Ph.D.
Andrew Huberman’s Workout Routine
Andrew Huberman’s fitness protocol is designed to help you achieve your fitness goals efficiently. He’s been following this protocol for over 20 years. Here's a breakdown of how you can implement this protocol:
Day 1: Long Endurance Workout
Duration: >30 minutes, ideally 60-75 minutes
Start your week with a long zone 2 cardio workout, doing an activity like jogging, rowing, cycling, swimming, or hiking. To increase difficulty, consider using a weighted vest or backpack and emphasize nasal breathing when possible.
Day 2: Legs Resistance Training
Duration: 10-minute warmup + 50-60 minutes training
Train quads with leg extensions or hack squats, hamstrings with leg curls or glute-ham raises, and calves with standing or seated raises. This will help you develop lower body muscles in a balanced manner.
Day 3: Heat & Cold Exposure/Recovery
Duration: Sauna (20 minutes) + Ice Bath/Cold Shower (5 minutes), repeat 3-5 times
Integrate deliberate heat and cold exposure into your routine. This can enhance recovery, boost endurance, and improve overall resilience. Start slowly and gradually increase exposure time.
Day 4: Torso & Neck Resistance Training
Duration: >10-minute warmup + 50-60 minutes training
Train your chest with incline presses or cable crossovers, back with chin-ups or seated rows, shoulders with shoulder presses or lateral raises, and neck with specific neck exercises to reduce injury risk and improve posture.
Day 5: Moderate Intensity Cardio Training
Duration: 35 minutes
Perform carido exercises at 75-80% of your maximum effort. Running, rowing, cycling, jumping jacks, stair-climbing, or jump rope are some great choices. Doing these exercises outdoors is the best to capitalize on sun exposure benefits.
Day 6: High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
Duration: 20-60 seconds all-out sprint + 10 seconds rest, 8-12 rounds
Choose an exercise you can perform with great form to prevent injury. Some options include assault bike, sprint/jog intervals, rowing, skiing machine, or sand sprints. Push yourself to reach your maximum heart rate, calculated as 220 minus your age.
Day 7: Arms, Neck & Calves Training
Duration: 10-minute warmup + 50-60 minutes training
Train biceps with incline curls or dumbbell curls, triceps with overhead extensions or dips, and calves with standing or seated raises. Include neck exercises for comprehensive muscle engagement.
Andrew Huberman’s Resistance Training Advice
Here are two of Andrew Huberman’s fitness tips for resistance training:
- Alternate between Schedule A and B each month to enhance your strength and muscle hypertrophy.:
- Schedule A: Perform 4-8 repetitions with heavier weights, 3-4 sets per exercise, and rest for 2-4 minutes between sets.
- Schedule B: Execute 8-15 repetitions with moderate-lighter weights, 2-3 sets per exercise, and rest for approximately 90 seconds between sets.
- Do two exercises per muscle group:
- Exercise #1: Bring the muscle into a shortened or maximally contracted position at the end of the range of motion (eg. leg curl, seated calf raise, bicep preacher curl, leg extension, chest cable crossover).
- Exercise #2: Provide resistance for the muscle group when it is in a lengthened position (eg. standing calf raises, incline dumbbell curls, deep squats, glute-hamstring raises or straight legged deadlifts, incline press).
Andrew Huberman’s Other Tips
Here are some pieces of advice Huberman suggests to incorporate into your workouts:
Ice Baths: Should you decide to change the days in the above workout schedule, it is important to note that ice baths can prevent gains from that day's workout. As a result, it's best to avoid ice baths immediately after resistance training. According Andrew Huberman, saunas do not have this issue.
Physiological Sigh: During resistance training, lower your heart rate between sets using this breathing technique - take two full inhales through the nose followed by one full exhale through the mouth. After a training session, use 3-5 minutes of deliberate slow breathing to relax the nervous system so that they body can focus on muscle recovery.
Flexibility: Focusing on flexibility is often overlooked in fitness regimens. Try to hold each major muscle group in a static stretch for 30-60 seconds and repeat between 3x/week and daily. Some ways to get this in could be during a wind down routine at night before going to bed, while cooking, or while at your office desk during a meeting. While holding the stretch, longer exhales help to further relax muscles so that you are able to deepen the stretch.