AMA #17: Making Time for Fitness, Top Sleep Tools & Best Learning Strategies

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

00:00:02.240 | where we discuss science

00:00:03.720 | and science-based tools for everyday life.

00:00:05.920 | I'm Andrew Huberman,

00:00:10.160 | and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology

00:00:13.120 | at Stanford School of Medicine.

00:00:14.960 | Today is an Ask Me Anything, or AMA, episode.

00:00:18.320 | But before I get to answering

00:00:19.360 | your most frequently asked questions,

00:00:21.220 | I'd like to make an exciting announcement.

00:00:23.520 | As you may know, being a subscriber

00:00:24.920 | to the Huberman Lab Premium Channel

00:00:26.400 | allows you access to the full-length AMAs.

00:00:28.720 | Otherwise, you can just listen

00:00:30.240 | to the first 15 or 20 minutes or so of these AMAs.

00:00:33.740 | Now, you may also know that a significant portion

00:00:35.720 | of the proceeds from the Premium Channel

00:00:37.640 | go to fund important research on humans

00:00:40.300 | to benefit mental health, physical health, and performance.

00:00:43.440 | When we started the Premium Channel,

00:00:44.840 | we had a one-for-one match with Tiny Foundation,

00:00:47.760 | and that's great.

00:00:48.600 | That means for every dollar

00:00:49.840 | that Huberman Lab Premium Channel contributes to research,

00:00:52.280 | Tiny Foundation matches that dollar amount.

00:00:54.600 | And I'm very excited to announce

00:00:56.040 | that we now have a three-to-one dollar match

00:00:59.360 | with the Huberman Lab Premium Channel philanthropy.

00:01:02.440 | That means for every dollar

00:01:03.480 | that we would contribute to research,

00:01:05.160 | three more dollars are matched to that dollar.

00:01:07.440 | That's a 4X amplification of the funding

00:01:09.720 | to benefit important studies, again, on human beings

00:01:12.640 | for mental health, physical health, and performance.

00:01:14.720 | And of course, as those studies are completed and published,

00:01:17.140 | we will be sharing with you the information

00:01:19.400 | and how it can benefit all of you.

00:01:21.180 | So for those of you that are already

00:01:22.600 | Huberman Lab Premium Channel subscribers, thank you.

00:01:25.480 | And for those of you that are considering

00:01:26.820 | becoming Premium Channel subscribers,

00:01:28.760 | please keep in mind that three-to-one dollar match

00:01:30.760 | that greatly amplifies your subscription.

00:01:33.300 | If you'd like to subscribe

00:01:34.260 | to the Huberman Lab Podcast Premium Channel,

00:01:36.540 | please go to hubermanlab.com/premium.

00:01:39.840 | It is $10 a month to subscribe,

00:01:41.800 | or you can pay $100 all at once

00:01:44.700 | to get an entire 12-month subscription for a year.

00:01:47.640 | We also have a lifetime subscription model

00:01:49.960 | that is a one-time payment.

00:01:51.160 | And again, you can find that option

00:01:52.660 | at hubermanlab.com/premium.

00:01:55.160 | For those of you that are already subscribers

00:01:56.920 | to the Premium Channel,

00:01:57.760 | please go to hubermanlab.com/premium

00:02:00.400 | and download the Premium subscription feed.

00:02:02.920 | And for those of you that are not

00:02:03.960 | Huberman Lab Podcast Premium subscribers,

00:02:06.340 | you can still hear the first 20 minutes of today's episode

00:02:09.020 | and determine whether or not

00:02:10.160 | becoming a Premium subscriber is for you.

00:02:12.720 | So without further ado,

00:02:13.960 | let's get to answering your questions.

00:02:16.320 | The first question is about scheduling fitness.

00:02:19.140 | That is, how to ensure that you get sufficient number

00:02:22.080 | of resistance training and cardiovascular workouts per week

00:02:25.360 | in order to best benefit your immediate and long-term health?

00:02:29.000 | Now, I did an episode of the Huberman Lab Podcast

00:02:31.420 | all about what I call a foundational fitness protocol.

00:02:34.260 | The foundational fitness protocol

00:02:35.700 | is the one that I've followed more or less

00:02:37.220 | for the last 30-plus years.

00:02:39.520 | And it certainly is not the only protocol

00:02:41.680 | that works out there,

00:02:43.000 | but it's a schedule that most people can adhere to over time

00:02:45.680 | and that checks off the boxes

00:02:47.400 | for what the current research tells us we need

00:02:49.900 | in order to maximize our cardiovascular health,

00:02:52.540 | to maximize our neuromuscular health,

00:02:54.600 | and to do so with a minimal time commitment.

00:02:56.680 | Now, I've already put together,

00:02:57.880 | and I provide a link in the show note captions

00:03:00.140 | for the foundational fitness protocol in the form of a PDF,

00:03:03.360 | which spells out which workouts are done on which days,

00:03:06.120 | what the various workouts look like,

00:03:08.120 | including sets and reps,

00:03:09.680 | what options you have in terms of cardiovascular exercise.

00:03:12.400 | I personally like to run, but you could also use a rower.

00:03:15.140 | You can use a stationary bike.

00:03:16.700 | There's a lot of optionality

00:03:18.240 | inside of the foundational fitness protocol.

00:03:19.940 | And by the way, the foundational fitness protocol

00:03:22.180 | is available to all of you, completely zero cost.

00:03:24.740 | You don't even need to sign up

00:03:25.700 | for our neural network newsletter,

00:03:27.020 | although you can if you like.

00:03:28.180 | And again, you can find that

00:03:29.280 | by following a link in the show note captions

00:03:31.140 | or simply going to hubermanlab.com,

00:03:33.140 | going to the menu tab, scrolling down to newsletter,

00:03:35.620 | and then you can scroll down

00:03:36.740 | to the foundational fitness protocol.

00:03:38.140 | You can view it online, print it out.

00:03:39.540 | Again, doesn't cost anything,

00:03:41.860 | and there's no barrier to entry,

00:03:43.900 | meaning you don't need to do anything to access it.

00:03:46.740 | You can just look at it or download it

00:03:48.480 | or print it, whatever you like.

00:03:50.180 | The basic structure of the foundational fitness protocol

00:03:52.440 | is three resistance training sessions per week

00:03:55.360 | and three cardiovascular training sessions per week,

00:03:57.940 | and then one complete rest day.

00:04:00.080 | Now that might sound like a lot to some of you,

00:04:02.160 | but in fact, none of the workouts is particularly long.

00:04:04.680 | I think the longest workout

00:04:05.960 | in that entire foundational fitness protocol

00:04:08.560 | is about 60 minutes, maybe 75 minutes,

00:04:10.920 | if you're moving slowly through the gym

00:04:12.440 | because somebody else is in the way

00:04:14.140 | or because you're checking your phone a little too often,

00:04:16.540 | as we all sometimes do, that sort of thing.

00:04:19.080 | But the basic structure is as follows.

00:04:21.220 | For me, the foundational fitness protocol

00:04:23.160 | starts as day one on Monday,

00:04:24.800 | but you could start it as day one

00:04:26.560 | on any day of the week, frankly.

00:04:28.440 | So day one for me is to train legs.

00:04:31.000 | So that's quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves,

00:04:34.400 | and tibialis work, the front of the shin.

00:04:36.700 | For those of you that don't know,

00:04:38.200 | I'm a big fan of doing tibialis work.

00:04:39.940 | Then the next day is a complete day off

00:04:42.280 | during which you could do, if you wanted,

00:04:44.480 | something like deliberate heat

00:04:45.660 | or deliberate cold exposure or both, but you don't have to.

00:04:48.340 | It's just nice to have a complete day off

00:04:49.900 | after training legs because if you train legs properly,

00:04:52.420 | oftentimes it can be a bit tiring

00:04:54.740 | and the next day you're recovering.

00:04:56.460 | Then the following day is either

00:04:58.660 | a cardiovascular training session

00:05:01.200 | of about 20 to 30 minutes of, say,

00:05:03.860 | a jog at a slightly more rapid clip

00:05:06.620 | than one would consider zone two cardio.

00:05:08.540 | Zone two cardio is where you can carry out a conversation,

00:05:10.900 | so a little bit faster than that.

00:05:12.500 | Or if you're not feeling like your legs

00:05:14.080 | are recovered enough to do that,

00:05:15.560 | you could do the resistance training work on that day.

00:05:18.160 | The resistance training work

00:05:19.280 | that falls in the middle of the week is,

00:05:21.840 | believe it or not, torso.

00:05:23.280 | I know that for some of you

00:05:24.480 | that are into more kind of bodybuilding type routines,

00:05:27.280 | training your entire torso on one day

00:05:29.680 | might seem like a lot,

00:05:30.600 | but really that day just involves some pushing,

00:05:33.000 | so some overhead shoulder press type workouts or dips,

00:05:36.520 | maybe some bench presses if that's your thing,

00:05:38.260 | as well as some pulling,

00:05:39.220 | so some rows and some pull-ups or chin-ups,

00:05:41.460 | things of that sort, again, all tailored to you

00:05:44.280 | so that you're not doing anything

00:05:45.440 | that aggravates any preexisting injuries,

00:05:47.400 | and you're not going to do anything

00:05:48.420 | that's going to induce injuries, okay?

00:05:50.360 | So there's some pushing and pulling,

00:05:51.760 | maybe a little bit of neck work

00:05:53.000 | if you need some additional neck strength,

00:05:55.160 | that sort of thing.

00:05:56.200 | So with legs on Monday, rest on Tuesday,

00:05:58.620 | that falls either on Wednesday or Thursday,

00:06:01.240 | depending on how recovered your legs were.

00:06:03.160 | Then the next day,

00:06:04.000 | which for me typically falls on a Friday,

00:06:06.080 | is a high-intensity interval training session,

00:06:08.520 | although really it's just about VO2 max.

00:06:10.400 | It's about getting maximum heart rate

00:06:12.540 | where you're breathing really, really hard,

00:06:13.880 | and that's a very short workout.

00:06:15.160 | The total duration of that workout

00:06:16.860 | is anywhere from eight to 15 minutes total.

00:06:19.800 | So for me, it involves getting on an Airdyne bike.

00:06:22.160 | Those are those bikes with some resistance

00:06:23.600 | 'cause there's a fan,

00:06:24.420 | although you could do this on a rower,

00:06:25.520 | basically anything where you can exert yourself

00:06:27.220 | to get your heart rate way, way up

00:06:28.400 | and breathe very, very hard,

00:06:29.460 | where you're not going to injure

00:06:30.800 | your musculoskeletal system.

00:06:32.620 | You're not gonna do any soft tissue damage.

00:06:34.400 | So you need to figure out what that is for you.

00:06:36.080 | Again, the PDF explains how to select that.

00:06:38.360 | For me, it typically means getting on the Airdyne bike

00:06:41.080 | and pedaling very hard for about 20 seconds,

00:06:44.140 | then resting 10 seconds, 20 seconds hard,

00:06:46.680 | 10 seconds rest, 20 seconds hard,

00:06:48.960 | for a total of about eight cycles,

00:06:51.200 | by the end of which I'm breathing extremely hard,

00:06:53.120 | my heart rate is way, way up,

00:06:54.400 | and then I'll just shower and head about my day.

00:06:56.680 | And then the following day,

00:06:57.820 | which typically for me falls on a Saturday,

00:06:59.800 | although again, we're gonna talk about flexibility

00:07:02.360 | and how to build flexibility into the schedule.

00:07:05.280 | The Saturday workout is typically things

00:07:06.980 | like biceps, triceps, some calves,

00:07:09.000 | maybe a bit more neck work

00:07:10.320 | and some abdominal work, excuse me.

00:07:12.680 | So basically small body parts

00:07:14.400 | that can recover pretty quickly.

00:07:16.280 | And that workout typically takes only about 45 to 50 minutes,

00:07:19.240 | maybe 60 minutes maximum.

00:07:21.120 | And then the following day, which is of course Sunday,

00:07:24.100 | is a day in which I try and get outside

00:07:25.840 | and move as much as possible.

00:07:26.960 | So I'll typically do the longer Sunday cardio workout

00:07:29.720 | as either a ruck, so a backpack with a weight in it.

00:07:33.440 | By the way, if you don't own a rucksack,

00:07:35.040 | you can just put a gallon water jug in there full,

00:07:38.900 | and then drink it as you go, it'll lighten as you go.

00:07:41.220 | Or you could get a weight vest

00:07:42.680 | if you have the resources to do that.

00:07:44.700 | There's some great weight vests out there,

00:07:46.480 | a varying weight.

00:07:48.500 | You can throw a kid on your shoulders.

00:07:50.160 | If you got a kid that wants to be carried on your shoulders,

00:07:53.020 | you can do it alone, listening to an audio book,

00:07:55.260 | listening to music or in total silence.

00:07:57.380 | I've done all these various versions, by the way.

00:07:59.400 | You can do it with family members or with friends.

00:08:02.440 | I'll sometimes do this with my significant other.

00:08:04.540 | One of the great things about this long Sunday workout

00:08:06.840 | is that it's extremely flexible

00:08:08.260 | in terms of how social you are

00:08:10.380 | or whether or not you do it in isolation,

00:08:12.580 | whether or not you do it on concrete or on dirt,

00:08:14.380 | it's very versatile.

00:08:15.760 | For instance, if I have friends over

00:08:18.160 | and I want to spend time with them,

00:08:19.960 | but I also want to get outdoors and do this workout.

00:08:21.860 | And if they're interested

00:08:22.780 | in getting some outdoor movement as well,

00:08:25.060 | we'll all just head out for a hike.

00:08:26.300 | And if they are less fit than I am

00:08:29.000 | or intend to move more slowly,

00:08:30.300 | well then I'll throw on a 10 or 15,

00:08:32.540 | maybe even 30 pound backpack

00:08:34.800 | so that I get a good workout out of it.

00:08:36.500 | And if they're faster than I am,

00:08:37.860 | and they're the sort of person who is a triathlete,

00:08:40.420 | I've got some friends who are triathletes

00:08:41.740 | and they want to move at a really fast clip,

00:08:43.220 | well then I'm not bringing any weight pack

00:08:44.660 | and I'm just going to ask them to weight up for me

00:08:47.260 | because I'm going to have a hard time keeping up,

00:08:48.780 | but I'll have to really push myself as I go along.

00:08:51.080 | So a lot of versatility.

00:08:52.180 | I don't measure my heart rate

00:08:53.820 | during any of these workouts, by the way,

00:08:55.340 | that's not my preferred way to do things.

00:08:58.140 | I know other people like to measure heart rate as they go.

00:09:01.100 | I find it's just really nice to get out once a week,

00:09:04.000 | if possible, out of doors

00:09:06.260 | and just move my body as much as possible

00:09:08.220 | so that I head into the week

00:09:09.460 | knowing that I got some really terrific outdoor time

00:09:12.000 | in nature while benefiting my cardiovascular system

00:09:14.760 | and often while socializing

00:09:16.180 | with important people in my life as well.

00:09:18.060 | Okay, so that's the summary

00:09:19.140 | of the foundational fitness protocol.

00:09:20.820 | And one thing that I really like about it

00:09:22.420 | is that the total time commitment is actually not that great.

00:09:25.180 | If you step back from it,

00:09:26.060 | you realize there's a brief 12 minute workout,

00:09:28.100 | there's an hour long weight training workout,

00:09:30.020 | there's a long hike, sure,

00:09:31.640 | but then there's a 20 minute jog.

00:09:32.900 | It's really not that much time

00:09:34.260 | when you consider the overall benefits to one's health.

00:09:37.740 | Now, one very important feature

00:09:39.500 | of the foundational fitness protocol

00:09:41.220 | is to build some flexibility into it.

00:09:43.540 | You know, the way I described it up until now was,

00:09:45.580 | okay, Monday legs, Tuesday rest,

00:09:47.380 | Wednesday cardio, Thursday torso,

00:09:50.980 | Friday high-intensity interval training VO2 max,

00:09:53.220 | Saturday, small body parts, biceps, triceps,

00:09:56.460 | calves, et cetera, Sunday, long, slow distance cardio.

00:10:01.040 | But in reality, sometimes I have to travel on a Monday.

00:10:04.720 | So I don't have the option to train legs that day.

00:10:07.340 | In which case, what I will do

00:10:09.380 | is either slide that workout to Sunday,

00:10:12.340 | meaning I'm doing both long, slow distance cardio

00:10:16.880 | and the leg workout, or I'll slide it to Tuesday,

00:10:20.260 | which is typically a rest day.

00:10:22.000 | However, sometimes I'm traveling on a Monday.

00:10:24.460 | I don't have access to a gym to train my legs properly.

00:10:27.220 | So what do I do?

00:10:28.060 | Do I skip leg day?

00:10:29.060 | No, I don't skip leg day typically,

00:10:30.780 | unless I'm sick or I'm extremely sleep deprived

00:10:33.500 | or there's some other major stress in my life.

00:10:35.240 | What I'll typically do is I will plan for it

00:10:37.740 | by training my legs on Sunday.

00:10:40.460 | Or if I don't have access to a place

00:10:42.280 | where I can train my legs properly on Sunday,

00:10:44.460 | I'll just shift it to Tuesday.

00:10:46.700 | Okay, now the question always becomes,

00:10:49.080 | if I were to move that leg workout to Sunday,

00:10:52.180 | just by way of necessity,

00:10:54.180 | because I'm traveling on a Monday,

00:10:55.660 | do I also do the long, slow distance work

00:10:57.880 | that I typically do on Sunday?

00:10:59.380 | And the answer is yes, if I'm well-rested.

00:11:03.100 | So if I'm well-rested and well-fed,

00:11:04.740 | I'm not feeling like I'm fighting off any kind of illness

00:11:07.260 | and I have the time,

00:11:08.100 | what I'll do is I'll train my legs in the gym on Sunday,

00:11:11.620 | and then I'll head out for, I don't know,

00:11:13.140 | an hour long walk in the neighborhood

00:11:15.240 | or something like that.

00:11:16.080 | So I'm probably not training my legs hard

00:11:18.080 | and then going hiking hard all day,

00:11:19.420 | although I've done that before,

00:11:20.780 | but then I'm sure to rest completely the next day,

00:11:23.100 | which is Monday.

00:11:24.340 | Now, what if I move the leg workout to Tuesday,

00:11:27.060 | do then I take Wednesday off completely?

00:11:29.700 | Well, for me, the way I train legs

00:11:31.780 | is typically with a lot of intensity.

00:11:33.560 | So if I'm going to train legs,

00:11:35.340 | typically the next day will be a complete day off,

00:11:38.500 | no matter what, but that's not always the case.

00:11:40.780 | I think as long as you're not moving your workouts

00:11:43.300 | around constantly,

00:11:44.380 | it's perfectly fine to train your legs really hard

00:11:46.400 | on a Tuesday because you have to,

00:11:47.780 | because you couldn't train them on Monday.

00:11:49.100 | And then on Wednesday, rather than go out for a jog,

00:11:52.020 | I might train torso and I might back off

00:11:53.780 | on the intensity a little bit,

00:11:55.420 | and then I'll take a day off.

00:11:56.580 | I will say that anytime I do resistance training workouts

00:11:59.140 | two days in a row,

00:12:00.380 | I make sure that I take a complete day off

00:12:02.900 | the following third day, just for sake of recovery.

00:12:05.540 | I'm not somebody that recovers particularly well

00:12:07.980 | from any form of exercise.

00:12:09.740 | I find that if I train longer than 90 minutes,

00:12:13.020 | especially with resistance training,

00:12:14.500 | if I crank up the intensity too much,

00:12:16.860 | I tend to get sick or I tend to stop making progress

00:12:19.980 | with my resistance training sessions.

00:12:21.900 | So the basic takeaway here is,

00:12:23.660 | it's perfectly fine to slide a resistance training session,

00:12:27.340 | such as legs, forward a day or back a day.

00:12:30.500 | Okay, so I guess back a day would be from Monday to Sunday

00:12:34.220 | or forward from Monday to Tuesday.

00:12:36.860 | But then you're going to want to make some adjustments

00:12:39.180 | accordingly so that you don't get sick

00:12:41.420 | or you don't overtrain and that sort of thing.

00:12:43.720 | Now, let's say that I train my legs on Tuesday,

00:12:47.480 | then I do torso work on Wednesday,

00:12:50.500 | and then I take the next day completely off.

00:12:52.380 | So I take Thursday completely off.

00:12:54.380 | Well, then Friday rolls around

00:12:55.620 | and I haven't done any cardiovascular training that week,

00:12:58.300 | except for the walk that I did on Sunday.

00:13:00.360 | What am I going to do?

00:13:01.540 | Do I do my VO2 max and a 30 minute jog?

00:13:04.820 | Sure, that's what I would do.

00:13:05.780 | I would combine the two cardiovascular workouts

00:13:08.060 | that I normally do in the middle of the week

00:13:10.380 | by for instance, going out for a 20 or 30 minute jog.

00:13:14.000 | And then at the end, doing some VO2 max work

00:13:16.220 | such that by the end of Friday,

00:13:17.880 | I'm caught up with that cardiovascular training.

00:13:20.460 | And then on Saturday, I would just go right ahead

00:13:22.860 | and do those small body parts training.

00:13:24.540 | And then on Sunday, I would take a hike

00:13:26.140 | and that sort of thing.

00:13:27.420 | So basically what I'm saying

00:13:28.460 | is that foundational fitness protocol

00:13:30.180 | provides a scaffold of ideal,

00:13:32.380 | what you would do if you had a completely

00:13:35.860 | non-negotiable mindset where you said,

00:13:38.060 | okay, Monday's always legs.

00:13:39.420 | Wednesday is always this, Thursday is always that.

00:13:41.540 | So basically what I'm describing

00:13:42.900 | is trying to achieve optimal, right?

00:13:46.860 | Training certain things on certain days,

00:13:48.340 | doing certain things in certain ways.

00:13:49.960 | That wasn't meant to rhyme by the way.

00:13:51.480 | But the reality is we all have travel,

00:13:54.320 | we all get run down, we all have lack of sleep at times,

00:13:57.320 | we have stressful episodes in life.

00:13:59.040 | So for me, the best solution to that

00:14:00.960 | is to basically allow any one workout,

00:14:03.800 | either resistance training or cardiovascular workout

00:14:06.320 | to slide back or forward by one day,

00:14:09.160 | which means sometimes doubling up on workouts

00:14:11.200 | for a given day to make sure that I check off those boxes

00:14:13.560 | of getting three resistance training sessions per week

00:14:15.920 | and three cardiovascular training sessions per week.

00:14:18.680 | Again, for the cardiovascular training sessions,

00:14:20.820 | it's a long, slow distance,

00:14:22.000 | it's a moderate 20 or 30 minute

00:14:24.120 | cardiovascular training session.

00:14:25.460 | And then it's that shorter VO2 max

00:14:28.100 | cardiovascular training session.

00:14:29.360 | And sometimes doubling those up on the same day

00:14:31.640 | so that I make sure that by the end of the week,

00:14:34.000 | I've achieved what I want to achieve,

00:14:35.720 | which is I've trained my legs, I've trained my torso,

00:14:37.640 | I've trained my arms,

00:14:38.720 | any small body parts that need additional work

00:14:40.640 | for balance or stabilization or aesthetic reasons,

00:14:43.120 | you get that in,

00:14:44.040 | but also that you get the base

00:14:45.680 | of the long, slow distance endurance,

00:14:47.600 | you get the slightly more intense

00:14:49.800 | or rather faster cardiovascular training session,

00:14:52.160 | and then you get your heart rate up, up, up

00:14:54.400 | at least once per week

00:14:55.840 | doing that high intensity interval training.

00:14:58.160 | Now, as I describe all this,

00:14:59.280 | I realized that I might be taking what a few minutes ago

00:15:02.020 | was fairly simple in design and making it more complex.

00:15:05.600 | Why?

00:15:06.440 | Well, some people feel that

00:15:07.600 | as soon as you introduce flexibility into a schedule,

00:15:10.760 | you remove, of course, the non-negotiable aspect of it.

00:15:14.480 | And then people get really confused.

00:15:16.040 | Are they over-training?

00:15:16.900 | Are they under-training?

00:15:17.740 | Is it okay, for instance,

00:15:19.200 | if you can't train Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,

00:15:21.200 | to then just train Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday?

00:15:24.760 | I think everybody is an individual.

00:15:26.440 | Everybody needs to modify their schedule

00:15:28.760 | according to the demands on their life

00:15:30.600 | and their particular fitness needs.

00:15:32.320 | But I will say this,

00:15:34.160 | I've found having tried

00:15:35.560 | many, many different fitness schedules,

00:15:37.420 | many, many different combinations of resistance training

00:15:39.960 | and cardiovascular training,

00:15:41.480 | that the best solution is to find what you can do

00:15:43.860 | on a consistent basis,

00:15:46.000 | and to try and do that as many days and weeks

00:15:49.180 | of the year as possible,

00:15:50.520 | with the understanding that sometimes

00:15:51.900 | you're simply not going to be able to meet that schedule,

00:15:54.880 | which is why you allow for this sliding back and forward

00:15:57.600 | of individual workouts,

00:15:58.540 | doubling up occasionally to workouts per day

00:16:01.620 | in order to stay on schedule.

00:16:03.000 | But, and this is very important,

00:16:05.100 | also allowing yourself to sometimes

00:16:07.040 | just skip a training day.

00:16:09.600 | Yes, I said it,

00:16:10.440 | to sometimes just skip a training day.

00:16:12.120 | You're feeling a little rundown,

00:16:13.480 | it's late in the day,

00:16:14.320 | you don't want to drink caffeine to train

00:16:15.620 | because then it's going to throw off your sleep.

00:16:17.580 | Well, I'm the first person to say,

00:16:19.880 | you know, skip torso training day,

00:16:21.800 | and then maybe on small body parts day,

00:16:23.840 | which for me falls on Saturday,

00:16:25.680 | instead of just doing biceps triceps

00:16:27.380 | with some isolation exercises,

00:16:28.960 | make sure you do a few chins, pull-ups, dips,

00:16:31.100 | and things like that

00:16:31.940 | to make sure that you hit those torso muscles as well.

00:16:34.160 | Skipping a workout every once in a while

00:16:36.080 | is not going to crater your entire fitness program.

00:16:39.720 | It's simply not.

00:16:40.800 | That said, for sake of physical health

00:16:43.080 | and for sake of just feeling good

00:16:44.720 | about your commitment and follow-through

00:16:47.200 | to your fitness regimen,

00:16:48.840 | you should try on average

00:16:50.020 | to make somewhere between 85 and 95% of your workouts.

00:16:53.560 | And if you schedule things well,

00:16:55.400 | and in particular, if you leave your phone out of the gym,

00:16:58.320 | if you're able to do that,

00:16:59.320 | I know sometimes we need the phone

00:17:00.560 | to communicate with people

00:17:01.640 | or the potential to communicate with people

00:17:03.280 | if people need to get ahold of us.

00:17:04.680 | But if you can leave your phone outside of the gym,

00:17:06.980 | you'll be amazed at how quickly

00:17:08.320 | you move through these workouts.

00:17:09.520 | Likewise, with your cardiovascular training sessions.

00:17:12.200 | Now, one important feature of flexibility

00:17:13.760 | that I haven't talked about yet

00:17:15.320 | is flexibility within a day.

00:17:17.480 | So for me, just personally,

00:17:18.880 | again, this is my personal preference.

00:17:20.440 | This is by no means dogma.

00:17:22.680 | I prefer to get my workouts done first thing in the morning.

00:17:26.380 | So I like to get up, hydrate,

00:17:28.480 | get some electrolytes in my system,

00:17:30.180 | get some caffeine in my system if I'm going to work out.

00:17:32.420 | That's right, I said it.

00:17:33.560 | I do believe if you experience a crash in energy

00:17:36.940 | in the afternoon, delaying your caffeine

00:17:39.120 | by about 90 minutes or so after waking

00:17:41.040 | can be very beneficial.

00:17:42.080 | I know there's some controversy around that,

00:17:43.460 | but almost everybody that tries it

00:17:46.080 | finds that that's the case.

00:17:47.560 | Again, no obligation to do that.

00:17:49.000 | It's just a suggestion to perhaps experiment with

00:17:51.560 | if you have an afternoon crash.

00:17:53.200 | But for me, and I think for most people,

00:17:55.000 | if you're going to work out first thing in the morning

00:17:56.440 | and you like caffeine before a workout,

00:17:58.200 | drink caffeine first thing in the morning.

00:17:59.840 | That's certainly what I do

00:18:00.660 | if I'm going to work out that day.

00:18:02.120 | I like to have my workouts done before 9 a.m.

00:18:05.160 | and ideally before 8.30 a.m.

00:18:07.160 | so that I can move into my work day.

00:18:09.220 | However, there are days where that simply doesn't happen.

00:18:12.080 | And then the question is,

00:18:13.280 | is it okay to move a workout from its typical time,

00:18:16.880 | like for me, 7.30 a.m. or so to the afternoon?

00:18:20.320 | And the answer is yes.

00:18:21.260 | There's simply no reason why that's not okay.

00:18:24.040 | It's not going to cause a significant diminishment

00:18:27.520 | in performance.

00:18:28.360 | If anything, the data point to the fact that

00:18:30.260 | for sake of physical performance and output,

00:18:33.020 | workouts in the afternoon are probably more beneficial.

00:18:35.980 | I don't know about that result.

00:18:37.100 | I mean, that's certainly what the data say.

00:18:38.740 | I know for me, I'm most alert

00:18:40.720 | and have the most amount of energy

00:18:42.040 | first thing in the morning.

00:18:42.880 | And so that's when my workouts tend to be best.

00:18:44.920 | But if I can't make a workout in the morning,

00:18:46.300 | I'll sometimes do it in the afternoon

00:18:47.740 | around two or 3 p.m.

00:18:49.160 | Making sure, however,

00:18:50.260 | that I don't consume so much caffeine before that workout

00:18:52.700 | that it's going to disrupt my sleep.

00:18:54.560 | Now there's another feature of training,

00:18:56.480 | which is like sunlight, like meals, like socialization,

00:19:01.440 | physical exercise provides an entrainment mechanism.

00:19:04.840 | That is a predictive mechanism

00:19:06.320 | for your so-called autonomic nervous system

00:19:08.400 | that makes it such that at a given hour of the day

00:19:10.760 | that you normally train,

00:19:11.880 | so for me around 7.30 a.m. or so,

00:19:13.980 | you'll notice that there's going to be a peak

00:19:15.800 | in physical and mental energy.

00:19:17.440 | That's right.

00:19:18.280 | If you work out at a given time pretty consistently,

00:19:20.480 | your autonomic nervous system

00:19:21.680 | will start to anticipate that timing

00:19:24.000 | and you'll start to feel an increase in energy

00:19:25.820 | around that time.

00:19:26.980 | That is not an imagined thing.

00:19:28.280 | It's a real thing.

00:19:29.120 | It's a short-term entrainment, as we call it.

00:19:31.440 | This is something that I'll probably visit

00:19:32.720 | in a future full-length episode

00:19:33.940 | of the Huberman Lab Podcast.

00:19:35.480 | But what you'll notice is that around the time

00:19:37.680 | that you normally train or run or whatever you want to call

00:19:40.280 | it, you start to feel an increase in energy.

00:19:42.800 | And you can leverage that by going ahead and training.

00:19:44.960 | But if you don't have the opportunity to train,

00:19:47.820 | then I do think it's a good idea

00:19:49.560 | to still get that training session in

00:19:50.900 | at a later time during the day,

00:19:52.160 | if you have the opportunity.

00:19:53.480 | Otherwise you may have to slide it to the day before

00:19:56.220 | or the day after, as we talked about a few minutes ago,

00:19:58.100 | or you may have to skip entirely.

00:19:59.840 | The point here is that it's always going to be best

00:20:02.580 | to complete the workout if you can complete the workout

00:20:04.700 | safely and without disrupting your nighttime sleep.

00:20:07.280 | I think that's really the biggest takeaway.

00:20:09.020 | I personally am not going to compromise sleep

00:20:11.140 | and my overall health in order to get workouts in.

00:20:13.940 | Every once in a while,

00:20:14.860 | I'll force myself to wake up especially early,

00:20:17.300 | meaning I'll cash out a couple hours of sleep

00:20:20.460 | that I would normally get.

00:20:21.660 | So I'll normally get up around, I don't know,

00:20:23.300 | 6 a.m. or 6.30, kind of depends on when I went to sleep,

00:20:26.880 | but sometimes I'll give up two hours of sleep

00:20:29.020 | to get a workout in in the morning

00:20:30.180 | if I'm going to fly that day.

00:20:31.300 | I will sometimes do that.

00:20:32.380 | However, if I'm very fatigued,

00:20:33.780 | if I've been exposed to colds and flus,

00:20:36.180 | I'm feeling kind of rundown, then I won't do that.

00:20:37.780 | I'll prioritize sleep.

00:20:39.100 | Most of the time I prioritize sleep,

00:20:41.900 | but there are those occasions

00:20:43.260 | in which I'll prioritize the workout.

00:20:44.980 | Each and all of us have those options.

00:20:46.460 | And my suggestion is to really look at things

00:20:49.180 | on a case-by-case, meaning you as an individual

00:20:52.740 | and on a daily basis, taking into account

00:20:55.020 | what happened the day before, how stressed you are,

00:20:57.100 | how much sleep you're getting,

00:20:58.140 | how much exposure to colds and flus,

00:21:00.260 | and to pay attention to how hard

00:21:01.440 | you've been training recently.

00:21:02.460 | You know, if you're on a family vacation

00:21:04.900 | and you want more time with family,

00:21:06.420 | are you really going to compromise time with family

00:21:08.860 | in order to get your workouts in?

00:21:10.420 | I think that would be probably a bad idea.

00:21:12.540 | You know, if I'm honest,

00:21:13.360 | I think you want to prioritize social life.

00:21:15.660 | That's super important.

00:21:17.180 | But then of course you don't want to prioritize social life

00:21:19.780 | to the detriment of your physical health.

00:21:21.340 | So it's all a bit of give and take.

00:21:22.860 | And what I've tried to describe here is again,

00:21:24.840 | a recap of the foundational fitness protocol,

00:21:27.660 | the places where there's some flexibility,

00:21:30.060 | you can move workouts back a day or forward a day.

00:21:32.180 | If you like, you could double up if you like,

00:21:33.700 | especially if you're getting great rest

00:21:35.100 | and you're well-fed, et cetera.

00:21:36.660 | And you can also move the workout up or down in the day,

00:21:40.340 | depending on how much energy you have,

00:21:42.380 | how much sleep you've gotten.

00:21:43.780 | And of course, how, you know, rigid you are with yourself.

00:21:46.380 | Some people are just really rigid.

00:21:47.860 | They are completely in the non-negotiable stance.

00:21:50.820 | They get their workout in no matter what,

00:21:52.780 | because they feel as if they don't,

00:21:54.580 | then they're going to be grumpy

00:21:55.580 | or they're going to fall off schedule.

00:21:56.700 | Other people like me try to get the workouts done.

00:22:00.700 | I would say anywhere from 85 to 95% of the time,

00:22:05.220 | I get those workouts done occasionally.

00:22:06.660 | I skip them typically because life stress, travel,

00:22:10.040 | or some sort of low-grade illness, you know,

00:22:13.240 | a cold or a flu or something of that sort.

00:22:14.980 | I get those pretty rarely, but they do happen.

00:22:17.460 | So that's really how I answer this question

00:22:19.180 | of how to build flexibility into one's fitness schedule.

00:22:22.380 | I should also mention that I'm a big believer

00:22:23.940 | in periodization.

00:22:25.200 | So I will do four month blocks of training heavier

00:22:27.820 | with the weights.

00:22:28.660 | So that's in the three to five repetition range.

00:22:31.020 | Then another three to four month block will follow

00:22:33.140 | where I'm training slightly less heavy.

00:22:34.940 | So I'll typically be using anywhere

00:22:36.900 | from five to eight repetition range.

00:22:38.900 | And then for the next four month block,

00:22:40.780 | I'll be using somewhere between eight

00:22:42.500 | and 15 repetition range.

00:22:44.180 | Every once in a while, I'll mix it up so that, you know,

00:22:46.020 | if I've been training heavy a lot,

00:22:47.120 | I might do a lighter workout.

00:22:48.140 | Or if I've been training lighter,

00:22:49.020 | I might do a heavy workout.

00:22:50.020 | Again, not super rigid.

00:22:51.560 | I personally find that by being strict and rigid

00:22:55.580 | about the scheduling, about the reps and the sets, et cetera,

00:22:58.380 | for most of the time,

00:22:59.460 | meaning about 85 to 95% of workouts and across the year,

00:23:03.420 | that things just work out great.

00:23:04.720 | You'll make constant progress

00:23:06.260 | without having to drive yourself and everybody else crazy

00:23:08.960 | with extreme rigidity and compulsivity around training.

00:23:12.500 | And then of course you can enjoy those days off.

00:23:14.560 | You can enjoy the flexibility in your schedule

00:23:16.260 | because yes, physical fitness is wonderful,

00:23:18.840 | but unless you're an athlete,

00:23:20.860 | especially a professional athlete,

00:23:23.200 | really physical fitness is about being able to lean

00:23:25.340 | into other aspects of life with more vigor.

00:23:27.700 | At least that's what it's about for me.

00:23:29.100 | And I think that's what it's about for most people.

00:23:31.500 | Thank you for joining for the beginning

00:23:33.060 | of this Ask Me Anything episode.

00:23:35.000 | To hear the full episode and to hear future episodes

00:23:38.380 | of these Ask Me Anything sessions,

00:23:39.980 | plus to receive transcripts of them

00:23:42.240 | and transcripts of the Huberman Lab Podcast Standard Channel

00:23:45.500 | and premium tools not released anywhere else,

00:23:48.460 | please go to hubermanlab.com/premium.

00:23:51.600 | Just to remind you why we launched

00:23:52.800 | the Huberman Lab Podcast Premium Channel.

00:23:55.020 | It's really twofold.

00:23:55.880 | First of all, it's to raise support

00:23:57.800 | for the Standard Huberman Lab Podcast Channel,

00:24:00.280 | which of course will still be continued

00:24:02.560 | to be released every Monday in full length.

00:24:05.000 | We are not going to change the format

00:24:06.420 | or anything about the Standard Huberman Lab Podcast

00:24:10.000 | and to fund research,

00:24:11.440 | in particular research done on human beings.

00:24:13.480 | So not animal models, but on human beings,

00:24:15.540 | which I think we all agree is a species

00:24:17.340 | that we are most interested in.

00:24:19.540 | And we are going to specifically fund research

00:24:22.540 | that is aimed toward developing further protocols

00:24:25.160 | for mental health, physical health, and performance.

00:24:27.220 | And those protocols will be distributed through all channels,

00:24:30.000 | not just the Premium Channel, but through all channels,

00:24:32.280 | Huberman Lab Podcast and other media channels.

00:24:34.540 | So the idea here is to give you information

00:24:37.100 | to your burning questions in depth

00:24:39.300 | and allow you the opportunity to support the kind of research

00:24:42.500 | that provides those kinds of answers in the first place.

00:24:45.180 | If you'd like to sign up

00:24:46.020 | for the Huberman Lab Premium Channel,

00:24:47.800 | again, there's a cost of $10 per month,

00:24:49.860 | or you can pay $100 upfront for the entire year.

00:24:52.620 | That will give you access to all the AMAs.

00:24:54.960 | You can ask questions and get answers to your questions.

00:24:57.860 | And you'll, of course, get answers to all the questions

00:25:00.420 | that other people ask as well.

00:25:01.820 | There will also be some premium content,

00:25:03.760 | such as transcripts of the AMAs

00:25:05.540 | and various transcripts and protocols

00:25:07.460 | of Huberman Lab Podcast episodes not found elsewhere.

00:25:10.700 | And again, you'll be supporting research

00:25:13.020 | for mental health, physical health, and performance.

00:25:15.380 | You can sign up for the Premium Channel

00:25:16.780 | by going to hubermanlab.com/premium.

00:25:19.460 | Again, that's hubermanlab.com/premium.

00:25:22.340 | And as always, thank you for your interest in science.

00:25:25.240 | [upbeat music]

00:25:27.820 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

AMA #17: Making Time for Fitness, Top Sleep Tools & Best Learning Strategies

Chapters