Thank you for joining the Huberman Lab Neural Network — a once-a-month newsletter with science and science-related tools for everyday life. This newsletter aims to provide you with actionable information in a condensed form.

In Episode #94, I outline what I call a “foundational fitness protocol” that focuses on one key aspect of physical fitness critical for health and longevity and aesthetic balance each day of the week. It is designed to be modified to meet your individual needs, while still adhering to what the best science tells us we should all do for immediate and long-term health.

I acknowledge there is a range of best practices regarding exercise and optimal training (e.g., listen to Dr. Andy Galpin describe the nine physical adaptations from exercise). I designed this protocol to address all major fitness goals, including strength, hypertrophy, endurance, and cardiovascular training. Below, I describe the protocol, include specific exercise suggestions (modifiable examples), and explain ways to modify this core schedule, should you choose. I also provide tips for integrating a consistent fitness regimen into your week, but with flexibility.

Resistance Training

Two key principles for resistance training will help you get the most out of the foundational protocol:

  1. Use alternative training schedules (“periodization”) to optimize your strength and muscle hypertrophy. Alternate between Schedule A and B monthly:
  2. Schedule A: ~4-8 repetitions (heavier weights) and 3-4 sets per exercise with 2-4 minutes rest between sets
  3. Schedule B: ~8-15 repetitions (moderate-lighter weights) and 2-3 sets per exercise with ~90 seconds rest between sets
  4. Choose two exercises per muscle group. Exercise #1 should focus on bringing the muscle into a shortened or maximally contracted position at the end of the range of motion(e.g., leg curl, seated calf raise, bicep preacher curl, leg extension, chest cable crossover). Exercise #2 should focus on resistance occurring for the muscle group when it is in a lengthened position (e.g., standing calf raises, incline dumbbell curls, deep squats, glute-hamstring raises or straight legged deadlifts, incline press, etc.).

*Keep weight workouts to 50-60 minutes of hard work after a warmup, 75 minutes maximum. This assists effectiveness and recovery. The 75 minutes does include rest between sets and does require not getting stuck waiting for equipment too long, avoiding texting between sets, etc. Warm up, then get it done.