Immediately after a workout, engage in a 3-5 minute calming breathing routine, ideally with nasal breathing and an exhale twice as long as the inhale, to down-regulate the nervous system and enhance recovery. This can be done in the shower if time is limited.
To continuously improve in any exercise adaptation (skill, speed, strength, endurance, etc.), you must implement progressive overload by gradually increasing weight, repetitions, frequency, complexity, or other variables over time.
Drink Element (sodium, magnesium, potassium, no sugar) dissolved in 16-32 ounces of water first thing in the morning and during physical exercise to ensure proper hydration and electrolyte balance for optimal brain and body function. Aim to consume half your body weight in ounces of fluid per day as a baseline.
Consume around 500mg of sodium before and after workouts, adjusting higher if you are a ‘high sodium sweater’ (which can be determined by sweat testing or observing salt residue on clothing). If you lose more than 1% of your body weight in fluid during a workout, consider consuming 300mg of sodium during the session.
For strength training, choose 3-5 exercises, perform 3-5 reps for 3-5 sets, rest 3-5 minutes between sets, and train 2-5 times per week, using loads above 85% of your one-rep max. Work up to your working sets with lighter warm-up sets.
For hypertrophy, aim for 5-30 repetitions per set, taking each set to muscular failure. Target 15-20 working sets per muscle group per week, allowing 2-3 days of recovery (e.g., train a muscle group every 72 hours) to allow for protein synthesis.
Once a week, engage in an activity that pushes you to your maximum heart rate (e.g., 30-second sprints, burpees) for 4-8 bouts, even if it’s just for a few minutes of hard work, to challenge and improve all cardiovascular adaptations.
In addition to max heart rate efforts, include 4-12 minute bouts of sustained hard work at around 80% intensity, with equivalent rest periods, repeated 2-6 times, to provide significant cardiovascular benefit and improve work output.
Develop muscular endurance (e.g., planks, wall sits, slow tempo bodyweight squats) to support slow-twitch muscle fibers, maintain joint integrity, and prevent fatigue in postural muscles, which reduces injury risk during heavy or fast movements.
If experiencing pain or injury, do not stop movement entirely; instead, reduce exercise complexity, volume, or intensity to train just below the pain threshold to build tissue tolerance and desensitize the pain signal.
Soreness is a poor indicator of workout quality; aim for a soreness level of around three out of ten between workouts. You can train sore muscles unless the pain is debilitating, as excessive soreness can lead to missed sessions and reduced total volume.
For strength and power, intend to move the weight as fast as possible, even if the actual speed is the same. For hypertrophy, focus on the mind-muscle connection and visualize the muscle contracting, as intentionality can lead to better outcomes.
To activate difficult muscle groups, use tactile cues (e.g., a partner tapping the muscle), visualization, or eccentric overload (focusing on the lowering phase of a movement) to enhance awareness and engagement.
Avoid ice baths or cold water immersion immediately after hypertrophy training, as it can be detrimental to muscle growth; ideally, wait at least four hours or perform cold exposure before the workout.
Consider using a sauna or hot bath (aim for 60 minutes per week, e.g., three 20-minute bouts) immediately after training, as it may augment hypertrophy and offers general health benefits, but it is not a substitute for exercise.
Utilize a comprehensive approach like Absolute Rest (AbsoluteRest.com) to diagnose and address sleep issues by analyzing psychological factors, physiological markers (dopamine, serotonin, cortisol), potential pathologies (sleep apnea), and environmental factors (temperature, humidity, VOCs, CO2 cloud).
Consider supplementing with creatine monohydrate, which is highly effective, safe, and cheap, with benefits extending beyond sport performance to neurological function and mental health.
Supplement with Beta-Alanine, which converts to carnosine in the muscle, acting as an intracellular buffer to delay acid buildup and combat fatigue during exercise.
To delay fatigue and reduce acid buildup during intense exercise (especially anaerobic intervals or circuit training), consume 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in water 20-60 minutes before training. Start with a lower dose to avoid gastric distress.
For most people, Zone 2 cardio (conversational pace) will not significantly interfere with strength or hypertrophy gains, and may even be beneficial by increasing blood flow, especially if energy intake is sufficient and the activity is not heavily eccentric-based.
When starting endurance training, especially if untrained, choose activities that are mostly concentric-based (e.g., cycling, swimming, rowing, sled pushing, uphill walking/running) to minimize eccentric landing and reduce muscle soreness and injury risk.
For long-duration, lower-intensity endurance activities (Zone 2), try to breathe exclusively through your nose, going as hard as you can while maintaining nasal breathing, to regulate intensity and gain additional benefits.
Engage in deliberate cold exposure (e.g., 3 minutes in 30-degree water) in the morning to experience a hormetic stressor that can lead to improved HRV and enhanced alertness throughout the day.
When lifting, wear a belt just tight enough to provide proprioceptive feedback, then actively press your core musculature against it to enhance abdominal strength and spinal stabilization, rather than letting the belt do all the work.
For resistance training, hold your breath during the eccentric (lowering) phase and exhale during the concentric (pushing/lifting) phase. For higher reps, consider exhaling every third breath, but for single reps, omitting breathing is fine.
Perform a CO2 tolerance test (four deep, slow nasal breaths, then max exhale through the nose, timing duration) consistently each morning to gauge recovery, as it can be a useful indicator of nervous system and respiratory regulation.
Utilize a tap test (tapping a finger as fast as possible for a set duration, e.g., one minute) to get a rough indicator of central nervous system recovery, comparing daily scores to your average.
Whether to train fasted or fed is largely a matter of personal preference for the average person, as long as overall nutritional needs are met.
Consider taking Athletic Greens once or twice a day to cover basic nutritional needs, address potential deficiencies, and support microbiome health with probiotics, which also includes Vitamin D3K2 essential for brain, body, and cardiovascular function.
Use the Waking Up app for meditation, mindfulness, Yoga Nidra, or Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) protocols, which can restore cognitive and physical energy in short 10-minute sessions.
Follow Dr. Andy Galpin on Instagram and Twitter (@DrAndyGalpin) for terrific information about recent studies and in-depth exercise protocols.