1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,685 Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, where we revisit past episodes for the most 2 00:00:04,768 --> 00:00:09,333 potent and actionable science-based tools for mental health, physical health, 3 00:00:09,416 --> 00:00:13,739 and performance. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology 4 00:00:13,822 --> 00:00:16,780 and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. 5 00:00:17,130 --> 00:00:19,970 And now for my discussion with Dr. Andy Galpin. 6 00:00:20,430 --> 00:00:24,538 Today we're talking about strength and hypertrophy. And so right out the gate, 7 00:00:24,622 --> 00:00:27,247 I just wanna ask you, Why should people... 8 00:00:27,330 --> 00:00:30,665 think about and train for strength in hypertrophy. 9 00:00:30,748 --> 00:00:34,850 Not just for people that wanna get bigger biceps, et cetera, 10 00:00:35,250 --> 00:00:39,895 that have other goals, longevity goals and health goals unrelated to what most people 11 00:00:39,978 --> 00:00:44,178 associate with hypertrophy. So what are the benefits of training for strength 12 00:00:44,262 --> 00:00:47,349 and hypertrophy for the everyday person, for the athlete, 13 00:00:47,432 --> 00:00:48,990 for the recreational person, 14 00:00:49,170 --> 00:00:53,791 exerciser, and so on. One of the major disservices we've done in this field 15 00:00:53,875 --> 00:00:57,450 is convince people that things like strength training are 16 00:00:57,630 --> 00:01:00,110 are for athletes or for growing bigger muscles. 17 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,740 and cardiovascular training are for things like fat loss and heart health. 18 00:01:04,890 --> 00:01:09,133 And that is a tremendous disservice because it puts a lot of unnecessary 19 00:01:09,216 --> 00:01:13,699 barriers and leads to a lot of false assumptions and therefore poor actions. 20 00:01:13,783 --> 00:01:18,566 We could do 100 episodes on the benefits of exercise and we could run all the way 21 00:01:18,650 --> 00:01:21,250 from. mood and focus 22 00:01:21,390 --> 00:01:25,177 cognitive tasks, to a better immune function. You'll get less colds. 23 00:01:25,260 --> 00:01:28,592 You'll fight them off more effectively, to mortality, right? 24 00:01:28,675 --> 00:01:32,804 So some of the strongest predictors of how long and how well you will live 25 00:01:32,887 --> 00:01:34,840 or exercise. However, 26 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,482 There are independent benefits that come from just endurance training, 27 00:01:38,565 --> 00:01:41,587 and there are independent benefits that come from strength training. 28 00:01:41,670 --> 00:01:43,981 And so to just give you one categorically, 29 00:01:44,065 --> 00:01:48,372 the way that you want to think about this is resistance exercise and strength 30 00:01:48,455 --> 00:01:51,990 training is the number one tool to combat neuromuscular aging. 31 00:01:52,830 --> 00:01:57,334 You cannot get that through any other form of exercise besides heavy overload 32 00:01:57,418 --> 00:02:01,547 strength training. If you want to be alive and you want to live by yourself, 33 00:02:01,631 --> 00:02:04,090 you have to be able to engage in human movement. 34 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,411 any dysfunction in the neuromuscular system there, 35 00:02:08,494 --> 00:02:11,612 then you're not going to be able to do that. And again, as I mentioned, 36 00:02:11,695 --> 00:02:14,647 the only way to preserve that or fight that loss of aging is 37 00:02:14,730 --> 00:02:19,952 is to strength train. So people will tend to hear numbers like you lose about 1% 38 00:02:20,035 --> 00:02:23,400 of muscle size, per year after age about 40. 39 00:02:23,670 --> 00:02:24,570 And that's true. 40 00:02:24,660 --> 00:02:28,680 However, what they don't realize is you lose about 2% to 4% of your strength. 41 00:02:29,340 --> 00:02:33,060 So the loss of strength is almost double that. 42 00:02:33,900 --> 00:02:39,660 the loss of muscle mass with aging. Muscle power is more like 8% to 10% per year. 43 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:43,988 And so we can very clearly see the problem you're going to have with aging is not 44 00:02:44,072 --> 00:02:45,900 going to be preservation of muscle. 45 00:02:45,990 --> 00:02:49,411 although that is incredibly important. It's going to be very specifically 46 00:02:49,494 --> 00:02:51,577 preservation of muscle power and strength. 47 00:02:51,660 --> 00:02:56,100 And why that really matters? is your ability to, again, stand up and move. 48 00:02:56,340 --> 00:02:58,408 your ability to catch yourself from a fall, 49 00:02:58,492 --> 00:03:00,810 your ability to feel confident doing a movement. 50 00:03:00,893 --> 00:03:03,962 That is a function of muscle power more than it is muscle size. 51 00:03:04,045 --> 00:03:06,814 And so functionality is really what we want to be, right? 52 00:03:06,897 --> 00:03:10,500 You want to be able to do whatever you want to do physically physically, 53 00:03:10,710 --> 00:03:15,337 and feel confident in doing that, as you age. That's going to only be obtained 54 00:03:15,420 --> 00:03:18,981 Through strength training. So is it appropriate to say that training 55 00:03:19,064 --> 00:03:23,161 for strength and hypertrophy is also a way to keep your nervous system healthy 56 00:03:23,244 --> 00:03:28,088 and young? Yeah, absolutely. It is the only exercise route we have for that. 57 00:03:28,171 --> 00:03:31,177 The wonderful thing about strength training is... 58 00:03:31,260 --> 00:03:34,272 you don't actually have to start at a young age. In fact, 59 00:03:34,355 --> 00:03:38,182 I was reading a paper this morning because of our previous conversation. 60 00:03:38,265 --> 00:03:39,460 It was in over age 90. 61 00:03:39,990 --> 00:03:45,050 So these are folks 90 plus, and they saw improvements like 30 to 170 percent. 62 00:03:45,420 --> 00:03:48,814 in things like muscle size and hypertrophy over a very short period of time. 63 00:03:48,897 --> 00:03:52,474 I think it was 12 weeks. The reason I like to mention that is because if you are 64 00:03:52,557 --> 00:03:54,807 listening and you are 50 and you're like, oh, shit, 65 00:03:54,890 --> 00:03:57,600 I haven't been strength training, You're not toast. 66 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,653 Like you should absolutely start now. You're going to be able to get to 67 00:04:01,736 --> 00:04:02,640 a fantastic spot. 68 00:04:03,420 --> 00:04:08,900 Very quickly. If you would, please remind us what strength and hypertrophy are. 69 00:04:09,390 --> 00:04:13,860 in terms of the specific adaptation they represent what i mean by that is when 70 00:04:13,944 --> 00:04:17,910 somebody is training for strength What are they really training for? 71 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:20,977 Obviously, it means the ability to move more weight, 72 00:04:21,060 --> 00:04:24,426 but I know that it includes a number of other things as well. 73 00:04:24,509 --> 00:04:26,917 And when one is training for hypertrophy... 74 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:31,900 for the growth of muscle fibers. What does that represent? Because I think, 75 00:04:32,460 --> 00:04:35,880 If people understand that, they will far better understand the methods 76 00:04:35,963 --> 00:04:39,333 and protocols that are going to be best for strength and hypertrophy. 77 00:04:39,416 --> 00:04:42,936 At its core, you've basically described it. When we talk about strength, 78 00:04:43,019 --> 00:04:47,140 we're talking about an actual function. So can you create more force across a muscle 79 00:04:47,223 --> 00:04:50,693 or muscle groups or total movement? And when we talk about hypertrophy, 80 00:04:50,776 --> 00:04:53,745 now we're specifically referring to just an increase in size. 81 00:04:53,829 --> 00:04:55,380 There's no actual mention of... 82 00:04:55,680 --> 00:05:00,629 of function. So a muscle can grow larger without actually technically being 83 00:05:00,712 --> 00:05:01,920 stronger. However, 84 00:05:02,230 --> 00:05:05,179 There is a strong relationship between strength and hypertrophy. 85 00:05:05,262 --> 00:05:08,162 So a lot of the times in the general public, in the lay... 86 00:05:09,020 --> 00:05:12,193 we sort of lump those two things in as the same thing. 87 00:05:12,276 --> 00:05:17,040 And so we have to recognize people who are new to training or people even are a 88 00:05:17,220 --> 00:05:20,060 intermediately trained. There is a huge overlap. 89 00:05:20,190 --> 00:05:23,711 Between strength and hypertrophy. Once you get past that, though, 90 00:05:23,795 --> 00:05:27,038 they become disentangled. There's a lot of confusion, right? 91 00:05:27,122 --> 00:05:31,364 Because people think, man, either these are the same thing or if I want to get 92 00:05:31,447 --> 00:05:34,830 stronger, I have to get bigger, which is not the case at all. 93 00:05:34,950 --> 00:05:36,510 If you want to get stronger... 94 00:05:36,780 --> 00:05:39,180 and you don't want to add muscle for any reason. 95 00:05:39,450 --> 00:05:43,712 personal preference on aesthetics, it is quite easy to get stronger and not add 96 00:05:43,795 --> 00:05:47,617 much muscle math either. And so differentiating these two things is one 97 00:05:47,700 --> 00:05:52,084 of them is simply a measure of size, and the other one is a measure of force. 98 00:05:52,167 --> 00:05:56,233 So those are really the similarities and distinctions between strength 99 00:05:56,317 --> 00:06:00,739 and hypertrophy. I'd like to take a quick break and acknowledge our sponsor, 100 00:06:00,822 --> 00:06:04,474 AG1. 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I continue to take it and back it here on the podcast 114 00:06:54,214 --> 00:06:58,783 because it is an excellent formula and it's now even better with the AG1 Pro 115 00:06:58,866 --> 00:07:03,740 formula. For a limited time, you can get an extra 20% off your first subscription 116 00:07:03,824 --> 00:07:08,270 to AG1 Pro by going to drinkag1.com slash Huberman and using the code back 117 00:07:08,353 --> 00:07:12,310 to routine. So that's with a numeral two back numeral two routine. 118 00:07:12,393 --> 00:07:14,780 Just go to drinkag1.com slash Huberman. 119 00:07:15,390 --> 00:07:19,255 So what are the essential components of an effective strength and hypertrophy 120 00:07:19,339 --> 00:07:23,153 protocol? Okay, so what I would like to actually do is walk you through both 121 00:07:23,236 --> 00:07:25,973 of those, because as we mentioned before, they overlap. 122 00:07:26,057 --> 00:07:29,512 And so I want to hit those concepts right now. These are, as you say, 123 00:07:29,595 --> 00:07:33,390 these are the non-negotiables that have to happen in any training program. 124 00:07:33,930 --> 00:07:37,236 And I'm referring to these... in the strength and hypertrophy conversation, 125 00:07:37,319 --> 00:07:41,257 but these are true of power development, speed development, muscular endurance. 126 00:07:41,340 --> 00:07:44,563 endurance, any other thing. These are things that just have to happen for any 127 00:07:44,646 --> 00:07:45,896 training program to work. 128 00:07:46,050 --> 00:07:49,410 My frequent collaborator, Dan Garner, will constantly say, 129 00:07:49,530 --> 00:07:52,883 consistency beats intensity. The literature will show you very clearly 130 00:07:52,966 --> 00:07:56,172 adherence is the number one predictor of physical fitness outcomes. 131 00:07:56,255 --> 00:07:59,854 So we want to do something that you will engage in, you'll put effort into, 132 00:07:59,937 --> 00:08:03,637 and you'll be able to repeat consistently over time. So that's number one. 133 00:08:03,930 --> 00:08:08,707 The second one is, and this is a major reason that people don't hit their fitness 134 00:08:08,790 --> 00:08:12,030 goals. In fact, I would argue outside of not doing it. 135 00:08:12,270 --> 00:08:15,817 the number one mistake they make is progressive behavior. 136 00:08:15,900 --> 00:08:21,065 overload. So I'm going to walk you through exactly how much you should be increasing 137 00:08:21,149 --> 00:08:25,087 your sets and reps and weight, et cetera, per week, per month, etc. 138 00:08:25,170 --> 00:08:28,843 later. But that's the biggest thing. You have got to have some sort of overload. 139 00:08:28,927 --> 00:08:32,037 That's what's going to cause adaptation to continue to cause stress. 140 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:36,070 If you want to see these gains in strength and hypertrophy, you really need to. 141 00:08:36,420 --> 00:08:38,977 progressively overload. So that's concept number two. 142 00:08:39,060 --> 00:08:41,676 The third one here is going to be individualization. 143 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:45,103 And this is where we can get into things like personal preference, 144 00:08:45,186 --> 00:08:46,327 equipment availability, 145 00:08:46,410 --> 00:08:50,517 You have kettlebells or dumbbells or you only have bands or you have none of that. 146 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,838 These are all smaller details, but that's an important component. 147 00:08:53,922 --> 00:08:56,170 The last one I really want to get into is... 148 00:08:56,430 --> 00:08:59,847 picking the appropriate target, and you run some testing and figure out where 149 00:08:59,930 --> 00:09:03,710 your biggest limitations are, that's going to help you identify where you need to go. 150 00:09:03,794 --> 00:09:05,377 So if you can do all those things... 151 00:09:05,460 --> 00:09:07,117 You're going to be in a good spot. 152 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:09,220 to balance specificity. 153 00:09:09,870 --> 00:09:15,217 and variation. So if you want to make sure you grow your biceps, 154 00:09:15,300 --> 00:09:18,617 you better make sure your biceps are working. Having said that, 155 00:09:18,701 --> 00:09:22,504 if you over-rely on specificity, you're going to increase the likelihood 156 00:09:22,587 --> 00:09:26,420 of overuse injuries, which is going to come back and actually hamper... 157 00:09:26,550 --> 00:09:30,233 consistency over time. So this is when hedging towards specificity is important, 158 00:09:30,317 --> 00:09:33,427 but too much can cause a problem. If you go the other direction, 159 00:09:33,510 --> 00:09:35,370 and you go too much variation. 160 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:39,015 So imagine you're just sort of doing all kinds of different exercises every time 161 00:09:39,098 --> 00:09:39,847 you work out. 162 00:09:39,930 --> 00:09:43,013 That's actually not enough stimuli directly on the muscle or muscle groups 163 00:09:43,097 --> 00:09:46,197 or movement pattern if you're wanting to learn a new movement. 164 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:50,690 to get you very far. And so this is a classic problem of I'm doing a lot of work 165 00:09:50,773 --> 00:09:52,880 but I don't have a very clear direction. 166 00:09:53,130 --> 00:09:57,250 I lack specificity, so I'm working, but I'm not seeing a lot of improvements. 167 00:09:58,320 --> 00:09:59,927 in the business world, etc. 168 00:10:00,010 --> 00:10:02,897 Like doing a whole bunch of different things means you get nothing really. 169 00:10:02,980 --> 00:10:07,409 done those the concepts we absolutely have to hit the methods that we choose run 170 00:10:07,493 --> 00:10:12,092 across a handful of variables and we call these things modifiable variables because 171 00:10:12,175 --> 00:10:16,180 as you modify them or you make different choices within these variables 172 00:10:16,510 --> 00:10:19,102 you get different outcomes or adaptations. 173 00:10:19,185 --> 00:10:22,370 So the way that I like to say this is exercises... 174 00:10:22,570 --> 00:10:24,370 do not determine adaptation. 175 00:10:25,270 --> 00:10:28,284 So you can't simply go, I want to get stronger. Therefore, 176 00:10:28,367 --> 00:10:30,290 I'm going to choose these exercises. 177 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:35,260 That's not how it works. What determines adaptation is the execution. 178 00:10:36,190 --> 00:10:38,969 of the exercises. So a deadlift is my favorite example. 179 00:10:39,052 --> 00:10:43,339 A deadlift is a common example that people think of when they want to choose a lower 180 00:10:43,423 --> 00:10:47,346 body strength exercise. But a deadlift will not increase your strength unless 181 00:10:47,429 --> 00:10:48,470 you're executing it. 182 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:52,067 in the proper fashion. I'm not only talking about technique here. 183 00:10:52,150 --> 00:10:54,400 I'm talking about these modifiable variables. 184 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:59,316 The same thing for power exercises. We'll commonly see mistakes of doing activities 185 00:10:59,399 --> 00:11:03,936 like a box jump. which is great. People think, oh, I'm going to improve my power, 186 00:11:04,020 --> 00:11:07,740 which we know is extremely highly correlated to activities of daily living 187 00:11:07,823 --> 00:11:11,730 and particularly living unassisted as you age, right, is reduction in power. 188 00:11:12,340 --> 00:11:14,193 So they'll do an activity like a box jump. 189 00:11:14,276 --> 00:11:17,098 What they're failing to realize is unless you do it powerfully, 190 00:11:17,181 --> 00:11:20,786 you won't actually increase power. So the way that we manipulate these variables 191 00:11:20,869 --> 00:11:22,450 is... everything 192 00:11:22,750 --> 00:11:27,281 to determining the adaptation you get or again don't get. So that being said, 193 00:11:27,364 --> 00:11:30,397 let's jump right into speed and power. At the onset, 194 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:34,651 there's this three to five concept. I didn't develop the three to five. 195 00:11:34,734 --> 00:11:38,030 It's just an easy way to help you remember one concept. 196 00:11:38,470 --> 00:11:41,990 that will run true across all these things. So three to five refers to 197 00:11:42,100 --> 00:11:45,360 three to five days per week pick three to five exercises 198 00:11:45,610 --> 00:11:48,510 and you're going to do three to five repetitions per set. 199 00:11:48,910 --> 00:11:54,770 You'll do three to five sets, and you'll rest three to five minutes between each 200 00:11:54,853 --> 00:11:57,750 set. If you do that, and you execute... 201 00:11:57,970 --> 00:12:01,570 any of the exercises that you choose at a high intent. 202 00:12:01,930 --> 00:12:03,437 And that part is critical. 203 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:08,242 So if you land on that that allows you to run the gamut from as little as three days 204 00:12:08,325 --> 00:12:12,400 a week to You're doing three exercises. You can do three sets of three. 205 00:12:12,550 --> 00:12:17,570 which is a very, very low volume. It's a very low amount of days. 206 00:12:17,980 --> 00:12:22,219 Easy to handle. All the way to five sets of five of five exercises five days 207 00:12:22,302 --> 00:12:23,135 a week. 208 00:12:24,370 --> 00:12:28,493 Again, it's just one sample that's something easy to remember and is quite 209 00:12:28,577 --> 00:12:33,155 effective for a very long time. And this has been tested quite extensively in both 210 00:12:33,238 --> 00:12:37,418 the coaching realms as well as the scientific realms to be quite productive 211 00:12:37,501 --> 00:12:39,150 and easy to follow and grasp. 212 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:43,260 If you do that, all you need to do is slightly increase the load. 213 00:12:43,990 --> 00:12:46,599 or the volume, but mostly the load over time. 214 00:12:46,683 --> 00:12:51,410 And the number we want to look for there is something like a 3% to 5% increase. 215 00:12:52,030 --> 00:12:55,450 per week. When you say three to five, 216 00:12:56,170 --> 00:12:58,593 That's three to five work sets, correct? - Yep. 217 00:12:58,677 --> 00:13:01,130 - Is there a way that you could lay out for us 218 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,500 repetition cadences for people. 219 00:13:05,950 --> 00:13:07,397 strengths specifically. 220 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:12,146 versus hypertrophy specifically, and then migrate toward the middle in terms of rep 221 00:13:12,229 --> 00:13:15,720 cadences that would satisfy the desire to have a bit of both. 222 00:13:17,260 --> 00:13:18,947 When you're talking about strength, 223 00:13:19,030 --> 00:13:21,970 Versus hypertrophy. Remember, strength is movement. 224 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:24,100 Hypertrophy is muscle size. 225 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:28,423 That's the key to your answer here. So when you're trying to get stronger, 226 00:13:28,507 --> 00:13:32,344 what you're effectively trying to do is get better at producing a certain amount 227 00:13:32,428 --> 00:13:33,828 of force through a movement. 228 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:38,100 is mass times acceleration. 229 00:13:38,560 --> 00:13:42,880 So what's the mass in the bar multiplied by how well I can accelerate it? 230 00:13:43,060 --> 00:13:45,240 intentionally going slower. 231 00:13:46,390 --> 00:13:48,430 is only reducing acceleration. 232 00:13:49,690 --> 00:13:54,330 Right? So, It's hard to argue that going slower... 233 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:56,800 is going to improve strength. 234 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:01,060 because you're simply reducing acceleration. So you need to practice... 235 00:14:01,390 --> 00:14:05,970 lifting heavier at a faster rate. Hypertrophy is not that. 236 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:08,834 The goal here is not a functional outcome. 237 00:14:08,918 --> 00:14:12,400 It is what is needed to cause the most amount of hypertrophy. 238 00:14:13,030 --> 00:14:17,430 and when you get to hypertrophy then your optimal cadence is up to you. 239 00:14:18,010 --> 00:14:21,661 You can do any combination. In fact, you could do it the same exact cadence 240 00:14:21,744 --> 00:14:25,244 that you did your strength training with and get the same adaptations. 241 00:14:25,930 --> 00:14:29,290 as a tree if you modify the other variables appropriately. 242 00:14:29,380 --> 00:14:32,184 As long as you hit the concepts I talked about earlier, 243 00:14:32,268 --> 00:14:35,019 whether you want to do 3-1-1, 3-2-3, 3-3-3, triphasic, 244 00:14:35,103 --> 00:14:38,620 this is just a method choice. That doesn't mean they're irrelevant. 245 00:14:39,460 --> 00:14:43,001 there are subtle changes within them. It's just 80-20 rule, right? 246 00:14:43,084 --> 00:14:47,339 So 80% of the benefit is going to be from the concept. 20% is this small thing. 247 00:14:47,423 --> 00:14:51,429 If you're super into this field, or you actually want to work with a qualified, 248 00:14:51,512 --> 00:14:54,750 certified coach or something, there's lots of reasons to play with this. 249 00:14:54,833 --> 00:14:57,583 If you're just on your own here and running this thing, 250 00:14:58,090 --> 00:15:01,621 311 is fine. 312, totally fine. Anything like that. 251 00:15:01,704 --> 00:15:07,090 You really just want to make sure that in the strength side of the equation, 252 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:11,140 You're under control and you can add enough load... 253 00:15:11,230 --> 00:15:14,950 to stimulate strength and not get hurt with an acute trauma. 254 00:15:15,100 --> 00:15:18,965 On the hypertrophy side, you're just wanting to load enough to where you can 255 00:15:19,049 --> 00:15:19,847 hit volume. 256 00:15:19,930 --> 00:15:23,850 Because you've got to put a lot on there. So if you want to go lighter, 257 00:15:23,934 --> 00:15:27,685 if you want to go slower, fine. If you go slower in your repetition, 258 00:15:27,768 --> 00:15:31,237 so maybe even like a five-second eccentric, a two-second pause, 259 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:35,861 a three-second rise, that's great. You can actually then stimulate the same amount 260 00:15:35,944 --> 00:15:38,690 of hypertrophy. and either do it with less weight, 261 00:15:39,220 --> 00:15:43,449 or do it with less repetitions. So it's a variable you can play with if you're like, 262 00:15:43,532 --> 00:15:44,365 hey... 263 00:15:44,500 --> 00:15:50,087 I don't have enough weights at my house or I only have a kettlebell or a dumbbell. 264 00:15:50,170 --> 00:15:52,007 How am I going to stimulate hypertrophy? 265 00:15:52,090 --> 00:15:54,403 Your only option is really doing more reps. Well, 266 00:15:54,486 --> 00:15:56,751 eventually that train runs pretty shallow. Okay, 267 00:15:56,834 --> 00:16:00,810 here's the thing you can play with. Maybe just add time under tension is what we're 268 00:16:00,893 --> 00:16:03,597 calling it, right? Just, you know, do slower repetitions, 269 00:16:03,681 --> 00:16:07,265 go longer ones and hold it. So it's a variable that we use to individualize 270 00:16:07,349 --> 00:16:11,276 programs rather than something that you should really be focused on as like a core 271 00:16:11,359 --> 00:16:14,601 aspect that's going to be driving whether or not your program works. 272 00:16:14,685 --> 00:16:17,635 It's just a tool we can play with in the what-if scenarios. 273 00:16:17,950 --> 00:16:19,750 So for the person starting out, 274 00:16:20,710 --> 00:16:24,789 Would you recommend they pick three to five exercises and stick with those so 275 00:16:24,873 --> 00:16:28,736 that they can get their skill and movement and positioning and breathing, 276 00:16:28,819 --> 00:16:32,899 all that really dialed in, and then start to experiment by varying one or two 277 00:16:32,982 --> 00:16:37,127 of those exercises over time? That's great. If you look at the conjugate model, 278 00:16:37,211 --> 00:16:39,737 so these are the strongest power lifters in the world. 279 00:16:39,820 --> 00:16:42,856 as a collective group that ever existed. What they're very good at is they keep 280 00:16:42,940 --> 00:16:44,890 almost the exact same weekly structure. 281 00:16:45,130 --> 00:16:49,339 but they make a very small change in exercise variation. So, for example, 282 00:16:49,422 --> 00:16:53,195 say Wednesday is bench day. They're going to always bench on Wednesdays, 283 00:16:53,278 --> 00:16:55,697 but maybe this week they're going to do close grip bench. 284 00:16:55,780 --> 00:16:58,907 And then maybe next week it's going to be maybe a special type of barbell. 285 00:16:58,990 --> 00:17:01,386 And then maybe the week after that, they'll change the range of motion 286 00:17:01,470 --> 00:17:02,027 a little bit. 287 00:17:02,110 --> 00:17:05,429 So, it's actually the exact same exercise where they're making a very small 288 00:17:05,513 --> 00:17:09,063 variation. And that change alone, allows them to do enough specificity. 289 00:17:09,490 --> 00:17:12,853 but also gives them enough variation to where it's not the exact same stimuli 290 00:17:12,937 --> 00:17:14,337 in the exact same spot over. 291 00:17:14,500 --> 00:17:19,280 and over and over and that's what allows that group to train very very very heavy 292 00:17:19,690 --> 00:17:23,760 very consistently and not have to worry about too much planning for periodization 293 00:17:23,843 --> 00:17:27,707 and other stuff like that. They get their back off by making small variations 294 00:17:27,791 --> 00:17:28,970 in exercise. I will say 295 00:17:29,710 --> 00:17:33,664 A major mistake folks do make is they change your exercises entirely way too 296 00:17:33,748 --> 00:17:36,320 often. If I were to have to pick one or the other, 297 00:17:36,404 --> 00:17:39,910 I would say don't change anything in your exercises for six weeks. 298 00:17:40,420 --> 00:17:42,347 probably realistic, maybe even 10. 299 00:17:42,430 --> 00:17:44,797 the 12 weeks. And then you can make some changes. 300 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:46,630 It's going to take you three weeks. 301 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:48,844 generally to figure out the groove of the exercise, 302 00:17:48,928 --> 00:17:51,955 to figure out how well you can load it. What's too much to where you woke up 303 00:17:52,039 --> 00:17:54,739 unbelievably sore? That was a train wreck. How much do I load it at? 304 00:17:54,822 --> 00:17:56,622 What position? How long is this going to take? 305 00:17:56,705 --> 00:18:00,227 It's going to take you three or so weeks. And then you can really start pushing. 306 00:18:00,310 --> 00:18:02,528 there. So changing it before that or in that timeframe is, 307 00:18:02,611 --> 00:18:05,543 is you're not going to be able to progressively overload because you're just 308 00:18:05,626 --> 00:18:08,043 not going to know exactly where you're at on all the exercises. 309 00:18:08,126 --> 00:18:10,487 So it's very important to create standardization. 310 00:18:10,570 --> 00:18:13,940 within them, and then see some progress in a movement or a muscle group, 311 00:18:14,023 --> 00:18:15,323 whatever you're going for. 312 00:18:15,940 --> 00:18:17,290 and then make some changes. 313 00:18:17,410 --> 00:18:21,370 So before we dive into our discussion about hypertrophy, 314 00:18:21,700 --> 00:18:26,860 Can we just get a brief recap of the general parameters for an excellent 315 00:18:27,190 --> 00:18:30,887 power and strength training program. Okay, let me hit you with these rapid fire. 316 00:18:30,970 --> 00:18:33,531 And then you can maybe come ask questions along that. 317 00:18:33,614 --> 00:18:35,357 Remember those modifiable variables. 318 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:39,249 So let's go through them in order and then what they mean specifically for power 319 00:18:39,332 --> 00:18:42,732 versus strength. So modifiable variable number one is called choice. 320 00:18:42,910 --> 00:18:47,190 So which exercises do I select for strength? In general for power, 321 00:18:47,290 --> 00:18:50,271 or speed, or strength. We want to select compound movements. 322 00:18:50,355 --> 00:18:53,796 What I mean by that is when we think about, again, strength training, 323 00:18:53,879 --> 00:18:57,250 we tend to think about bodybuilding concepts. We go to the gym and 324 00:18:57,460 --> 00:18:59,921 Things like, I gotta make sure I get my chest today, 325 00:19:00,005 --> 00:19:01,997 and I gotta make sure I get my hamstrings, 326 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,403 Now you're selecting exercises based on a muscle you want to work. 327 00:19:05,486 --> 00:19:09,531 For strength development and power, we want to think about movements rather than 328 00:19:09,614 --> 00:19:12,472 individual muscle groups. So there should be things like, 329 00:19:12,556 --> 00:19:14,620 I need to train explosive hip extension. 330 00:19:15,100 --> 00:19:18,199 which is like a vertical jump or something like that. 331 00:19:18,283 --> 00:19:22,463 I want to train pushing or pulling movements. I want to train rotation, 332 00:19:22,547 --> 00:19:25,166 which is a whole area we haven't gotten into, 333 00:19:25,249 --> 00:19:29,129 which is very important for overall health and wellness longevity. 334 00:19:29,212 --> 00:19:32,072 So we want to select big movements by the muscle, 335 00:19:32,155 --> 00:19:34,954 the movement patterns that we want to introduce. 336 00:19:35,037 --> 00:19:37,920 And we just want to select a reasonable balance. 337 00:19:38,410 --> 00:19:41,193 between these. I don't care what the exact ratio is. 338 00:19:41,276 --> 00:19:45,161 You just don't want to go an entire six months without doing anything in 339 00:19:45,245 --> 00:19:47,586 this rotational area or an entire, you know, 340 00:19:47,670 --> 00:19:51,720 eight to 10 weeks without doing something that's a lower body hinge, right? 341 00:19:51,804 --> 00:19:56,185 So any number of examples there. So just think about the rough movement patterns, 342 00:19:56,268 --> 00:19:59,937 upper and lower. and then some sort of a 343 00:20:00,020 --> 00:20:03,657 rotation that puts you in a pretty good spot if you're using three by five 344 00:20:03,740 --> 00:20:06,403 method and you're going to pick as little as three exercises, 345 00:20:06,487 --> 00:20:09,600 just pick one from each one of those groups. So that's exercise choice, 346 00:20:09,684 --> 00:20:12,234 our first variable. The next one is exercise order. 347 00:20:12,510 --> 00:20:16,070 So because that everything driving power and strength... 348 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:20,616 is quality-based. You want to do these at the beginning of your workout. 349 00:20:20,699 --> 00:20:22,880 You would not want to do anything fatiguing 350 00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:28,839 before this so no cardiovascular training no other repetition of failure stuff if 351 00:20:28,923 --> 00:20:31,860 you do those before and now you're slower 352 00:20:32,210 --> 00:20:33,932 All you've done is practice getting slower. 353 00:20:34,015 --> 00:20:36,997 You also need to do them when you're very fresh because they are the most 354 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:38,307 neurologically demanding. 355 00:20:38,390 --> 00:20:41,437 they're complicated. They tend to have multiple steps and they're often 356 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:43,950 in multiple planes and coordination is a difficult thing. 357 00:20:44,033 --> 00:20:46,437 And if you're trying to do all that at maximum speed, 358 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:48,722 your nervous system needs to be tremendously fresh. 359 00:20:48,805 --> 00:20:51,858 And so any amount of fatigue here is only going to compromise results. 360 00:20:51,942 --> 00:20:55,488 The next one after that is volume. The general number we're going to look at here 361 00:20:55,571 --> 00:20:57,117 is something like 3 to 20 sets. 362 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,020 Total per workout. Per workout. 363 00:20:59,420 --> 00:21:01,557 But that would be, like 20 would be... 364 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,186 a little bit of a special case. The last one is frequency. 365 00:21:04,269 --> 00:21:07,677 And we've already sort of indirectly talked about that where frequency can be 366 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:10,895 as high as you'd like in this area. It really depends on your recovery. 367 00:21:10,979 --> 00:21:13,429 If you're really, truly pushing maximum strength, 368 00:21:13,610 --> 00:21:15,820 you probably do need a few days to recover. 369 00:21:15,903 --> 00:21:17,930 Last little piece here is progression. 370 00:21:18,050 --> 00:21:19,650 How do I progress over time? 371 00:21:20,150 --> 00:21:23,188 So I mentioned this earlier, but just wanted to fill this gap right back 372 00:21:23,272 --> 00:21:26,097 in before we head over to hypertrophy, which is 3% to 5% percent. 373 00:21:26,180 --> 00:21:28,779 increase per week of intensity in general. 374 00:21:28,862 --> 00:21:33,441 And you can do upwards of about 5% increase in volume per week over time. 375 00:21:33,525 --> 00:21:37,740 And I generally recommend running that for at longest eight weeks. 376 00:21:38,270 --> 00:21:42,799 But probably most realistically, you want to go about five weeks or so and then have 377 00:21:42,882 --> 00:21:44,090 some sort of a deload. 378 00:21:44,540 --> 00:21:48,613 or back off week. If you do that, you're generally going to be in a pretty good 379 00:21:48,697 --> 00:21:52,380 spot. One last little thing I don't think we did justice is intention. 380 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,667 And the reason I want to go back to this now is because... 381 00:21:56,750 --> 00:21:59,690 We've talked a lot about specific loads you have to hit. 382 00:22:00,410 --> 00:22:01,970 And that's generally the case. 383 00:22:02,060 --> 00:22:06,118 But if intention is there, you can fudge those numbers in terms of how much load 384 00:22:06,201 --> 00:22:09,100 goes on the bar. In fact, you can get as low as no load. 385 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:13,107 on the bar. A great example here is like a plank exercise. 386 00:22:13,190 --> 00:22:17,007 So you can do a plank in which you get in a position and you simply contract. 387 00:22:17,090 --> 00:22:18,510 The least amount necessary. 388 00:22:19,220 --> 00:22:20,270 to hold the position. 389 00:22:20,870 --> 00:22:23,939 Thank you. Also, you could contract as hard as possible, 390 00:22:24,022 --> 00:22:27,078 pulling your scapula down and back, squeezing your core, 391 00:22:27,161 --> 00:22:29,544 squeezing your quads, squeezing your glutes. 392 00:22:29,628 --> 00:22:33,524 That is actually going to still help strength production because you're 393 00:22:33,607 --> 00:22:37,280 attempting to contract very, very hard, even though, quote unquote, 394 00:22:37,363 --> 00:22:38,540 the load is the same. 395 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:44,147 That thing extends to weight on the bar. So you could theoretically see large 396 00:22:44,230 --> 00:22:46,400 improvements in strength at the 397 00:22:46,730 --> 00:22:51,350 50% of your one at max if you're contracting as hard as possible. 398 00:22:51,620 --> 00:22:54,566 I'd like to take a quick break and acknowledge our sponsor, 399 00:22:54,649 --> 00:22:58,879 BetterHelp. 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With BetterHelp, they make it extremely easy to find an expert 409 00:23:30,825 --> 00:23:34,905 therapist who can help provide the benefits that come through effective 410 00:23:34,988 --> 00:23:39,537 therapy. BetterHelp has an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 for its live sessions 411 00:23:39,620 --> 00:23:44,110 based on over 1.7 million client reviews. If you would like to try BetterHelp, 412 00:23:44,193 --> 00:23:48,507 go to betterhelp.com slash Huberman to get 10% off your first month. Again, 413 00:23:48,591 --> 00:23:50,760 that's betterhelp.com slash Huberman. 414 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:56,156 Okay, let's talk about hypertrophy. What are the ways that people can induce 415 00:23:56,239 --> 00:24:00,712 hypertrophy? Probably a better way to think about that question is really, 416 00:24:00,796 --> 00:24:03,320 what stimuli do I need to give the muscle 417 00:24:03,410 --> 00:24:07,504 to induce hypertrophy. Now, there are hormonal factors that are important. 418 00:24:07,587 --> 00:24:11,990 There are nutritional factors. But just to stick with the context of training. 419 00:24:12,380 --> 00:24:16,267 This is really going to frame a lot of our answers, and as you'll see, 420 00:24:16,350 --> 00:24:20,660 it's one of the reasons why I call hypertrophy training kind of idiot-proof. 421 00:24:20,870 --> 00:24:23,530 In terms of programming. Now, the work is hard. 422 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:30,460 Difficult and all that. But the precision needed is a lot less than what we saw 423 00:24:30,544 --> 00:24:31,257 in power. 424 00:24:31,340 --> 00:24:35,075 and strength. And so if you note there, like it's very important that you do it 425 00:24:35,158 --> 00:24:38,942 in this style with this intent and within these parameters and if you're outside 426 00:24:39,025 --> 00:24:41,727 of these parameters, it's not going to be it. Hypertrophy 427 00:24:41,810 --> 00:24:45,853 has a very broad range in terms of your actual applications. 428 00:24:45,937 --> 00:24:51,370 And this is why you have and will continue to see countless styles of training. 429 00:24:51,830 --> 00:24:52,737 That'll work. 430 00:24:52,820 --> 00:24:57,500 So if we look at like the classic dogma, we have to basically challenge the muscle 431 00:24:57,583 --> 00:25:00,753 to need to come back, in this case, specifically bigger, 432 00:25:00,837 --> 00:25:04,123 and the nutrients need to be there to support that growth. 433 00:25:04,206 --> 00:25:06,820 So all you have to do there to not fail is... 434 00:25:07,010 --> 00:25:09,027 is to make sure the training is hard enough. 435 00:25:09,110 --> 00:25:12,831 And it's going to work. The only wrong combination here is infrequent and low 436 00:25:12,915 --> 00:25:14,165 intensity and low volume. 437 00:25:14,420 --> 00:25:17,498 That's it. As long as one of those three variables is high, 438 00:25:17,581 --> 00:25:20,819 you're going to get there, which is why crafting your program, 439 00:25:20,903 --> 00:25:24,998 which is best for you, is actually fairly simple when it comes to hypertrophy. 440 00:25:25,082 --> 00:25:27,302 You just have to make sure you do the work. 441 00:25:27,385 --> 00:25:31,749 I actually think that it's important that you do some number of combination of what 442 00:25:31,832 --> 00:25:33,600 we call bilateral and unilateral. 443 00:25:35,230 --> 00:25:39,762 So bilateral being, think about it like a squat, where bi meaning two, lateral, 444 00:25:39,845 --> 00:25:44,143 you have two feet on the ground moving in sequence here. Unilateral is one. 445 00:25:44,227 --> 00:25:48,408 So this could be something as simple as a rear foot elevated split squat. 446 00:25:48,491 --> 00:25:51,563 It could be a single leg leg press or single leg curl. 447 00:25:51,646 --> 00:25:56,061 It could be a pistol squat, something where the individual limb is moving one 448 00:25:56,144 --> 00:25:58,890 at a time. Also very important for making sure, 449 00:25:59,450 --> 00:26:03,236 For hypertrophy's sake, you're not getting any imbalances as you progress, 450 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:05,746 especially through months and years of training. 451 00:26:05,830 --> 00:26:08,675 So make sure you're doing a little bit of a combination. 452 00:26:08,758 --> 00:26:11,028 Whether you want to pick specific implements, 453 00:26:11,111 --> 00:26:14,113 that's really a methods question and a preference question, 454 00:26:14,196 --> 00:26:17,826 and then it is concepts. So dumbbell, great. Kettlebell, fine. Barbell, 455 00:26:17,909 --> 00:26:20,074 awesome. Band, doesn't matter. Body weight. 456 00:26:20,158 --> 00:26:24,206 None of these things are as important because all you're trying to do is create 457 00:26:24,289 --> 00:26:25,910 a certain insult in the tissue, 458 00:26:29,450 --> 00:26:31,490 because of the way that 459 00:26:31,580 --> 00:26:35,738 people move differently, their anthropometrics and their biomechanics 460 00:26:35,822 --> 00:26:41,050 and even their technique. The same exact exercise is, will not necessarily... 461 00:26:41,270 --> 00:26:43,799 work the same exact muscle groups for multiple people. 462 00:26:43,882 --> 00:26:46,073 So if you and I both went and did a back squat, 463 00:26:46,156 --> 00:26:49,106 if you did it a little bit more of what we call a high bar, 464 00:26:49,430 --> 00:26:52,505 Squat, so this is the bar is literally sitting up higher up on your neck. 465 00:26:52,589 --> 00:26:53,877 You're keeping your back tight. 466 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:58,633 more vertical and because in order to do that you shift your knees much further 467 00:26:58,717 --> 00:27:03,450 past your toes keeping of course your whole foot on the ground in good position. 468 00:27:03,533 --> 00:27:07,680 Okay, that's going to generally put more of an emphasis on the knee joint. 469 00:27:08,180 --> 00:27:12,569 And so that's not a bad thing. You tend to see a little bit more work in the quads 470 00:27:12,652 --> 00:27:16,714 there, a little bit less work in the spinal erectors and back because you're 471 00:27:16,797 --> 00:27:19,332 actually not supporting the weight horizontally, 472 00:27:19,415 --> 00:27:22,960 which is a much more difficult position. It's vertically stacked. 473 00:27:38,180 --> 00:27:41,788 if you take the midline of your body, the thing that moves the farthest away 474 00:27:41,871 --> 00:27:45,421 from that midline is likely to be the thing that's activating the most. 475 00:27:45,980 --> 00:27:50,039 So in the case of the front squat, you're not generally going to be using 476 00:27:50,122 --> 00:27:52,860 your glutes as much If you're in that, or not even front squat, 477 00:27:52,944 --> 00:27:54,889 just that high bar squat where you're very, very vertical, 478 00:27:54,972 --> 00:27:58,317 your knees are going to be moving very far over your toes, which is fantastic. 479 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,345 Therefore, it's a little bit more knee dominant, that's how we say it. 480 00:28:01,428 --> 00:28:04,502 The other version here, you can keep your shins really close to vertical. 481 00:28:04,586 --> 00:28:06,036 You move your butt backwards. 482 00:28:06,170 --> 00:28:09,106 You're going to have to then lean forward with your torso, 483 00:28:09,190 --> 00:28:13,063 which means it'll be more low back, more glutes, and a little bit less knee. 484 00:28:13,147 --> 00:28:16,500 Now, that's a general statement. It's not necessarily always true. 485 00:28:16,583 --> 00:28:20,457 But as a guideline there, that is one exact exercise where you may be going, 486 00:28:20,540 --> 00:28:23,893 man, I'm trying to improve this clear weakness I have in my quads. 487 00:28:23,976 --> 00:28:27,954 I can't even leg extension my body weight. I have a significant problem there. 488 00:28:28,037 --> 00:28:28,587 So maybe... 489 00:28:28,670 --> 00:28:31,971 In your particular case, if I'm hammering you or you're hammering yourself in 490 00:28:32,055 --> 00:28:35,488 a squat exercise and you're wondering why your quads aren't getting any stronger 491 00:28:35,571 --> 00:28:37,071 or aren't growing in any size, 492 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,638 It may be because of the style of the movement. So I may need to go, Andrew, 493 00:28:40,721 --> 00:28:42,860 all right, look. squats 494 00:28:43,190 --> 00:28:46,512 in general, if you look at the research, are an excellent exercise for quad 495 00:28:46,595 --> 00:28:49,916 development. But for you, they're not. Because of the way you stand or just 496 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:50,833 because of... 497 00:28:50,930 --> 00:28:54,838 neural activation, it doesn't matter. So I need to take you to a machine and isolate 498 00:28:54,921 --> 00:28:58,171 that muscle group so we can make sure we see development in that. 499 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:02,251 So if you're trying to grow a specific body part, area, individual muscle, 500 00:29:02,334 --> 00:29:05,702 it's very important that you're actually seeing progress there. 501 00:29:05,785 --> 00:29:07,100 And don't worry about... 502 00:29:07,370 --> 00:29:10,797 Well, in the textbook, the bench press is supposed to be good for your pec. 503 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:14,513 Because if you're not actually moving in the right position or it depends on 504 00:29:14,597 --> 00:29:17,398 the angle in which your sternum actually sits in your body, 505 00:29:17,482 --> 00:29:20,382 a bench press may actually be doing very little for your pec. 506 00:29:20,465 --> 00:29:24,294 And you may need to adjust to, say, an incline bench or a decline bench or a pec 507 00:29:24,377 --> 00:29:27,766 fly. So machines can be fantastic at letting you isolate without having 508 00:29:27,849 --> 00:29:31,433 to worry about things like stability, your low back position, getting hurt, 509 00:29:31,517 --> 00:29:34,887 where's your neck at? You can really concentrate on just the movement. 510 00:29:34,970 --> 00:29:38,923 concentrate on the muscle and let everything else kind of go away and ensure 511 00:29:39,007 --> 00:29:41,450 you're getting training in that specific area. 512 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,275 What about exercise order? You get to play a couple of games here. 513 00:29:45,358 --> 00:29:49,806 When we talked about strength and power, I basically said stick to the big movements, 514 00:29:49,889 --> 00:29:53,780 most complicated and compound movements first. You don't have to do that. 515 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,716 with hypertrophy. You can do this in a couple of ways. 516 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:59,750 You can do the thing you're just simply most interested in, 517 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:04,273 You can do this thing called pre-fatigue. So say you're going to do a back day. 518 00:30:04,357 --> 00:30:07,764 You could go in and do nothing but isolated biceps as your very first 519 00:30:07,848 --> 00:30:11,508 exercise and then roll into your pulling movements because what you'll see 520 00:30:11,591 --> 00:30:15,556 is during most pulling activities, the biceps are a secondary or tertiary muscle 521 00:30:15,639 --> 00:30:19,299 group. But you've pre-fatigued them. You've guaranteed that muscle of most 522 00:30:19,383 --> 00:30:22,790 interest, got its most training in, and everything else is secondary. 523 00:30:22,874 --> 00:30:25,674 So you can start if you want with single joint movements. 524 00:30:25,757 --> 00:30:29,400 You can start with isolation stuff or you can start with compound stuff. 525 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:32,947 comes down to preference and what you're specifically looking 526 00:30:33,030 --> 00:30:36,844 trying to develop. Now, this also goes back to the exercise choice question, 527 00:30:36,927 --> 00:30:39,716 right? Because it's sort of the same thing, right? Like, 528 00:30:39,799 --> 00:30:41,030 which one am I choosing? 529 00:30:41,940 --> 00:30:45,660 And where I wanted it to cap this was the exercise splits. 530 00:30:46,290 --> 00:30:49,093 And so we just sort of talked about, am I doing body part splits? 531 00:30:49,176 --> 00:30:51,224 And I know a question I get a lot here is, well, 532 00:30:51,307 --> 00:30:52,957 which ones should I package together? 533 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:54,967 I'm not really concerned with it. 534 00:30:55,050 --> 00:30:58,877 All you should worry about is how many times per week and, in fact, 535 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,470 total volume you achieve on a muscle group. 536 00:31:01,950 --> 00:31:06,137 And it doesn't really matter how those things are folded in. 537 00:31:06,221 --> 00:31:11,689 It's really a personal preference issue. One mistake that we see here commonly 538 00:31:11,772 --> 00:31:16,470 is grossly underappreciating that the legs are not a muscle group. 539 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:20,867 So the legs have a whole bunch of muscle groups in them. 540 00:31:20,951 --> 00:31:25,560 So we see a classic split like I'll do shoulders and chest Monday. 541 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:32,240 and then I'll do, you know, Biceps and forearms Tuesday. And then legs Wednesday. 542 00:31:33,060 --> 00:31:36,372 or whatever, and then back to upper body. And you're like, wait a minute. 543 00:31:36,455 --> 00:31:39,999 You have four days dedicated to the upper body and one for quote-unquote legs. 544 00:31:40,083 --> 00:31:43,906 Hopefully you can see the imbalance that's going to happen over time is you're going 545 00:31:43,989 --> 00:31:47,534 to do far more upper body than you are lower body, and that's not appropriate. 546 00:31:47,617 --> 00:31:50,617 So you just want to think about your lower body like you would do 547 00:31:50,700 --> 00:31:54,085 If you're going to do body part splits, then include those things as well, 548 00:31:54,169 --> 00:31:56,664 and don't just chunk everything in as legs once a week. 549 00:31:56,747 --> 00:32:00,132 If you want to do that, that's actually okay, but that day has to be very, 550 00:32:00,216 --> 00:32:03,882 very challenging, and you probably should do quite a bit of volume there because 551 00:32:03,966 --> 00:32:07,297 you're almost surely not going to hit the total weekly volume needed. 552 00:32:07,380 --> 00:32:10,831 to optimize muscle growth if you're literally only doing once a week of 553 00:32:10,914 --> 00:32:15,878 your quote-unquote. Legs. Along those lines, let's talk volume. Yep. 554 00:32:15,961 --> 00:32:22,177 How much volume does each muscle group need per week in order to generate volume? 555 00:32:22,260 --> 00:32:24,723 and for that matter, maintain hypertrophy. Right. 556 00:32:24,806 --> 00:32:28,860 So the kind of minimum number we're going to look for here is 10 working sets. 557 00:32:29,370 --> 00:32:33,336 per week correct per muscle group correct so 10 would be sort of the minimum number 558 00:32:33,419 --> 00:32:36,995 you want to get to the more realistic number that most people especially if 559 00:32:37,078 --> 00:32:41,180 you're advanced or even intermediate, is more like 15 to 20 560 00:32:41,370 --> 00:32:45,658 working sets per week. Now if you're very well trained you probably want to even 561 00:32:45,742 --> 00:32:48,277 push more towards like 25 and in fact past that 562 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:52,500 There's not a lot of research. If you went in and you did three sets of ten, 563 00:32:53,010 --> 00:32:55,190 Three sets of ten repetitions. Correct. 564 00:32:56,130 --> 00:32:58,830 You already got three. You did that three days a week. 565 00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:02,662 you're at your nine. That's almost ten. If you also just went to the gym one day 566 00:33:02,745 --> 00:33:05,930 a week, you did three sets of ten, and you did three exercises. 567 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:09,734 You're at nine working sets. You're basically done. 568 00:33:09,817 --> 00:33:12,257 So achieving 10 sets per week per muscle group, 569 00:33:12,340 --> 00:33:16,121 and now we're not even talking about indirect activation of a secondary. 570 00:33:16,204 --> 00:33:17,600 So you're going to hit 10. 571 00:33:18,060 --> 00:33:22,200 fairly easy. Extension to that, hitting 20 is actually still not that hard. 572 00:33:22,290 --> 00:33:24,810 However, if you're not seeing adaptations... 573 00:33:25,020 --> 00:33:27,157 then I'd say maybe the repetitions aren't enough. 574 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:30,590 So if you're gonna do a set of 25 and you finish it and you're like 575 00:33:30,870 --> 00:33:33,487 Ooh, yeah, like that was kind of starting to get hard at the end. 576 00:33:33,570 --> 00:33:36,678 That's not going to be enough. If you're going to do a set of five or six and 577 00:33:36,762 --> 00:33:38,834 the same sort of expression comes out of your mouth, 578 00:33:38,917 --> 00:33:42,117 it's not going to be enough. So in that case, it doesn't matter. 579 00:33:42,330 --> 00:33:45,691 your uprange if you're not getting somewhat close to failure. Again, 580 00:33:45,774 --> 00:33:49,844 it doesn't need to be complete failure. A good number to think about is like minus 581 00:33:49,927 --> 00:33:50,467 two. 582 00:33:50,550 --> 00:33:54,541 which is what we call reps and reserve, which is sort of like I got within two 583 00:33:54,625 --> 00:33:58,616 or so reps of failure and then I stopped. You have a lot of room to play here. 584 00:33:58,699 --> 00:34:02,273 You also have a lot of room to adapt based on your circumstances. God, 585 00:34:02,356 --> 00:34:03,610 I'm short on time today. 586 00:34:04,110 --> 00:34:07,235 Typically, my workout takes me 60 minutes for this plan I have. 587 00:34:07,319 --> 00:34:11,404 I've only got 35 today. What do I do? If you're training for hypertrophy, 588 00:34:11,487 --> 00:34:15,215 you need to make sure you hit that total volume. So in this particular case, 589 00:34:15,298 --> 00:34:18,337 lower the load. lower the rest intervals and just 590 00:34:18,420 --> 00:34:20,712 get to the burn and get going as much as you can. 591 00:34:20,796 --> 00:34:24,596 If you're training for strength, I would rather you cut your volume in half. 592 00:34:25,260 --> 00:34:29,110 Get those few repetitions done at that high load and just don't do very many. 593 00:34:29,340 --> 00:34:34,018 sets today. That's a better result. So the goal that you're going after is going 594 00:34:34,101 --> 00:34:36,660 to determine what we call chaos management. 595 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:40,575 which is that thing like that, running out of time today, my time is short, 596 00:34:40,659 --> 00:34:43,830 or you didn't even think my time was short, something got cut off, 597 00:34:43,914 --> 00:34:47,480 I'm not feeling it today, I'm in a hotel, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, 598 00:34:47,563 --> 00:34:51,524 which is life, right? That's going to be 10 to 50% of your workouts is going to be 599 00:34:51,607 --> 00:34:53,607 chaos management. I'd like to ask about, 600 00:34:54,180 --> 00:34:59,520 frequency, but I'd like to frame it a little bit differently than that. 601 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,075 I'd like to ask about total workout duration, 602 00:35:03,159 --> 00:35:05,860 which dovetails with frequency because – 603 00:35:06,150 --> 00:35:09,470 if one is hitting the appropriate number of sets per week, 604 00:35:10,500 --> 00:35:14,217 and one is combining different muscle groups on the same days, well, 605 00:35:14,300 --> 00:35:18,465 then workouts are going to be a very different duration than if one is doing 606 00:35:18,548 --> 00:35:20,979 a different body part each day, for instance. 607 00:35:21,063 --> 00:35:25,339 And so I feel like any discussion about frequency has to be within the context 608 00:35:25,422 --> 00:35:28,440 of workout duration and vice versa. Yeah. If you are a 609 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:32,757 A lifting junkie. and you're very consistent in your schedule. 610 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:35,490 I'm actually okay with body parts, but most people... 611 00:35:35,790 --> 00:35:40,315 Or not that. And so the concern there is if you say are isolating and waiting to do 612 00:35:40,399 --> 00:35:44,230 your glutes on one day of the week and something happens on that day. 613 00:35:45,180 --> 00:35:47,460 You might go another 13 days now. 614 00:35:47,700 --> 00:35:50,092 before training, you know, between workouts. 615 00:35:50,176 --> 00:35:54,706 And that's really difficult to maintain. The frequency won't be high enough unless 616 00:35:54,790 --> 00:35:58,026 the load and volume on that one day is astronomically high. 617 00:35:58,109 --> 00:36:01,852 It's just not going to happen. So while if you look at the research, 618 00:36:01,935 --> 00:36:06,185 frequency in terms of how many days per week doesn't matter that much as long 619 00:36:06,268 --> 00:36:08,800 as the total load and failure are equivalent. 620 00:36:09,300 --> 00:36:12,990 practically... It's a challenge. So 621 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,500 It's hard because life gets in the way for most people. 622 00:36:16,830 --> 00:36:19,928 Especially if you have kids and a job and all these things. 623 00:36:20,011 --> 00:36:24,270 So I actually prefer doing something more like three days a week of total body. 624 00:36:24,510 --> 00:36:26,617 And if something happens, you've just missed a... 625 00:36:26,700 --> 00:36:31,338 that body part for 48 hours, 72 hours. I like that a little better for most people, 626 00:36:31,422 --> 00:36:34,380 not because it's more effective, but just because... 627 00:36:34,470 --> 00:36:37,423 it's a little bit more resilient to life, and you can get there. 628 00:36:37,506 --> 00:36:40,222 If you wanted to actually do a little bit of a combination, 629 00:36:40,305 --> 00:36:43,780 so if you wanted to do like two days a week of whole body and then two days 630 00:36:43,863 --> 00:36:45,868 a week of a little bit of a body part split, 631 00:36:45,951 --> 00:36:48,762 then you're actually sort of hedging against all risks there, 632 00:36:48,845 --> 00:36:51,181 as long as you get to that total number there. Now, 633 00:36:51,264 --> 00:36:52,914 there is actually some evidence – 634 00:36:53,100 --> 00:36:55,657 in a couple of ways that maybe a little bit more frequently. 635 00:36:55,740 --> 00:36:59,533 is a little bit better. But the difficulty is now going back to the practicality 636 00:36:59,617 --> 00:37:03,555 question of like, how many people really can train just their strength training six 637 00:37:03,639 --> 00:37:07,268 days a week? That doesn't count any of their long duration stuff. 638 00:37:07,352 --> 00:37:10,295 It doesn't have their high heart rate, their flexibility. 639 00:37:10,379 --> 00:37:13,641 It's just really, really, really hard to get all that stuff in. 640 00:37:13,724 --> 00:37:17,017 So it tends to be easier on folks in terms of execution, right? 641 00:37:17,100 --> 00:37:23,780 and long-term adherence, in my opinion, to get that volume accomplished and – 642 00:37:23,970 --> 00:37:27,003 A little bit more frequent patterns, but not once a week. 643 00:37:27,086 --> 00:37:30,502 So I like to kind of have it right there for most people. Again, 644 00:37:30,585 --> 00:37:33,837 not because it is technically, quote-unquote, more effective, 645 00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:35,670 but because you're less likely – 646 00:37:35,820 --> 00:37:40,020 to fail to progress because of skipping a workout, something popping up. 647 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,427 Great. Well, thank you for that very informative answer. 648 00:37:43,510 --> 00:37:46,580 This was incredibly informative. Thank you so very much.