Summary of Huberman Lab Podcast Episode: Optimal Nutrition & Supplementation for Fitness with Dr. Andy Galpin
Podcast: Huberman Lab
12 min. read
— Description —
Discover the importance of hydration and how it affects your body Learn about the optimal amount of water to drink, the role of sodium and magnesium, and how to assess your hydration levels Find out the best practices for staying hydrated during exercise and why supplements should be chosen wisely
Plus, get tips for improving your sleep environment and managing post-workout inflammation Dont miss out on this valuable information for optimal health and performance.
Optimal Nutrition & Supplementation for Fitness with Dr. Andy Galpin
Table of contents
Key Takeaways
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Being middle of the road on hydration is fine but even one standard deviation off will induce fatigue, brain fog, GI distress, and more
- Every cellular process in the body relies on having enough sodium and magnesium in the system
- Foundation for hydration: drink about ½ ounce of water per pound of bodyweight
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Replace 125% of fluid lost during exercise
- Exercise-related fluid loss varies – for most conditions it’ll be about 1-2 pounds you’ll want to replace
- Sip on water, don’t chug! Your system may become diluted when you chug
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A large percentage of your hydration should actually come from eating real, whole foods – you shouldn’t feel like you have to smash bottle after bottle of water to stay hydrated
- Use WUT system: weight, urine (color and output), and thirst to assess hydration
- Unless you are a high-level athlete, hitting total daily macronutrient goals (especially protein) matters more than the timing of intake
- Go into workouts hydrated to avoid negative consequences; consume about 1/2 ounce of water per pound of bodyweight
- For hydration during exercise, use Galpin’s equation: every 15 minutes, consume X ounces per pound of body weight / 30
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Unless you are supplementing for foundational support (vitamins, minerals, foundational compounds, adaptogens, probiotics, prebiotics), focus on single-ingredient formulated supplements for the most power and control overdose
- Be choosy with blends: different ingredients also have varying costs so you’re likely going to get more of the least expensive ingredients and less of the thing you actually want
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“The end goal anytime I coach somebody is to get them into a physiological state where they require no or close to no supplementation. That’s the target.” – Dr. Andy Galpin
- Supplements can cover the pain point signal that might otherwise force you to take behavioral action
- Adjustments to make for a better sleep environment: keep pets out of the bedroom (at minimum off the bed), check light and temperature, wash your sheets, explore allergens and dander in the room, elevate head if you have acid reflux, only use your bed for sex and sleep
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Don’t turn to anti-inflammatory supplements or ice baths in the hours or day after training – you want the inflammatory response to generate adaptation
- Instead, consider: omega-3, glutamine, magnesium, calcium (if concerned about bone injury), vitamin D, and tart cherry juice for persistent soreness
Introduction
- Dr. Andy Galpin (@DrAndyGalpin), Professor of Kinesiology at California State University, Fullerton, and one of the foremost experts in the world on the science and application of methods to increase strength, hypertrophy, and endurance performance.
- In this episode of Huberman Lab, Andrew Huberman and Andy Galpin continue with Part 6 of a 6-part series on all things fitness. In this final episode, learn how to fuel your workouts with optimal nutrition, hydration, and supplementation to achieve your goals.
- Host: Andrew Huberman (@hubermanlab)
General Overview Of Supplements & Where To Start
- You can consume nutrients in high concentrations through supplements but you want to hit as much as you can behaviorally – sleep, nutrition, hydration
- Supplements can also be unproductive or even constructive depending on what you are taking and what your bloodwork looks like
- The best approach is to get bloodwork done and supplement accordingly
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High impact, low risk, relatively low-cost supplements – you want one of category targeting fuel, stimulant, fatigue-blocker
- Creatine monohydrate (fuel) supplementation can benefit almost everyone – the general standard is 5g per day but dosing will depend on size; timing of intake doesn’t matter but it does need to take consistently for benefit because cumulative effect takes time to kick in
- Side effects are minimal, benefits are high for muscle, cognitive function, recovery, potential benefits to fat loss, enhances hydration, and morePhosphocreatine is important for forebrain function, important in rule-switchingRelatively affordable (though there is a bit of a spike in price at the moment)
- Fatigue-blocker: beta-alanine, sodium bicarbonate
- Stimulant: beetroot juice, caffeine
- Creatine monohydrate (fuel) supplementation can benefit almost everyone – the general standard is 5g per day but dosing will depend on size; timing of intake doesn’t matter but it does need to take consistently for benefit because cumulative effect takes time to kick in
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You don’t want to be in a position where you have to take something to perform, sleep, etc.
- Find the root cause – don’t just take a supplement to cover up whatever is happening, find the reason
- Supplements can cover the pain point signal that might otherwise force you to take behavioral action
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Remember, you can introduce variability in how you take supplements – you don’t have to take everything, every day (though be choosy because some won’t work without consistency)
- Take consistently: creatine, beta-alanine
- Intermittent use ok: fish oil
- The one area to use supplement use is for good sleep – go to great lengths to dial in sweep
Hydration Highlights
- The alkaline of your body is well-regulated on its own – there are things you should manage before you concern yourself about the alkalinity of your water
- If you are underhydrated or dehydrated, there’s a negative effect on your physical and mental performance
- If you start your exercise with poor hydration, it’s really difficult (almost impossible) to catch up
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Why are electrolytes important? Creating a muscle contraction requires an electrical gradient involving sodium, potassium, magnesium, chloride
- This is why extremely high water intake doesn’t feel good either, you’re diluting the system and suffering from hyponatremia (brain fog, GI distress, disorientation)
- You can have anxiety-like symptoms when the bladder is full
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Night urination is a good diagnostic of what’s happening in your body – your kidneys should be pretty dormant at night: if you are waking up to urinate throughout the night, you might want to check if you have a sleeping disorder or are drinking too much water
- You will generally wake up 1-2 pounds lighter than you sleep; if you are waking up to urinate and waking up much lighter, time to assess what’s going on
- Basal daily needs of water (at rest, not considering exercise) = ½ ounce per pound of bodyweight
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If exercising, you want to replenish 125% of the fluid you’ve lost during activity
- You lose about 1-5 pounds per hour of exercise
- If you want to be particular, you can weigh yourself before and after exercise
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Loss of fluid & salt through sweat
- Sweat isn’t what regulates temperature – it brings fluids from the body to the skin; the heat-reducing aspect is the evaporation of work off your body
- If you don’t sweat enough, you are limiting output capacity
- You can practice heat acclamation by training in the sauna or hot environments
- To identify whether you’re a heavy-salt sweater:
- Look at clothing and see if it’s covered in white residue
- Use hydration test patches
- Blood chemistry test
Optimizing Hydration & Nutrition
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Galpin equation for fluid replenishment during exercise or demanding activity: consume (in ounces) your body weight (in pounds) every 15 minutes / 30
- Drink slow and steady, not chugging down
- Factors that affect hydration: heat/weather, how hydrated you are when you start
- Three most critical features of hydration: (1) start hydrated, (2) maintain hydration throughout exercise, (3) replenish post-exercise
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“Cheat” guide to ensure hydration for performance:
- Drink a lot of water (maybe 16oz-30oz) first thing in the morning (remember, don’t chug because you don’t want your system to think it’s diluted)
- Eat mostly real, whole foods – food choice has a huge effect on hydration status
- Pre-hydrate before workout: generally ½ ounce per pound of bodyweight – don’t drink a ton of water in the seconds before exercise so you don’t feel it bouncing around
- Stay hydrated during workout: use the Galpin equation and consume fluid with electrolytes – somewhere around 200-400mg sodium (2:1 sodium to potassium range)
- Add a pinch of salt to coconut water if you’re using
- Sometimes you want carbohydrates during training during exercise for enhanced performance by driving water into the cell – electrolytes and sports drinks will vary in content
- You might even want 60g of carbs per hour of intense training if muscle glycogen depletion is negatively affecting performance
- Carb loading does help top off storage prior to long-duration endurance but this doesn’t mean one giant bowl of pasta the night before, increase in the 3-4 days prior to the event
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Notes about exercising fasted:
- Do whatever is your preference unless you are going to be limited by fuel in training – then you should fuel; if you are doing something short or low intensity like a driving range, you don’t need to worry about fuel
- Hypertrophy training, high energy, or high endurance fuel during exercise: stick to about 1/2g carbohydrates per pound of body weight and 1/4g protein per pound of bodyweight
- Adjust carbs based on energy expenditure
- The end product of all fuel sources is ATP (energy)
- Do whatever is your preference unless you are going to be limited by fuel in training – then you should fuel; if you are doing something short or low intensity like a driving range, you don’t need to worry about fuel
- For the general person (not a professional athlete) the total amount of macronutrients throughout the day is more important than the timing
- Amino acids won’t really hurt (and may not help) – focus on protein intake
- Post-exercise anabolic window is the idea that it’s best to consume nutrients (mainly protein) in 30-60 minutes post-exercise to maximize growth – yes you are sensitive to nutrients in that window but your total consumption throughout the day is more important than the time (unless you are a high-level athlete training multiple times per day)
Use Of Caffeine, Stimulants, & Fatigue-Reducers
- Caffeine can enhance dehydration but coffee alone will not – also don’t concern yourself about the loss of salt to caffeine, it’s minimal
- There are greater benefits for use of caffeine for endurance, less for strength
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Dose: 1-3mg per kg of body weight 30 min before exercise/event
- Caffeine can vary greatly per cup of coffee – tablet form is the best way to regulate
- If you are not conditioned to caffeine intake, you will actually see performance decrements the first time you take it because your system isn’t used to that autonomic arousal
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Non-caffeine boost: beet root extract, beetroot juice
- Great if you exercise at night and want a boost without coffee or stimulants
- Alpha-GPC: not much performance data but cognitive benefits are clear
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Rhodiola rosea: reduces the perceived threshold of how hard you’re working (so you can work harder) and modulates cortisol
- Monitor use, some studies show it may enhance strength gains but reduce muscular enduranceRemember, cortisol is supposed to fluctuate throughout the day and blood markers will identify the amount at the moment – if you measure, take it a few times throughout the day
- It’s difficult to get as a single source which is important when experimenting or introducing something new
- Different ingredients also have varying costs so you’re likely going to get more of the least expensive ingredients and less of the thing you actually want
When To Use Anti-Inflammatory Supplements
- Delayed onset muscle soreness cascade (sets in 24-48 hours after exercise): the swelling response triggers the neural response which then triggers the pain response
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Physiology wants to return to homeostasis – taking an insult (e.g., hard workout), causing a change, and bringing you to a new level of homeostasis
- Your body is anticipating that the insult to the body will happen again in the future
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Adaptation is a hormetic stressor – exercise is a stimulus causing adaptation
- Immediately post-exercise, biomarkers and recovery scores might look bad but we’re pushing adaptation that may cause weeks or months to realize
- If you are monitoring biomarkers, be aware of the magnitude of change to assess where you are
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Before you try supplementation, reduce fatigue to increase performance:
- Taper: 50% reduction in training volume over the course of a week for every 8 weeks of training – in other words, if you’ve trained for 3 months you might need to taper for 2 weeks
- Taper volume, not intensity – volume is usually the driver of fatigue
- Your fitness is more stable than you think, you will preserve fitness once fatigue is removed because it’s actually suppressing you
- Taper: 50% reduction in training volume over the course of a week for every 8 weeks of training – in other words, if you’ve trained for 3 months you might need to taper for 2 weeks
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Three-step process for recovery with related low-risk supplements:
- Inflammation: don’t take an anti-inflammatory or ice bath in seconds to hours after training – you want the inflammatory response for adaptation
- What to take: omega-3 in 2-5g total in one-to-one EPA:DHA ratio, 500mg curcumin daily
- Proliferation: cleanup of dead cells
- What to take: glutamine (20g per day, broken up into two doses of 10g)
- Remodeling: growing back bigger and stronger
- How to manage: make sure macronutrients are dialed in – if injured, increase calories by 10% because the injury is metabolically demanding
- Be sure you are absolutely at a minimum of 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight
- What to take: nothing needed but maybe add magnesium citrate (though any magnesium will likely do), calcium if you’re concerned about bone injury, vitamin D, tart cherry juice if soreness does not subside
- Inflammation: don’t take an anti-inflammatory or ice bath in seconds to hours after training – you want the inflammatory response for adaptation
- Garlic might help innate and adaptive recovery processes but you could be hurting some parts of recovery depending on the timing
Behavioral Tools For Sleep
- Don’t forego exploring why you’re not sleeping well, even if supplements are working: biology, allergens in the air, cleanliness of sheets, keep your pets out of your bedroom, measuring light and temperature in the room, carbon dioxide in the room, etc.
- Sleeping with a partner can be difficult! Get two pairs of sheets for less disturbance
- Becoming too obsessed with your wearable sleep score can actually hinder sleep and cause you to wake up earlier in anticipation of wanting a sleep score
- Keep your phone on black and white if you have to look at it at night and be sure to turn off notifications
- If you’re staying awake with anxiety over a short task, you might want just to get up and get it done if it’s something that’s 10-15 minutes but be careful not to abuse this
- Resources to try: Absolute Rest and Reveri
Articles & Other Resources
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Articles
- Meta-Analysis Examining the Importance of Creatine Ingestion Strategies on Lean Tissue Mass and Strength in Older Adults (Nutrients)
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Other resources
- Examine
- Absolute Rest
- Reveri