11:57.300 | thanks to Dr. Andy Galpin's expertise,

00:11:59.580 | but at the same time, because it might be

00:12:01.100 | a little bit intimidating for many people out there

00:12:03.760 | to try and figure out which protocols to incorporate

00:12:06.120 | into their existing fitness regimen,

00:12:08.160 | I thought it would be fun and very beneficial

00:12:10.560 | to talk about some of the key tools

00:12:12.440 | that were described throughout that series

00:12:14.520 | that one could consider incorporating

00:12:16.120 | into their existing fitness routine now.

00:12:18.800 | So that's what this episode is really about.

00:12:21.220 | It's about the tools that I personally glean

00:12:23.500 | from those discussions and that I found

00:12:25.640 | to be of tremendous value in improving

00:12:28.340 | both my cardiovascular fitness,

00:12:30.220 | my strength and hypertrophy training,

00:12:32.360 | my recovery, and other aspects

00:12:34.160 | of my overall fitness protocols.

00:12:35.500 | And when I say beneficial,

00:12:36.440 | I mean in terms of improving my cardiovascular fitness,

00:12:39.920 | improving my strength and hypertrophy training,

00:12:42.400 | and that have improved the various metrics

00:12:44.440 | of fitness, lifespan, and healthspan,

00:12:47.080 | which include things like heart rate variability,

00:12:49.360 | resting heart rate, blood pressure, VO2 max,

00:12:52.840 | as well as some of the fitness metrics

00:12:54.340 | that were described during that episode series

00:12:56.680 | with Dr. Andy Galpin, such as performance metrics,

00:12:59.580 | the ability to jump a certain distance,

00:13:01.960 | the ability to run a certain speed

00:13:04.160 | or to run a certain distance at a given speed,

00:13:06.080 | the ability to move weights in good form

00:13:08.780 | for a certain number of repetitions.

00:13:10.020 | Again, all of the metrics of performance and health

00:13:12.420 | are going to vary tremendously from person to person,

00:13:14.840 | depending on where you're starting,

00:13:16.800 | how long you've been training,

00:13:18.160 | and other aspects of your health.

00:13:19.820 | The tools described in today's episode

00:13:23.000 | are designed for everybody.

00:13:24.520 | Again, these are simple tools

00:13:25.700 | that you can put into your existing routine

00:13:27.720 | that should really move the needle forward

00:13:29.640 | in terms of improving your overall levels

00:13:31.500 | of fitness and health.

00:13:32.860 | Okay, let's talk about the tools to improve your fitness.

00:13:36.080 | The first tool is to mesh your zone two cardio

00:13:39.260 | with your daily activities.

00:13:41.400 | So for those of you that don't know,

00:13:43.340 | zone two cardio is the type of movement

00:13:46.040 | that we typically call cardio exercise

00:13:49.160 | that elevates your heart rate somewhat,

00:13:51.300 | increases your breathing somewhat,

00:13:53.600 | but that still allows you to carry out a conversation

00:13:56.360 | without having to pause or to gasp

00:13:58.720 | in order to complete your sentences, okay?

00:14:01.460 | So that's a general rule of thumb for zone two cardio.

00:14:04.600 | Now, for those of you that use a fitness tracker,

00:14:07.460 | you can monitor whether or not

00:14:08.740 | you are in zone two cardio very precisely,

00:14:11.720 | but if you're like me and you don't use a fitness tracker,

00:14:14.520 | it's very easy to know if you're in zone two cardio,

00:14:16.780 | because again, it's that level of output

00:14:18.640 | that puts you right below or somewhat below the threshold

00:14:22.540 | where if you were to exert yourself with any more intensity

00:14:26.420 | that you wouldn't be able to complete your sentences.

00:14:29.400 | Now, this could of course be evaluated

00:14:31.320 | by jogging with someone or walking with someone

00:14:33.880 | or hiking with someone and carrying out a conversation.

00:14:37.060 | If somebody isn't available,

00:14:38.320 | you could of course do this by trying to speak out loud

00:14:41.240 | and have a conversation with yourself.

00:14:42.640 | Or if you want another way to monitor

00:14:44.940 | whether or not you're in zone two cardio

00:14:46.320 | without having to use a fitness tracker,

00:14:48.280 | you could simply ask yourself

00:14:49.840 | whether or not you are maintaining a level of output

00:14:52.480 | that increases your heart rate and your breathing,

00:14:55.020 | but that allows you to maintain purely nasal breathing

00:14:58.060 | the entire time.

00:14:59.600 | Any of those approaches will tell you more or less

00:15:02.600 | whether or not you're in zone two cardio.

00:15:04.780 | Now, the scientific data tell us

00:15:06.840 | that we should all be getting anywhere from 150 minutes

00:15:10.240 | to 200 minutes per week minimum of zone two cardio

00:15:14.480 | for sake of cardiovascular health, cerebrovascular health,

00:15:17.560 | and a number of other aspects of health

00:15:19.960 | that are important essentially to everybody

00:15:21.840 | for healthspan and lifespan.

00:15:24.320 | Now, many people including myself schedule zone two cardio

00:15:28.240 | into their weekly fitness regimen.

00:15:30.560 | So for me, I have one day a week.

00:15:32.580 | For me, it falls on a Sunday where I go out for a jog

00:15:36.000 | that lasts anywhere from 60 minutes to 90 minutes.

00:15:38.760 | It's a slow jog.

00:15:40.120 | I can maintain nasal breathing the entire time

00:15:42.240 | or have a conversation with somebody else or myself

00:15:44.860 | the entire time if I like.

00:15:47.400 | Or sometimes it consists of a hike by myself

00:15:51.080 | or with other people.

00:15:52.640 | And sometimes those hikes extend anywhere from an hour

00:15:55.480 | to four hours depending on the circumstances, et cetera.

00:15:58.880 | I will mention that whenever possible,

00:16:00.420 | I try and do that once a week zone two cardio session

00:16:03.320 | out of doors because I like being in nature

00:16:05.160 | and I like getting sunlight and I like getting fresh air.

00:16:08.420 | Now, during the discussion with Dr. Andy Galpin,

00:16:11.080 | I explained how I get my zone two cardio

00:16:13.600 | and I acknowledged that that once a week session

00:16:16.480 | doesn't always allow me to reach that 150 minute

00:16:19.480 | to 200 minute minimum threshold of zone two cardio per week.

00:16:23.760 | Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

00:16:26.240 | And his response to that was very reassuring.

00:16:28.440 | What he said was, "Look, if you want to schedule

00:16:31.360 | "zone two cardio and head out for a long Sunday jog

00:16:34.800 | "or hike, terrific.

00:16:36.540 | "If you want to schedule zone two cardio

00:16:38.580 | "as two or more sessions on the treadmill or on the bike,

00:16:42.780 | "great."

00:16:43.880 | But that he doesn't actually think of zone two cardio

00:16:46.760 | as exercise at all.

00:16:48.920 | And to that I gasped and then I was a little bit deflated.

00:16:51.640 | I thought, "Oh, great, I'm doing all this zone two cardio

00:16:54.660 | "and you don't even consider that exercise."

00:16:56.960 | And then when he said it was very reassuring

00:16:59.000 | and I think it's going to be very reassuring to all of you,

00:17:01.280 | he said, "First of all, zone two cardio

00:17:04.600 | "is absolutely critical to our health

00:17:06.440 | "for a number of reasons that I already mentioned.

00:17:09.120 | "But in addition to that, zone two cardio does not impede

00:17:13.300 | "and in fact can enhance our other aspects of fitness."

00:17:17.040 | So for example, our strength training,

00:17:18.560 | our hypertrophy training or any type of speed work

00:17:21.100 | or other types of cardiovascular training one might do.

00:17:23.760 | And that the best way to get zone two cardio is okay,

00:17:28.300 | if you want to schedule it, schedule it as a session,

00:17:31.240 | but that to simply increase the amount of walking

00:17:34.760 | and in particular walking at a rapid pace that one does

00:17:38.360 | and to increase the total amount of movement

00:17:40.220 | that one's getting throughout the week.

00:17:41.440 | So taking groceries in and out of the grocery store,

00:17:44.800 | running around with the kids,

00:17:46.360 | taking a walk with a coworker while having a work discussion,

00:17:49.480 | taking your calls for work while pacing in the office

00:17:51.780 | or going outside.

00:17:52.920 | What he impressed on me is that zone two cardio

00:17:56.140 | can be meshed throughout the daily activities

00:17:58.380 | that I and everybody else generally have to do.

00:18:01.160 | And this was of great relief to me

00:18:02.880 | because I, as many of you are, am extremely busy.

00:18:07.000 | I don't have time to schedule in more cardio per week,

00:18:10.160 | or at least I don't see the way I could do that

00:18:11.840 | without reducing the amount of sleep that I'm getting

00:18:14.660 | or without reducing the amount of social connection

00:18:17.440 | that I'm getting with family and friends,

00:18:18.780 | both of which are extremely important

00:18:20.440 | to our mental health and physical health.

00:18:22.480 | So the basic tool here is, yes, get 200 minutes per week,

00:18:26.740 | minimum of zone two cardio.

00:18:28.500 | And notice I said 200 minutes,

00:18:29.740 | not 115 minutes to 200 minutes.

00:18:31.700 | I'm going to set the higher threshold

00:18:33.340 | of 200 minutes per week, minimum of zone two cardio,

00:18:37.180 | but that you don't need to schedule that

00:18:39.420 | as time on the treadmill.

00:18:40.460 | If you want to, great.

00:18:42.040 | But what was communicated to me from Dr. Andy Gallopin

00:18:44.880 | is that zone two cardio is immensely beneficial.

00:18:47.280 | It's not going to impede,

00:18:48.480 | and in fact, it's going to improve other aspects of fitness,

00:18:51.720 | and that it does not have to impede,

00:18:53.980 | and it in fact can improve other aspects of our daily life,

00:18:57.440 | like our ability to engage socially,

00:18:59.540 | our ability to have a great output at work

00:19:02.460 | in whatever type of work you do.

00:19:04.360 | So the message is very simple.

00:19:05.940 | Get 200 minutes or more of zone two cardio per week.

00:19:09.040 | And the message is also a very reassuring one,

00:19:11.520 | which is that that zone two cardio

00:19:13.340 | can be spread throughout your daily activities,

00:19:15.700 | and that if you're doing enough of it,

00:19:17.860 | you probably don't even have to count

00:19:19.520 | the total amount of zone two cardio that you're getting.

00:19:21.860 | If you simply make the effort to move around a lot more

00:19:24.820 | during your daily activities,

00:19:26.780 | and to mesh that zone two cardio with your daily activities,

00:19:30.020 | you're going to hit that threshold

00:19:31.220 | of 200 minutes per week, minimum.

00:19:33.360 | Now that's a great message for me,

00:19:35.320 | because I'm already doing

00:19:36.940 | the three resistance training workouts per week.

00:19:38.860 | I'm doing what now I can just call the two other

00:19:41.840 | cardiovascular training workouts per week,

00:19:43.560 | because now I don't even count that long Sunday jog

00:19:46.260 | or Sunday hike as exercise.

00:19:47.880 | I just consider that movement out of doors on the weekend.

00:19:51.600 | And in doing so,

00:19:52.520 | it's also allowed me to really enjoy that a lot more.

00:19:55.160 | There's something about considering something,

00:19:57.060 | a fitness training program,

00:19:58.880 | that shifts it from just recreation

00:20:01.120 | and enjoying life to training.

00:20:03.220 | And I of course love training.

00:20:04.840 | I love training in the gym and I love training out of doors.

00:20:07.000 | I love running, I love lifting weights.

00:20:08.620 | I love all sorts of physical training.

00:20:10.680 | I know many people do, I know many people don't,

00:20:13.220 | but if one looks at zone two cardio

00:20:15.920 | as just part of their daily life,

00:20:18.020 | you're far more likely to get that zone two cardio in

00:20:21.640 | and all the benefits that come with it.

00:20:23.240 | And you're also opening up time for work,

00:20:26.400 | for social engagements,

00:20:28.200 | and to do and pay attention to other aspects of fitness,

00:20:31.440 | which is what we're going to talk about next.

00:20:33.240 | The second tool that I've incorporated

00:20:34.720 | into my fitness regimen,

00:20:36.240 | and that I believe can be of great benefit

00:20:38.780 | to frankly everybody,

00:20:40.720 | is to start including low repetition, pure strength work.

00:20:45.720 | Now, some of you may already be doing

00:20:48.440 | low repetition, pure strength work,

00:20:51.000 | but I believe that most people don't.

00:20:53.740 | Most people who do resistance training

00:20:55.500 | are using either machines or free weights

00:20:57.400 | or some combination of those,

00:20:59.220 | or perhaps are using body weight.

00:21:01.260 | And they tend to focus on repetition ranges

00:21:04.300 | from about five and usually more like six repetitions

00:21:09.300 | out to about 10 and perhaps 15 repetitions.

00:21:13.240 | Now, of course, doing resistance training

00:21:15.080 | in repetition ranges of five to 15 reps per set,

00:21:19.200 | provided it's done at sufficient intensity,

00:21:21.960 | so either to failure or close to failure,

00:21:24.400 | of course, in good form,

00:21:25.800 | is tremendously beneficial.

00:21:27.340 | It can help build strength.

00:21:28.320 | It can enhance hypertrophy.

00:21:30.240 | There is tremendous value

00:21:31.440 | to training in those repetition ranges.

00:21:33.760 | But when I sat down with Dr. Andy Galpin

00:21:35.860 | to discuss resistance training specifically,

00:21:38.520 | he made it very clear that at least for some portion

00:21:42.080 | of one's yearly training cycle,

00:21:44.560 | so perhaps eight weeks or 10 weeks,

00:21:47.020 | or in the case that I adopted, 12 weeks,

00:21:50.880 | there is tremendous benefit to training

00:21:53.400 | in the three to five repetition range and maybe even lower.

00:21:57.320 | So the second tool of training specifically for strength

00:22:00.100 | in this three to five repetition range

00:22:01.720 | is something that I started to incorporate

00:22:03.780 | after I sat down to record that series.

00:22:06.280 | And I'll just tell you a few of the benefits

00:22:08.400 | that I've experienced,

00:22:09.360 | and then I'll tell you the specific protocol

00:22:11.160 | that makes it very easy to do this.

00:22:12.980 | The most obvious benefit to me was that I got much stronger

00:22:16.360 | and that that strength persisted

00:22:18.200 | such that when I went back to using higher repetition ranges,

00:22:21.480 | so typically I trained with weights or machines

00:22:23.600 | in the six to 10 repetition range,

00:22:25.520 | sometimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower,

00:22:27.760 | but never before had I specifically trained

00:22:30.620 | in the three to five repetition range exclusively

00:22:33.440 | for a period of 10 to 12 weeks.

00:22:35.720 | And when I did that, I of course gained strength,

00:22:39.120 | but that strength stayed with me

00:22:40.340 | such that when I returned to higher repetition ranges,

00:22:42.680 | I could use more weight in good form,

00:22:44.680 | and that of course enhanced strength

00:22:46.380 | and hypertrophy further.

00:22:48.240 | In addition, there was another effect

00:22:50.200 | that was at least to me very unexpected,

00:22:52.560 | which was that my cardiovascular training

00:22:55.140 | improved significantly.

00:22:56.880 | Now, why would this be?

00:22:57.720 | Because typically a three to five repetition set

00:23:00.000 | does not elevate the heart rate for long enough

00:23:02.000 | that you would consider it cardiovascular training.

00:23:04.260 | And of course the rest periods between those sets

00:23:06.100 | is pretty long as well.

00:23:07.300 | So even if heart rate goes up during those heavy sets,

00:23:09.780 | it's going to go down during those long

00:23:11.500 | three to five minute rest periods between those sets.

00:23:14.360 | But what I noticed was that my overall posture

00:23:17.720 | and my ability to maintain cardiovascular output

00:23:20.540 | while using good running form or good rowing form

00:23:23.960 | was also vastly improved.

00:23:25.980 | And the logical interpretation of why that would be

00:23:28.860 | is simply that the muscles got stronger

00:23:32.100 | and those same muscles are being incorporated

00:23:34.020 | into the cardiovascular, let's call it endurance work

00:23:37.740 | that I'm doing on other days.

00:23:39.100 | And therefore I can carry out

00:23:40.900 | those cardiovascular training sessions

00:23:43.060 | in better form for longer periods of time.

00:23:45.220 | I actually felt much stronger

00:23:46.900 | during my cardiovascular training

00:23:48.820 | as I got much stronger moving these heavier weight loads

00:23:51.740 | for low repetition sets.

00:23:53.620 | And then the third specific benefit that I noticed

00:23:56.340 | is that when training heavy for three to five repetitions

00:24:00.040 | per set, I didn't get sore.

00:24:03.180 | And this to me was an incredible benefit

00:24:05.680 | because typically when I train in the six repetition

00:24:07.960 | to 15 repetition range,

00:24:09.540 | and I take those sets to failure or near failure,

00:24:12.460 | I do experience some soreness the next day.

00:24:15.260 | Ordinarily that soreness isn't so intense

00:24:17.540 | that it prevents me from doing

00:24:18.740 | any of the other sorts of workouts that I do.

00:24:20.940 | And for those of you that have visited

00:24:22.380 | that foundational fitness protocol,

00:24:24.160 | you know that I hit each major and minor muscle group

00:24:27.000 | once per week directly,

00:24:28.540 | as well as once per week indirectly.

00:24:31.660 | That's the overall structure of that program

00:24:34.180 | in order to allow sufficient recovery

00:24:36.260 | between those resistance training workouts

00:24:37.980 | to be able to make continual progress.

00:24:40.320 | Now, by training in this three to five repetition range

00:24:43.280 | that Dr. Andy Gallopin suggested,

00:24:44.860 | I was able to improve my strength,

00:24:46.380 | improve my cardiovascular output, reduce soreness.

00:24:49.320 | I also just felt better overall.

00:24:51.020 | I had a lot more energy after those workouts

00:24:53.020 | than I typically do after my resistance training sessions

00:24:56.460 | when I use higher repetition ranges.

00:24:58.480 | There are just a number of different things

00:24:59.840 | that made me feel, wow, this is really a powerful protocol.

00:25:04.120 | And of course, moving heavier weights in the gym

00:25:05.800 | feels good too.

00:25:06.960 | It feels good to get stronger.

00:25:08.140 | At least there's a positive feedback there for me,

00:25:10.400 | and I think for most people.

00:25:11.780 | And I should also mention that for those of you

00:25:14.060 | that are averse to doing heavier resistance training

00:25:16.420 | in this three to five repetition range,

00:25:18.200 | because you fear that it will make you too big or too bulky,

00:25:21.640 | training in the low repetition ranges

00:25:23.360 | is actually more geared towards increasing strength

00:25:26.580 | and is shifting away somewhat

00:25:28.600 | from increasing hypertrophy or muscle size.

00:25:32.060 | So that's a great benefit for those of you

00:25:34.260 | that want to be strong

00:25:35.560 | and also want to maintain cardiovascular fitness,

00:25:38.040 | but you don't want to add muscular size.

00:25:39.920 | And of course, for all of you that want to add muscular size

00:25:43.180 | it's well-established that increasing your strength

00:25:45.000 | will allow you then to return to patterns

00:25:46.760 | of hypertrophy training

00:25:47.720 | that will allow you to use heavier weights

00:25:49.640 | and therefore induce greater hypertrophy.

00:25:52.440 | So there are oh so many reasons

00:25:54.040 | to incorporate these strength training protocols.

00:25:56.760 | So the way that Dr. Andy Galpin suggested one do it

00:25:59.600 | and it was the way that I did it

00:26:00.800 | is to use this three by five protocol.

00:26:03.320 | The three by five protocol is very straightforward.

00:26:06.280 | It involves doing three to five exercises per workout, okay?

00:26:11.200 | So if it's a workout for legs, it's three to five exercises.

00:26:13.860 | If it's a workout for some upper body muscle,

00:26:17.520 | it's three to five exercises.

00:26:19.200 | Three to five exercises for three to five sets per exercise,

00:26:24.200 | three to five repetitions per set,

00:26:28.800 | and three to five minutes of rest between each set.

00:26:32.760 | In addition, he emphasized that one can do those workouts

00:26:37.360 | three to five times per week.

00:26:39.340 | Although I'm going to put an asterisk

00:26:41.340 | next to that last statement

00:26:43.040 | because I found that I couldn't do the three by five protocol

00:26:46.440 | say for legs specifically three to five times per week.

00:26:50.120 | I realize that might be possible for some people,

00:26:52.120 | but I'm somebody who like many of you out there

00:26:55.120 | either doesn't have the time

00:26:56.920 | or doesn't have the recovery capacity

00:26:59.920 | to train my legs three to five times per week.

00:27:03.120 | Even though I acknowledge that there are probably ways

00:27:05.420 | to do that that would still allow me to recover,

00:27:07.740 | it just simply starts to impede

00:27:09.180 | into other areas of training.

00:27:11.500 | It starts to impede other areas of life

00:27:13.720 | like work and family and sleep and all the rest.

00:27:17.400 | So what I did and what I'm suggesting you try

00:27:20.720 | is for any existing resistance training that you're doing

00:27:25.000 | to take a period of eight or 10 or ideally 12 weeks

00:27:29.620 | and do the vast majority,

00:27:31.640 | if not all of that resistance training

00:27:33.440 | in the lower repetition range

00:27:35.200 | that's designed specifically to induce strength adaptations

00:27:39.240 | and to not pay attention to whether or not

00:27:40.860 | you're hitting that same muscle group

00:27:42.600 | three to five times per week.

00:27:44.400 | Rather if you train your legs once or twice per week

00:27:47.240 | to simply do all of the work for your legs

00:27:49.360 | in that three to five repetition range.

00:27:51.480 | If you train an upper body muscle or muscle groups,

00:27:54.120 | chest, shoulders, back once per week or twice per week

00:27:58.280 | to just stay within that three to five repetition range

00:28:01.340 | for those work sets, right?

00:28:03.380 | Warmups can include a few more reps.

00:28:05.420 | And then to adhere to this three to five exercises,

00:28:09.440 | three to five sets per exercise,

00:28:11.680 | three to five repetitions per set

00:28:13.720 | and three to five minutes between sets.

00:28:16.380 | Now, the one exception to this that I incorporated

00:28:19.720 | was that for very small muscle groups.

00:28:21.920 | So for instance, the rear deltoids or for neck work

00:28:25.800 | or for calf work to not rely purely

00:28:30.040 | on three to five repetitions,

00:28:31.480 | but maybe to work in a range of anywhere

00:28:33.600 | from five to eight repetitions.

00:28:35.640 | So still fairly low repetitions,

00:28:37.580 | but not so low that it restricts you

00:28:40.200 | to three to five repetitions.

00:28:41.600 | The reason for that is that I,

00:28:43.720 | and I think a lot of people out there find it hard

00:28:46.160 | to fatigue those smaller muscle groups adequately

00:28:48.760 | with good form when restricting oneself

00:28:51.120 | to those low repetitions.

00:28:52.720 | However, for big compound movements like presses and squats

00:28:55.580 | and deadlifts and glute ham raises and things of that sort,

00:28:59.520 | maybe even leg extensions and leg curls,

00:29:02.120 | which are isolation exercises, of course,

00:29:04.440 | to really restrict oneself to those

00:29:06.400 | three to five repetition ranges

00:29:08.200 | that take you to failure or near failure.

00:29:10.720 | I listed off the benefits of doing that that I experienced,

00:29:13.720 | and I'm confident that you will also experience

00:29:15.960 | a lot of benefits.

00:29:17.120 | So just to remind you what some of those benefits are,

00:29:20.340 | you get stronger, which feels great.

00:29:22.720 | That occurs within your weight workouts,

00:29:24.580 | but it also carries over

00:29:26.040 | to your endurance training sessions.

00:29:28.800 | I also noticed that when returning to higher repetitions

00:29:32.240 | for resistance training,

00:29:33.560 | so after 12 weeks,

00:29:35.160 | shifting away from three to five repetition ranges

00:29:37.720 | and going back to training in the six to 10 repetition

00:29:40.800 | ranges mainly, occasionally up to 12 or 15,

00:29:43.800 | but really mainly restricting to six to 10 repetitions,

00:29:47.140 | that you can move much heavier weights in good form

00:29:50.800 | and thereby induce more hypertrophy

00:29:52.600 | while still also continuing to gain some strength.

00:29:56.040 | And another benefit was, again,

00:29:57.960 | reduced soreness compared to when training

00:29:59.860 | with higher repetition ranges and more mental freshness,

00:30:03.580 | is I guess the only way to describe it,

00:30:05.360 | when training in those lower repetition ranges.

00:30:08.160 | I don't know about you,

00:30:09.000 | but when I finish a really hard hour long

00:30:11.960 | resistance training session

00:30:13.120 | done in the six to 12 repetition range,

00:30:16.140 | there's a certain type of mental fatigue

00:30:17.880 | that even if I eat properly afterwards,

00:30:19.960 | even if I hydrate properly,

00:30:21.660 | that it tends to sap a bit of my mental energy

00:30:23.800 | later in the day,

00:30:24.920 | but that the training at the three to five repetition range

00:30:27.520 | did just the opposite.

00:30:28.840 | It actually enhanced my focus and my cognition,

00:30:31.660 | my overall levels of physical energy,

00:30:33.920 | which is great because it allows you to do

00:30:36.080 | all the other things that we're required to do

00:30:37.880 | throughout the day.

00:30:38.720 | And by the way, it'll also allow you

00:30:40.440 | to get more of that zone two cardio.

00:30:42.600 | So if you want more details on the three by five protocol,

00:30:45.460 | again, that's timestamped in the relevant episode

00:30:48.800 | on strength and hypertrophy

00:30:49.920 | that we did with Dr. Andy Galpin.

00:30:51.820 | I'll also provide a link to that specific timestamp

00:30:54.420 | in the show note caption to this episode.

00:30:56.640 | I do want to point out that

00:30:58.360 | you don't just jump right into heavy sets

00:31:00.120 | of three to five repetitions.

00:31:01.260 | You need to warm up adequately.

00:31:03.120 | For some people that warm up

00:31:04.780 | will be higher repetition sets.

00:31:06.400 | So say 10 to 12 repetitions with just the empty bar

00:31:09.360 | or a lightweight and then adding a little bit of weight

00:31:11.280 | and doing eight repetitions and maybe six repetitions.

00:31:14.200 | And then your work sets as they're called

00:31:16.000 | of three to five repetitions.

00:31:17.840 | Or perhaps you're like me

00:31:20.120 | and you prefer to do low repetition warmups.

00:31:22.600 | So this was also something that I discussed

00:31:24.440 | with Dr. Andy Galpin and that for me

00:31:26.180 | has made a tremendous positive impact

00:31:28.880 | on all my resistance training,

00:31:30.380 | regardless of whether or not it is low repetition

00:31:32.480 | or higher repetition.

00:31:33.600 | And that's to do a brief warmup set

00:31:36.480 | that is somewhere in the range of six to eight repetitions.

00:31:39.040 | Very light, just to get familiar with the movement.

00:31:41.560 | Then to do a second warmup set

00:31:43.320 | that includes some load on the bar

00:31:45.640 | or the free weight or the machine.

00:31:47.480 | And then a second warmup set.

00:31:49.480 | Again, this could be free weights or machines

00:31:51.440 | that incorporates a bit more load

00:31:53.420 | but still keeps the repetitions low.

00:31:55.800 | So in the four to six repetition range.

00:31:58.360 | And then maybe,

00:31:59.360 | especially if it's at the beginning of the workout

00:32:01.400 | and my core body temperature isn't elevated yet,

00:32:03.600 | I'll do a third warmup.

00:32:05.220 | But that third warmup,

00:32:06.760 | which of course is going to be

00:32:08.360 | progressively a little bit heavier

00:32:09.720 | than the first or second warmup,

00:32:11.280 | is still going to fall within the low repetition range.

00:32:13.720 | So just two to four repetitions.

00:32:16.040 | For me, including a few more warmup sets

00:32:18.560 | with progressively heavier weight on each warmup,

00:32:21.920 | but still keeping the total repetition count low,

00:32:24.940 | so somewhere in the range of two to six repetitions,

00:32:28.540 | has been very beneficial for improving my work output

00:32:32.300 | during the so-called work sets,

00:32:34.240 | regardless of whether or not I'm training

00:32:35.720 | in the three to five repetition range

00:32:37.360 | or whether or not I'm training

00:32:38.660 | in the six to 15 repetition range.

00:32:41.220 | I know for some people, this might be kind of surprising.

00:32:43.200 | How is it that my work sets are actually higher repetition

00:32:46.120 | than my warmup sets?

00:32:47.500 | Or put differently,

00:32:48.420 | how and why is it that my warmup sets

00:32:50.440 | are lower repetition than my work sets?

00:32:52.240 | And that's because I fall into this category of people

00:32:54.920 | that tends to fatigue pretty quickly

00:32:57.500 | when doing resistance training.

00:32:59.360 | So for me, keeping the repetition count

00:33:01.700 | on any individual warmup set pretty low

00:33:04.360 | has allowed me to really improve my strength output

00:33:07.160 | and really improve my strength and hypertrophy training

00:33:09.860 | when I shift to the so-called work sets.

00:33:11.880 | So I already listed off

00:33:12.920 | a number of important documented benefits

00:33:14.800 | and benefits that I've certainly experienced

00:33:17.000 | by incorporating low repetition, pure strength work

00:33:21.260 | into my yearly training cycle

00:33:22.920 | for periods of eight to 12 weeks.

00:33:25.880 | In addition to that, during my conversation

00:33:28.360 | with Dr. Andy Galpin, he said something very important

00:33:31.000 | for everyone to hear and understand.

00:33:33.020 | He said, when you look at the data on aging and performance,

00:33:35.700 | in particular, muscular performance,

00:33:37.980 | you see some very interesting patterns within the data.

00:33:41.180 | He said, for instance, that for every year after age 40,

00:33:45.700 | there's a 1% drop in muscle size

00:33:48.300 | that can be offset by resistance training,

00:33:50.320 | but that if you don't do resistance training,

00:33:52.660 | that you won't offset.

00:33:54.220 | And during that series, we also talked

00:33:56.260 | about the minimum requirement for six

00:33:59.200 | and probably more like 10 working sets per muscle group

00:34:02.660 | per week in order to at least maintain muscle size,

00:34:06.660 | not just age 40 and beyond, but even at younger ages.

00:34:10.620 | Okay, so that's muscle size, 1% decrease per year

00:34:13.380 | unless you do the right thing.

00:34:14.800 | And the right thing is get six to 10 working sets per week

00:34:17.480 | in order to offset that decrease.

00:34:19.220 | And if you train properly for hypertrophy,

00:34:21.480 | yes, you can still increase muscle size past age 40.

00:34:25.100 | In addition, he said that there is a 3% to 5% reduction

00:34:29.400 | per year for every year past age 40 in strength and power.

00:34:34.400 | Now, that's a very important metric

00:34:37.920 | because what it's telling us is that the drop-off

00:34:40.540 | in strength and power is significantly greater

00:34:44.240 | per each year after age 40

00:34:46.440 | than is the decrease in muscle size,

00:34:49.320 | telling us that we have to do something

00:34:51.220 | to offset that decrease in strength and power.

00:34:54.720 | In addition, he mentioned that for every year past age 40,

00:34:58.220 | there is an 8 to 10% decrease in speed and in explosiveness.

00:35:03.220 | And so if one is interested in maintaining speed

00:35:08.460 | of muscular movement and explosiveness of muscular movement,

00:35:11.380 | something that's perhaps important to a number of you,

00:35:14.060 | one also has to incorporate training specifically geared

00:35:16.820 | toward maintaining or improving speed and explosiveness.

00:35:20.620 | Now, I, like many people,

00:35:22.060 | I'm not so interested in speed and explosiveness.

00:35:24.100 | I know they have their utility,

00:35:25.700 | but I am interested in maintaining muscle size

00:35:28.480 | over the course of my life,

00:35:29.660 | perhaps even adding some muscle to particular muscle groups.

00:35:32.580 | I'm also very interested in at least maintaining

00:35:36.540 | and ideally even gaining some strength

00:35:38.540 | in certain muscle groups throughout my entire lifespan.

00:35:41.420 | And that's not just for performance reasons.

00:35:43.500 | That's also because we know that maintaining

00:35:45.460 | or improving strength of our muscles is very important

00:35:48.780 | across the entire lifespan.

00:35:50.580 | But especially in the years spanning from 40 until death,

00:35:54.780 | which I think for most people fall somewhere between 50,

00:35:58.140 | 60, 70, or ideally out into the 80s, 90s, or 100s, right?

00:36:02.880 | That's what we're all seeking is to die later

00:36:05.420 | in better health.

00:36:07.060 | And in order to do that,

00:36:08.620 | we have to dedicate some very specific training protocols

00:36:11.740 | in order to maintain or build strength.

00:36:13.820 | So to summarize, in addition to all the positive reasons

00:36:16.180 | to do dedicated strength training that I mentioned before,

00:36:19.500 | it's highly recommended that you do

00:36:21.260 | some dedicated strength training for the purposes

00:36:23.820 | of offsetting the age-related decline in strength

00:36:27.100 | that occurs, again, three to 5% per year past age 40,

00:36:31.020 | which is a pretty significant decline.

00:36:33.260 | But the good news is if you do the three to five protocol

00:36:36.260 | for say 12 weeks per year,

00:36:38.020 | and then you continue to resistance train

00:36:40.200 | using other repetition ranges geared towards hypertrophy

00:36:43.380 | and strength, or perhaps even muscular endurance,

00:36:46.020 | the good news is you'll maintain your strength

00:36:48.100 | and perhaps even build your strength,

00:36:49.900 | offsetting that natural decrease that would otherwise occur.

00:36:53.640 | I'd like to take a quick break

00:36:55.020 | and acknowledge one of our sponsors, Athletic Greens.

00:36:58.060 | Athletic Greens, now called AG1,

00:37:00.540 | is a vitamin mineral probiotic drink

00:37:02.900 | that covers all of your foundational nutritional needs.

00:37:05.780 | I've been taking Athletic Greens since 2012,

00:37:08.480 | so I'm delighted that they're sponsoring the podcast.

00:37:10.700 | The reason I started taking Athletic Greens

00:37:12.300 | and the reason I still take Athletic Greens

00:37:14.380 | once or usually twice a day

00:37:16.360 | is that it gets me the probiotics

00:37:18.260 | that I need for gut health.

00:37:19.960 | Our gut is very important.

00:37:21.060 | It's populated by gut microbiota

00:37:23.620 | that communicate with the brain, the immune system,

00:37:25.360 | and basically all the biological systems of our body

00:37:27.760 | to strongly impact our immediate and long-term health.

00:37:31.420 | And those probiotics in Athletic Greens

00:37:33.260 | are optimal and vital for microbiota health.

00:37:37.100 | In addition, Athletic Greens contains

00:37:38.660 | a number of adaptogens, vitamins, and minerals

00:37:40.580 | that make sure that all of my foundational

00:37:42.460 | nutritional needs are met.

00:37:44.020 | And it tastes great.

00:37:45.900 | If you'd like to try Athletic Greens,

00:37:47.360 | you can go to athleticgreens.com/huberman

00:37:50.740 | and they'll give you five free travel packs

00:37:52.720 | that make it really easy to mix up Athletic Greens

00:37:55.040 | while you're on the road, in the car, on the plane, et cetera.

00:37:57.620 | And they'll give you a year's supply of vitamin D3K2.

00:38:01.020 | Again, that's athleticgreens.com/huberman

00:38:03.700 | to get the five free travel packs

00:38:05.100 | and the year's supply of vitamin D3K2.

00:38:08.100 | The next tool I'm about to describe

00:38:09.460 | relates to your cardiovascular training.

00:38:11.460 | And it's a tool that can greatly improve

00:38:13.140 | your cardiovascular fitness

00:38:14.880 | with a limited amount of time commitment.

00:38:17.660 | But that is not to say it is easy.

00:38:20.220 | What I'm referring to is the so-called sugarcane.

00:38:23.380 | If you listen to the series with Dr. Andy Galpin,

00:38:25.820 | you may recall our discussion about the sugarcane,

00:38:28.620 | which is so named after our friend

00:38:30.820 | and expert trainer, Kenny Kane.

00:38:33.220 | And it is a very efficient yet somewhat brutal way

00:38:36.940 | to increase your cardiovascular output.

00:38:39.540 | So the sugarcane is the type of protocol

00:38:41.840 | that you would incorporate once in the period of a week,

00:38:44.700 | but certainly not every week.

00:38:45.900 | It's the kind of thing that you might throw in

00:38:48.200 | once every two weeks or once every four weeks

00:38:51.420 | as a replacement

00:38:52.380 | for your other high-intensity interval training.

00:38:55.300 | The sugarcane involves selecting some form of exercise

00:38:58.640 | that you can do at high intensity safely.

00:39:01.920 | That, of course, will differ between individuals.

00:39:04.020 | For some of you, it will be a stationary bike.

00:39:06.180 | For others of you, it will be a road bike.

00:39:08.580 | For others of you, it will be running.

00:39:10.060 | And for others of you, it will be rowing.

00:39:12.240 | The exact form of exercise is not important.

00:39:15.800 | What is important is that you can generate

00:39:18.280 | a lot of intensity.

00:39:19.420 | So you're going to be doing some sprint-like work,

00:39:21.880 | although not all-out sprints, except on the final round.

00:39:25.660 | I'll explain where all this is going in a moment.

00:39:28.020 | But again, you need to select a movement

00:39:29.820 | that you can do without injuring yourself

00:39:32.280 | while still performing a movement at high intensity.

00:39:34.820 | So for me, that would be running.

00:39:36.460 | For you, it might be something else.

00:39:38.380 | The sugarcane is pretty straightforward in structure.

00:39:41.280 | It involves three rounds after a brief warmup, of course.

00:39:44.980 | So you're going to do three to five minutes of jogging

00:39:46.820 | or jumping jacks or skipping rope,

00:39:48.320 | something to get your core body temperature up

00:39:50.480 | so that you're prepared to do the high-intensity work.

00:39:53.300 | And then there are only three rounds of high-intensity work,

00:39:57.580 | and they go as the following.

00:40:00.080 | In round one, you're going to take two minutes,

00:40:03.020 | so you'll need to set a timer for two minutes,

00:40:05.140 | and you're going to go the maximum distance that you can

00:40:08.500 | in that two minutes.

00:40:09.900 | So run the maximum distance that you can for two minutes,

00:40:12.540 | or cycle the maximum distance that you can for two minutes,

00:40:15.540 | or verse a climber the maximum distance

00:40:17.300 | that you can for two minutes.

00:40:19.120 | Whatever you select, you're going to do that

00:40:21.460 | as far and as fast as you can

00:40:23.740 | for the duration of two minutes.

00:40:26.280 | So depending on the movement

00:40:27.660 | and depending on your level of fitness,

00:40:29.420 | that distance might be 400 meters,

00:40:31.660 | 600 meters, 800 meters, et cetera.

00:40:34.860 | Whatever distance you travel in that two minutes,

00:40:37.400 | you are going to mark that distance down in your mind

00:40:40.540 | or in your phone or on a piece of paper.

00:40:42.620 | And then you're going to rest two minutes.

00:40:46.460 | So two minutes of work, then rest two minutes.

00:40:49.000 | Then in round two, you're going to go the same distance

00:40:53.340 | that you did in round one,

00:40:55.900 | and you're going to take as much time as you need

00:40:58.280 | to do that distance as fast as you can.

00:41:01.760 | So if you went 600 meters in two minutes for round one,

00:41:06.400 | in round two, you're going to go 600 meters,

00:41:10.160 | and it's going to take you however long it takes you.

00:41:12.960 | Chances are, if you really did the best you could

00:41:16.480 | in round one, you were at maximum output

00:41:19.060 | for the first two minutes,

00:41:20.280 | that in round two, it's going to take you longer

00:41:22.600 | than two minutes to travel that equivalent distance.

00:41:25.300 | However, there is the possibility

00:41:27.060 | that it will take you less time.

00:41:28.640 | But for most people, it's going to take you more time.

00:41:31.280 | So staying with this example of 600 meters

00:41:33.680 | in two minutes on round one,

00:41:35.240 | in round two, you're going to go 600 meters,

00:41:38.000 | let's say it takes you two minutes and 30 seconds.

00:41:40.900 | You then are going to mark down how long round two took you.

00:41:46.040 | So in this case, the example is two minutes and 30 seconds.

00:41:50.520 | Then you're going to rest another two minutes.

00:41:53.120 | And then in round three, you're going to go all out,

00:41:57.320 | again, as fast and as safely as you can

00:42:00.920 | for the same duration that you did in round two.

00:42:04.160 | And your goal is to go at least as far

00:42:07.080 | as you went in round one.

00:42:09.480 | And if there's still time left,

00:42:11.340 | you're going to continue to go all out,

00:42:13.400 | again, as fast as you safely can,

00:42:15.720 | until the entire duration is completed.

00:42:18.760 | So it's really just three rounds with two rest periods

00:42:21.580 | in between round one and round three.

00:42:23.840 | And then I highly recommend that after round three,

00:42:26.800 | that you do some sort of dedicated cool down.

00:42:28.880 | So instead of just flopping onto the bench

00:42:30.740 | or the floor or the lawn,

00:42:32.180 | that you walk around slowly until you recover your breathing.

00:42:35.320 | The reason I like the sugarcane as a tool

00:42:37.260 | that one implements once every, say, two to four weeks

00:42:40.020 | as a replacement for one's typical

00:42:42.320 | high-intensity interval training is several-fold.

00:42:44.680 | First of all, if you provide the right intensity

00:42:46.920 | in round one and round two and round three,

00:42:50.600 | it is sure to elevate your heart rate substantially.

00:42:53.060 | And in doing so, improve your VO2 max,

00:42:55.660 | which is correlated with all sorts of important metrics

00:42:58.220 | related to healthspan, performance, and lifespan.

00:43:01.160 | Second of all, it gamifies things a little bit.

00:43:03.760 | It pits you against yourself

00:43:05.640 | in the sense that if you go out at maximum speed,

00:43:08.720 | again, performing a movement that you can safely perform

00:43:12.200 | at maximum speed in round one,

00:43:14.720 | well, then you have something to compete against

00:43:16.720 | in round two and round three.

00:43:18.880 | And that makes the high-intensity interval training,

00:43:21.520 | first of all, very intense,

00:43:23.160 | but also it makes it kind of fun

00:43:25.520 | in a way that lets you forget

00:43:27.040 | just how painful the whole thing is.

00:43:29.200 | The next tool to improve your fitness

00:43:31.400 | is called exercise snacks.

00:43:33.880 | And as the name suggests, this is a fun one.

00:43:36.640 | And was suggested by Dr. Andy Galpin

00:43:38.740 | as a way to either enhance or maintain your fitness

00:43:42.400 | depending on how your core

00:43:43.880 | or foundational fitness program is going.

00:43:46.360 | So when I say core, I don't mean your abs.

00:43:48.180 | I mean whether or not you're getting your regular cardio

00:43:50.680 | and your regular resistance training.

00:43:52.560 | If you were to add one or several

00:43:54.560 | of these exercise snacks per week,

00:43:56.720 | it can further improve things like VO2 max,

00:43:59.160 | muscular endurance, et cetera.

00:44:00.800 | I'll talk about the specific snacks

00:44:02.680 | that you will be doing in a moment.

00:44:04.880 | However, as Dr. Andy Galpin also pointed out,

00:44:07.480 | there are times in which we happen to not be following

00:44:10.580 | our foundational fitness program,

00:44:12.320 | either because work demands or family demands

00:44:15.440 | or we're traveling.

00:44:16.880 | We're simply not keeping up with our basic routine.

00:44:19.800 | And under those conditions,

00:44:20.880 | exercise snacks are a terrific way to maintain the fitness

00:44:23.900 | that you've already built and developed.

00:44:26.000 | And you don't lose any ground in a week say

00:44:28.920 | where you get particularly busy.

00:44:30.880 | Now, exercise snacks can take on a variety of different forms

00:44:34.200 | but for sake of simplicity and clarity,

00:44:36.760 | today we're going to divide them into two major categories.

00:44:39.560 | The first category are exercise snacks

00:44:41.880 | that are going to improve

00:44:43.320 | or maintain your cardiovascular fitness.

00:44:46.000 | So your ability to run or cycle or row,

00:44:48.680 | some distance say 12 minutes or longer.

00:44:52.480 | But keep in mind these exercise snacks are very, very brief.

00:44:55.040 | They don't require that you do them

00:44:56.300 | for 12 minutes or longer.

00:44:57.920 | What they're going to do is either maintain or enhance

00:45:01.040 | the type of endurance that allows you to continue

00:45:04.360 | in an activity for 12 minutes or longer.

00:45:06.560 | The second category of exercise snack

00:45:08.700 | relates to muscular endurance.

00:45:10.800 | Muscular endurance is a very important aspect of fitness.

00:45:13.840 | And even though some people are already training

00:45:15.580 | for muscular endurance,

00:45:16.920 | it's something that most people

00:45:18.280 | are not doing enough training for.

00:45:20.640 | Muscular endurance is your ability say

00:45:22.880 | to maintain a wall set or to maintain a plank

00:45:25.800 | or to do the maximum number of pushups

00:45:27.720 | that you can do in one session,

00:45:29.520 | the sort of drop to the floor and give me as many pushups

00:45:31.760 | as you possibly can type of thing

00:45:33.160 | or as many sit ups as you can type of thing.

00:45:35.580 | Muscular endurance translates

00:45:36.800 | to a number of other aspects of fitness.

00:45:38.800 | And it's something that we should all be working on.

00:45:41.140 | And again, many people just don't make space for it

00:45:43.520 | in their regular routine.

00:45:45.040 | So now we have these two categories of exercise snacks,

00:45:48.000 | one geared toward enhancing or maintaining

00:45:51.120 | your cardiovascular fitness

00:45:53.040 | as it translates to longer duration endurance activity.

00:45:57.020 | So 12 minutes or longer.

00:45:58.240 | And then the other category is purely muscular endurance,

00:46:01.180 | which is essentially some bout of exercise

00:46:03.160 | that's going to be fairly brief,

00:46:04.540 | anywhere from a minute to two minutes,

00:46:06.080 | but certainly less than 12 minutes.

00:46:07.660 | Okay, so let me give you an example of an exercise snack

00:46:10.440 | for enhancing your long duration endurance,

00:46:13.200 | 12 minutes or longer.

00:46:14.120 | And this is the sort of thing

00:46:15.560 | that if you are going to incorporate into your routine,

00:46:18.000 | and I highly recommend that you do,

00:46:19.800 | can essentially be done any time with no warmup.

00:46:23.440 | A good example of an exercise snack of this type

00:46:25.960 | would be to suddenly stand up from your desk

00:46:28.980 | and to do a hundred jumping jacks.

00:46:31.200 | Now, depending on how fit you are

00:46:33.080 | and how fast you do those jumping jacks

00:46:35.600 | and how wide and tall you do those jumping jacks,

00:46:38.640 | meaning, are you doing these kind of little things

00:46:40.300 | where your hands don't actually meet

00:46:41.960 | and your hand like parting your legs just a little bit,

00:46:43.820 | or are you doing full jumping jacks

00:46:45.240 | where you're really jumping and setting your feet out

00:46:48.520 | as wide as you comfortably and safely can,

00:46:50.640 | and then bring your hands together.

00:46:51.960 | It could take you anywhere from 30 seconds to 90 seconds.

00:46:55.700 | Okay, so in the case of jumping jacks,

00:46:57.960 | you may end up doing this for 90 seconds,

00:47:00.000 | but the point is to simply do a hundred jumping jacks,

00:47:02.840 | or if that takes too long,

00:47:04.360 | you can even do just 25 or 50 jumping jacks.

00:47:07.660 | The point is that it's going to get you

00:47:08.840 | moving your muscles.

00:47:10.440 | It's going to get your heart rate up.

00:47:12.600 | Even if you're very, very fit,

00:47:13.980 | if you're doing these fast enough

00:47:15.300 | and you're doing them with proper form,

00:47:17.200 | it's going to get your heart rate up and then you're done.

00:47:20.140 | You can sit back down to your desk,

00:47:21.540 | or you can continue to walk through the airport.

00:47:24.000 | Yes, I've done these in the airport,

00:47:25.960 | typically not while walking toward my gate, but at the gate,

00:47:29.080 | but occasionally I'm feeling lethargic

00:47:30.640 | or I haven't had the opportunity to train that day,

00:47:33.300 | and perhaps I won't get the opportunity to train,

00:47:36.120 | so I'll do something like a hundred jumping jacks

00:47:38.120 | while facing the window,

00:47:39.940 | so it feels a little less awkward

00:47:41.880 | facing people while you're doing them.

00:47:43.600 | And of course, you don't have to do jumping jacks.

00:47:45.280 | An equally effective type of exercise snack

00:47:48.080 | is to find a stairwell and to simply go up that stairwell

00:47:51.720 | as fast as you safely can for 20 to 30 seconds.

00:47:56.160 | So perhaps just find the bottom of a stairwell

00:47:58.420 | and go up that stairwell as quickly as you can,

00:48:00.520 | and perhaps go down as quickly as you can,

00:48:02.020 | and just keep doing that for about 20 to 40 seconds,

00:48:04.360 | and then you're essentially done.

00:48:06.540 | You could also opt to pick some distance

00:48:09.740 | away from your car in the parking lot,

00:48:11.640 | assuming you're not carrying any heavy bags or anything,

00:48:13.720 | and simply run to your car.

00:48:15.520 | So 20 to 30 seconds of not necessarily all out sprinting.

00:48:20.000 | You don't want to injure yourself,

00:48:21.120 | because again, this is done without a warmup.

00:48:23.080 | These exercise snacks are designed to be inserted

00:48:25.120 | into your day and into your week, essentially at random.

00:48:28.600 | You could plan them if you want,

00:48:30.200 | but anytime you feel inspired

00:48:31.600 | or perhaps anytime you're feeling

00:48:33.080 | like you don't want to do one,

00:48:34.360 | you could simply do one of these exercise snacks.

00:48:37.000 | And of course, doing jumping jacks or running to your car

00:48:41.040 | or taking the stairs very quickly up and down

00:48:43.720 | or just up and then walking down, for instance,

00:48:46.100 | and doing a few jumping jacks, things of that sort,

00:48:48.920 | of course, can take on a near infinite number

00:48:51.360 | of different variations.

00:48:53.300 | So if you don't like any of the variations

00:48:55.360 | that I just presented,

00:48:56.540 | you can easily come up with something else.

00:48:58.160 | Again, the purpose of these exercise snacks

00:49:00.640 | is to get your heart rate up.

00:49:02.400 | It's, of course, to do this while not getting injured,

00:49:05.320 | and it is entirely compatible

00:49:07.440 | with an existing exercise program.

00:49:09.740 | It in no way is going to impede your performance

00:49:12.880 | in strength or hypertrophy or other forms

00:49:14.980 | of long-form endurance or high-intensity interval training.

00:49:17.640 | Quite to the contrary.

00:49:19.080 | Everything we know about these exercise snacks

00:49:20.780 | is that they enhance various aspects of your physiology

00:49:23.720 | in ways that promote both recovery and performance

00:49:27.600 | in your other types of exercise

00:49:29.600 | and your other types of athletic endeavors.

00:49:31.420 | So no reason to think that they are going to be problematic

00:49:33.580 | for your training, but of course, don't trip, don't fall,

00:49:36.800 | don't undertake a movement

00:49:38.340 | that puts you into a range of motion

00:49:39.680 | that has you hurting your back or your knee

00:49:41.280 | or any other part of your body.

00:49:42.880 | Start off slowly and find something

00:49:44.920 | that really works for you.

00:49:45.800 | So these are very easy.

00:49:47.240 | They take very little time.

00:49:49.580 | They're fun, to be honest.

00:49:51.220 | And as was discussed in the conversation

00:49:53.860 | with Dr. Andy Galpin, they're also very effective.

00:49:56.500 | The second category of exercise snack

00:49:58.420 | are the exercise snacks that enhance muscular endurance.

00:50:02.200 | So muscular endurance is the type of endurance

00:50:04.480 | that allows you to maintain a fixed position

00:50:07.120 | for some period of time,

00:50:08.480 | usually somewhere between one and three minutes.

00:50:11.320 | But these endurance bouts

00:50:13.040 | are never going to last 12 or more minutes

00:50:15.720 | unless you are exceptionally evolved

00:50:18.880 | in terms of your muscular endurance abilities.

00:50:21.000 | What I'm talking about here are things like planks, wall sits,

00:50:24.480 | maximum number of pushups, things of that sort.

00:50:27.560 | And this is an aspect of fitness

00:50:29.160 | that translates to other aspects of fitness

00:50:32.120 | in a very important way.

00:50:33.620 | And again, this was covered

00:50:34.640 | in the exercise series with Dr. Andy Galpin.

00:50:36.960 | I don't want to go into any of the details now

00:50:38.760 | because it was all covered there.

00:50:40.620 | It's very easy to look up because it's timestamped.

00:50:43.360 | But just in brief, muscular endurance allows the buildup

00:50:48.360 | of more microvascular supply to muscles and connective tissue

00:50:53.760 | in a way that allows delivery and removal

00:50:57.420 | of more nutrients and waste products.

00:51:00.200 | Now, I realize to the physios,

00:51:01.420 | things like nutrients and waste products

00:51:03.080 | is far too broad a category,

00:51:04.360 | but what we're talking about here

00:51:05.580 | is the ability to deliver more fuel and oxygen

00:51:09.180 | and to remove waste products of muscular effort

00:51:13.480 | or to be more specific, neuromuscular effort.

00:51:16.560 | This is a great thing

00:51:17.400 | because it can help you enhance your strength training,

00:51:20.000 | enhance your hypertrophy training,

00:51:21.440 | enhance your long distance endurance

00:51:23.840 | and your middle distance

00:51:24.960 | and even your short distance endurance.

00:51:27.120 | And these exercise snacks for building muscular endurance

00:51:30.160 | are exceedingly easy to do.

00:51:32.240 | And you can even do them while talking on the phone,

00:51:34.120 | especially if you're using headphones

00:51:35.760 | or if you have your phone on speaker.

00:51:37.820 | A good example of an exercise snack for muscular endurance

00:51:40.680 | would be a 30 to 60 second or perhaps longer wall sit.

00:51:44.460 | So remember wall sits?

00:51:45.660 | Wall sits are, as the name suggests,

00:51:47.860 | where you put your feet out some distance from a wall,

00:51:50.140 | you squat down into a seated position,

00:51:52.320 | but there's no chair there

00:51:53.220 | and then you maintain that seated position

00:51:55.140 | and that is harder to do over time, okay?

00:51:58.360 | You could lean back against the wall a little bit harder

00:52:00.740 | if you wanted to gain some extra support and continue.

00:52:03.060 | But the idea here is that you're going to go

00:52:04.960 | not necessarily to muscular failure,

00:52:06.660 | but to the point where you can't continue

00:52:08.420 | to sit in that wall sit position.

00:52:10.440 | You could also simply do this as an air squat

00:52:13.220 | down to the bottom position where you're comfortable

00:52:15.500 | and then you don't want to rest down there,

00:52:17.660 | meaning you want to maintain some tension

00:52:19.140 | in your quadriceps and other muscles of your lower body

00:52:21.640 | so that you're actively trying to support yourself

00:52:24.220 | in the seated position, but without a seat below you.

00:52:27.700 | That can be done, again,

00:52:29.120 | while on a speakerphone conversation,

00:52:30.980 | that can be done at random throughout the day.

00:52:33.420 | You can just decide, okay, I'm going to do a wall sit now

00:52:35.220 | and I'm going to time myself.

00:52:36.140 | I'm going to see how long I can do this for.

00:52:38.240 | Or you could decide to do a plank.

00:52:40.600 | I've done this while on a phone call.

00:52:42.140 | Sorry if it was you that I was talking to,

00:52:43.720 | but I put the phone on speaker

00:52:45.340 | and just gotten into a plank position

00:52:47.100 | and then I'll just have the conversation

00:52:48.500 | in the plank position.

00:52:49.640 | I don't fight to maintain that plank position

00:52:52.180 | past the point where I could continue

00:52:53.620 | to have a conversation.

00:52:54.940 | So again, this is a type of exercise

00:52:56.720 | that one is trying to incorporate into their daily routine.

00:52:59.660 | If you wanted to dedicate a specific amount of time

00:53:02.780 | just to doing these exercise snacks, you could,

00:53:05.020 | but it's far more reasonable to assume

00:53:06.600 | that people will incorporate these

00:53:08.020 | into their daily routine more regularly

00:53:10.380 | if you can incorporate it truly

00:53:12.020 | into the other aspects of your routine, like work.

00:53:14.820 | You do this while watching TV or listening to a podcast.

00:53:17.820 | One form of muscular endurance exercise snack

00:53:19.980 | that's really terrific and is a bit of a challenge

00:53:21.820 | that's fun is to just simply see

00:53:23.700 | how many pushups you can do.

00:53:25.700 | And we talked about proper pushup form

00:53:28.060 | during the episode series with Dr. Andy Galpin,

00:53:30.800 | but here what we're talking about

00:53:32.660 | is chest all the way to the ground.

00:53:35.300 | So it touches the ground,

00:53:36.500 | then pushing up till your arms are completely straight.

00:53:38.520 | That's one pushup.

00:53:39.360 | And then continuing in piston-like fashion,

00:53:42.240 | meaning you're not pausing at the top

00:53:43.700 | and taking a bunch of breaths.

00:53:45.260 | You're not going to a plank position, in other words,

00:53:47.400 | but continuing to do as many pushups as you can

00:53:49.420 | to see whether or not you can enhance that number over time.

00:53:52.880 | And in any case, just to simply get your body working

00:53:56.340 | to engage the muscles of your chest, your shoulders,

00:53:58.260 | your triceps, and your core, et cetera.

00:54:00.500 | And to do that every once in a while.

00:54:02.100 | So instead of needing somebody to say drop and give me 20,

00:54:04.580 | just see whether or not some point,

00:54:06.800 | any point throughout the day,

00:54:08.120 | you can get into a pushup position,

00:54:09.280 | do your maximum number of pushups,

00:54:10.620 | and then just mentally note that number to yourself.

00:54:13.020 | Again, these exercise snacks serve multiple roles.

00:54:15.880 | They're designed to get you moving,

00:54:17.160 | to get your heart rate going,

00:54:18.660 | to maintain or enhance your fitness

00:54:21.080 | in other domains of fitness.

00:54:22.260 | And this is very important

00:54:23.740 | to not take too much time out of your schedule.

00:54:26.540 | In fact, like zone two cardio, right?

00:54:29.500 | Being the type of movement

00:54:30.800 | that you're just going to do a lot throughout the week,

00:54:33.320 | carrying groceries, et cetera, as we discussed earlier,

00:54:35.860 | these exercise snacks are designed to be incorporated

00:54:38.180 | into your daily life.

00:54:39.580 | And I must say that having started doing these

00:54:41.540 | after recording the series with Dr. Andy Galpin,

00:54:44.100 | I've noticed two things.

00:54:45.020 | First of all, including these exercise snacks

00:54:47.700 | at least once a week

00:54:48.780 | and more like three to five times a week for me.

00:54:51.000 | So that's one exercise snack done

00:54:52.820 | three to five times per week

00:54:54.220 | has definitely correlated with improvements in my fitness

00:54:58.900 | in other domains of fitness, strength, hypertrophy,

00:55:01.540 | long distance endurance, et cetera.

00:55:03.020 | Now I've changed a number of other things as well

00:55:05.540 | as a consequence of that series with Dr. Andy Galpin.

00:55:08.420 | So I can't say for sure that it's the exercise snacks per se

00:55:12.440 | that are causing all those positive shifts.

00:55:14.080 | I have to imagine that it's not just the exercise snacks,

00:55:16.760 | but they've become an important part of my routine.

00:55:19.060 | And that relates to the second point,

00:55:20.540 | which is that the exercise snacks are designed to be fun

00:55:23.300 | and easy.

00:55:24.420 | And so I really enjoy doing them so much so

00:55:26.320 | that if I don't do one for a couple of days,

00:55:28.340 | I can start to crave them a little bit

00:55:29.660 | kind of like the other kind of snack.

00:55:31.660 | The next category of tool to improve your fitness

00:55:34.520 | relates to breathing or respiration.

00:55:37.740 | Now breathing and respiration is an enormous topic

00:55:40.660 | in and of itself.

00:55:41.520 | In fact, I did an entire episode

00:55:43.780 | on breathing and respiration.

00:55:45.100 | And this is a topic that my laboratory works on extensively

00:55:48.020 | as it relates to anxiety control

00:55:50.300 | and some other aspects of mental health,

00:55:52.380 | as well as to physical performance.

00:55:54.540 | For today's discussion,

00:55:55.440 | I want to just review a few tools that one can incorporate

00:55:58.780 | both into workouts and around workouts

00:56:01.860 | that can greatly enhance fitness and recovery.

00:56:05.220 | The first one is the type of respiration tool

00:56:07.640 | that you use between sets of exercise.

00:56:10.860 | And again, here, we're talking about resistance training,

00:56:12.800 | but we could just as easily be talking about

00:56:15.520 | rest between rounds of say high intensity interval training.

00:56:19.860 | So for instance, between bouts of sprinting on the track

00:56:22.700 | or the bike or the treadmill or the rower.

00:56:24.920 | A great pattern of breathing to incorporate

00:56:27.160 | during rest between sets

00:56:29.100 | is something that I've talked about before

00:56:30.780 | in other contexts, which is the physiological side.

00:56:33.100 | The physiological side is a deep inhale through the nose

00:56:37.420 | to maximally or near maximally inflate your lungs.

00:56:41.500 | And then a second very brief inhale,

00:56:44.300 | and it's necessarily brief

00:56:45.860 | 'cause your lungs are already pretty full,

00:56:47.940 | to maximally inflate your lungs

00:56:50.460 | and to make sure that any of the little sacs,

00:56:52.420 | the little avioli of your lungs that have collapsed

00:56:54.580 | during the exercise exertion will re-inflate.

00:56:58.500 | And then a long exhale until lungs empty.

00:57:01.820 | So I'll demonstrate it right now

00:57:03.460 | as I've done many times before,

00:57:04.660 | but if you haven't seen it or heard it before,

00:57:06.660 | it's two inhales followed by an extended exhale

00:57:09.420 | and it goes like this.

00:57:10.580 | [inhales and exhales]

00:57:13.740 | [exhales]

00:57:15.980 | You'll notice that the inhales were through the nose

00:57:21.180 | and the exhale was through the mouth.

00:57:22.980 | That's the ideal way to do it for a number of reasons.

00:57:25.620 | Check out the episode that I did on respiration physiology,

00:57:28.020 | AKA breathing, if you want more details on why that is.

00:57:32.140 | But two inhales through the nose

00:57:33.580 | and a long extended exhale through the mouth,

00:57:35.660 | the so-called physiological side, not named by me,

00:57:38.180 | but rather named by physiologists in the 1930s,

00:57:42.060 | is as far as we know,

00:57:43.680 | the fastest way to shift your nervous system

00:57:47.220 | from so-called sympathetic drive

00:57:49.660 | to more parasympathetic drive,

00:57:51.540 | from a state of greater alertness

00:57:53.140 | to a state of greater calm.

00:57:55.240 | Now, the reason to do this

00:57:56.080 | between sets of resistance training

00:57:58.100 | is that the more that you can shift yourself

00:58:00.140 | from sympathetic drive to parasympathetic drive,

00:58:02.360 | that is from alert to calm in between sets,

00:58:05.040 | the more energy and focus you can devote to exertion

00:58:07.860 | during your work sets.

00:58:09.460 | And so one way to do this that's very convenient

00:58:12.340 | and very effective

00:58:13.700 | is to consider the last repetition of your set

00:58:17.500 | a physiological side, which is not to say, okay,

00:58:20.400 | I want to be very clear,

00:58:21.240 | which is not to say that you should do

00:58:22.380 | the physiological side during your set.

00:58:24.220 | In fact, I recommend you do not do that,

00:58:26.820 | but rather if you're doing six repetitions

00:58:29.040 | of a given exercise and you, let's say fail on the sixth

00:58:32.780 | or you do that sixth repetition

00:58:35.180 | and you're just close to failure,

00:58:36.460 | 'cause again, your work set should be too failure

00:58:38.300 | or close to it most of the time, then set down the weight,

00:58:41.500 | and then you're going to do the next repetition

00:58:43.340 | as the physiological side,

00:58:45.020 | meaning you're not going to do the movement,

00:58:46.780 | you're going to think of doing a physiological side

00:58:49.440 | as the last repetition of every set,

00:58:51.220 | not during the last repetition

00:58:53.100 | of the resistance training movement, okay?

00:58:55.220 | So the physiological side is something you do

00:58:56.840 | at the beginning of the rest period,

00:58:58.100 | immediately following a set.

00:58:59.500 | If you'd rather think about it that way,

00:59:00.680 | because it's more convenient than thinking about it

00:59:02.220 | as the last rep of a set, be my guest,

00:59:04.280 | whatever works for you.

00:59:05.460 | But what you'll quickly find

00:59:07.060 | is that if you do a physiological side

00:59:08.660 | right after completing your last repetition,

00:59:10.900 | you'll calm down much more quickly,

00:59:13.300 | your heart rate will come down more quickly,

00:59:15.260 | and you'll recover more completely

00:59:17.000 | in whatever designated rest period you've allowed yourself,

00:59:19.860 | whether or not it's 30 seconds,

00:59:21.160 | which would be very short, frankly,

00:59:22.780 | or it's a five minute period of rest between sets.

00:59:26.340 | If you do one, truly just one physiological side

00:59:29.700 | at the beginning of the rest period,

00:59:30.780 | you are going to effectively shift your nervous system

00:59:32.940 | in the direction you want it to go

00:59:34.460 | during those rest periods.

00:59:35.900 | And of course, if you're training hard during your work sets,

00:59:38.460 | you run zero risk whatsoever of feeling so calm

00:59:41.860 | that you don't feel motivated to do your next set.

00:59:44.060 | I promise you that it will allow you to relax more

00:59:46.720 | at the beginning of the rest period

00:59:48.460 | than you ordinarily would, to shift into a state of rest.

00:59:52.040 | There are differing opinions about whether or not

00:59:54.140 | you should walk around or stay still

00:59:55.900 | during your rest periods.

00:59:56.780 | I like to walk around a bit and stay standing.

00:59:59.540 | I'm not one of these people that kind of collapses

01:00:01.300 | into a C shape on the bench in between sets.

01:00:03.560 | I like to stand up and breathe normally,

01:00:05.840 | walk around, drink a little water, et cetera.

01:00:08.520 | In any case, doing a physiological side

01:00:10.720 | at the beginning of each rest interval

01:00:12.700 | between work sets of resistance training

01:00:15.360 | is a very effective way to enhance your focus

01:00:18.260 | and your output during your work sets.

01:00:20.340 | Now, the last respiration tool to improve your fitness

01:00:23.060 | is again, a tool gleaned from the discussion

01:00:25.100 | with Dr. Andy Galpin, and that's to include

01:00:28.600 | a three to five minute period

01:00:30.600 | at the end of every single workout.

01:00:33.240 | So it doesn't matter if it's high intensity

01:00:34.620 | interval training, or it's resistance training,

01:00:36.740 | or it's a long run of some sort.

01:00:39.100 | At the end of every workout to take three to five minutes,

01:00:42.700 | so you'll want to set a timer,

01:00:44.180 | and to do some form of parasympathetic

01:00:46.560 | that is calming, promoting breathing

01:00:49.240 | in order to shift your nervous system

01:00:51.520 | from a state of heightened alertness and output

01:00:54.520 | into a state of recovery.

01:00:55.920 | Because as you all well know by now,

01:00:58.300 | you get fitter not during your workouts,

01:01:01.300 | but rather after your workouts, in between workouts.

01:01:04.740 | So you stimulate the adaptation during a workout,

01:01:07.440 | but you get the adaptation,

01:01:08.780 | you get the actual improvement in between workouts.

01:01:11.580 | And a common mistake that many people make,

01:01:13.620 | and I made this mistake for years,

01:01:15.260 | was to finish a great workout,

01:01:16.900 | and then you're texting on your phone,

01:01:19.020 | or you're talking on the phone,

01:01:19.860 | you're driving home, it's certainly not as intense

01:01:21.760 | as the workout that you just did.

01:01:23.160 | Maybe you're even feeling really calm from a nice long jog,

01:01:25.900 | or you had a particularly good workout that day

01:01:27.940 | and you're feeling really happy,

01:01:29.500 | so you're enjoying the high, so to speak.

01:01:32.120 | Well, when you do three to five minutes

01:01:34.340 | of what's often called downregulation breathing,

01:01:37.180 | after a workout, it allows you to recover

01:01:39.500 | and to induce the adaptation that you've been after,

01:01:42.800 | the one that you actually train for, much more quickly.

01:01:46.020 | I can't tell you how many people I know

01:01:47.860 | who start to incorporate this into their workouts

01:01:50.220 | find that they recover far better from their workouts,

01:01:53.340 | which might seem a little bit surprising.

01:01:55.620 | Why would it be that just three to five minutes

01:01:57.300 | of some activity would enhance recovery

01:01:59.500 | to such a great degree?

01:02:00.820 | And that's because typically

01:02:02.160 | people don't bookend their workouts.

01:02:04.480 | They finish their workouts,

01:02:05.660 | and of course they're not continuing to lift weights or run,

01:02:08.460 | but they move about their day and their life,

01:02:10.380 | even if it's preparing a meal,

01:02:11.700 | in a way that the level of stress,

01:02:13.540 | and therefore stress hormones,

01:02:15.260 | things like cortisol, adrenaline,

01:02:17.260 | things that, by the way,

01:02:18.100 | are excellent to elevate during a workout,

01:02:20.340 | things like inflammatory markers,

01:02:21.900 | which, by the way, are great to enhance during a workout.

01:02:24.780 | That actually happens during a workout.

01:02:26.020 | You have a massive increase in inflammatory markers,

01:02:28.260 | which might seem bad,

01:02:29.860 | but all of those things are enhancing

01:02:32.820 | the adaptation that you're seeking.

01:02:34.780 | But as soon as those workouts end,

01:02:36.520 | you want to shift into recovery mode.

01:02:38.620 | And this three to five minutes of down-regulation breathing

01:02:41.200 | is a terrific way to do that.

01:02:42.760 | There are a couple of different patterns of breathing

01:02:44.500 | that will work best,

01:02:46.020 | but all of them emphasize exhales, okay?

01:02:49.500 | I want to repeat that.

01:02:50.360 | All of them emphasize exhales.

01:02:51.780 | So for instance,

01:02:52.660 | you could just choose slow, deliberate breathing.

01:02:55.980 | How does that emphasize exhales?

01:02:57.460 | Well, ordinarily, when we breathe,

01:02:59.900 | we inhale actively and we exhale passively.

01:03:03.520 | Whenever we deliberately breathe more slowly,

01:03:06.100 | we are actively exhaling, okay?

01:03:08.420 | So active exhales really promote the calming response

01:03:12.060 | in brain and body.

01:03:13.680 | The other thing you could do,

01:03:14.740 | which many people are now doing,

01:03:16.600 | is to do a repeated round of physiological size.

01:03:20.520 | So the double inhale through the nose,

01:03:22.160 | long exhale through the mouth,

01:03:23.580 | but repeated for, say, three minutes.

01:03:26.420 | That's another version.

01:03:27.720 | The other thing you could do

01:03:29.060 | is simply to notice your exhales

01:03:32.100 | and to emphasize your exhales,

01:03:33.700 | make them longer and more vigorous than your inhales.

01:03:37.300 | Now, you don't want to turn this into a breath work session

01:03:39.420 | where you're doing pranayama or Kundalini breathing

01:03:43.640 | or something of that sort.

01:03:44.640 | The idea is to calm down.

01:03:46.580 | So anytime you're extending your exhales,

01:03:48.560 | you're actively exhaling,

01:03:49.820 | you're trying to slow your breathing down overall,

01:03:52.220 | you're going to shift yourself in the right direction.

01:03:54.180 | So rather than complicate this type of tool,

01:03:57.380 | the best thing you can do is just focus on those exhales,

01:04:00.260 | slow your breathing overall,

01:04:01.860 | use physiological size if you want,

01:04:04.420 | or simply sit in your vehicle,

01:04:06.560 | or if you have to, drive home

01:04:08.700 | while doing this extended exhale type of down regulation.

01:04:12.480 | Ideally, you would take a couple of minutes

01:04:13.900 | and just shift your whole system by not driving,

01:04:16.860 | closing your eyes and just sitting in your car,

01:04:18.580 | stationary, of course,

01:04:19.780 | don't drive with your eyes closed

01:04:21.300 | or bike with your eyes closed.

01:04:22.620 | Just simply calm down, extend your exhales

01:04:26.560 | and shift from the workout to the recovery mode,

01:04:29.940 | which is where the progress is going to arrive.

01:04:32.460 | I'd like to take a quick break

01:04:33.580 | and acknowledge our sponsor, Inside Tracker.

01:04:36.280 | Inside Tracker is a personalized nutrition platform

01:04:38.660 | that analyzes data from your blood and DNA

01:04:41.140 | to help you better understand your body

01:04:42.680 | and help you meet your health goals.

01:04:44.580 | I'm a big believer in getting regular blood work done

01:04:46.900 | for the simple reason that many of the factors

01:04:49.220 | that impact your immediate and long-term health

01:04:51.460 | can only be analyzed from a quality blood test.

01:04:54.020 | However, with a lot of blood tests out there,

01:04:56.060 | you get information back about blood lipids,

01:04:57.940 | about hormones and so on,

01:04:59.100 | but you don't know what to do with that information.

01:05:01.100 | With Inside Tracker, they have a personalized platform

01:05:03.400 | that makes it very easy to understand your data,

01:05:06.180 | that is to understand what those lipids,

01:05:08.080 | what those hormone levels, et cetera, mean,

01:05:10.060 | and behavioral supplement, nutrition, and other protocols

01:05:13.260 | to adjust those numbers to bring them into the ranges

01:05:16.040 | that are ideal for your immediate and long-term health.

01:05:18.300 | Inside Tracker's ultimate plan now includes measures

01:05:20.620 | of both ApoB and of insulin,

01:05:22.820 | which are key indicators of cardiovascular health

01:05:25.460 | and energy regulation.

01:05:27.040 | If you'd like to try Inside Tracker,

01:05:28.500 | you can visit insidetracker.com/huberman

01:05:31.300 | to get 20% off any of Inside Tracker's plans.

01:05:34.060 | Again, that's insidetracker.com/huberman to get 20% off.

01:05:38.660 | The next tools to improve your fitness

01:05:40.760 | are psychological tools,

01:05:42.300 | and they're really geared toward enhancing your focus

01:05:44.600 | during your workout and separating

01:05:47.020 | or segmenting your workouts

01:05:48.660 | from the other parts of your day.

01:05:50.660 | Now, of course, workouts are naturally segmented

01:05:52.980 | from the other parts of your day

01:05:54.300 | unless you're running around all day long

01:05:56.560 | or you're lifting weights or other heavy objects

01:05:58.740 | all day long.

01:06:00.000 | But one of the more attractive tools

01:06:02.100 | that was presented during the series with Dr. Galpin

01:06:04.980 | that I adopted and found to be really effective

01:06:08.080 | is this concept of the line.

01:06:10.040 | The line is this concept that you have a physical location,

01:06:14.180 | say at the entrance to a gym

01:06:16.220 | or at the start of your run or your bike,

01:06:18.180 | or maybe it's around the stationary exercise device

01:06:20.540 | that you use,

01:06:21.980 | for which once you cross that line,

01:06:24.440 | you are all about business, okay?

01:06:26.800 | You're not socializing, or at least not too much.

01:06:29.140 | You don't want to be rude to people,

01:06:30.140 | but you're really focused on your workout.

01:06:33.240 | So this is especially effective on days

01:06:35.180 | when you're a little bit distracted

01:06:36.820 | or you didn't sleep that well the night before,

01:06:38.460 | or maybe you got something going on in mind

01:06:41.020 | or you're in an argument

01:06:42.620 | or you're excited about something else.

01:06:44.460 | But if you care about your fitness,

01:06:45.780 | which I hope everyone does,

01:06:47.340 | and your goal during any workout

01:06:49.020 | is to stimulate a particular type of physiological

01:06:51.780 | adaptation, strength, hypertrophy,

01:06:53.320 | long distance endurance, et cetera,

01:06:55.300 | and you also don't want to get injured

01:06:57.660 | so that you can continue to train for your entire life

01:07:00.980 | as regularly as possible,

01:07:02.820 | the concept of the line is fantastic.

01:07:05.160 | Because what it does is it forces you

01:07:07.820 | to compartmentalize the portion of your life

01:07:10.740 | that comes before the workout and after the workout,

01:07:13.140 | and also to really enjoy your workouts.

01:07:15.520 | This is something that's not often discussed,

01:07:17.700 | but nowadays with the advent of smartphones,

01:07:20.780 | there's a lot of infiltration of other types

01:07:22.940 | of communication and information

01:07:25.240 | while one is supposed to be exercising.

01:07:27.820 | And so our life has become far less compartmentalized

01:07:30.940 | than it used to be before the advent of smartphones.

01:07:33.300 | Now, of course, smartphones are wonderful.

01:07:34.640 | They provide all sorts of wonderful tools and benefits.

01:07:37.440 | And of course I use one.

01:07:38.640 | And I'll talk about how to incorporate the smartphone

01:07:40.780 | in a very specific way to enhance your workouts

01:07:42.720 | in just a moment.

01:07:43.860 | But the idea of a line is you pick a location,

01:07:45.980 | it can change each workout,

01:07:47.360 | but ideally it would be at the threshold

01:07:49.580 | of where the physical location to the workout begins.

01:07:52.760 | And once you cross that line, you are all business.

01:07:56.360 | You are taking care of business,

01:07:58.220 | which is not to say that you can't enjoy your workouts.

01:08:00.460 | In fact, you absolutely should.

01:08:01.800 | One of the best pieces of advice

01:08:03.220 | that I ever got about fitness was given to me

01:08:05.600 | when I was a teenager and I started lifting weights.

01:08:08.120 | And the person who was teaching me how to do that said,

01:08:12.060 | one of the best things that you can do

01:08:13.860 | and you absolutely should do for your fitness now

01:08:16.980 | and forever is to learn to enjoy training hard.

01:08:20.320 | And that really stuck with me.

01:08:21.560 | I really do enjoy training hard,

01:08:23.560 | but that was something that I learned how to do over time.

01:08:25.760 | I took on the mentality that I'm here by choice.

01:08:28.660 | I'm here for my own good and my own fitness.

01:08:31.040 | It's to enhance my life.

01:08:32.760 | So I'm going to enjoy training hard.

01:08:34.840 | I'm going to enjoy training effectively.

01:08:36.480 | And of course there are days when I train a little less hard

01:08:38.520 | where I back off quite a bit.

01:08:40.120 | I even take rest periods of a week every once in a while,

01:08:43.160 | every say 12 to 16 weeks, I'll take a week off

01:08:45.800 | and just do some activities like hiking

01:08:48.120 | and things of that sort.

01:08:48.960 | I talked to all about extended layoffs,

01:08:50.860 | meaning a layoff of more than two days

01:08:52.820 | during the episode that I did by myself,

01:08:55.340 | which is the optimal fitness protocols episode.

01:08:57.900 | But in any case, learning to train hard

01:09:00.640 | and enjoy training hard and really making the workout

01:09:04.340 | something that is separate from the rest of your life

01:09:06.400 | is one of the most gratifying things that you can do

01:09:09.120 | to enhance your overall fitness.

01:09:11.180 | Because it really teaches you how to designate your mind

01:09:13.940 | and your body toward this one specific set of goals

01:09:16.440 | while you are there and to really enjoy the process.

01:09:19.480 | Because fitness can be a truly enjoyable process

01:09:22.080 | even when you were exerting yourself especially hard.

01:09:24.440 | And for you masochists out there,

01:09:26.120 | it can be especially because you're training hard

01:09:28.400 | that it feels so good.

01:09:29.760 | In any event, the key is to set some sort of boundary

01:09:34.360 | and know that when you cross into that boundary,

01:09:36.700 | you're training.

01:09:37.540 | And when you cross out of that boundary,

01:09:38.760 | you're done training.

01:09:39.960 | Which also lends itself to more adequate recovery

01:09:42.620 | and the decompression type breathing exercises

01:09:45.120 | that we talked about before.

01:09:46.820 | I'm not going to tell you whether or not you need to do

01:09:48.320 | the down regulation breathing at the end of your workout

01:09:50.460 | within the line or after you cross the line,

01:09:52.800 | that's up to you.

01:09:53.640 | I don't think one needs to get that specific.

01:09:55.520 | Now, another tool that's wonderfully effective,

01:09:57.640 | not just for your workouts, but for all areas of your life

01:10:00.720 | is if you are going to bring a smartphone to your workouts

01:10:04.600 | to set some boundaries around what you're going to listen to

01:10:09.280 | and do with that smartphone during your workouts.

01:10:12.040 | I see people texting.

01:10:13.280 | I see people doing selfies.

01:10:14.540 | I see people having phone calls.

01:10:17.720 | I see people, I presume, listening to music or podcasts.

01:10:21.500 | Look, I am not the smartphone police, nor are you.

01:10:24.800 | And everyone has a right to use their smartphone

01:10:27.400 | in the way that they choose is best for them

01:10:29.560 | in order to distract themselves or focus themselves

01:10:31.900 | or enrich their life.

01:10:33.260 | Look, it's a free world, of course,

01:10:34.820 | more for some than for others,

01:10:36.100 | but you can do what you want with your smartphone.

01:10:38.580 | However, if your goal is to improve your fitness,

01:10:42.040 | one of the more powerful things you can do

01:10:43.660 | with your smartphone is to decide before you cross the line

01:10:47.440 | into your workout what you're going to listen to

01:10:50.460 | or do with that phone or not.

01:10:52.000 | So for me, I like to designate a playlist of music

01:10:55.360 | for that particular workout.

01:10:57.120 | And then I just stick to that playlist.

01:10:58.600 | I might repeat songs that I like a lot,

01:11:00.860 | or someone talks to me while the music's playing,

01:11:03.040 | I might go back and restart a song if they distracted me,

01:11:05.440 | that sort of thing, although I do my best

01:11:07.400 | to not get into too much social chitchat during workouts,

01:11:10.400 | but I'm friendly and it's nice

01:11:12.160 | when people come over and say hello.

01:11:14.020 | I sometimes work out with other people,

01:11:15.260 | in which case I don't use headphones,

01:11:16.640 | I don't use a smartphone.

01:11:18.120 | But setting a playlist or two,

01:11:21.320 | designating a podcast or two,

01:11:23.720 | designating an audio book or two,

01:11:25.760 | whatever it is that you're going to listen to

01:11:27.680 | to really decide what that's going to be

01:11:29.340 | before you do your workout.

01:11:31.000 | The reason I say this is that I observe a lot of people,

01:11:33.880 | and frankly, I've observed myself under conditions

01:11:37.620 | where I'm suddenly in a text communication,

01:11:40.740 | or I'm bouncing between albums or between podcasts

01:11:44.480 | or between whatever it is on the phone

01:11:46.640 | to the point where rest intervals

01:11:47.900 | aren't being controlled well,

01:11:49.380 | to the point where focus during sets

01:11:51.820 | becomes harder to achieve at the beginning of a set,

01:11:53.800 | because in between sets,

01:11:54.920 | I was focused on a conversation, not on training.

01:11:57.440 | I'm a big believer in making your exercise fun,

01:12:00.380 | making it accessible,

01:12:01.720 | meaning not so expensive or geographically difficult

01:12:04.480 | to achieve that you don't do it,

01:12:06.360 | or that it starts to interfere with other areas of life.

01:12:08.880 | This is really important.

01:12:09.720 | You want fitness to be blended with the rest of your life,

01:12:12.200 | but you don't want it so blended with the rest of your life

01:12:14.840 | that the rest of your life starts to impede your efforts.

01:12:17.800 | Or, and this happens quite often for a lot of people,

01:12:20.360 | that workouts start to take an hour and a half,

01:12:23.060 | two hours when they could easily be completed

01:12:25.200 | in 45 minutes to an hour

01:12:26.740 | if you were just more efficient with your time.

01:12:28.440 | And of course, you don't need me to tell you this,

01:12:30.200 | but smartphones can be one of the major bleeds

01:12:33.280 | on our focus and efficiency.

01:12:35.100 | In fact, it can cause you to hemorrhage focus and efficiency.

01:12:38.960 | So what I'm suggesting here

01:12:40.420 | is not throwing away your smartphone,

01:12:42.040 | although some people do benefit

01:12:43.200 | from just leaving it in the car

01:12:44.820 | or at home when they're training,

01:12:46.600 | but rather to designate podcasts, books, music playlists

01:12:50.720 | for that particular workout,

01:12:52.600 | and to just stick to those for the duration of your workout.

01:12:55.360 | And once you cross into the line,

01:12:57.280 | that's what you're listening to and only that or nothing.

01:13:00.560 | And of course, once you cross back over the line

01:13:02.760 | as you finish your workout,

01:13:04.760 | you can decide to continue to listen to the podcast

01:13:06.860 | or continue to listen to the audio book or to the music.

01:13:09.100 | That's up to you.

01:13:09.940 | Although I highly recommend that you do incorporate

01:13:11.800 | that down regulation period of three to five minutes minimum.

01:13:14.800 | The last category of tools to improve your fitness

01:13:17.760 | come from the discussions about nutrition

01:13:20.000 | and supplementation and recovery

01:13:23.040 | in the series with Dr. Andy Galpin.

01:13:25.360 | Now the list of tools I'm about to describe

01:13:26.920 | is not exhaustive,

01:13:28.240 | meaning it doesn't even begin to come close

01:13:30.800 | to the total number of tools that one could glean

01:13:33.380 | from the discussion about nutrition and supplementation

01:13:35.520 | that I had with Dr. Andy Galpin on this podcast.

01:13:38.640 | But they are the major ones

01:13:39.800 | that are definitely worth knowing.

01:13:41.480 | And those include supplementing with omega-3 fatty acids.

01:13:45.280 | Now, omega-3 fatty acids are found, of course, in foods,

01:13:48.400 | things like fatty fish and krill of all things,

01:13:51.560 | certain forms of algae, et cetera.

01:13:53.380 | But most people do not get enough

01:13:55.560 | of so-called EPA form of omega-3s.

01:13:57.720 | And for that reason, I and many other people

01:13:59.360 | choose to supplement with a minimum of one gram per day,

01:14:03.000 | and in some cases as high as two grams per day,

01:14:05.520 | of omega-3s in supplement form.

01:14:08.100 | So typically one would get to one to two grams of EPA

01:14:11.440 | by supplementing their nutrition, their diet that is,

01:14:14.660 | with fish oil capsules or liquid fish oil.

01:14:17.860 | There are many different sources of these.

01:14:19.320 | That was discussed in an episode

01:14:20.640 | that I did with Dr. Rana Patrick.

01:14:23.040 | I find that it's most cost efficient

01:14:25.700 | to get that one to two grams of EPAs from liquid fish oil.

01:14:29.560 | Despite what you might see on the internet,

01:14:31.320 | I don't have any relationship whatsoever

01:14:33.200 | to a liquid fish oil company.

01:14:34.520 | You just want to make sure that you go

01:14:36.000 | with a reputable brand.

01:14:37.340 | I like the ones that are flavored with lemon

01:14:39.960 | so that it offsets the taste of fish oil.

01:14:42.840 | And I'll take a tablespoon or two of that per day.

01:14:45.960 | And if I'm traveling, and even if I'm not,

01:14:48.080 | I will often use fish oil capsules.

01:14:50.080 | And there are a variety of different sources

01:14:51.440 | of those as well.

01:14:52.400 | Getting sufficient amounts of omega-3

01:14:54.520 | has been shown to be important for mood, okay?

01:14:56.760 | So as a way to offset depression,

01:14:59.320 | but also for enhancing overall mood.

01:15:01.780 | That probably relates to the omega-3's effect

01:15:04.400 | on neurotransmission, not just for neuromodulators

01:15:07.640 | like serotonin and dopamine, but for all neurotransmission.

01:15:11.180 | And neurotransmission, of course,

01:15:12.520 | is essential for neuromuscular performance.

01:15:14.880 | And the omega-3s have been implicated

01:15:17.020 | in reducing the inflammation response,

01:15:19.640 | cardiovascular health, et cetera.

01:15:21.580 | I realize that there is some debate about omega-3s,

01:15:23.980 | but when I look at the bulk of literature

01:15:26.280 | about the omega-3s, it's very clear to me

01:15:28.680 | that getting one to two grams of EPA form

01:15:31.840 | of omega-3 per day is the right thing for me to do.

01:15:35.520 | And many others find that as well.

01:15:37.360 | The second tool to enhance your fitness

01:15:38.960 | under this category of nutrition and supplementation

01:15:41.420 | is creatine.

01:15:42.320 | Now, again, creatine is not just found in supplement form.

01:15:44.900 | It's also found, of course, in foods,

01:15:46.540 | in particular, red meat.

01:15:47.880 | However, the amount of red meat that one would have to eat

01:15:50.280 | in order to get the amount of creatine

01:15:52.920 | that one would start to see

01:15:54.280 | a real performance-enhancing effect is just far too high.

01:15:57.140 | You'd be ingesting far too much of other things in red meat

01:16:00.140 | that you wouldn't want that much of.

01:16:02.580 | And for that reason, I and many other people

01:16:04.920 | will take creatine daily.

01:16:07.020 | We now know there's no need to so-called load creatine

01:16:09.700 | in the old days, as it were.

01:16:11.540 | So old days, by the way, meaning mid-90s and 2000s,

01:16:14.380 | we were all told that we had to load creatine.

01:16:16.160 | We had to take high-dose creatine for four or five days,

01:16:18.580 | and then you could back off to a maintenance dose.

01:16:20.860 | Now it's very clear you can just take a daily dose

01:16:22.820 | of creatine and that it really doesn't matter

01:16:24.580 | when you take that creatine.

01:16:26.080 | You could take it post-workout, as many people do.

01:16:28.160 | You could take it pre-workout.

01:16:29.200 | It really doesn't seem to matter.

01:16:30.760 | I happen to take it post-workout just as a matter of habit.

01:16:34.160 | But again, you could take it any time of day.

01:16:36.340 | Now, the point I want to make about creatine

01:16:38.280 | is one that's a bit different

01:16:39.300 | than the other discussions out there.

01:16:40.660 | I have no issue with the majority of what's discussed

01:16:43.360 | about creatine out there.

01:16:44.780 | For instance, that creatine monohydrate

01:16:46.720 | is the most effective form.

01:16:47.800 | Unfortunately, creatine monohydrate

01:16:49.440 | is also the least expensive form of creatine

01:16:51.720 | that's sold out there.

01:16:52.920 | I see no evidence whatsoever that the other forms

01:16:55.400 | of creatine are superior to creatine monohydrate.

01:16:58.360 | But what you'll usually hear is that

01:17:01.080 | taking five grams of creatine monohydrate per day

01:17:04.360 | is ideal for everybody.

01:17:06.280 | And that advice is simply not well-informed

01:17:08.400 | by the scientific literature.

01:17:09.920 | If you are a larger person,

01:17:11.400 | so for instance, I weigh 100 kilograms,

01:17:13.340 | so that's about 220 pounds,

01:17:15.560 | well, it turns out if you look at the literature on creatine

01:17:18.080 | and athletic performance,

01:17:19.600 | and if you look at the literature on creatine

01:17:21.480 | and cognitive performance,

01:17:22.860 | because as some of you already know,

01:17:24.720 | creatine is a fuel or the phosphocreatine system

01:17:28.280 | is a fuel system for the brain as well.

01:17:31.760 | And if you look at the studies on creatine,

01:17:34.680 | they almost always gauge the amount of creatine

01:17:37.240 | to give an individual based on their body weight.

01:17:39.800 | So you don't have to get really specific about this,

01:17:42.240 | but if you weigh say 185 pounds to 250 pounds,

01:17:46.960 | you can get away with and probably should be

01:17:49.400 | taking 10 grams or so of creatine per day,

01:17:51.760 | which is what I do.

01:17:52.780 | Whereas if you weigh less than that,

01:17:55.000 | five grams or maybe even three grams is sufficient.

01:17:57.920 | Now I discussed this with Dr. Andy Galpin

01:17:59.680 | during that series.

01:18:00.740 | And one of the things that I've started to do

01:18:02.740 | since the closure of that series

01:18:04.280 | is to take more creatine per day.

01:18:06.120 | So now I'm taking 10, sometimes even as much as 15 grams

01:18:09.340 | per day of creatine.

01:18:10.400 | Again, this is powdered creatine monohydrate.

01:18:12.800 | My stomach tolerates it very well,

01:18:15.200 | but frankly, I don't tend to get stomach aches

01:18:17.400 | or gastric distress from pretty much anything,

01:18:20.240 | unless it's some form of food poisoning,

01:18:23.120 | which is exceedingly rare for me.

01:18:24.960 | So some people out there find that creatine

01:18:27.760 | really disrupts their gut

01:18:28.960 | and they need to take it with food,

01:18:30.120 | or they really need to slowly increase

01:18:31.960 | the amount of creatine that they're taking each day.

01:18:34.200 | I find that I can put 10, even 15 grams of creatine

01:18:36.760 | into a whey protein shake or into some water

01:18:41.240 | with a little bit of lemon juice

01:18:42.240 | just to make it taste a little less chalky,

01:18:43.680 | drink that and I don't have any gastric distress from that.

01:18:46.080 | So you'll need to find what works for you.

01:18:47.800 | But the point here is if you're going to take creatine,

01:18:49.960 | you don't just want to quote unquote take creatine,

01:18:52.320 | one scoop per day.

01:18:53.460 | You really want to adjust the amount of creatine

01:18:55.600 | that you're ingesting according to your body weight.

01:18:58.240 | And I would give you a very specific formula

01:19:00.760 | of X grams of creatine per kilogram or pound of body weight,

01:19:04.720 | but believe it or not, no such specific recommendation

01:19:07.560 | has ever been published in the scientific literature.

01:19:10.120 | At least I couldn't find it in a whey

01:19:12.200 | that's consistent with all the other papers,

01:19:13.820 | meaning you see a lot of variation.

01:19:15.640 | So what I'm talking about here

01:19:17.160 | is if you weigh 185 pounds or so,

01:19:20.320 | okay, plus or minus five pounds,

01:19:21.880 | out to about 250 pounds, 10 to 15 grams of creatine per day

01:19:25.660 | is probably more appropriate for you than is five grams,

01:19:28.740 | meaning it's going to be more effective

01:19:30.680 | for enhancing physical performance.

01:19:32.080 | And perhaps, again, perhaps even cognitive performance

01:19:34.800 | as well.

01:19:35.640 | And if you're somebody who weighs 180 pounds

01:19:39.240 | down to say 130 pounds,

01:19:41.040 | five grams of creatine per day is probably sufficient.

01:19:44.260 | The point here is if you are taking creatine,

01:19:46.200 | again, not everyone has to take creatine.

01:19:48.080 | There's no law that says that you have to take creatine.

01:19:50.480 | Some people don't like it.

01:19:51.600 | I know some people fear it's going to make their hair

01:19:53.200 | fall out.

01:19:54.020 | We already talked about that in previous episodes

01:19:55.800 | and the lack of data to support that idea.

01:19:58.540 | But I realize some people steer away from creatine

01:20:00.560 | for whatever reason.

01:20:02.120 | But if you decide that taking creatine is right for you,

01:20:04.960 | adjust the total amount of creatine that you take

01:20:07.340 | according to your body weight.

01:20:08.920 | The next supplementation-based tool

01:20:10.400 | for enhancing your fitness is rhodiola rosea.

01:20:14.280 | Now, this very esoteric-sounding supplement

01:20:16.240 | is one that I learned about both from Dr. Lane Norton

01:20:19.040 | when he was a guest on this podcast, expert in nutrition,

01:20:21.680 | and frankly, training as it relates to resistance training,

01:20:25.600 | and from Dr. Andy Galpin.

01:20:28.120 | Rhodiola rosea is a supplement that's gaining

01:20:30.580 | increasing attention because it is what's called

01:20:33.240 | a cortisol modulator.

01:20:34.920 | It does not necessarily suppress cortisol.

01:20:37.760 | It does not increase cortisol.

01:20:39.780 | It's a cortisol modulator.

01:20:41.440 | And frankly, the mechanism by which rhodiola rosea

01:20:44.440 | modulates cortisol is still under investigation.

01:20:47.560 | I hope to do an episode about it in the future,

01:20:49.640 | or at least make it part of an episode,

01:20:51.520 | because the hypothesized mechanism that's starting to emerge

01:20:54.920 | is really interesting as it relates to neurons in the brain

01:20:58.960 | that control the stress response and glands in the body,

01:21:01.480 | like the adrenals that control the stress response

01:21:03.680 | and that secrete cortisol.

01:21:05.340 | Regardless, there's a growing body of research

01:21:07.980 | that has explored rhodiola rosea supplementation

01:21:11.400 | and one's subjective perception of fatigue or output

01:21:16.280 | during high-intensity training of various kinds,

01:21:18.800 | both resistance training,

01:21:19.920 | as well as running and endurance-type training.

01:21:23.120 | So I started taking rhodiola rosea about six months ago

01:21:27.240 | in response to conversations that I had,

01:21:29.520 | again, with Dr. Lee Norton and with Dr. Andy Galpin.

01:21:32.880 | And it's a supplement that I take

01:21:34.360 | before high-intensity workouts.

01:21:36.520 | So I don't take it before a run,

01:21:38.240 | because frankly, my run's either very long and slow,

01:21:40.840 | or they're very brief,

01:21:42.280 | like a high-intensity interval training session.

01:21:44.680 | And I find those to be pretty easy to recover from,

01:21:47.440 | even though they are very intense.

01:21:48.840 | I might take a rhodiola rosea supplement

01:21:51.880 | before doing a 30-minute hill run that's very intense,

01:21:55.400 | but typically, I only take it about 10 to 15 minutes

01:21:58.760 | before any sort of

01:21:59.800 | high-intensity resistance training session,

01:22:01.960 | in particular, my leg day,

01:22:03.700 | which falls on day two of my exercise protocol,

01:22:07.020 | or the torso day or the small body parts day.

01:22:10.000 | Again, here I'm referencing the way

01:22:12.240 | that I train across the week,

01:22:14.040 | and you can find that training protocol

01:22:15.520 | as a downloadable, completely zero-cost PDF if you like.

01:22:18.560 | But I realize other people are using

01:22:20.200 | different body part splits and different combinations

01:22:22.760 | of resistance training and endurance training.

01:22:25.640 | The reason I mentioned rhodiola rosea in this episode

01:22:28.120 | is that I realized that

01:22:29.480 | while some people might not yet be

01:22:31.520 | supplementing omega-3s,

01:22:33.240 | they might not be supplementing creatine,

01:22:35.340 | there are many of you who are already doing those things,

01:22:37.800 | and you're looking for additional tools to give you an edge.

01:22:40.440 | So again, the rhodiola rosea

01:22:42.040 | would not fall into the category of foundational supplements.

01:22:45.200 | Certainly get your nutrition right, get your sleep right,

01:22:47.080 | get your sunlight, all the basics first, please,

01:22:49.000 | before even thinking about any supplements.

01:22:51.200 | However, once you get into the category of supplements

01:22:54.300 | that can enhance fitness,

01:22:56.120 | rhodiola rosea does seem to have some good research

01:22:58.680 | to support it in the context of lots of different forms

01:23:01.460 | of high-intensity exercise.

01:23:03.180 | Now, I can't tell you whether or not it's purely subjective

01:23:06.160 | or whether or not it's objective and subjective,

01:23:09.080 | but my experience has been that when I take rhodiola rosea,

01:23:13.080 | I definitely noticed that I can exert myself harder

01:23:16.400 | without feeling like I'm bringing myself to the brink

01:23:19.600 | of fatigue, either during the exertion or afterwards.

01:23:22.880 | In other words, I feel like I can do more work

01:23:26.280 | without feeling so exhausted,

01:23:27.920 | and I feel as if I'm recovering

01:23:30.120 | from my workouts more quickly,

01:23:31.360 | in particular across the day after my workouts.

01:23:34.680 | In fact, if I had to cite one specific subjective effect

01:23:37.620 | that I've experienced from taking rhodiola rosea

01:23:39.600 | before very high-intensity workouts

01:23:41.720 | is that prior to taking it,

01:23:43.560 | I would often find that three or four hours

01:23:46.960 | after the workout, having eaten a good meal,

01:23:49.060 | taking a shower, et cetera,

01:23:51.180 | and I was tired, I have a real dip in energy,

01:23:54.040 | but now I notice that I have a lot of energy

01:23:55.760 | throughout the day,

01:23:56.600 | even after these very high-intensity sessions

01:23:58.560 | in the early part of the day.

01:24:00.000 | And frankly, I haven't changed anything else

01:24:02.260 | about my supplementation or my nutrition,

01:24:04.440 | at least nothing major.

01:24:06.300 | So I personally am going to continue to take rhodiola rosea

01:24:09.060 | before these high-intensity workouts.

01:24:10.560 | So for me, that's about two or three times per week.

01:24:13.100 | However, if I forgot to take rhodiola rosea before a workout,

01:24:16.300 | I have no reason to think that that workout

01:24:17.760 | would go much worse.

01:24:19.160 | This is a supplement that is designed

01:24:20.960 | to sort of give you an edge to be able to exert more focus

01:24:24.680 | and intensity during your workouts

01:24:26.300 | with less perceived exertion and to enhance your recovery.

01:24:29.660 | The typical dosage of rhodiola rosea

01:24:31.380 | that you'll find in most supplements

01:24:32.960 | is 100 to 200 milligrams.

01:24:35.480 | And of course, anytime you're going to take a new supplement,

01:24:38.060 | you would be wise to figure out the lowest effective dose

01:24:41.480 | from that supplement.

01:24:42.320 | That's just logic, right?

01:24:44.260 | Why spend more money taking more of something

01:24:46.120 | that you don't need more of

01:24:47.080 | if you could get away with taking less of it,

01:24:49.500 | and it's just as effective, maybe even more effective.

01:24:51.960 | So I typically will take 100 to 200 milligrams

01:24:54.400 | of rhodiola rosea about 10 to 20 minutes before a workout.

01:24:58.180 | However, I've taken as little as 100 milligrams

01:25:00.720 | on a consistent basis.

01:25:01.920 | And frankly, I don't really experience much difference

01:25:04.300 | whether I take 100 milligrams

01:25:05.720 | or I take 200 milligrams before a workout.

01:25:07.600 | So lately I've just defaulted to taking 100 milligrams

01:25:10.940 | of rhodiola rosea before any high-intensity workout.

01:25:14.020 | Now, the final tool that I want to review

01:25:15.720 | for improving your fitness

01:25:17.540 | comes from the category of nutrition.

01:25:19.920 | I've done lots of episodes

01:25:21.440 | about nutrition already on this podcast.

01:25:23.520 | We've done episodes about intermittent fasting.

01:25:25.360 | I did a long interview episode with Dr. Lane Norton,

01:25:29.780 | where we discussed all the ins and outs of nutrition

01:25:32.660 | as it relates to fat loss, muscle gain, fitness in general,

01:25:37.520 | lifestyle in general.

01:25:38.640 | So check out that episode where you will learn

01:25:40.960 | his philosophy on nutrition,

01:25:42.180 | which frankly is the one that I largely subscribe to.

01:25:44.300 | It of course obeys the laws of thermodynamics,

01:25:46.840 | calories in, calories out, being fundamentally important,

01:25:49.980 | but also gets into all sorts of details

01:25:51.760 | about which sources of protein

01:25:53.040 | are most effective and bioavailable,

01:25:54.640 | how much protein you can incorporate into your muscles

01:25:58.020 | after training, et cetera.

01:25:59.260 | All of that is included in that episode.

01:26:02.280 | With that said, the series on exercise with Dr. Andy Galpin

01:26:05.400 | also included an episode on nutrition.

01:26:08.040 | And while having the discussion for that episode

01:26:09.880 | and then listening to that episode again,

01:26:12.120 | I realized that while certainly I've gotten

01:26:14.880 | a number of things right about my nutrition

01:26:17.080 | across the years, there are a few areas

01:26:19.000 | where I could probably do better without much effort

01:26:22.940 | in ways that could really enhance my fitness.

01:26:25.440 | And the thing that I'm referring to is that for me,

01:26:28.060 | my first meal of the day lands somewhere around 11 AM,

01:26:30.880 | maybe 12 noon.

01:26:31.840 | Sometimes I'll eat an earlier breakfast,

01:26:33.480 | but most typically I hydrate and caffeinate

01:26:36.120 | and train in the morning and then I eat sometime

01:26:37.780 | around 11 or 12.

01:26:39.180 | And then I eat my last meal of the day

01:26:41.720 | sometime around 8.30 or nine.

01:26:43.860 | And as some of you already know,

01:26:45.760 | I tend to organize my meals such that meals

01:26:48.900 | during the early part of the day tend to lean

01:26:51.440 | more toward protein and fibrous carbohydrates.

01:26:54.480 | So things like meat and salad or chicken and salad,

01:26:57.880 | fish and salad, and maybe a little bit of starch.

01:27:00.480 | And the meals that I eat later in the day

01:27:02.120 | tend to be more starch focused and more vegetable focused.

01:27:05.480 | So things like pasta, rice, et cetera,

01:27:07.520 | later in the day because it helps me sleep.

01:27:09.160 | And the architecture of all that

01:27:10.560 | is really about energy and focus.

01:27:12.200 | I find I can focus a bit better

01:27:14.120 | and I have more energy throughout the day.

01:27:16.120 | When I have my first meal at around 11 or 12

01:27:18.800 | and I keep the total amount of carbohydrates

01:27:20.800 | that I ingest during the day moderate,

01:27:22.800 | not low, but moderate.

01:27:24.880 | Now there is an exception to that,

01:27:26.160 | which is if I do a high intensity resistance training

01:27:28.940 | session early in the morning,

01:27:30.140 | say train legs or train torso or even small body parts

01:27:33.000 | early in the morning,

01:27:34.380 | then I make sure to incorporate more starchy carbohydrates

01:27:37.540 | and some fruits, some simple sugars as well

01:27:39.820 | into the first meal of the day

01:27:41.260 | so that I can replenish the glycogen that I depleted

01:27:44.040 | during those high intensity resistance training sessions.

01:27:47.100 | However, after talking to Dr. Andy Galpin,

01:27:50.540 | I realized that I really shouldn't worry about

01:27:53.680 | or be afraid of eating something before training

01:27:55.920 | if I'm really hungry in the morning.

01:27:57.880 | So what I'm referring to here

01:27:59.420 | are the times in which I wake up and I want to train,

01:28:02.600 | but I personally like to train fasted and caffeinated, okay?

01:28:06.560 | Yes, I do recommend that people delay their caffeine intake

01:28:09.500 | 90 to 120 minutes after waking.

01:28:11.840 | If and only if you have trouble with an afternoon crash,

01:28:15.680 | you know, real fatigue in the afternoon,

01:28:17.240 | then it makes sense to delay your caffeine

01:28:18.960 | 90 to 120 minutes after waking.

01:28:21.060 | However, the exception to that

01:28:23.520 | is that if I'm going to train early in the day,

01:28:25.420 | I do ingest water to hydrate as well as electrolytes

01:28:29.540 | and caffeine prior to training.

01:28:31.520 | And sometimes that means I'm drinking caffeine

01:28:33.440 | within 30 minutes or 60 minutes of waking.

01:28:36.000 | I've tried to be clear about this in previous episodes,

01:28:38.440 | but I think a number of people have come to think

01:28:40.640 | that I always delay my caffeine intake

01:28:43.120 | 90 to 120 minutes after waking,

01:28:44.760 | and that's simply not the case.

01:28:45.960 | If I'm going to train, in particular,

01:28:47.520 | if I'm going to do high intensity resistance training

01:28:49.780 | or a long run, I will ingest caffeine

01:28:52.640 | sooner than 90 to 120 minutes after waking.

01:28:55.520 | And in addition to that,

01:28:57.360 | yes, I tend to eat my first meal around 11 a.m.,

01:29:00.160 | maybe 12 noon, but if I wake up and I'm very hungry,

01:29:03.400 | I will eat a small meal that includes

01:29:05.920 | typically some protein and some fat,

01:29:07.480 | so some Brazil nuts, maybe a couple of scoops of whey protein

01:29:09.940 | would be typical for me,

01:29:11.600 | or maybe even a little bit of oatmeal, some whey protein,

01:29:14.820 | not a lot of food in my gut,

01:29:16.520 | but after talking to Dr. Andy Galpin,

01:29:19.560 | what I learned was for some people training fast,

01:29:21.680 | it feels best.

01:29:22.680 | I would consider myself one of those people.

01:29:25.720 | You may be somebody in that category as well,

01:29:27.680 | or you might be somebody who really feels

01:29:29.880 | as if you run best, you resistance train best

01:29:33.160 | when you've eaten, say, 90 minutes

01:29:35.200 | or a couple hours before you do that.

01:29:37.800 | There are basically no specific rules

01:29:39.840 | as it relates to whether or not you train fasted

01:29:42.240 | or train fed, except what you can handle

01:29:44.560 | in terms of gastric distress.

01:29:45.840 | So you'll want to make food choices according to that

01:29:48.400 | and try and avoid, of course, gastric distress.

01:29:51.360 | But basically the change that I've made

01:29:53.480 | is if I wake up and I'm hungry, I'll eat a small meal,

01:29:56.440 | or if I want to work out in the afternoon

01:29:58.600 | or I have to work out in the afternoon

01:30:00.080 | and I have lunch at, say, 12 or 1230 or 11 a.m.,

01:30:04.880 | and the only opportunity that I have to train

01:30:07.800 | is 1 p.m. or even 1230, I will go ahead and train.

01:30:12.000 | And that's a new thing for me.

01:30:13.520 | Typically, I try to keep my meals

01:30:15.540 | at least three to four hours prior to any training bout.

01:30:19.900 | And of course, if you're sleeping all night,

01:30:21.640 | you're not eating, and then if you wake up

01:30:22.940 | and you don't eat and you train in the morning,

01:30:25.000 | that's certainly longer than three or four hours

01:30:26.560 | unless you're sleeping very, very little, frankly.

01:30:29.080 | So essentially what I'm saying is

01:30:30.400 | figure out what works best for you.

01:30:32.080 | Do you prefer to train fasted or fed?

01:30:34.240 | For some of you, you might prefer fasted before cardio

01:30:37.880 | and fed before resistance training.

01:30:39.920 | For some of you, it might be fasted is always best.

01:30:43.200 | Again, I put myself in that category.

01:30:44.920 | For some of you, it might be fed is always best.

01:30:47.700 | Again, this is highly individual.

01:30:49.280 | And that's another point that I'm trying to make here,

01:30:51.640 | which is Dr. Gallopin really impressed upon me

01:30:54.000 | that there is no hard and fast rule about training fasted

01:30:57.240 | or fed.

01:30:58.180 | And this is the second point that having some flexibility

01:31:02.080 | in whether or not you can train fasted or fed

01:31:04.540 | allows you to incorporate your fitness training sessions

01:31:07.040 | more readily into a shifting schedule.

01:31:09.320 | And that's a really overarching theme

01:31:11.240 | of everything we've been discussing today,

01:31:12.720 | which is, yes, it's wonderful and important

01:31:15.900 | to have a core fitness program,

01:31:17.580 | something that you're really striving to do

01:31:19.560 | each and every week.

01:31:20.400 | And for me, that's three sessions of cardio,

01:31:22.360 | three resistance training sessions,

01:31:24.040 | and a day where I'm doing thermal stress training,

01:31:26.440 | which is just fancy language for deliberate cold

01:31:29.000 | and deliberate heat exposure.

01:31:30.240 | However, real life happens, travel, work, illness, family,

01:31:35.240 | all the sorts of things that can impinge

01:31:37.900 | on an exercise schedule and make it less likely

01:31:40.080 | that one would complete their workouts.

01:31:42.000 | So today we've been discussing tools

01:31:43.760 | to improve your fitness, which are brief,

01:31:46.920 | easy to incorporate, scientifically supported,

01:31:50.040 | and that are shown to improve the various sorts

01:31:53.440 | of exercise adaptations and recovery

01:31:55.940 | that will allow you to get the most progress

01:31:57.840 | from your schedule.

01:31:58.760 | So while the tools that we discussed today

01:32:00.840 | relate to breathing, they relate to nutrition,

01:32:02.680 | they relate to supplementation,

01:32:03.920 | they relate to specific set and rep patterns

01:32:07.120 | and cadences and rest periods, et cetera,

01:32:09.320 | all of those specific recommendations

01:32:11.640 | are within a larger container that I hope has become clear,

01:32:14.840 | which is the best tools to improve your fitness

01:32:17.420 | are the tools that, of course,

01:32:18.760 | are going to be effective in improving your cardiovascular

01:32:21.580 | and strength and hypertrophy training, et cetera,

01:32:24.740 | whatever it is that your goals are,

01:32:26.680 | but also tools that are going to make it easier

01:32:29.800 | and more likely that you are going to engage

01:32:32.060 | in your fitness program with enthusiasm,

01:32:34.620 | with effort, and with focus.

01:32:36.640 | And as with any episode of this podcast,

01:32:38.880 | I covered a lot of information,

01:32:40.400 | and there are a lot of different tools

01:32:42.280 | that one could incorporate.

01:32:43.840 | By no means do you need to incorporate them all,

01:32:46.440 | although if you choose to, that's wonderful.

01:32:48.640 | Just even incorporating one or two of them,

01:32:50.620 | say, incorporating this notion of the line

01:32:52.480 | and the exercise snacks,

01:32:53.980 | or adjusting your level of flexibility

01:32:55.620 | as to whether or not you train fasted or fed and the line,

01:32:58.420 | or trying a 12-week cycle of purely training for strength

01:33:01.280 | when you do your resistance training.

01:33:03.040 | But whether or not you pick one tool or all the tools

01:33:05.880 | or somewhere in between,

01:33:07.520 | the key thing is to actually implement them.

01:33:09.920 | And I like to think that during today's discussion

01:33:12.280 | provided a number of tools, again, largely gleaned

01:33:14.820 | from the episode series with Dr. Andy Galpin's,

01:33:16.920 | and again, if you haven't seen that series,

01:33:18.800 | that's linked in the show note captions.

01:33:20.720 | Those episodes are long, there are six of them,

01:33:23.340 | but they are a wealth of information

01:33:25.820 | of every aspect of fitness.

01:33:27.360 | During today's episode,

01:33:28.320 | we're really just talking about the things that you can,

01:33:30.620 | and I do believe should,

01:33:32.120 | bring to your existing fitness program

01:33:33.860 | that can really make a positive difference

01:33:35.960 | without a lot of effort.

01:33:37.720 | Thank you for joining me for today's discussion,

01:33:39.480 | all about tools to improve your fitness.

01:33:41.880 | If you're learning from and are enjoying this podcast,

01:33:44.240 | please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

01:33:45.880 | That's a terrific zero cost way to support us.

01:33:48.280 | In addition, please subscribe to the podcast

01:33:50.700 | on Spotify and Apple.

01:33:52.080 | And on both Spotify and Apple,

01:33:53.580 | you can leave us up to a five-star review.

01:33:56.020 | If you have questions for me or comments about the podcast

01:33:58.160 | or guests that you'd like me to include

01:33:59.460 | on the Huberman Lab Podcast,

01:34:00.920 | please put those in the comment section on YouTube.

01:34:03.180 | I do read all the comments.

01:34:05.080 | Please also check out the sponsors mentioned

01:34:06.800 | at the beginning and throughout today's episode.

01:34:08.760 | That's the best way to support this podcast.

01:34:11.320 | During today's episode and on many previous episodes

01:34:13.560 | of the Huberman Lab Podcast, we discuss supplements.

01:34:16.280 | While supplements aren't necessary for everybody,

01:34:18.320 | many people derive tremendous benefit from them

01:34:20.400 | for things like enhancing sleep, hormone support, and focus.

01:34:23.640 | The Huberman Lab Podcast is partnered

01:34:25.240 | with Momentous Supplements.

01:34:26.960 | If you'd like to see the supplements discussed

01:34:28.540 | on the Huberman Lab Podcast,

01:34:30.060 | please go to Live Momentous, spelled O-U-S,

01:34:32.320 | so livemomentous.com/huberman.

01:34:35.000 | If you're not already following me on social media,

01:34:37.360 | it is Huberman Lab on all social media platforms.

01:34:40.040 | So that's Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

01:34:42.720 | And on all of those platforms,

01:34:44.200 | I cover science and science-based tools,

01:34:46.020 | some of which overlaps with the content

01:34:47.640 | of the Huberman Lab Podcast,

01:34:48.860 | but much of which is distinct from the content

01:34:51.000 | on the Huberman Lab Podcast.

01:34:52.240 | So again, it's Huberman Lab on all social media platforms.

01:34:55.600 | If you haven't already subscribed

01:34:56.760 | to the Huberman Lab Podcast Neural Network Newsletter,

01:34:59.080 | this is a completely zero-cost newsletter,

01:35:01.360 | comes out about once a month,

01:35:03.000 | and it includes podcast summaries and toolkits.

01:35:05.960 | Toolkits are short PDFs that, for instance,

01:35:08.720 | describe a toolkit for sleep,

01:35:10.160 | a toolkit for learning and neuroplasticity,

01:35:12.220 | a toolkit for fitness, and on and on.

01:35:14.520 | To sign up for the Neural Network Newsletter,

01:35:16.140 | you simply go to HubermanLab.com, go to the menu,

01:35:18.640 | scroll down to Newsletter, and provide your email.

01:35:21.100 | We do not share your email with anybody.

01:35:23.000 | And again, the Neural Network Newsletter

01:35:24.800 | is completely zero-cost.

01:35:26.200 | Thank you once again for joining me for today's discussion,

01:35:28.500 | all about tools to improve your fitness.

01:35:30.800 | And last, but certainly not least,

01:35:33.060 | thank you for your interest in science.

01:35:34.820 | [upbeat music]

01:35:37.400 | (upbeat music)

Science-Supported Tools to Accelerate Your Fitness Goals | Huberman Lab Podcast

Chapters