GUEST SERIES | Dr. Andy Galpin: Maximize Recovery to Achieve Fitness & Performance Goals

Huberman Lab

In this episode 5 of a 6-part special series on fitness, exercise and performance with Andy Galpin, PhD, professor of kinesiology at California State University, Fullerton, he explains how to optimize post-training recovery and how to avoid overtraining in order to better achieve your fitness and exercise goals. He explains the cellular mechanisms of muscle soreness and pain, why adequate recovery is essential for all physical adaptations, and how to enhance recovery using breathwork, thermal, movement, and pressure-based techniques. He describes how overtraining impedes exercise progress and how to assess if you are overreaching or overtraining, by using specific biomarkers and indicators. Like other performance metrics, recovery is a skill that can and should be trained, and that can be learned. This episode provides an actionable toolkit for how to monitor and improve your exercise recovery abilities, which will improve your overall mental and physical health.

For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) Recovery

(00:04:17) Exercise & Delayed Muscle Soreness, Pain

(00:11:35) Muscle Spindles, Reduce Soreness

(00:18:56) Exercise, Homeostasis & Hormesis; Blood Test & Fitness Level

(00:30:20) Recovery Timescales, Adaptation & Optimization

(00:35:10) Adaptation & Biomarkers Levels

(00:40:36) 4 Recovery Levels, Enhance Recovery

(00:47:28) Sponsor: AG1

(00:48:19) Overreaching vs. Overtraining

(00:52:53) Tool: Acute Overload & Recovery, Breathwork

(01:03:39) Tool: Alleviate Acute Soreness, Compression Clothing

(01:08:27) Tool: Acute Soreness, Massage, Temperature

(01:14:21) Cold & Heat Contrast, Cold Shower vs. Immersion, Sauna & Fertility

(01:20:44) Sponsor: InsideTracker

(01:21:46) Combine Recovery Techniques

(01:24:34) Monitoring for Overreaching & Overtraining

(01:31:33) Overreaching/Overtraining, Performance & Physiology, Sleep

(01:45:41) Overreaching/Overtraining, Biomarkers, Cortisol

(01:50:45) Cortisol, Daily Levels & Performance; Rhodiola Supplementation

(02:01:25) Carbohydrates, Cortisol & Sleep

(02:05:05) Tool: Stress Biomarkers, Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

(02:15:07) Tool: “Acute State Shifters”, Stimulants, Dopamine Stacking, Phones

(02:25:04) Mirrors & Resistance Training

(02:29:01) Tool: “Chronic State Shifters”

(02:32:43) Training Recovery & Resilience; Bowling Alley Analogy

(02:39:45) Trigger Adaptations & Stress Recovery

(02:42:41) Tool: Measure Recovery; Blood Biomarkers

(02:50:06) Libido & Sex Hormones, Supplementation Caution

(03:00:08) Tools: No-/Low-Cost Recovery Measurements

(03:03:45) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Neural Network Newsletter

Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac

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