Best Exercises for Brain Health, Performance & Motivation

00:00:00.000 | [silence]

00:00:02.600 | We are, however, going to talk about the practical steps

00:00:05.520 | that you can take to make sure that you're getting

00:00:07.440 | the most brain benefits from your exercise.

00:00:12.160 | Based on what we've talked about so far,

00:00:13.920 | as well as a broad survey of the literature,

00:00:16.320 | and again, it is a big literature,

00:00:20.200 | here are the four things that I believe

00:00:21.960 | everyone should be doing every single week

00:00:24.980 | in terms of their exercise program.

00:00:26.680 | I believe that everybody should include

00:00:28.140 | both resistance training,

00:00:30.440 | could be body weight, free weights, machines,

00:00:32.200 | some combination of those,

00:00:33.720 | as well as cardiovascular training each week.

00:00:36.440 | And that the cardiovascular training should include

00:00:38.460 | both high intensity interval training,

00:00:40.480 | at least once per week,

00:00:41.600 | and some so-called long slow distance training

00:00:44.080 | or zone two type training each week.

00:00:46.600 | Whatever exercise you happen to be doing

00:00:48.400 | or you happen to be planning,

00:00:49.840 | I do believe it should include four things

00:00:53.360 | specifically to improve brain health and performance.

00:00:56.580 | Although these four things will also benefit you

00:00:58.400 | at the level of your bodily health, no doubt.

00:01:01.400 | The first thing is to include at least one workout per week

00:01:05.120 | that is of a long slow distance nature.

00:01:07.940 | So zone two type cardio,

00:01:09.240 | maybe you get a little bit up into zone three,

00:01:11.440 | but basically jogging, swimming, rowing,

00:01:15.660 | any activity that you can carry out consistently

00:01:19.200 | for 45 to 75 minutes without getting injured, right?

00:01:23.620 | People always say, "Well, do I have to run?"

00:01:24.960 | No, if you don't like running

00:01:26.280 | and running's too hard on your body,

00:01:27.820 | or you'll get injured, then do something else.

00:01:29.280 | Maybe you do the row,

00:01:30.120 | or maybe you ride a stationary bike,

00:01:31.500 | maybe you ride a road bike.

00:01:32.560 | But at least one long slow distance training session per week

00:01:36.280 | is going to be very beneficial for brain health

00:01:38.480 | because of the way that it impacts cerebral blood flow

00:01:40.880 | and to theological health,

00:01:42.280 | and basically the way that cardiovascular health

00:01:45.040 | improves brain function.

00:01:46.520 | The second thing is to include

00:01:48.000 | at least one workout per week

00:01:49.600 | that's of the so-called high intensity interval training

00:01:52.760 | type.

00:01:53.720 | Now, there are a lot of different types

00:01:55.480 | of high intensity interval training out there.

00:01:57.040 | In fact, Dr. Andy Galpin says,

00:02:00.940 | we'll hear about say like the four by four by four protocol,

00:02:04.120 | right?

00:02:04.960 | Four minutes of going as hard as you can for four minutes,

00:02:08.200 | basically where there's no variation in the intensity

00:02:10.560 | through that whole four minutes,

00:02:11.640 | you're going hard the whole four minutes,

00:02:13.200 | but only as hard as you can for the entire four minutes,

00:02:15.440 | then resting four minutes,

00:02:16.720 | and then repeating that four by four cycle four times.

00:02:20.640 | Okay, so that's one way to do it.

00:02:21.640 | But Dr. Andy Galpin would be the first to tell you

00:02:23.600 | that you probably also get great results

00:02:25.660 | from a three by three by four type of workout,

00:02:29.180 | or a six by six by six type of workout.

00:02:32.380 | And generally when one finishes that type of workout,

00:02:35.120 | your heart rate is very, very elevated.

00:02:37.500 | Now, I don't tend to track my heart rate during exercise,

00:02:40.120 | perhaps I should,

00:02:40.960 | but I don't like to get too weighed down with technology

00:02:43.840 | when I exercise.

00:02:44.900 | I like to go more on feel, that's just me.

00:02:47.000 | I find that my heart rate is extremely high

00:02:52.860 | right as I get off that thing,

00:02:54.600 | but five minutes later, it's back to baseline.

00:02:58.200 | And I certainly feel energized after doing that

00:03:00.480 | to go do some cognitive work,

00:03:01.560 | to shower up and to head to work, that sort of thing.

00:03:03.400 | So pick a high intensity interval training session

00:03:05.760 | that you can do at least once per week,

00:03:07.760 | and that works for you.

00:03:09.040 | And again, it's really important to pick a form of exercise

00:03:12.640 | for the high intensity interval training

00:03:14.400 | that you can do without getting injured.

00:03:16.320 | This is so important.

00:03:17.760 | One way to really limit your brain health and bodily health

00:03:20.320 | is to get injured and to not be able to exercise.

00:03:23.260 | The third would be TUT, T-U-T, time under tension.

00:03:26.200 | If you're doing resistance training,

00:03:27.620 | and I do believe everybody

00:03:28.620 | should be doing resistance training,

00:03:30.100 | there are a near infinite number of different ways

00:03:32.700 | to do resistance training, as you well know.

00:03:35.140 | You can move the weight ballistically,

00:03:36.780 | you can control the eccentric,

00:03:38.200 | you can do any number of different things,

00:03:39.980 | but some proportion of the exercises

00:03:41.700 | that you do during your resistance training

00:03:43.300 | during the week should include time under tension training,

00:03:47.380 | where you're really emphasizing the contraction

00:03:49.500 | of the muscles, the slow lowering of the weight,

00:03:52.060 | as well as the lifting of the weight,

00:03:53.840 | contracting the muscles as hard as you can.

00:03:55.520 | And this is really to emphasize

00:03:56.900 | the nerve to muscle pathways

00:03:58.380 | and the way that time under tension

00:04:00.580 | promotes the release of things from muscles

00:04:03.260 | into the bloodstream that can positively impact the brain,

00:04:06.280 | as well as the way that focusing your brain on exercises

00:04:10.780 | such that you're isolating muscles,

00:04:12.800 | or even if you're not doing a so-called isolation exercise,

00:04:15.360 | maybe you're doing a compound exercise,

00:04:16.820 | like a dip, or a squat, or a deadlift,

00:04:19.780 | but that really concentrating on the muscles

00:04:21.700 | that are supposed to be managing the work

00:04:23.620 | and not just moving the weight,

00:04:24.780 | but challenging the muscles.

00:04:26.140 | This is a very important thing,

00:04:27.060 | challenging the muscles, using the weight,

00:04:29.100 | not lifting weights or moving weights.

00:04:31.460 | By focusing on time under tension,

00:04:33.460 | you will, of course, get benefits

00:04:35.460 | as it relates to hypertrophy and strength increases,

00:04:38.380 | in particular, hypertrophy.

00:04:39.740 | And time under tension training is very beneficial

00:04:42.180 | for the deployment of the molecules

00:04:44.220 | that work both within the body,

00:04:45.880 | but also within the brain

00:04:47.180 | to support brain health and function,

00:04:49.300 | both in the short-term

00:04:50.340 | and most particularly in the long-term.

00:04:53.180 | I tend to make a full third of my resistance training

00:04:56.980 | just focused on time under tension.

00:04:58.500 | So if I do two exercises,

00:04:59.820 | typically the first exercise is a compound exercise.

00:05:02.140 | So if it's a shoulder press, for instance,

00:05:03.980 | I'll do a couple of warmup sets and then the work sets.

00:05:06.020 | I try and move the weight.

00:05:07.780 | And generally, I tend to work pretty heavy in the,

00:05:10.260 | for me, heavy for me, in the four to eight repetition range.

00:05:13.300 | I'll try and move the weight as quickly as I can

00:05:15.660 | on the concentric phase, the lifting phase,

00:05:18.140 | and then at least twice as slow on the lowering phase.

00:05:20.900 | And then I pause while keeping the muscles under tension.

00:05:23.420 | I never really set the weight down at all during a set,

00:05:26.000 | if I'm doing my job, that is.

00:05:27.640 | And then the second exercise that I do,

00:05:31.300 | I really focus even more on time under tension.

00:05:33.900 | So whether or not it's a compound exercise

00:05:35.900 | or an isolation exercise,

00:05:37.340 | again, compound exercise, multiple joints moving,

00:05:39.820 | isolation exercise, single joints moving,

00:05:42.100 | I'll really concentrate on keeping the muscle

00:05:44.500 | under tension the entire time.

00:05:45.780 | In fact, I'll lift the weight off the stack

00:05:48.140 | if it's a machine or if it's a free weight,

00:05:50.020 | just a little bit,

00:05:51.100 | engage the muscles that I'm trying to activate or train,

00:05:55.260 | and then keep it under tension throughout the concentric,

00:05:58.460 | the contraction, and the lowering of that weight,

00:06:01.900 | and then never actually set it down

00:06:03.620 | until the end of the set,

00:06:05.140 | AKA increasing the time under tension.

00:06:08.420 | And then the fourth category of exercise

00:06:10.020 | that I believe everybody should include

00:06:11.660 | in their existing workouts or add

00:06:13.300 | if you're not currently working out

00:06:15.300 | is some sort of explosive jumping and or eccentric landing.

00:06:21.660 | Now the explosive jumping with eccentric landing,

00:06:25.860 | you could do on a mat, right?

00:06:27.540 | Most people won't do it on concrete

00:06:28.820 | because they're worried about impact, that sort of thing.

00:06:31.380 | But let's say you have some mats or you're on a lawn

00:06:34.540 | or you're on dirt or you're jumping up onto a box

00:06:37.580 | as high as you can and then jumping down

00:06:38.980 | and controlling the eccentric portion.

00:06:40.420 | Again, pick something that you can do safely,

00:06:42.860 | progress slowly, right?

00:06:44.100 | If you're going to jump up and off boxes,

00:06:46.020 | you want to start with low boxes.

00:06:47.460 | I know that many of you can jump quite high

00:06:50.900 | and I'm not one of those people,

00:06:52.620 | but if you can jump quite high

00:06:54.260 | and then you're going to jump off that box

00:06:55.660 | and you're going to do this as a new thing,

00:06:56.940 | you'll notice that anytime you add eccentric training

00:07:00.100 | to your workout regimen,

00:07:01.860 | it tends to increase soreness a lot.

00:07:03.700 | And often people get injured

00:07:05.040 | by including a new form of movement,

00:07:06.900 | in particular, a form of movement that you can fall

00:07:09.460 | and/or not just falling,

00:07:12.060 | but by including a lot of eccentric movements

00:07:14.440 | that they hadn't been doing previously.

00:07:16.380 | Again, be really safe about this,

00:07:18.160 | but that loading of the skeleton through eccentric movement

00:07:21.180 | and controlling the descent, super important,

00:07:24.180 | not just for your body, not just to avoid falls,

00:07:26.660 | not just to improve coordination

00:07:28.560 | and a bunch of other great things,

00:07:29.940 | but also to get that release of osteocalcin,

00:07:33.100 | the improvements in BDNF,

00:07:34.760 | brain performance, brain health, and so on.

00:07:37.300 | And I'm guessing that most of you

00:07:38.460 | can probably incorporate these four things,

00:07:40.260 | long, slow distance, high intensity interval training,

00:07:43.020 | some deliberate time under tension training

00:07:44.820 | during your resistance training,

00:07:45.980 | again, could be done with body weight,

00:07:47.180 | doesn't have to even be done with machines or free weights,

00:07:49.380 | as well as some explosive and eccentric control training

00:07:53.340 | without adding any time to your existing workout regimen,

00:07:56.980 | simply by incorporating it into whatever workouts

00:07:59.900 | you happen to already be doing.

00:08:01.540 | And the explosive eccentric control training

00:08:04.220 | could be done, frankly, at the end of a run,

00:08:06.920 | you could do it at the end of your zone two day,

00:08:08.500 | you could do it on the end of a hit day,

00:08:10.940 | whenever you do it and however you do it,

00:08:12.900 | just try not to get injured.

00:08:13.980 | That's the most important thing.

00:08:15.500 | Why?

00:08:16.340 | Well, it turns out if you get injured, you can't exercise.

00:08:18.940 | Sometimes you can, and it's good to continue exercising

00:08:21.900 | provided you're not aggravating that injury,

00:08:23.920 | but a lot of times you can't.

00:08:25.460 | And there are actually studies of how quickly

00:08:27.780 | your brain starts to suffer if you don't exercise.

00:08:30.860 | Now, most of these studies have been done

00:08:32.500 | on very experienced athletes,

00:08:35.540 | or people that are exercising a lot

00:08:37.060 | and then are forced to detrain or stop training completely.

00:08:40.340 | And in some of these studies,

00:08:41.360 | they've done this independent of anything else.

00:08:43.060 | It's not like these people got sick from a, you know,

00:08:45.500 | a cold or flu and then had to stop training.

00:08:47.340 | They'll just have them train a lot and then stop training

00:08:49.700 | and then start to look at some of the effects

00:08:51.360 | that occur within the brain.

00:08:52.780 | And the major thing that I was able to extract

00:08:54.580 | from that literature is that after about 10 days

00:08:58.040 | of not doing any training,

00:08:59.800 | that is no cardiovascular training, no resistance training,

00:09:02.720 | you start to see significant decrements

00:09:05.000 | in brain oxygenation levels,

00:09:07.120 | as well as some other markers

00:09:08.400 | that are indicative of brain health,

00:09:09.640 | or that would be indicative of brain health

00:09:11.920 | if they were to continue.

00:09:13.580 | So if you haven't been training at all

00:09:15.220 | for a long period of time, your brain is suffering.

00:09:17.560 | The good news is you can start benefiting your brain

00:09:20.040 | very quickly by exercising.

00:09:22.480 | Okay, so I listed off the four types of training

00:09:24.400 | that you absolutely want to include

00:09:25.840 | in your exercise regimen

00:09:27.260 | if improving your brain health and performance

00:09:29.520 | is one of your goals.

00:09:30.400 | And obviously that should be one of your goals.

00:09:32.700 | Your brain is your central command center

00:09:34.920 | for your entire brain, but also your body.

00:09:38.180 | There's a fifth category of exercise

00:09:41.020 | that everyone should include

00:09:43.120 | if one's goal is to have a better and more resilient

00:09:46.840 | and indeed a better performing brain

00:09:50.240 | compared to your age match controls.

00:09:52.080 | And to be direct, that fifth category is the one

00:09:55.000 | that you absolutely don't want to do.

00:09:58.160 | What do I mean by that?

00:09:59.280 | Well, there's an absolutely beautiful literature

00:10:02.960 | about a brain area.

00:10:04.000 | I've talked a little bit about this before in our episode

00:10:06.400 | about tenacity and willpower.

00:10:08.040 | I've talked about it on a few other podcasts as well.

00:10:10.340 | It came up during the podcast episode that I did

00:10:13.360 | with the one and only David Goggins.

00:10:16.120 | And that brain area is the anterior mid-cingulate cortex.

00:10:19.680 | The anterior mid-cingulate cortex, very briefly,

00:10:22.560 | is a brain area that is powerfully engaged

00:10:25.840 | when we lean into challenges,

00:10:28.720 | including physical challenges,

00:10:30.140 | but also mental challenges, emotional challenges.

00:10:33.320 | And we get that, I'm going to push through tenacity

00:10:37.540 | and engaging our willpower.

00:10:38.940 | There's a category of humans referred to as super-agers.

00:10:41.480 | Super-agers are people that defy the aging process,

00:10:44.840 | at least at the level of cognition.

00:10:46.600 | They maintain the volume of certain brain areas

00:10:49.480 | well into older age when their age match counterparts

00:10:53.160 | are losing the same brain areas.

00:10:55.960 | Meaning people in their 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s

00:10:59.040 | have brain areas that are shrinking.

00:11:00.880 | Even in cases where people don't have Alzheimer's dementia,

00:11:03.440 | areas of the brain are shrinking.

00:11:05.800 | Super-agers are people that maintain the healthy,

00:11:08.200 | full volume of these brain areas.

00:11:10.040 | And indeed, in some cases, the volume,

00:11:12.440 | the size of these brain areas continues to increase

00:11:14.880 | into their later years.

00:11:16.660 | One of the brain areas that maintains

00:11:18.440 | or increases volume in the super-agers

00:11:20.760 | is the anterior mid-cingulate cortex.

00:11:23.200 | What can allow you to activate and increase the size

00:11:26.820 | of your anterior mid-cingulate cortex?

00:11:28.920 | Well, it's very simple,

00:11:29.920 | to do things that you don't want to do.

00:11:32.640 | I should be very clear,

00:11:33.480 | we're talking about things that can be done safely

00:11:35.480 | that aren't going to damage you physically

00:11:37.560 | or psychologically, but we are talking about exercise

00:11:41.400 | or in some cases, cognitive exercise,

00:11:42.940 | but today we're talking about physical exercise

00:11:45.520 | that you would much rather not do.

00:11:48.020 | So if you're like me and you love resistance training,

00:11:50.400 | it can be hard, right?

00:11:51.720 | Some days I want to do it more than others.

00:11:53.720 | And sometimes the workouts are much harder than others,

00:11:56.400 | but I love it.

00:11:57.240 | But if I want to maintain and increase the size

00:11:59.360 | of my anterior mid-cingulate cortex,

00:12:01.900 | I absolutely have to find some form of physical exercise

00:12:05.340 | that I would much rather not do.

00:12:07.320 | But as I mentioned before, that's also safe physically,

00:12:10.360 | and that's not going to damage me emotionally.

00:12:11.880 | I don't know what kind of physical exercise

00:12:13.200 | would damage me emotionally, but you get the point.

00:12:15.600 | So presumably most of you are doing some form of that.

00:12:18.320 | So maybe you're doing more cardio than resistance training.

00:12:20.560 | Maybe you're doing more resistance training than cardio.

00:12:22.980 | If you're interested in a zero cost program

00:12:25.840 | where you can start to sculpt out a idealized program

00:12:29.320 | for you, but you want to start

00:12:30.440 | with a kind of general template,

00:12:32.080 | we have a newsletter that you can access

00:12:33.720 | at hubermanlab.com, zero cost.

00:12:35.560 | You don't even have to sign up to access it.

00:12:37.120 | Although if you want to sign up for the newsletter,

00:12:39.080 | that could be valuable to you too.

00:12:40.420 | Go to newsletter,

00:12:41.260 | scroll down to foundational fitness protocol.

00:12:43.080 | It describes the program that I've been following

00:12:45.280 | essentially for 30 plus years.

00:12:47.040 | And again, it's about three cardiovascular

00:12:48.940 | training sessions per week, three resistance training

00:12:52.000 | sessions per week.

00:12:53.160 | The cardiovascular training ranges in time

00:12:55.360 | from about 12 minutes and then a longer 60 minute session.

00:13:00.020 | The resistance training is generally 45 to 75 minutes.

00:13:05.400 | So on average, about an hour.

00:13:06.960 | And it might sound like a lot,

00:13:10.240 | but when you look at that foundational fitness protocol,

00:13:13.040 | what you realize is that some of the workouts

00:13:14.560 | are really, really short.

00:13:15.440 | Some of them are a little bit longer.

00:13:16.920 | None of them are longer than an hour.

00:13:18.720 | So it's pretty reasonable to do.

00:13:20.220 | And I certainly did it while working well, to be frank,

00:13:23.760 | extremely long hours for many, many years.

00:13:26.260 | So provided your sleep is intact

00:13:27.860 | and other areas of your life are dialed in with stress,

00:13:30.420 | et cetera, it should be doable for most everybody,

00:13:32.760 | but modify it according to what you need.

00:13:34.460 | Or if you're doing something completely different,

00:13:36.260 | more power to you.

00:13:37.780 | (upbeat music)

00:13:40.360 | (upbeat music)

00:13:42.940 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

Best Exercises for Brain Health, Performance & Motivation | Dr. Andrew Huberman

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