During a recent episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast, neuroscientist Andrew Huberman explained some key points on how improve your muscles and strength:

 

Avoid cold immersion

 

You should avoid ice baths and cold water up to the neck four hours after a training session designed to evoke an adaptation (endurance, hypertrophy, or strength training).

 

Ice baths immediately after the aforementioned training sessions aren't helpful because the inflammation you experience after exercise is the stimulus your body is trying to adapt to. Cold water immersion reduces inflammation and can "short circuit" your body's ability to adapt. After four hours, your body should be okay to be submerged in cold water, but it would be more beneficial to get in an ice bath before working out.

 

For people who are more interested in skill development, like athletes in season, post-workout ice baths are just fine. These people aren't interested in gaining muscle, endurance, or hypertrophy, so it is more important to rid their bodies of the inflammation.

 

Heat is better post-workout because you can do it immediately after. The heat helps to dilate the vascular system and get the muscles and ligaments to absorb more nutrients.

 

Use the 3-5 training style

 

When it comes to training for strength, Andrew talks about a unique style of training that consists of 3-5 compound exercises done for 3-5 sets with 3-5 reps per set. Then, take a 3-5 minute break between sets and do this whole training style 3-5 times per week.

 

This training style may seem like a lot of training for a muscle group since you would probably be squatting at least 3-5 days per week. However, people who are training mostly for strength can do these low rep schemes frequently because most of the adaptation is neural, and since you aren't training to failure most of the time, it results in less soreness.

 

The same style is applied for hypertrophy, but the rep range can be pretty broad (between 6 and 30 reps), and you do 10+ sets per muscle group per week. You're going until failure to achieve maximum muscle growth.

 

For endurance training, Andrew says to start by timing yourself running a mile, then walking for the same amount of time. Repeat this process 1-3 times, one day per week. After you finish, add a couple of sets of all-out max heart rate work for 90 seconds each set. By combining these training styles, you will see improvements in strength, hypertrophy, and cardiovascular gains.

 

Here's the segment of the podcast episode:

 

 

You can watch the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvh3g7eszVQ

 

 

 

Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He has made numerous significant contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function and neural plasticity, which is the ability of our nervous system to rewire and learn new behaviors, skills and cognitive functioning. Andrew Huberman's website: https://hubermanlab.com

 

 

Lex Fridman is a computer scientist, artificial intelligence researcher working on autonomous vehicles, human-robot interaction and machine learning, and podcast host working and teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lex Fridman's website: https://lexfridman.com