The "Sugar Kane" Workout: Build Your VO2 Max | Dr. Andrew Huberman
00:00:00.000 | [silence]
00:00:02.500 | If you listen to the series with Dr. Andy Galpin,
00:00:04.940 | you may recall our discussion about the sugar cane,
00:00:07.700 | which is so named after our friend
00:00:09.900 | and expert trainer, Kenny Kane.
00:00:12.300 | And it is a very efficient, yet somewhat brutal way
00:00:16.020 | to increase your cardiovascular output.
00:00:18.620 | So the sugar cane is the type of protocol
00:00:20.940 | that you would incorporate once in the period of a week,
00:00:23.780 | but certainly not every week.
00:00:24.980 | It's the kind of thing that you might throw in
00:00:27.280 | once every two weeks or once every four weeks
00:00:30.500 | as a replacement for your other
00:00:32.300 | high-intensity interval training.
00:00:34.400 | The sugar cane involves selecting some form of exercise
00:00:37.720 | that you can do at high intensity safely.
00:00:41.000 | And of course, it will differ between individuals.
00:00:43.120 | For some of you, it will be a stationary bike.
00:00:45.280 | For others of you, it will be a road bike.
00:00:47.680 | For others of you, it will be running.
00:00:49.160 | And for others of you, it will be rowing.
00:00:51.320 | The exact form of exercise is not important.
00:00:54.880 | What is important is that you can generate
00:00:57.360 | a lot of intensity.
00:00:58.520 | So you're going to be doing some sprint-like work,
00:01:00.960 | although not all-out sprints, except on the final round.
00:01:04.760 | I'll explain where all this is going in a moment.
00:01:07.100 | But again, you need to select a movement
00:01:08.920 | that you can do without injuring yourself
00:01:11.360 | while still performing a movement at high intensity.
00:01:13.920 | So for me, that would be running.
00:01:15.560 | For you, it might be something else.
00:01:17.480 | The sugar cane is pretty straightforward in structure.
00:01:20.360 | It involves three rounds after a brief warmup, of course.
00:01:24.080 | So you're going to do three to five minutes of jogging
00:01:25.920 | or jumping jacks or skipping rope,
00:01:27.400 | something to get your core body temperature up
00:01:29.560 | so that you're prepared to do the high-intensity work.
00:01:32.360 | And then there are only three rounds of high-intensity work,
00:01:36.680 | and they go as the following.
00:01:39.160 | In round one, you're going to take two minutes,
00:01:42.100 | so you'll need to set a timer for two minutes,
00:01:44.200 | and you're going to go the maximum distance
00:01:46.660 | that you can in that two minutes.
00:01:48.980 | So run the maximum distance that you can for two minutes
00:01:51.640 | or cycle the maximum distance
00:01:53.120 | that you can for two minutes
00:01:54.640 | or versa-climber the maximum distance
00:01:56.380 | that you can for two minutes.
00:01:58.200 | Whatever you select, you're going to do that
00:02:00.560 | as far and as fast as you can
00:02:02.840 | for the duration of two minutes.
00:02:05.360 | So depending on the movement
00:02:06.740 | and depending on your level of fitness,
00:02:08.520 | that distance might be 400 meters,
00:02:10.720 | 600 meters, 800 meters, et cetera.
00:02:13.960 | Whatever distance you travel in that two minutes,
00:02:16.480 | you are going to mark that distance down in your mind
00:02:19.640 | or in your phone or on a piece of paper.
00:02:21.640 | And then you're going to rest two minutes.
00:02:25.520 | So two minutes of work, then rest two minutes.
00:02:28.080 | Then in round two,
00:02:30.200 | you're going to go the same distance
00:02:32.420 | that you did in round one,
00:02:35.000 | and you're going to take as much time
00:02:36.880 | as you need to do that distance as fast as you can.
00:02:40.840 | So if you went 600 meters in two minutes for round one,
00:02:45.480 | in round two, you're going to go 600 meters,
00:02:49.260 | and it's going to take you however long it takes you.
00:02:52.040 | Chances are, if you really did the best you could
00:02:55.560 | in round one,
00:02:56.840 | you were at maximum output for the first two minutes,
00:02:59.360 | that in round two,
00:03:00.520 | it's going to take you longer than two minutes
00:03:02.360 | to travel that equivalent distance.
00:03:04.380 | However, there is the possibility
00:03:06.160 | that it will take you less time.
00:03:07.720 | But for most people, it's going to take you more time.
00:03:10.360 | So staying with this example of 600 meters
00:03:12.760 | in two minutes on round one,
00:03:14.320 | in round two, you're going to go 600 meters.
00:03:17.100 | Let's say it takes you two minutes and 30 seconds.
00:03:19.960 | You then are going to mark down how long round two took you.
00:03:25.120 | So in this case, the example is two minutes and 30 seconds.
00:03:29.600 | Then you're going to rest another two minutes.
00:03:32.360 | And then in round three,
00:03:34.140 | you're going to go all out, again,
00:03:37.520 | as fast and as safely as you can
00:03:40.000 | for the same duration that you did in round two.
00:03:43.240 | And your goal is to go at least as far
00:03:46.160 | as you went in round one.
00:03:48.560 | And if there's still time left,
00:03:50.420 | you're going to continue to go all out,
00:03:52.480 | again, as fast as you safely can
00:03:54.800 | until the entire duration is completed.
00:03:57.840 | So it's really just three rounds
00:03:59.720 | with two rest periods in between round one and round three.
00:04:02.960 | And then I highly recommend that after round three,
00:04:05.880 | that you do some sort of dedicated cool down.
00:04:07.960 | So instead of just flopping onto the bench
00:04:09.840 | or the floor or the lawn,
00:04:11.260 | that you walk around slowly
00:04:12.680 | until you recover your breathing.
00:04:14.400 | The reason I like the sugar cane
00:04:15.760 | as a tool that one implements
00:04:17.520 | once every, say, two to four weeks
00:04:19.100 | as a replacement for one's typical
00:04:21.400 | high-intensity interval training is several fold.
00:04:23.780 | First of all, if you provide the right intensity
00:04:26.000 | in round one and round two and round three,
00:04:29.680 | it is sure to elevate your heart rate substantially.
00:04:32.140 | And in doing so, improve your VO2 max,
00:04:34.740 | which is correlated with all sorts of important metrics
00:04:37.280 | related to health span, performance, and lifespan.
00:04:40.240 | Second of all, it gamifies things a little bit.
00:04:42.840 | It pits you against yourself
00:04:44.720 | in the sense that if you go out at maximum speed,
00:04:47.800 | again, performing a movement that you can safely perform
00:04:51.280 | at maximum speed in round one,
00:04:53.800 | well, then you have something to compete against
00:04:55.800 | in round two and round three.
00:04:58.080 | And that makes the high-intensity interval training,
00:05:00.600 | first of all, very intense,
00:05:02.240 | but also it makes it kind of fun
00:05:04.600 | in a way that lets you forget
00:05:06.120 | just how painful the whole thing is.
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