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Andrew Huberman
Apr 2, 2026
38 protocols
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Essentials: How to Build Strength, Muscle Size & Endurance | Dr. Andy Galpin
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Behaviors
Progressive Overload
“If you want to continue to improve, you have to have some method of overload.”
3:08 ·
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In this episode
38 protocols
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3:08
Progressive Overload
Behaviors
“If you want to continue to improve, you have to have some method of overload.”
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6:15
Learn Correct Movement Patterns First
Behaviors
“Especially for beginners, you want to make sure that the movement pattern is correct. Don't worry about intensity. Don't worry about rep ranges or any of these things.”
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6:24
Develop Tissue Tolerance Gradually
Behaviors
“You need to learn to move correctly and you need to give your body some time to develop some tissue tolerance so that you're not getting overtly sore.”
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6:28
Do Not Use Soreness as a Quality Metric
Behaviors
“In general, soreness is a terrible proxy for exercise quality. It's a really bad way to estimate whether it was a good or a bad workout.”
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7:23
Avoid Excessive Soreness
Behaviors
“For most people, I would say hedge a little bit on the side of less sore than more sore. Because frequency is very, very important for almost all these adaptations.”
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7:28
Prioritize Training Frequency
Behaviors
“Because frequency is very, very important for almost all these adaptations.”
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8:45
Train Joints Through Full Range of Motion
Behaviors
“In general, the default is all joints through all range of motion.”
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9:50
Maintain Safe Back and Neck Position During Lifts
Behaviors
“Let's choose an exercise which ideally has a full range of motion or close to it, that doesn't induce injury for you, that you can still maintain good neck and low back and position and everything else.”
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10:13
Choose Stable Exercises You Can Perform Confidently
Behaviors
“I would rather put you on a machine bench press. So you can go, I feel stable. I feel safe here. And I can just express my strength.”
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10:28
Balance Upper-Body Pressing Movements
Behaviors
“So this is an upper body press. So this is pushing away from you, bench press, things like that.”
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10:35
Balance Upper-Body Pulling Movements
Behaviors
“Upper body pull, pulling an implement towards you. Bent row, pull up.”
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10:51
Include a Lower-Body Hinge
Behaviors
“If you're going to do a single workout, you could choose four exercises. And you could choose one of each. One press, upper body press, one upper body pull, one lower body hinge, one lower body press.”
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10:51
Include a Lower-Body Press
Behaviors
“If you're going to do a single workout, you could choose four exercises. And you could choose one of each. One press, upper body press, one upper body pull, one lower body hinge, one lower body press.”
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12:06
Use Heavy Loads for Strength Training
Behaviors
“If you want to get stronger, you need to impose a demand of strength, not repetitions. So this has to be, the load has to be very high. In general, you're probably looking at above 85% of your one rep max, if you're moderately trained, maybe 75%.”
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12:35
Use Low Repetition Sets for Strength
Behaviors
“By definition, true strength training is really going to be in like five repetitions per set or less range.”
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12:53
Do About Three Working Sets Per Exercise for Strength
Behaviors
“If you did as little as like three sets per exercise, that's probably enough. Work sets.”
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13:01
Warm Up Before Heavy Strength Sets
Behaviors
“So get fully warmed up and build up to that 85 Don just walk into the gym and throw 85 on and go thank you that an important distinction A very classic warmup thing would be like a set of 10 at 50 a set of eight at 60”
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13:49
Rest 2–4 Minutes Between Strength Sets
Behaviors
“So the number we're going to throw out typically is like two to four minutes.”
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14:08
Use Supersets for Average-Person Strength Training
Behaviors
“You can engage other muscle groups. This is what we call supersetting... For the average person, I will tell them, yeah, superset.”
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15:11
Allow 48–72 Hours for Hypertrophy Recovery
Behaviors
“What you're trying to do is cause a massive insult there. Allow then protein synthesis to occur, building of new tissue, which takes time, 48 to 72 hours, like kind of at a minimum, that process needs to occur.”
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15:34
Train the Same Muscle Daily for Strength if Desired
Behaviors
“You can train every single day, the same exact muscle if speed or power or strength are the primary training tools.”
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16:01
Use a 72-Hour Window Between Hypertrophy Sessions for the Same Muscle
Behaviors
“In general, you're probably looking at 72 hours is the optimal window... So something like an every two to three day window is probably.”
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16:58
Provide Adequate Nutrients to Support Hypertrophy Recovery
Diet
“As long as you're providing the nutrients, the recovery should happen and you should be able to sustain the same work output in the training session.”
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17:49
Match Weekly Volume Even if Training Frequency Is Lower
Behaviors
“Frequency, it can handle changes as long as you get to the same total volume. So you can do that. You just have to do a lot more work in that one workout.”
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18:12
Do 10–20 Working Sets Per Muscle Group Per Week for Hypertrophy
Behaviors
“Volume-wise, the more recent meta-analyses are going to say that you're probably looking at around 10 working sets per muscle group per week. Seems to be kind of the minimum threshold that you're going to want to hit.”
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19:14
Use 5–30 Reps Per Set for Hypertrophy
Behaviors
“The quick answer there is anywhere between like five to 30 reps per set. That's going to show across the literature, pretty much equal hypertrophy gains.”
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19:26
Train Each Muscle at Least Twice Per Week for Strength
Behaviors
“What's probably minimally viable, two, twice per week per muscle... Two is a good number. Three is great, but probably even two is really effective.”
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20:07
Train Close to Failure for Hypertrophy
Behaviors
“The only caveat for hypertrophy is you have to take it to muscular failure.”
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20:30
Vary Repetition Ranges for Hypertrophy
Behaviors
“My recommendation is, I think you should actually use the repetition range as a way to have some variation... I think you should actually intentionally change the rep schemes for simple sake of having more fun.”
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21:09
Keep Soreness Mild During Hypertrophy Training
Behaviors
“Again, it's very clear, more damage is not better... a little bit of soreness is good. Just don't get so sore it's compromising your total volume.”
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22:43
Use the 3-to-5 Strength Program Framework
Behaviors
“What I just call the three to five concept, right? So pick three to five exercises... do three to five reps, three to five sets, take three to five minutes rest in between and do it three to five times a week.”
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23:40
Use 40–70% 1RM for Power Training
Behaviors
“If you want power, it needs to be a lot lighter... you probably want to spend more of your time in the 40% to 70% range, like plus or minus.”
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25:12
Use Intent to Move Fast During Strength and Power Training
Behaviors
“The intent to move is actually more important than the actual movement velocity... it's not going to generate as much speed development as them trying to move that bar as fast as they can.”
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26:23
Use Mind-Muscle Connection During Hypertrophy Training
Behaviors
“You're simply looking at and watching your biceps and you're thinking about contracting it harder... initial indications are the mind-body connection are going to result in more growth than not.”
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28:08
Use Tactile Cueing to Improve Muscle Activation
Behaviors
“Maybe you give them a tactical prompt, so you touch it and you just tell them things like, hey, squeeze my finger, squeeze my finger... All this stuff can help get people to activate.”
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28:23
Use Eccentric Overload to Activate Hard-to-Target Muscles
Behaviors
“Outside of simple awareness, eccentric overload is a very effective way for activation of a difficult-to-target muscle.”
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29:26
Use Proper Breathing Strategy During Resistance Training
Behaviors
“In general a decent strategy is to maintain a breath hold during the lowering or eccentric or most dangerous part of the movement.”
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31:00
Use Post-Workout Downregulation Breathing
Behaviors
“There will be a downregulation strategy that is heavily involved with some sort of light control as well as breath control.”