1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,939 Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, where we revisit past episodes for the most 2 00:00:05,023 --> 00:00:09,835 potent and actionable science-based tools for mental health, physical health, 3 00:00:09,918 --> 00:00:14,476 and performance. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology 4 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:17,592 and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. 5 00:00:17,675 --> 00:00:22,327 And now for my discussion with Dr. Andy Galpin. Dr. Professor Andy Galpin. 6 00:00:22,410 --> 00:00:26,659 Super excited to have you here. You're such an immense treasure trove 7 00:00:26,742 --> 00:00:30,991 of information on physical training and optimizing for specific goals 8 00:00:31,074 --> 00:00:36,076 and outcomes. How should I or anyone else for that matter think about their level 9 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:41,036 of fitness in terms of really assessing whether or not I'm as fit as I could be 10 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,510 and should be both for sake of health and performance? 11 00:00:52,410 --> 00:00:56,127 This is, I want to be big or want to not be too big or I want to be lean. 12 00:00:56,210 --> 00:00:58,834 There is an aesthetic component to almost everybody. 13 00:00:58,917 --> 00:01:01,853 They want to look a certain way or not like a certain way. 14 00:01:01,936 --> 00:01:03,550 The other one is functionality. 15 00:01:03,780 --> 00:01:06,397 So I want to be able to perform a certain way. Now, again, 16 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,703 that definition differs per person. So I want to be better at strength. 17 00:01:09,786 --> 00:01:13,660 I want to be better at mobility. I want to be able to have energy throughout the day, 18 00:01:13,744 --> 00:01:17,432 whatever it is. So there's some sort of appeal to aesthetic and there's some sort 19 00:01:17,515 --> 00:01:21,067 of appeal to functionality. So within both of those categories, we want to... 20 00:01:21,150 --> 00:01:24,610 Be in a position where We can understand – 21 00:01:24,780 --> 00:01:28,982 Where do I need to go with my exercise training so that I can be as fit and 22 00:01:29,066 --> 00:01:31,990 as healthy and – achieve these goals that I want now. 23 00:01:32,550 --> 00:01:36,846 as well as be in a position where I can maintain them for a long period of time. 24 00:01:36,929 --> 00:01:41,171 So this blends both immediate goals. So say you're just interested in squatting 25 00:01:41,254 --> 00:01:42,130 a lot of weight. 26 00:01:42,660 --> 00:01:46,537 Say you're interested in running 5K time the best you want. It doesn't matter. 27 00:01:46,620 --> 00:01:51,080 It blends that with the ability, the desire to have a long wellness span. 28 00:01:51,390 --> 00:01:55,393 to be fit throughout life, to achieve all those things for as long as possible. 29 00:01:55,476 --> 00:01:58,890 So then the question kind of comes back to saying, how do I know – 30 00:01:59,490 --> 00:02:03,456 which area I need to focus on the most and why am I not achieving these goals or how 31 00:02:03,539 --> 00:02:05,189 can I get there more effectively. 32 00:02:05,670 --> 00:02:10,096 And if we look at the big picture, we have to understand that there are several major 33 00:02:10,179 --> 00:02:10,897 components 34 00:02:10,980 --> 00:02:15,051 to physical fitness that are going to be required in all of these categories. 35 00:02:15,134 --> 00:02:19,180 And to achieve that, there are a handful of components that have to happen. 36 00:02:19,470 --> 00:02:22,950 So what I'd love to do today is over the course of our discussion is, 37 00:02:23,070 --> 00:02:26,766 hit exactly what those concepts are, and then cover a whole bunch of different 38 00:02:26,849 --> 00:02:30,817 methods, and we could do that for hours, but we'll cover a number of them for hours 39 00:02:30,900 --> 00:02:35,052 various goals. What are the major adaptations that one can create in 40 00:02:35,135 --> 00:02:35,968 their body? 41 00:02:36,090 --> 00:02:40,562 using exercise the physiological adaptations can be bucketed really in nine 42 00:02:40,646 --> 00:02:45,604 areas so the very first one is what i call skill or technique this could be running 43 00:02:45,687 --> 00:02:50,038 more effectively this could be practicing a skill like shooting a ball or 44 00:02:50,121 --> 00:02:50,954 an implement 45 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,963 swinging a golf club, anything like that. I call that skill development. 46 00:02:55,047 --> 00:02:59,054 The second one is speed. This is simply moving at a higher velocity or with 47 00:02:59,137 --> 00:03:02,708 a better rate of acceleration. That's very similar to the next one, 48 00:03:02,791 --> 00:03:04,700 which is power. And power is speed. 49 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:08,222 Speed multiplied by force. The next one then, of course, 50 00:03:08,305 --> 00:03:12,937 on top of that is force or strength. Those are really synonymous terms, right? 51 00:03:13,020 --> 00:03:17,047 How effectively can you move something? Now, this is often confused, 52 00:03:17,130 --> 00:03:21,067 strength rather, as muscular endurance. So what I mean by that is, 53 00:03:21,150 --> 00:03:25,391 Strength truly is a marker of what's the maximum thing you can move or it's 54 00:03:25,474 --> 00:03:28,507 the maximum amount of force you can produce one time. 55 00:03:28,590 --> 00:03:32,407 Number five is muscle hypertrophy. And this is the first time now we're talking 56 00:03:32,491 --> 00:03:35,025 about an appearance rather than a functional outcome. 57 00:03:35,108 --> 00:03:38,185 This is the first one that's just simply how big is your muscle, 58 00:03:38,268 --> 00:03:40,518 and that's muscle hypertrophy or muscle size. 59 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:46,060 After that is muscular endurance. So this is how many repetitions you can typically 60 00:03:46,143 --> 00:03:47,737 do of a movement. So think of 61 00:03:47,820 --> 00:03:52,545 how many push-ups in a row you can do, how many sit-ups in a minute you can do, 62 00:03:52,628 --> 00:03:56,622 things that are typically in like 5 to 50 repetition sort of range, 63 00:03:56,706 --> 00:04:01,248 and it is almost always local muscle. A push-up test is really how many reps 64 00:04:01,331 --> 00:04:04,108 that your triceps and pecs and deltoids can do. 65 00:04:04,192 --> 00:04:09,038 It is not a cardiovascular endurance. It is not a global physiological endurance. 66 00:04:09,121 --> 00:04:11,860 It's specific to typically one or a few reps. 67 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,292 muscle groups at a time. This is why you have to do multiple tests for sort 68 00:04:15,375 --> 00:04:19,539 of every group there. After that, now we've moved into number seven, 69 00:04:19,622 --> 00:04:24,469 which is what I call anaerobic capacity. This is more synonymous with maximum heart 70 00:04:24,552 --> 00:04:28,710 rate. And now we're actually looking at rather than a single movement, 71 00:04:28,860 --> 00:04:32,466 or muscle group, it is a total physiological limitation. 72 00:04:32,550 --> 00:04:36,947 It is the maximum amount of work you can do in say 30 to 45 seconds, 73 00:04:37,030 --> 00:04:39,912 maybe even up to 120 seconds of all out work. 74 00:04:39,995 --> 00:04:45,127 Think of your classic interval type of stuff, So how much work can you do? 75 00:04:45,210 --> 00:04:49,384 at a maximum rate where you're going to enter tremendous amounts of global 76 00:04:49,467 --> 00:04:52,605 fatigue. The next past that is maximal aerobic capacity. 77 00:04:52,688 --> 00:04:56,370 And this is probably something like in the 8 to 15 minute range. 78 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:02,539 where you're going to reach probably both a maximum heart rate as well as a true VO2 79 00:05:02,623 --> 00:05:05,020 max. So that is different from... 80 00:05:05,340 --> 00:05:09,010 the previous one where you can't reach this in a matter of seconds. 81 00:05:09,094 --> 00:05:13,212 It simply takes multiple minutes to get to a position to where your VO2 max 82 00:05:13,295 --> 00:05:14,587 is actually going to be. 83 00:05:14,670 --> 00:05:18,087 sufficiently challenged are an indicator there. And then the last one, 84 00:05:18,170 --> 00:05:20,187 number nine, is what I call long duration. 85 00:05:20,270 --> 00:05:23,070 And this is just your ability to sustain submaximal work 86 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,777 for a long period of time with no breaks, no reductions whatsoever. 87 00:05:26,861 --> 00:05:28,999 This is often called steady state training, 88 00:05:29,082 --> 00:05:33,131 or a lot of people just think of this when they think of, quote-unquote, cardio. 89 00:05:33,214 --> 00:05:36,953 But your ability to continue movement without any breaks or change or drop 90 00:05:37,037 --> 00:05:39,226 is the last and final adaptation. So really, 91 00:05:39,309 --> 00:05:43,080 if you look at kind of a minimal number there, it's generally 20 minutes. 92 00:05:43,530 --> 00:05:47,060 of what we're looking for, but a more typical would be 20 to 60 minutes. 93 00:05:47,143 --> 00:05:49,117 But anything past that would still be... 94 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:53,350 limited by your long duration endurance, so your ability to sustain work over time. 95 00:05:54,030 --> 00:05:56,814 I'd like to take a quick break and acknowledge our sponsor, 96 00:05:56,897 --> 00:06:00,459 Eight Sleep. Eight Sleep makes smart mattress covers with cooling, heating, 97 00:06:00,542 --> 00:06:04,103 and sleep tracking capacity. One of the best ways to ensure you get a great 98 00:06:04,187 --> 00:06:07,942 night's sleep is to make sure that the temperature of your sleeping environment 99 00:06:08,026 --> 00:06:11,733 is correct. 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Again, that's 8sleep.com slash Huberman to save 118 00:07:10,246 --> 00:07:11,079 up to $350. 119 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,745 Can you walk us through the nine different adaptations that you mentioned earlier 120 00:07:16,829 --> 00:07:21,240 and give us a way to assess our level of adaptation in each of those nine? 121 00:07:21,330 --> 00:07:24,472 All right, the very first one we want to talk about is movement skill. 122 00:07:24,555 --> 00:07:27,517 This is really about human movement so that you stay injury-free. 123 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:29,933 And you can continue to train for as long as possible. 124 00:07:30,017 --> 00:07:33,157 So what are the minimum requirements? Now, if you can have access... 125 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:37,000 to a highly qualified physical therapist or movement specialist. 126 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:41,452 That's the best route. Go to them, have them identify all of your movement 127 00:07:41,536 --> 00:07:45,106 patterns, overhead pressing, squatting, running, all these things. 128 00:07:45,189 --> 00:07:49,340 That's your gold standard. If you want to do it yourself, though, here's... 129 00:07:49,470 --> 00:07:51,750 A very simple four-step solution. 130 00:07:52,140 --> 00:07:55,346 So the way that I teach this is I go joint by joint. 131 00:07:55,429 --> 00:07:59,963 And so I think of this just as the major ones, your shoulder, your elbow, 132 00:08:00,046 --> 00:08:02,257 your low back, hip, knee and ankle. 133 00:08:02,340 --> 00:08:05,853 Okay, now what you can do is do a representative movement for you. 134 00:08:05,937 --> 00:08:09,886 So if you bench a lot, use the bench. If you do pull-ups, use the pull-up. 135 00:08:09,969 --> 00:08:13,620 If you squat, do that. I would recommend doing an upper body press. 136 00:08:14,070 --> 00:08:15,337 an upper body pull, 137 00:08:15,420 --> 00:08:19,620 a lower body press and lower body pull. An example would be a push-up. 138 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,141 a pull-up or a bent row, a squat, and then a deadlift, 139 00:08:23,224 --> 00:08:28,120 and record a frontal view and a side view. Probably do three to ten repetitions. 140 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:33,425 per angle. Okay. Slow and uncontrolled. And you want to look for four key things. 141 00:08:33,508 --> 00:08:36,000 Number one is you want to look for symmetry. 142 00:08:36,180 --> 00:08:38,387 So symmetry is front to back, left to right, 143 00:08:38,471 --> 00:08:42,136 and your right limb and your left limb. If they aren't moving perfectly, 144 00:08:42,219 --> 00:08:46,353 that's fine. But you want to see, is one moving further ahead than the other one? 145 00:08:46,436 --> 00:08:49,820 Is one turning to the side and one's not? Is one fidgeting and... 146 00:08:50,010 --> 00:08:53,437 and twitching around differently. So you want to look just to check... 147 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,196 to see and make sure that they're stable. Number two, 148 00:08:56,279 --> 00:09:00,204 you want to look for stability. So key indicators here are things like if you 149 00:09:00,288 --> 00:09:04,317 can't control a squat, a controlled squat where your knees don't start shaking, 150 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,940 that would be an instability issue. So can you do the movement slow? 151 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,835 Can you pause at the bottom, maybe three seconds, maybe five seconds or ten? 152 00:09:11,918 --> 00:09:15,377 You should have complete control of that movement and all of these joints. 153 00:09:15,460 --> 00:09:17,866 Are your hips sliding to one side when you stand up? 154 00:09:17,950 --> 00:09:21,600 Is one elbow closer to your body when you're benching and the other one's more 155 00:09:21,684 --> 00:09:24,584 flared out? These are the things I'm talking about, right? 156 00:09:24,780 --> 00:09:27,684 I'm not worried about what angle they should be at or not. 157 00:09:27,767 --> 00:09:30,600 You're simply looking for asymmetries or instabilities. 158 00:09:31,170 --> 00:09:32,818 All right, so again, as you're pushing up, 159 00:09:32,901 --> 00:09:36,097 does one elbow start flipping and twitching and going all over the place? 160 00:09:36,180 --> 00:09:40,531 The third one is what I call awareness. There are a lot of movement technique 161 00:09:40,614 --> 00:09:43,936 issues that are simply people don't know. And so you'll watch them squat. 162 00:09:44,019 --> 00:09:47,677 I do this in my classes all the time. I'll have 100 kids out there squatting. 163 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:49,498 and you'll see some horrible squat technique. 164 00:09:49,581 --> 00:09:52,897 And then when you just tell them, hey, did you realize your heels are supposed to be 165 00:09:52,980 --> 00:09:55,567 on the ground at all times when you squat? They're like, oh, okay. 166 00:09:55,651 --> 00:09:57,955 And they can correct it. It's not actually a movement flaw. 167 00:09:58,038 --> 00:09:59,927 It was just simply an awareness. I didn't know. 168 00:10:00,010 --> 00:10:03,467 and then I actually didn't realize that that was happening in that position. 169 00:10:03,550 --> 00:10:06,967 So we want all of our joints to be going through a general full range of motion, 170 00:10:07,050 --> 00:10:10,410 which is number four. So the ankles during like a squat. 171 00:10:10,730 --> 00:10:12,887 Your knees should be able to go as far over your toes as possible 172 00:10:12,970 --> 00:10:15,987 while maintaining good position, your feet flat on the floor, 173 00:10:16,070 --> 00:10:19,410 your three points of contact, your whole flat foot, 174 00:10:19,730 --> 00:10:21,687 and you're not compromising another joint. 175 00:10:21,770 --> 00:10:24,127 So that's all you're going to look for, those four things. 176 00:10:24,210 --> 00:10:29,047 Symmetry, stability, awareness, and range of motion through each joint, 177 00:10:29,130 --> 00:10:32,127 through each movement. You can generally kind of clear these things 178 00:10:32,210 --> 00:10:34,287 in one or two repetitions in a couple of seconds. 179 00:10:34,370 --> 00:10:36,430 I just look for absolutely terrible, 180 00:10:37,270 --> 00:10:38,470 like can't do it at all, 181 00:10:38,930 --> 00:10:41,270 minor flaw, or pretty close to good. 182 00:10:41,510 --> 00:10:42,667 But that's really all I'm looking for. 183 00:10:42,750 --> 00:10:44,247 So my scoring system is 0, 1, 3. 184 00:10:44,330 --> 00:10:45,947 Zero is like you're not going to do this exercise 185 00:10:46,030 --> 00:10:48,150 because you're at a very high acute risk. 186 00:10:48,270 --> 00:10:50,290 You might get hurt on rep one tomorrow. 187 00:10:50,530 --> 00:10:52,787 Now your score of one is like, there's a minor flaw here. 188 00:10:52,870 --> 00:10:56,430 We can probably do it, but we need to be cautious of load and volume. 189 00:10:56,870 --> 00:10:59,047 The other one is maybe it's perfect, maybe it's not. 190 00:10:59,130 --> 00:11:02,350 but go ahead and sort of do it on a reasonable protocol. 191 00:11:02,630 --> 00:11:05,307 You'll be fine. So that's generally what you would need to do 192 00:11:05,390 --> 00:11:08,747 is a cost-free method of identifying good movement technique 193 00:11:08,830 --> 00:11:11,070 within any of the things that you would do. 194 00:11:11,470 --> 00:11:14,787 What about speed? I actually don't think this is one most people should test. 195 00:11:14,870 --> 00:11:17,567 If you're a high-performance athlete, we can run a 40-yard dash 196 00:11:17,650 --> 00:11:22,510 or we can do some different things with a velocity transducer on a barbell. 197 00:11:22,950 --> 00:11:24,267 If you're a weightlifter or something, 198 00:11:24,350 --> 00:11:27,907 for most people, pure speed is really maximum velocity 199 00:11:27,990 --> 00:11:31,150 or acceleration or kind of the two ways we break it down. 200 00:11:31,630 --> 00:11:34,007 It's not just generally not that necessary to test. 201 00:11:34,090 --> 00:11:36,070 What about number three, power, 202 00:11:36,330 --> 00:11:39,830 which I believe before you told me was speed times force. 203 00:11:40,030 --> 00:11:42,790 The cost-free version here is a simple broad jump. 204 00:11:43,210 --> 00:11:45,410 So this is stand, you know, normal position, 205 00:11:45,670 --> 00:11:47,747 jump out as far in front of you as you possibly can 206 00:11:47,830 --> 00:11:49,787 and measure the distance between where you started 207 00:11:49,870 --> 00:11:51,920 and the back of your heel where it lands. 208 00:11:52,130 --> 00:11:55,690 A super basic number to look for there is your height. 209 00:11:56,050 --> 00:11:57,907 So you should be able to broad jump how tall you are. 210 00:11:57,990 --> 00:12:01,150 If you're 5'5", you should hit 5'5", 6'5", etc. 211 00:12:01,270 --> 00:12:05,650 That's going to ratchet down a little bit, about 15% for females. 212 00:12:05,990 --> 00:12:09,307 They just simply don't have the power in general that men have, 213 00:12:09,390 --> 00:12:11,007 so you're going to want to bring that down a little bit. 214 00:12:11,090 --> 00:12:12,790 But that's a very crude number. 215 00:12:12,890 --> 00:12:16,030 If you were to look at like a high-performance NFL player, 216 00:12:16,530 --> 00:12:20,307 if they're 6 feet tall, they're going to be jumping like 9 to 10 to 11 feet. 217 00:12:20,390 --> 00:12:22,707 We're not looking for optimization in this particular test. 218 00:12:22,790 --> 00:12:26,514 What you are looking for red flags if you can jump your body height you going to be 219 00:12:26,597 --> 00:12:29,862 just fine To clarify there no running approach here You going to stand at 220 00:12:29,945 --> 00:12:33,669 a still Yeah you can swing bounce as much as you like to do You going to projectile 221 00:12:33,752 --> 00:12:37,247 off So you going to measure the distance from the tip of your toe So basically 222 00:12:37,330 --> 00:12:42,306 stand behind the line and then the furthest point back where you land. 223 00:12:42,390 --> 00:12:43,897 So basically the worst 224 00:12:43,980 --> 00:12:47,301 possible score, not the best possible because your feet won't land 225 00:12:47,384 --> 00:12:48,797 symmetrically. One's probably 226 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:53,748 going to be a little bit farther. Just use the furthest point back of your back heel 227 00:12:53,832 --> 00:12:57,197 and go from there. What about strength? So strength is really important. 228 00:12:57,280 --> 00:12:58,877 You need to measure this in multiple 229 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:01,949 areas. And we'll start off with grip strength. You can do this in two ways. 230 00:13:02,033 --> 00:13:02,687 You can buy a hand 231 00:13:02,770 --> 00:13:07,035 grip dynamometer. Now, these are anywhere between $20 to $100 anywhere. 232 00:13:07,118 --> 00:13:10,757 These actually used to be, like when I was in school, like hundreds of dollars. 233 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:11,967 And now you can literally buy them 234 00:13:12,050 --> 00:13:15,224 on any website for $25. So technically, that's not cost-free. 235 00:13:15,308 --> 00:13:16,987 I know your whole thing about the 236 00:13:17,070 --> 00:13:20,810 cost-free protocols, but $25, I'm calling that basically cost-free. 237 00:13:20,893 --> 00:13:22,237 You can bring that in and 238 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,688 test that and that's just a little device where you're going to squeeze and you're 239 00:13:24,771 --> 00:13:25,017 going to do 240 00:13:25,100 --> 00:13:27,732 and i would do your right hand and your left hand they're going to give you 241 00:13:27,816 --> 00:13:28,457 a value in kilograms 242 00:13:28,540 --> 00:13:33,496 you want to look for something like a minimum score here of 40 kilograms ideally 243 00:13:33,579 --> 00:13:34,567 you're up past 60 244 00:13:34,650 --> 00:13:37,974 would be a really good spot to be in you want to make sure that there's no less 245 00:13:38,057 --> 00:13:38,707 than 10 variation 246 00:13:38,790 --> 00:13:42,225 between your left and right hand your non-dominant hand actually shouldn't be 247 00:13:42,309 --> 00:13:42,957 that much weaker 248 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,664 in this test so what you'll actually see a lot of times is the non-dominant can be 249 00:13:46,748 --> 00:13:47,117 oftentimes 250 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:51,533 stronger because the dominant hand is more for movement precision writing things like 251 00:13:51,616 --> 00:13:55,509 that if If you are a male and you're under 40 kilograms on a hand grip dynamometer, 252 00:13:55,592 --> 00:13:57,292 we're going to need to train that. 253 00:13:57,480 --> 00:13:59,728 If you're a female, it's not that much lower, 254 00:13:59,812 --> 00:14:02,037 but about 35 kilograms is the cutoff point. 255 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:04,517 Another one that you can actually do is just a dead hang. 256 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,930 So you can hold on to any bar, ideally one that is thin enough to where you can wrap 257 00:14:09,014 --> 00:14:10,377 your whole hand around it. 258 00:14:10,460 --> 00:14:14,513 Something like going to the gym and jumping on any pull-up bar or pull-up 259 00:14:14,597 --> 00:14:14,797 rack. 260 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:20,118 In general, we should be able to hang for a minimum of 30 seconds is what we're 261 00:14:20,202 --> 00:14:20,927 looking for. 262 00:14:21,010 --> 00:14:26,750 30 to kind of 50 seconds is my like good, but we could probably get better here. 263 00:14:27,030 --> 00:14:30,270 If you're cruising above 60 seconds, I'm generally pretty happy. 264 00:14:30,620 --> 00:14:34,630 Now, if you are exceptionally large, this thing doesn't scale perfectly. 265 00:14:35,130 --> 00:14:38,168 You know, if you're 240 pounds and even if you're lean, 266 00:14:38,251 --> 00:14:40,860 it's just hard to hang and hold 240 pounds. 267 00:14:41,300 --> 00:14:44,049 Conversely, if you're 145 pounds, even if you're unhealthy, 268 00:14:44,132 --> 00:14:46,157 you're going to be able to hang for a long time. 269 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:47,427 It's just not that much weight to carry. 270 00:14:47,510 --> 00:14:50,450 So just rough numbers to start off with. 271 00:14:51,010 --> 00:14:54,927 I'd like to take a quick break and acknowledge our sponsor, AG1. 272 00:14:55,010 --> 00:15:00,041 AG1 just launched their newest formulation called AG1 Pro And right now you can get 273 00:15:00,124 --> 00:15:04,662 an extra 20 off your first subscription AG1 takes the clinically backed AG1 274 00:15:04,745 --> 00:15:09,120 formula which is a blend of vitamins minerals probiotics and adaptogens 275 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:13,877 and adds three important new ingredients, creatine monohydrate, calcium HMB, 276 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:15,080 and zinc carnosine. 277 00:15:15,340 --> 00:15:18,314 It has five grams of creatine monohydrate to support muscle strength 278 00:15:18,397 --> 00:15:20,317 and performance, along with brain health. 279 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,997 Calcium HMB to support muscle recovery and reduce muscle breakdown. 280 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:27,580 and zinc carnosine to support and improve the lining of your gut. 281 00:15:28,100 --> 00:15:31,522 Some of these ingredients I personally was already taking separate from the AG1 282 00:15:31,605 --> 00:15:35,820 formula. So it's great to see all three of them now in the new AG1 Pro. 283 00:15:36,100 --> 00:15:40,417 As you may know, I've been taking AG1 every single day for about 14 years now. 284 00:15:40,500 --> 00:15:43,521 That means I discovered it and started taking it daily long before I even knew 285 00:15:43,604 --> 00:15:44,277 what a podcast was. 286 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:48,768 I continue to take it and back it here on the podcast because it is an excellent 287 00:15:48,851 --> 00:15:52,237 formula. And it's now even better with the AG1 Pro formula. 288 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:57,536 For a limited time, you can get an extra 20% off your first subscription to AG1 Pro 289 00:15:57,619 --> 00:16:02,257 by going to drinkag1.com slash Huberman and using the code BACKTOROUTINE. 290 00:16:02,340 --> 00:16:05,080 So that's with a numeral 2, BACK, numeral 2, ROUTINE. 291 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,540 Just go to drinkag1.com slash Huberman. 292 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,097 So that's grip strength. What about strength elsewhere in the body? 293 00:16:12,180 --> 00:16:14,517 You can do an upper body strength test if you would like, 294 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,217 although it's not technically something we do very often. 295 00:16:17,300 --> 00:16:19,897 One I'm generally more interested in is a leg extension test. 296 00:16:19,980 --> 00:16:23,420 And the reason I like this is a back squat is better. 297 00:16:23,540 --> 00:16:26,540 A barbell back squat is, look, that's my jam. 298 00:16:26,660 --> 00:16:29,660 That's my life, right? It's just very technically demanding. 299 00:16:29,980 --> 00:16:32,200 And it's challenging. You need spotters. 300 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:34,397 You need comfort. A lot goes into this. 301 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,030 So for the average person, a leg extension test is fairly standardized. 302 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:39,897 You don't have to worry about technique. 303 00:16:39,980 --> 00:16:41,577 And people can just get into it and go. 304 00:16:41,660 --> 00:16:45,217 And so what you want to look for there is a couple of standards you want to hit. 305 00:16:45,300 --> 00:16:47,657 Again, a very simple answer here is body weight. 306 00:16:47,740 --> 00:16:50,190 can you do a leg extension with your body weight? 307 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,097 That's a pretty good number you want to be at. 308 00:16:52,180 --> 00:16:57,157 If you go up an age past age 40, every decade that can come down about 10% 309 00:16:57,240 --> 00:16:59,237 and you'll still be in a pretty good slot. 310 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,080 So if you're 50 years old and you're 170 pounds, 311 00:17:03,620 --> 00:17:06,397 if you can do 160, you're in a pretty good sort of spot. 312 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:10,500 And then you can just, again, take it down about 10% every decade after 40. 313 00:17:10,740 --> 00:17:12,140 Any of these strength tests, 314 00:17:12,500 --> 00:17:15,437 they don't have to be done to a technical true one rep max. 315 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:18,470 You can use what are called repetition conversion equation. 316 00:17:18,580 --> 00:17:23,107 So put on a load that you think is kind of close to your maximum and just do it 317 00:17:23,190 --> 00:17:24,537 for as many reps as you can. 318 00:17:24,620 --> 00:17:28,710 As long as it under five reps total you can then actually go online and enter 319 00:17:28,793 --> 00:17:32,937 that into any number of calculators anywhere And it will tell you okay you did 320 00:17:33,020 --> 00:17:34,700 three repetitions at 200 pounds 321 00:17:35,420 --> 00:17:38,740 Your one rep max is probably 215, whatever. 322 00:17:38,860 --> 00:17:39,837 So there's estimate equations. 323 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,929 So if you don't want to spend the time or you're not truly comfortable, 324 00:17:43,013 --> 00:17:45,137 like absolutely going to your true one rep max, 325 00:17:45,220 --> 00:17:48,917 just get to a number that's fairly close and do as many as you can and then go 326 00:17:49,001 --> 00:17:52,537 online. Again, one rep max estimator equations are everywhere. 327 00:17:52,620 --> 00:17:57,725 If you get past five repetitions or so, the accuracy of those equations starts 328 00:17:57,808 --> 00:18:01,598 going down. So don't put on something and go, I did 12 reps of it, 329 00:18:01,681 --> 00:18:03,697 and then try to figure out what you're wondering max. 330 00:18:03,780 --> 00:18:04,457 It'll get close. 331 00:18:04,540 --> 00:18:07,181 You start moving past that, you're just getting worse and worse and worse 332 00:18:07,264 --> 00:18:09,464 accuracy. If neither of those are an option. 333 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:14,800 Another one I like a lot here is simply a front squat or a goblet squat hold. 334 00:18:15,060 --> 00:18:17,151 So you're going to hold a weight in front of your chest, 335 00:18:17,234 --> 00:18:19,437 whether a kettlebell is great here, a dumbbell is fine here. 336 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,320 and you want to hold about half of your body weight, 337 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:26,497 go all the way to the bottom position and try to hold that for about 45 seconds. 338 00:18:26,580 --> 00:18:30,020 So it's a pretty good indicator of number one, your position. 339 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,617 It's hard to be in a bad position for that long at that load 340 00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:35,140 as well as core strength and low back stability. 341 00:18:35,300 --> 00:18:38,477 It's more difficult than leg extension, but it's quite a bit more functional 342 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,497 and it's going to give you insight into a lot more areas than just the quadriceps. 343 00:18:42,580 --> 00:18:45,057 So 45 seconds down at the bottom of the squat 344 00:18:45,140 --> 00:18:47,117 and then returning to a standing position. 345 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:48,737 Yep. And if you can't do the return, 346 00:18:48,820 --> 00:18:52,661 I actually I'm not that worried but as long as you can hold that good position 347 00:18:52,744 --> 00:18:53,617 without a technical 348 00:18:53,700 --> 00:18:57,719 breakdown in that 45 seconds that's a really good spot as an intro I want 349 00:18:57,803 --> 00:18:59,237 a third of your body weight 350 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,445 for 30 seconds it's important to add a couple of caveats to the strength training 351 00:19:03,529 --> 00:19:04,277 stuff so there's 352 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:08,737 two that I want to do number one these are assuming you are technically proficient so 353 00:19:08,820 --> 00:19:09,577 I don't want you 354 00:19:09,660 --> 00:19:14,743 to do any exercise to exhaustion or to maximum strength if you're not comfortable 355 00:19:14,826 --> 00:19:15,317 with your 356 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:19,028 technique. So adjust these accordingly. If you're not comfortable with the front 357 00:19:19,111 --> 00:19:19,817 squat, do the leg 358 00:19:19,900 --> 00:19:22,505 extension. If you're not even comfortable with that, do something different. 359 00:19:22,588 --> 00:19:23,177 So we never want to 360 00:19:23,260 --> 00:19:28,856 utilize maximum testing if it's going to come with a consequence of serious acute 361 00:19:28,939 --> 00:19:29,557 injury. So 362 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:34,990 that's the most important flag. The second one is your warmup protocol will have 363 00:19:35,073 --> 00:19:38,270 a huge effect on your actual results. And so whenever you do these tests, 364 00:19:38,353 --> 00:19:39,797 especially if you're going to do a test 365 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:43,277 and then a test again down the line, you want to make sure that that warmup 366 00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:46,020 protocol is standardized. What about hypertrophy? 367 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:51,195 So the thing you want to pay attention to here is you have the aesthetic portion 368 00:19:51,278 --> 00:19:53,378 of hypertrophy. That's entirely up to you. 369 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:54,777 There is no rationale. 370 00:19:54,860 --> 00:19:57,197 You can decide what you feel like looks good or doesn't look good. 371 00:19:57,280 --> 00:19:58,180 That's irrelevant. 372 00:19:58,620 --> 00:19:59,937 There is a sufficient rationale. 373 00:20:00,020 --> 00:20:03,927 you need to have where below that is detrimental to your health. 374 00:20:04,010 --> 00:20:08,138 regardless of your outcomes and so the best way to do this is a couple of ways 375 00:20:08,221 --> 00:20:12,241 any sort of body composition test can do this so whether this is a um a scan 376 00:20:12,324 --> 00:20:16,560 through like a dexa scan which is a gold standard or other ways of bioelectrical 377 00:20:16,643 --> 00:20:20,879 impedance or other ways so there's a ton of different tests you can get that are 378 00:20:20,962 --> 00:20:26,190 pretty close So what you want to pay attention to when you get like a DEXA scan 379 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,855 is a number called FFMI. And so that stands for Fat-Free Mass Index. 380 00:20:29,939 --> 00:20:32,590 So you can look at, again, any number of online calculators. 381 00:20:32,673 --> 00:20:36,098 These are all standard. So it doesn't actually matter where you pull them up. 382 00:20:36,182 --> 00:20:37,782 You don't have to worry about... 383 00:20:38,090 --> 00:20:41,226 looking it up and whether or not it's right or not or something. 384 00:20:41,310 --> 00:20:45,050 And so that's going to actually tell you if you have sufficient muscle math. 385 00:20:45,133 --> 00:20:49,175 And so a number you want to look for in general is something like if you're a man, 386 00:20:49,258 --> 00:20:51,170 your FFMI should be something like 20. 387 00:20:51,290 --> 00:20:55,365 or higher. If you're a woman, you want to look for something like 18. 388 00:20:55,448 --> 00:20:59,222 So those are the targets. If you get past like 24, 25 for a man, 389 00:20:59,305 --> 00:21:03,199 that's a lot of muscle mass, assuming you're reasonably lean. Now, 390 00:21:03,283 --> 00:21:04,970 if your FFMI is like 24, 25, 391 00:21:05,780 --> 00:21:07,920 but your body fat is like 40%, 392 00:21:08,150 --> 00:21:11,911 you're actually just a very, very large individual. You're not in a great spot. 393 00:21:11,994 --> 00:21:15,901 So when we say these sort of numbers, it's the assumption that you're probably sub 394 00:21:15,984 --> 00:21:19,925 30% body fat for a man and sub 35 for a woman. So those are the numbers. 395 00:21:20,009 --> 00:21:24,194 There are online calculators. All you really need to know is your total body 396 00:21:24,277 --> 00:21:27,273 weight. your body fat percentage, and then your height. 397 00:21:27,356 --> 00:21:30,772 You can enter those three numbers, and then they'll tell you your FFMI score, 398 00:21:30,855 --> 00:21:34,453 and it'll correct for an adjusted value. And most of those will actually tell you 399 00:21:34,537 --> 00:21:37,524 the grading rubric. And then it's a good average, bad, et cetera. 400 00:21:37,608 --> 00:21:39,458 But those are the numbers we look at. 401 00:21:39,860 --> 00:21:43,740 If you are, as a man... Sub-17 402 00:21:43,850 --> 00:21:48,856 As a woman, sub-15. Now we're in an area of pretty severe physiological detriment 403 00:21:48,940 --> 00:21:52,312 for insufficient muscle. What about muscular endurance? 404 00:21:52,396 --> 00:21:56,145 Is this where you're going to tell me I need to do wall sits? 405 00:21:56,229 --> 00:22:01,107 So this is really nice. You can do any number of tests here. A standard plank. 406 00:22:01,190 --> 00:22:03,814 Can you hold a front plank for 60 seconds? 407 00:22:03,898 --> 00:22:08,520 Can you hold a side plank for 45 seconds? If you're able to do a push-up. 408 00:22:08,603 --> 00:22:11,872 We want to be able to do, again, for a general male, 409 00:22:11,956 --> 00:22:14,997 we should have no problem doing 25 plus pushups. 410 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,207 consecutive push-ups. This would be a full, 411 00:22:17,290 --> 00:22:21,268 complete lockout of the elbows on the top and a full chest touch or close to it 412 00:22:21,351 --> 00:22:24,609 at the ground. You can do it different. It doesn't really matter, 413 00:22:24,692 --> 00:22:26,922 but just keep it standard from your pre-test, 414 00:22:27,005 --> 00:22:30,314 your post-test if you're trying to mark progress. And for females? 415 00:22:30,398 --> 00:22:33,758 So for those folks, that's going to scale down a little bit, right? 416 00:22:33,842 --> 00:22:37,613 So basically you're looking at 15 is that marker, like 25 was for the male, 417 00:22:37,697 --> 00:22:40,389 where I want to see above 15. And if I do, we're good. 418 00:22:40,473 --> 00:22:42,580 Anything between 5 to 15 is the number of 419 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:48,057 we generally have some problems, and if that is... 420 00:22:48,140 --> 00:22:50,300 difference between 1 and 0, then 421 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,940 Like now zero is a problem. So we should be able to do that. 422 00:22:54,110 --> 00:22:58,625 The other way to assess muscular endurance is take the exact strength test you did 423 00:22:58,708 --> 00:23:02,690 from the talk five minutes ago. Which one did you do? Load that to 75%. 424 00:23:03,020 --> 00:23:05,471 And then do that for as many repetitions as you can. 425 00:23:05,554 --> 00:23:07,304 And that is a tremendous barometer. 426 00:23:07,910 --> 00:23:11,797 of muscular endurance. So if you were able to do 200 pounds on your leg extension 427 00:23:11,881 --> 00:23:14,641 test, put 75% on that and do that as many reps as you can. 428 00:23:14,724 --> 00:23:17,043 You want to look for more than eight repetitions. 429 00:23:17,126 --> 00:23:21,026 If you are below eight repetitions, then we have a muscular endurance problem. 430 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,228 anaerobic capacity. This one's more challenging. 431 00:23:25,311 --> 00:23:29,647 You either have to go to a laboratory and do something like a windgate test. 432 00:23:29,731 --> 00:23:34,474 So this is a 30 second maximal test where you're going to see how much work can you 433 00:23:34,557 --> 00:23:36,360 possibly do in that 30 seconds. 434 00:23:36,650 --> 00:23:38,775 If you don't have a loudestestor laboratory, 435 00:23:38,858 --> 00:23:42,087 you can do this on any protocol you want. This could be sprinting. 436 00:23:42,170 --> 00:23:44,830 This can be on an air bike. This could be on a rower. 437 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:48,639 Anything like that, anything where you can exert maximal effort and you don't have 438 00:23:48,723 --> 00:23:49,973 to worry about technical. 439 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,574 Problems. So I generally don't like to do things like a kettlebell swing 440 00:23:53,658 --> 00:23:56,517 or something like that. There's just too many other variables. 441 00:23:56,601 --> 00:23:59,081 You need to be able to go as hard as you possibly can, 442 00:23:59,164 --> 00:24:01,814 knowing you're going to get to a place of tremendous. 443 00:24:02,210 --> 00:24:05,630 fatigue. Now in the lab we often use what's called a Bosco. 444 00:24:06,050 --> 00:24:08,682 protocol, and you're going to stand on a force plate, 445 00:24:08,765 --> 00:24:12,011 and you're going to do as many vertical jumps as fast as you can, 446 00:24:12,095 --> 00:24:15,648 as high as you can, for 60 seconds, and you're absolutely destroyed by, 447 00:24:15,732 --> 00:24:16,857 like, second 45. Right? 448 00:24:16,940 --> 00:24:21,467 So we either use that Wingate Protocol or that BOSCO Protocol. If you want, 449 00:24:21,551 --> 00:24:25,760 though, again, take any of those other places – 30 seconds or so. 450 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:28,864 up to 45 seconds, up to a minute if you want. It doesn't really matter. 451 00:24:28,947 --> 00:24:31,617 We don't really have standards for these things because it's going to be... 452 00:24:31,700 --> 00:24:37,121 different how far you can travel in 30 seconds on a treadmill is going to be so 453 00:24:37,205 --> 00:24:41,515 different than sprinting in the field or on the assault bike or whatever. 454 00:24:41,599 --> 00:24:45,290 So what you really want to worry about there is can you complete it? 455 00:24:45,710 --> 00:24:48,718 And then how awful do you feel afterwards? 456 00:24:48,802 --> 00:24:54,470 So what you really want to think about here is not those protocols, but this. 457 00:24:55,220 --> 00:24:58,920 You want to think about can you get close to your predicted goals? 458 00:24:59,120 --> 00:25:05,007 Maximum heart rate. So the number we throw out is 220 minus your age. 459 00:25:05,090 --> 00:25:09,486 So if you're 50 years old, 220 minus 50, you should be able to get to a maximum 460 00:25:09,569 --> 00:25:11,950 heart rate of around 170 beats per minute. 461 00:25:12,170 --> 00:25:14,590 Now, that number is extremely generic. 462 00:25:15,350 --> 00:25:18,703 If you don't get there, that doesn't have any indication of your fitness. 463 00:25:18,786 --> 00:25:21,386 If you get higher, that doesn't mean you're any more fit. 464 00:25:21,469 --> 00:25:24,775 It's just a rough number. So here's what I want you to do. In this case, 465 00:25:24,858 --> 00:25:26,358 your heart rate recovery is... 466 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,980 is the better metric. So I want you to get up to a maximum heart rate, 467 00:25:30,140 --> 00:25:34,233 and then test your heart rate recovery. And what you should be looking for there 468 00:25:34,316 --> 00:25:38,513 is about half a beat recovery per second. You're gonna get up to a place where you 469 00:25:38,596 --> 00:25:42,720 reach like absolute terrible exhaustion, maximum fatigue, test your heart rate, 470 00:25:43,430 --> 00:25:47,450 And then count, right? Have a timer going. Within 60 seconds... 471 00:25:47,900 --> 00:25:50,160 You should have, again, that half a beat per second. 472 00:25:50,244 --> 00:25:52,910 You should have a heart rate recovery of 30 beats per minute. 473 00:25:52,993 --> 00:25:54,117 Within the next minute... 474 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:56,591 So two-minute recovery, it should be in half that, so 60 beats. 475 00:25:56,674 --> 00:25:59,997 Those are rough numbers to go by, and your three-minute recovery is, again, 476 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:02,498 half of that again. So that is the closest way. 477 00:26:02,582 --> 00:26:05,000 If your heart rate recovery is worse than that, 478 00:26:05,083 --> 00:26:09,258 then we know we have a problem in your anaerobic capacity or your cardiovascular 479 00:26:09,341 --> 00:26:11,110 capacity. What about number eight? 480 00:26:11,390 --> 00:26:14,935 maximal heart rate because what you just described sounds a lot like maximal heart 481 00:26:15,019 --> 00:26:18,431 rate. So this is your VO2 max. So the gold standard here is to actually go into 482 00:26:18,515 --> 00:26:19,348 a laboratory. 483 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:23,505 and get this thing done. So we can actually run a VO2 max test where you put 484 00:26:23,589 --> 00:26:25,917 a mask on, collect all your gases, and run new... 485 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,924 And there's a very specific protocol for completion of a true maximum test, 486 00:26:30,007 --> 00:26:33,931 and any of the scientists will know that. If you don't have access to that, 487 00:26:34,015 --> 00:26:36,900 you can do a couple of tests. One of them is called... 488 00:26:37,310 --> 00:26:39,730 A 12-minute Cooper's test. So this is simply time. 489 00:26:39,813 --> 00:26:42,383 You're going to run for 12 minutes as far as you can, 490 00:26:42,466 --> 00:26:45,337 and you're going to record the distance you covered. Again, 491 00:26:45,420 --> 00:26:48,891 you can go online to any number of calculators, enter that distance in, 492 00:26:48,974 --> 00:26:51,194 and that will tell you your estimated VO2 max. 493 00:26:51,277 --> 00:26:53,630 So that's a 12-minute sprint? 12-minute sprint. 494 00:26:54,230 --> 00:26:56,697 Maximum distance you can cover in 12 minutes. 495 00:26:56,780 --> 00:26:59,643 So that's anywhere between a mile to two plus miles, 496 00:26:59,727 --> 00:27:03,780 depending on how fat you are. But you just do that Cooper 12-minute test. 497 00:27:03,863 --> 00:27:05,450 If you want, you can do a... 498 00:27:05,570 --> 00:27:10,127 little gentler version of that. In fact, there is a one-mile walk test you can do. 499 00:27:10,210 --> 00:27:14,711 In this case, you have to have some sort of either a stopwatch or ideally a heart 500 00:27:14,794 --> 00:27:18,237 rate monitor. And all you have to do is, this is a rock bar one mile walk. 501 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:21,865 So maximal tests, you're going to walk a mile, record the time, 502 00:27:21,949 --> 00:27:26,646 record your heart rate at the end, enter those in and those will give you estimates 503 00:27:26,730 --> 00:27:29,411 of your BC max. So that's the like, oh, my gosh, 504 00:27:29,494 --> 00:27:34,137 I can't run for 12 minutes as hard as I possibly can or I don't want to do it or. 505 00:27:34,220 --> 00:27:36,639 We have a lot of these in our executive program. It's like, 506 00:27:36,722 --> 00:27:39,897 my knee hurts too bad. I've got back pain when I run or whatever. Can I... 507 00:27:39,980 --> 00:27:43,552 Okay, and you did the walk test. And it's pretty accurate if you do it correctly. 508 00:27:43,635 --> 00:27:45,357 And again, those are all standard... 509 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:48,693 calculations so anywhere you find those you don't have to worry about the source 510 00:27:48,777 --> 00:27:51,863 so you just enter your stuff in and they're going to be running off the same 511 00:27:51,946 --> 00:27:56,085 equation I'd like to take a quick break to acknowledge one of our sponsors, 512 00:27:56,169 --> 00:28:00,002 David. David makes protein bars unlike any other. Their newest bar, 513 00:28:00,086 --> 00:28:03,452 the Bronze Bar, has 20 grams of protein, only 150 calories, 514 00:28:03,535 --> 00:28:08,071 and zero grams of sugar. 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Yep. 533 00:29:15,661 --> 00:29:18,790 So you really want to think about this as... 534 00:29:19,070 --> 00:29:23,376 Not a standard number. This is you should maintain consistent work output for over 535 00:29:23,460 --> 00:29:27,605 20 plus minutes. And this one, I want you to just pick something that it was in 536 00:29:27,689 --> 00:29:31,299 your lifestyle. So is there a loop around your house that you can do? 537 00:29:31,382 --> 00:29:34,029 Is there some protocol that you like to use it for? 538 00:29:34,113 --> 00:29:36,438 And you're simply going to test your ability. 539 00:29:36,521 --> 00:29:40,239 Can you maintain work without stopping? That's all it needs to be. Now, 540 00:29:40,322 --> 00:29:42,410 ideally, you're going to have to do it. 541 00:29:42,650 --> 00:29:44,733 I personally like to throw a little twist in here, which is, 542 00:29:44,816 --> 00:29:47,404 can you do this with nasal breathing only? That's when I feel really good. 543 00:29:47,487 --> 00:29:50,217 If you can go 30 straight minutes without needing to take a break, 544 00:29:50,300 --> 00:29:53,680 Walking doesn't really cut it unless you're very, very unfit. 545 00:29:53,930 --> 00:29:58,443 in which case if walking 30 minutes without a break is a challenge, okay, 546 00:29:58,526 --> 00:29:59,917 I can't. there. 547 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,619 I want you moving at a non-walking pace. I don't care what zone this is, two, 548 00:30:04,702 --> 00:30:09,443 three, four, five, I don't care. Show me you can maintain minimum of 20 minutes 549 00:30:09,527 --> 00:30:12,580 of work with no breaks, no intervals, no downtime. 550 00:30:13,260 --> 00:30:15,910 And again, ideally, breathing through your nose only. 551 00:30:16,140 --> 00:30:19,531 How often should we be assessing our fitness for each and every one of these? 552 00:30:19,614 --> 00:30:23,141 Well, the way that I would say this is I would recommend doing this full battery 553 00:30:23,224 --> 00:30:26,074 once a year. Now, you could do these technically all in two days. 554 00:30:26,157 --> 00:30:29,368 A three-day split here is probably best. So if you were to just say, hey, 555 00:30:29,451 --> 00:30:33,203 this is like testing week. I actually love this for beginning of the year or whenever 556 00:30:33,287 --> 00:30:36,227 it is that you sort of change your training. Just like once a year, 557 00:30:36,310 --> 00:30:39,024 you should probably go to a physician and get full blood work. 558 00:30:39,108 --> 00:30:42,724 You're going to be thinking, yeah, but I don't want to like give up on my exercise 559 00:30:42,808 --> 00:30:43,708 routine that week. 560 00:30:46,140 --> 00:30:49,246 think, I didn't do very much work this week. It's going to feel great. 561 00:30:49,330 --> 00:30:52,755 And then you're going to have a very nice barometer of exactly where you need 562 00:30:52,838 --> 00:30:56,126 to change and prioritize your training for the next quarter or half a year 563 00:30:56,210 --> 00:30:57,560 or wherever you want to go. 564 00:30:58,740 --> 00:31:02,536 Which order to do them in? The non-fatiguing tests you can do whenever. 565 00:31:02,619 --> 00:31:06,470 The FFMI, the body fat composition, all this stuff can be done wherever. 566 00:31:06,553 --> 00:31:08,520 I generally like to do that, though. 567 00:31:08,700 --> 00:31:13,440 as your very first activity. The reason is we know that acute exercise is 568 00:31:13,830 --> 00:31:17,398 It can heavily influence things like body composition measurements because 569 00:31:17,482 --> 00:31:21,395 of inflammation, water storage, etc. So it's easiest to just sort of get that off 570 00:31:21,479 --> 00:31:25,293 of a 48-hour rest. You want to make sure you don't do any hard exercise the day 571 00:31:25,377 --> 00:31:28,501 before a body composition test and probably 48 hours before that. 572 00:31:28,584 --> 00:31:30,434 So just start yourself off with that. 573 00:31:31,140 --> 00:31:35,409 Your movement test can be the same thing. You don't want to try to do an assessment 574 00:31:35,492 --> 00:31:36,960 of how well you're squatting 575 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,090 if you're incredibly sore from your brutal squatting test. 576 00:31:40,173 --> 00:31:42,970 So tend to do those things when you're the most fresh. 577 00:31:43,053 --> 00:31:46,657 Then what you want to do is any skill or maximum strength or power – 578 00:31:46,740 --> 00:31:51,037 goes at the very beginning of the day, Any fatiguing thing happens at the end. 579 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:55,417 And so you could easily do this. All right, I'm going to... 580 00:31:55,500 --> 00:31:59,670 Do my power test, my broad jump. You're not going to be fatigued at all from that. 581 00:31:59,754 --> 00:32:02,575 And on the same day, since I'm already pretty warmed up, 582 00:32:02,659 --> 00:32:05,407 now I'm going to roll right into my leg strength test. 583 00:32:05,490 --> 00:32:08,977 And since I'm really warmed up, I'm going to do my leg muscular endurance test. 584 00:32:09,060 --> 00:32:11,718 Right there. So this is a very common strategy we use. 585 00:32:11,802 --> 00:32:15,018 We do our one rep max leg extension, five minutes, seven minutes, 586 00:32:15,102 --> 00:32:17,587 whatever we need to do, come back, load it to 75%. 587 00:32:17,670 --> 00:32:19,020 Do as many reps as you can. 588 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,742 Boom. You could roll right into then your upper body test or your grip strength test 589 00:32:22,825 --> 00:32:24,475 or anything else that you want to do there. 590 00:32:24,558 --> 00:32:27,847 So you can knock out your strength testing and muscular endurance testing. 591 00:32:27,930 --> 00:32:30,703 all in one day. You can do your performance diagnostic, 592 00:32:30,787 --> 00:32:34,079 your power jump test, your strength, and your muscular endurance, 593 00:32:34,162 --> 00:32:38,338 and all that stuff is knocked out. You're going to have to come back on a separate 594 00:32:38,421 --> 00:32:41,070 day and do your anaerobic test. This is 30 seconds. 595 00:32:41,550 --> 00:32:46,210 Max Monders things like that you could though if you wanted Do that after. 596 00:32:46,710 --> 00:32:49,250 Your long duration test. Your long duration test, again, 597 00:32:49,334 --> 00:32:51,499 is just going to function as like a big warm-up. 598 00:32:51,582 --> 00:32:54,778 Or you could flip those things, or you could do them on separate days. 599 00:32:54,862 --> 00:32:57,112 You're going to have to do your VO2 max test. 600 00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:00,603 on its own day for the most part, unless you wanted to do, again, 601 00:33:00,686 --> 00:33:04,155 your movement or your body composition sort of before those things. 602 00:33:04,238 --> 00:33:07,601 So you really have the ability to kind of mix and match. Ideally, 603 00:33:07,684 --> 00:33:10,252 this most realistically probably takes three days. 604 00:33:10,335 --> 00:33:12,880 You don't need to be optimal in all these areas. 605 00:33:13,590 --> 00:33:16,301 to be quote unquote optimal health from this perspective. 606 00:33:16,384 --> 00:33:19,830 You just want to make sure again, there's no severe performance anchors. 607 00:33:19,913 --> 00:33:23,702 This is what we call them, right? We don't want any of these severe constraints 608 00:33:23,785 --> 00:33:25,585 because you're going to get limited. 609 00:33:26,130 --> 00:33:31,267 Buy that thing. And so what you want to do is move that up to just – sufficient. 610 00:33:31,350 --> 00:33:34,215 or concerning, right? And get it away from that. If you do that, 611 00:33:34,298 --> 00:33:37,532 that thing's not going to catch you. You're going to be able to continue 612 00:33:37,615 --> 00:33:41,217 to pursue optimization in any of the one things that you have a specific passion 613 00:33:41,300 --> 00:33:45,457 for, which is generally what moves people, right? You train so that you feel better. 614 00:33:45,540 --> 00:33:49,541 You train because... you know there are all these benefits to it, and, geez, 615 00:33:49,624 --> 00:33:51,787 this audience probably could list hundreds of, 616 00:33:51,870 --> 00:33:56,016 of them. But you also train because you generally like to get better at something. 617 00:33:56,100 --> 00:34:00,091 A lot of us, like, have something. And so you want to make sure that you're not 618 00:34:00,175 --> 00:34:02,361 going, hey, I know you're good at endurance, 619 00:34:02,444 --> 00:34:06,436 but you really shouldn't train anymore. We don't want that message. Not at all. 620 00:34:06,519 --> 00:34:10,057 I want you to love your training. So before we close out, I want to go 621 00:34:10,140 --> 00:34:14,307 the metrics for VO2 max because I don't actually think I gave you numbers on that. 622 00:34:14,390 --> 00:34:18,557 So in general, for men, a minimum number we want to look at here is 35 milliliters 623 00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:21,615 per kilogram per minute. And for women, that'd be about 30. 624 00:34:21,698 --> 00:34:24,860 We can actually push a lot higher on those things in reality. 625 00:34:25,230 --> 00:34:29,157 I want to see men above 50. And I'm not even really stoked until I get above 55. 626 00:34:29,240 --> 00:34:33,050 In fact, if I want to see men above 55, I really want to see women above 50. 627 00:34:33,810 --> 00:34:38,770 I want to add just one more metric to our discussion today, which is really just... 628 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:42,960 my way of saying thank you because if there were a metric for 629 00:34:43,380 --> 00:34:46,755 amount of useful information per sentence spoke, 630 00:34:46,838 --> 00:34:50,141 you would be at the upper level of that metric. 631 00:34:50,224 --> 00:34:55,976 You have this amazing ability to provide so much knowledge in a clear and concise 632 00:34:56,059 --> 00:34:57,500 and today listed out 633 00:34:57,900 --> 00:35:02,097 format that is both interesting, grounded in science, and actionable. 634 00:35:02,180 --> 00:35:06,378 So on behalf of everyone listening, and certainly for myself as well, 635 00:35:06,461 --> 00:35:08,260 I just want to say thank you. 636 00:35:08,730 --> 00:35:12,511 Well, I appreciate the compliments, and I'm looking forward to the next 637 00:35:12,594 --> 00:35:16,593 conversation, jumping right into speed, strength, and hypertrophy training, 638 00:35:16,676 --> 00:35:21,030 and what are the evidence-based and best practices for protocols in those areas.