Dr. Andy Galpin: How to Build Strength, Muscle Size & Endurance

(peaceful music) Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, my guest is Dr. Andy Galpin. Dr. Galpin is a full and tenured professor in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University in Fullerton. He is also a world expert in all things exercise science and kinesiology. Today, you are going to hear what is essentially a master class in how to build fitness, no matter what level of fitness you happen to have. He talks about how to build endurance and the multiple types of endurance. He talks about how to build strength and hypertrophy, which is the growth of muscle fibers. So if you're seeking to get stronger or build bigger muscles or build endurance, or all of those things, today you're going to learn how. You're also going to learn how to build flexibility, how to hydrate properly for exercise, and we'll also talk about nutrition and supplementation. What makes Dr. Galpin so unique is his ability to span all levels of exercise science. He has the ability to clearly communicate the sets and repetition schemes that one would want to follow, for instance, to build more strength or to build larger muscles. He also clearly describes exactly how to train if you want to build more endurance or enhance cardiovascular function. What's highly unique about Dr. Galpin and the information he teaches and the way he communicates that information is that he can take specific recommendations of how recreational exercisers or even professional athletes ought to train for their specific goals and link that to specific mechanisms, that is, the specific changes that need to occur in the nervous system and in muscle fibers, and indeed right down to the genetics of individual cells in your brain and body in order for those exercise adaptations to occur. It's truly rare to find somebody that can span so many different levels of analyses and who is able to communicate all those levels of understanding in such a clear and actionable way. Indeed, Dr. Galpin is one of just a handful of people to which I and many others look when they want to make sure that the information that they're getting about exercise is gleaned from quality peer-reviewed studies, hands-on experience with a wide variety of research subjects, meaning everyday people all the way up to professional athletes in a wide variety of sports. So it's no surprise that he's not only one of the most knowledgeable, but also the most trusted voices in exercise science. Dr. Galpin is also an avid communicator of zero-cost-to-consumer information about exercise science. You can find him on Instagram @drandygalpin and also on Twitter @DrAndyGalpin. Both places he provides terrific information about recent studies, both from his laboratory and from other laboratories, more in-depth protocols of the sort that you'll hear about today. So if you're not already following him, be sure to do so. He provides only the best information. He's extremely nuanced and precise and clear in delivering that information. I'm certain that by the end of today's conversation you'll come away with a tremendous amount of new knowledge that you can devote to your exercise pursuits. I'm pleased to announce that I'm hosting two live events this May. The first live event will be hosted in Seattle, Washington on May 17th. The second live event will be hosted in Portland, Oregon on May 18th. Both are part of a lecture series entitled The Brain-Body Contract, during which I will discuss science and science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance. And I should point out that while some of the material I'll cover will overlap with information covered here on the Huberman Lab Podcast and on various social media posts, most of the information I will cover is going to be distinct from information covered on the podcast or elsewhere. So once again, it's Seattle on May 17th, Portland on May 18th. You can access tickets by going to hubermanlab.com/tour, and I hope to see you there. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero-cost-to-consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens is an all-in-one vitamin mineral probiotic drink. I've been taking Athletic Greens since 2012, so I'm delighted that they're sponsoring the podcast. The reason I started taking Athletic Greens and the reason I still take Athletic Greens once or twice a day is that it helps me cover all of my basic nutritional needs. It makes up for any deficiencies that I might have. In addition, it has probiotics, which are vital for microbiome health. I've done a couple of episodes now on the so-called gut microbiome and the ways in which the microbiome interacts with your immune system, with your brain to regulate mood, and essentially with every biological system relevant to health throughout your brain and body. With Athletic Greens, I get the vitamins I need, the minerals I need, and the probiotics to support my microbiome. If you'd like to try Athletic Greens, you can go to athleticgreens.com/huberman and claim a special offer. They'll give you five free travel packs, which make it easy to mix up Athletic Greens while you're on the road, plus a year's supply of vitamin D3 K2. There are a ton of data now showing that vitamin D3 is essential for various aspects of our brain and body health. Even if we're getting a lot of sunshine, many of us are still deficient in vitamin D3, and K2 is also important because it regulates things like cardiovascular function, calcium in the body, and so on. Again, go to athleticgreens.com/huberman to claim the special offer of the five free travel packs and the year's supply of vitamin D3 K2. Today's episode is also brought to us by Thesis. Thesis makes what are called nootropics, which means smart drugs. Now to be honest, I am not a fan of the term s- nootropics. I don't believe in smart drugs in the sense that I don't believe that there's any one substance or collection of substances that can make us smarter. I do believe based on science, however, that there are particular neural circuits and brain functions that allow us to be more focused, more alert.... access creativity, be more motivated, et cetera. That's just the way that the brain works, different neural circuits for different brain states. And so the idea of a nootropic that's just going to make us smarter all around fails to acknowledge that smarter is many things, right? If you're an artist, you're a musician, you're doing math, you're doing accounting, at a different part of the day you need to be creative, these are all different brain processes. Thesis understands this, and as far as I know they're the first nootropics company to create targeted nootropics for specific outcomes. They only use the highest quality ingredients, which of course is essential. Some of those I've talked about on the podcast, things like DHA, Ginkgo biloba, phosphatidylserine. They give you the ability to try several different blends over the course of a month, discover which nootropics work best for your unique brain chemistry and genetics and goals, and with that personalization, design a kit of nootropics that's ideal for the different brain and body states you want to access. I've been using Thesis for more than six months now and I can confidently say that the nootropics have been a total game changer. My go-to formula is the clarity formula, or sometimes I'll use their energy formula be- before training. To get your own personalized nootropic starter kit, go online to takethesis.com/huberman, take a three-minute quiz, and Thesis will send you four different formulas to try in your first month. That's takethesis.com/huberman and use the code Huberman at checkout for 10% off your first order. Today's episode is also brought to us by InsideTracker. InsideTracker is a personalized nutrition platform that analyzes data from your blood and DNA to help you better understand your body and help you reach your health goals. I've long been a believer in getting regular blood work done, for the simple reason that many of the factors that impact your immediate and long-term health can only be assessed with a quality blood test. What's unique about InsideTracker is that while there are a lot of different tests out there for hormones and metabolic factors, et cetera, with InsideTracker you get the numbers back in terms of your levels, but they also give you very clear directives in terms of lifestyle, nutrition, and supplementation, that can help you bring those values into the ranges that are best for you and your health goals. And that's very different than a lot of the other programs where you get a lot of information but you don't really know what to do with that information. InsideTracker makes that all very easy to understand and very actionable based on the very easy-to-use dashboard at InsideTracker. If you'd like to try InsideTracker, you can visit insidetracker.com/huberman to get 20% off any of InsideTracker's plans. Just use the code Huberman at checkout. And now for my discussion with Dr. Andy Galpin. Welcome Doctor, Professor Andy Galpin. It's been a long time coming. We have friends in common, but this is actually the first time we've sat down face to face.