Fitness 101: Optimize your training program for fitness & longetivity – Andrew Huberman ft. Andy Galpin podcast notes

 

• • You can combine different exercise protocols to achieve multiple adaptations in parallel. 

• • Having a structured program is crucial to achieving your adaptation goals. It allows for incorporating progressive overload and rest intervals and it keeps you focused.

DESIGNING A TRAINING PROGRAM: The 10 steps approach

STEP 1: Define your goal

 

• • Identify your training goal and perform an assessment. If you have a clear goal in mind that’s great and if you don’t you can focus on your deficits.

• • Follow SMART goal setting.
    

     

    • • Specific (be as specific as possible): instead of saying I want to be stronger, put it like “I want to be able to squat my bodyweight or I want to be able to do x pullups”
    • • Measurable: make sure the goal has metrics you can measure
    • • Attainable (something within your control): The goal should be slightly lower than what might seem achievable to maintain motivation. 
    • • Realistic: think about 10% improvement
    • • Timely give yourself time constraints

 

• • Set intermediate goals
    

     

    • • Breaking down a long-term goal into smaller, manageable intermediate goals is effective. It can provide signals of progress and keep motivation 
    • • Setting flexible intermediate goals is important, to avoid tethering the dopamine system to exact numbers, especially for non-linear goals like fat loss.

• • Setting multiple goals
    

     

    • • Setting multiple goals may lead to collisions between them, so it’s crucial to consider the interference of goals within a training program.
    • • Speed, power, and strength are generally complementary and can be trained together.
    • • Hypertrophy and strength training are complementary at the base but may interfere as one progresses towards maximizing strength.
    • • Endurance training can improve speed, power, and strength, but adding strength training to endurance may not yield the same benefit.
    • • Fat loss goals have less interference with other goals and allow for more flexibility in training.
    • • Low-intensity activities that don’t impede recovery can be included as parallel goals.
    • • Exercise choice and volume play a role in determining compatibility between goals.
    • • Recovery optimization can compensate for potential interference between goals, allowing for continued training without reducing volume if other factors are improved.

STEP 2: Identify your defender

 

• • Pinpoint what may keep you from achieving your fitness goals and get acknowledge your life limitations.

• • You can use the quadrant system.  There are four parts of life to which we usually allocate our limited time and energy: business/work – relationships – fitness – recovery. You have 10 points in total how are you choosing to allocate them?
    You can be 3 points work, 2 points business, 3 points recovery, which leaves you with 2 points to give to fitness. 

• • Recovery should still be 20% of your quadrant and should be a minimum half of your fitness allocation. Recovery are not only your rest days but any activity that gives you energy back.

• • If you have a specific fitness goal to train for you need to re-arrange your points allocation for fitness and recovery. If it cannot be done then you need to alter the goal or the time limitation. 

• • If you feel like other quadrants are interfering you can use the “drop everything and “blank”” rule. Drop everything and train, drop everything and breath …. 

STEP 3:  Goal timeline

The third step in the process is to determine a realistic timeframe for achieving the goal. Consider your schedule, including important deadlines, holidays, trips, and other commitments. Plot out the goal on a calendar and take note of busy periods or important events. 

Ex: During festivities months, it’s unrealistic to set a fat loss goal. 

STEP 4:  Training frequency

Choose the number of days per week and the length of each training session that you can realistically commit to. It is important to be conservative and consider all the time required for warm-up, workout, cool-down, and post-workout activities. Avoid overestimating your training time and leave room for flexibility.

STEP 5: Exercise selection

 

• • Balance exercises across the whole week, not necessarily within every workout.

• • Always consider your goals and life limitations

• • It’s important to progressively overload using these

 

1. 1. Make sure you can do the exercise perfectly with assistance (like doing a squat holding on something)

1. 1. Make sure you can do the movement without assistance (air squat); 

1. 1. Assess whether you can do the movement well with added load in eccentric position (goblet or dumbbell squat); 

1. 1. Can you hold an eccentric position with a load while maintaining control (hold the bottom of the squat); 

1. 1. Add speed (if you want)

1. 1. Go to fatigue.

STEP 6: Progression strategy for exercises

 

• • You know your goals and your exercise selection now it’s time to order and prioritize them.

• • Always start with what’s most important first in a workout. Maybe you want to maximise a specific lift or a muscle group.

• • It’s usually recommended to put the hardest workout on Monday or after your rest day since the energy will drop throughout the week and it’ll be more challenging to do it by Friday.

• • Consistency in workouts is often more important than the intensity of individual sessions.

• • Incorporating social and family activities into training can make workouts more enjoyable and consistent.

STEP 7:  Intensity/Load and Step 8: Volume

 

• • 30 minutes of total zone 5 exercise per week positively impacts deep sleep as long as it’s done early in the day far apart from sleep time

• • Ideally, try to exercise 4 to 6 hours prior to sleep. If you can’t finish with downregulating breathing to slow the heart rate and get the body in a state of relaxation. 

• • Remember the adaptation you’re training for and pick the appropriate rep range, the total amount of sets, as well as the intensity to then get the corresponding adaptation

• • Consistency always beats intensity

• • To progressively overload you should have an increment of around 3% per week for intensity and 5% to 7% per week for volume

• • Progressive overload can come in the form of any modifiable variable: intensity, load, volume, time under tension, number of sessions per day, rest intervals …..

• • Incream load or intensity for 6 weeks then take a deload week to avoid injury.

• • For hypertrophy, you need 10-20 sets per muscle group of 6 to 30 reps getting per week. These reps should get you close to failure. You can get those sets in single or multiple sessions as long as you hit volume.

STEP 9:  Rest intervals

 

• • The rest intervals vary depending on the goal. Higher rest intervals (2-5 minutes) for speed, power, and strength.

STEP 10: Chaos management

 

• • Identify possible chances of failure in the program and come up with solutions to address them.  (Ex: you can have an emergency day where you can program what you couldn’t have done during the week)
    
    
    

Tool1: One year program

Quarter 1: January to March

 

• • The target is to build muscle

• • Increase calories by 10 to 15% for bulk

• • Focuses on indoor activities, chosen to avoid weather-related excuses and maintain consistency.

• • Four weightlifting sessions per week to build strength and muscle.

• • Incorporate outdoor walks to get some sunlight exposure and break up sedentary periods.

Quarter 2: April to June

 

• • The target is to lean out

• • Bring calories down. This happens naturally as you’re more likely to be out, at social events, at the beach …

• • More opportunities for outdoor activities (like surfing, hiking, cycling, or skateboarding once a week) due to better weather and longer days.

• • Include a fitness class for variety, social interaction, and gamification.

• • Maintain two days of traditional strength training to ensure quality control and target specific muscle groups.

Quarter 3: July to September

 

• • The target is to focus on cardiovascular fitness

• • Maintenance calories

• • Two outdoor sports or activities per week to take advantage of good weather and longer daylight hours.

• • Sports can be intense or moderate depending on personal preferences.

• • Incorporate sprint work and track workouts to improve sprinting ability and overall athleticism.

• • Maintain two days of weightlifting per week to preserve muscle and strength gains.

• • Balance structured exercise with the enjoyment of outdoor activities.

Quarter 4: October to December

 

• • Shift focus to indoor activities as the weather worsens and holidays approach.

• • You can do indoor sports like martial arts or transition existing outdoor activities indoors.

• • Maintain the two-day per week schedule for resistance training.

• • Continue with two outdoor walks per week for outdoor time and flexibility.

Overall Structure:

 

• • Allow for a week off or a deload week at the end of each quarter for recovery.

• • Deload midway through each phase to prevent burnout and maintain progress.

• • Adjust the duration of each phase, such as nine weeks of intense training followed by a testing week and a back-off week.

• • Perform regular fitness testing, at least once a year, to track progress and set new goals for the upcoming year.

• • It’s a balanced approach with a mix of specific goals, social interaction, fat loss, strength, hypertrophy, cardiovascular endurance, and exposure to sunlight.

• • You can adjust the programming based on what matters to you and your own life constraints.
    
    
    

Tool2: 3-day program

 

• • Day 1: Speed and power exercises followed by hypertrophy training.

• • Day 2: Strength exercises followed by higher heart rate exercises (anaerobic or aerobic capacity).

• • Day 3: Steady-state, long-duration endurance training.

• • The three-day split can be done consecutively or with rest days in between.

• • Each workout can be completed in approximately 45-60 minutes, with work time ranging from 30-35 minutes.

• • Important note: you will not hit optimal health by engaging in intense physical activity for 1 hour per day than sitting around the other hours of the day
    
    
    

Tool3: 4-day program

 

• • Day 1: Full body Strength training and hypertrophy.

• • Day 2: Long-duration work (low-intensity cardio, swimming, etc.) to dissipate soreness.

• • Day 3: Muscular endurance (bodyweight exercises, circuits, Pilates, etc.).

• • Day 4: Medium intensity work with higher heart rate (shadow boxing, intervals, etc.).
    
    
    

Lack of sleep and illness:

 

• • If experiencing a poor night’s sleep but still in a phase of training for adaptation, it’s generally recommended to still train.

• • If bad sleep becomes chronic, adjustments and recovery may be necessary.

• • When feeling like getting sick, opt for restorative training at a moderate intensity. Avoid pushing past 70% effort to prevent immunosuppression.

• • If already sick with a cold or illness, it’s better to take a break from training. Rest, catch up on work, or engage in other activities to recover and avoid feeling behind.

• • Hot water immersion (baths or jacuzzi) can be beneficial during illness.

If you made it until now and you are eager to learn more, check out the other episodes from the series:

• Episode 1: How to assess levels of fitness. Check it out
• Episode 2: How to increase strength and muscle mass. Check it out
• Episode 3: Improve endurance and fat loss. Check it out
• Episode 4: You have just read it. It’s this page 🙂
• Episode 5: Maximise recovery to achieve fitness & performance goals. Check it out