The guest
Dr. Andrew Huberman: Neuroscientist and tenured professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University's School of Medicine, and host of the Huberman Lab podcast.
What this episode covers
Huberman explains that performance and mood at any moment are dictated by the hours and days prior, and that five foundations must be re-upped every 24 hours: sleep, nutrients, movement, light, and relationships. He lays out a day-by-day weekly training schedule built around concurrent adaptations, each day targeting one goal (endurance, leg strength, heat/cold, torso, VO2 max, smaller muscles) while indirectly supporting the others. He details his sleep and performance supplement stacks and the mechanisms behind omega-3s, Rhodiola rosea, tongkat ali, and Fadogia agrestis. The conversation also covers gut-to-brain nutrient signaling, fertility as a proxy for vitality, and the neuroscience of effort and drive.
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Eight Sleep
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“I sleep on an Eight Sleep. And that has good sleep tracking ability... seems to really capture slow wave sleep”
“I sleep on an Eight Sleep. And that has good sleep tracking ability... the Eight Sleep seems to really capture slow wave sleep, rapid eye movement”— Andrew Huberman
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“I still use the same sleep stack. So it's magnesium threonate”
“I still use the same sleep stack. So it's magnesium threonate, spelled T-H-R-E-O-N-A-T-E, theanine, and apigenin”— Andrew Huberman
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“I still use the same sleep stack. So it's magnesium threonate, spelled T-H-R-E-O-N-A-T-E, theanine, and apigenin”
“I still use the same sleep stack. So it's magnesium threonate... theanine, and apigenin”— Andrew Huberman
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Apigenin
“I still use the same sleep stack. So it's magnesium threonate, spelled T-H-R-E-O-N-A-T-E, theanine, and apigenin”
“I still use the same sleep stack. So it's magnesium threonate... theanine, and apigenin”— Andrew Huberman
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Myo-Inositol
“I've added every once in a while, I'll take 900 milligrams of myo-inositol... it helps me fall back asleep”
“I'll take 900 milligrams of myo-inositol... it helps me fall back asleep after that”— Andrew Huberman
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Carlson's Fish Oil
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“the Carlson's brands... the most cost-effective way to get fish oil... I do take a tablespoon of the Carlson's oil”
“For liquid, the Carlson's brands, the ones that are lemon-flavored to make them less fishy, it's going to be the most cost-effective way to get fish oil”— Andrew Huberman
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EPA (Omega-3 fatty acids)
“Minimum one gram per day of EPA... It ends up being three capsules with my big meal of the day”
“Minimum one gram per day of EPA... Mood. Antidepressant effects. Absolutely clear. And there are so many clinical trials supporting that”— Andrew Huberman
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Rhodiola Rosea
“Rhodiola rosea is probably the best addition to my kind of physical performance stack... 200 milligrams is what I'll take. And I found that to be really striking”
“Rhodiola rosea is probably the best addition to my kind of physical performance stack that I've added in a long time, and it's really striking”— Andrew Huberman
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Tongkat Ali
“it would be omegas and tongkat ali... anything that moves the hormone system toward the green zone, which is going to be tongkat ali”
“it would be omegas and tongkat ali... anything that moves the hormone system toward the green zone, which is going to be tongkat ali”— Andrew Huberman
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Fadogia Agrestis
“I don't cycle them and never have... 400 milligrams of tongkat ali, 300 to 600 milligrams of Fadogia taken daily should be fine”
“Fadogia agrestis is typically taken in dosages of 300 to 600 milligrams per day... I don't cycle them and never have”— Andrew Huberman
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AG1
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“that's why I think the AG1 checks off a number of boxes there”
“that's why I think the AG1 checks off a number of boxes there... I actually think AG one has low dose of Ashwagandha in it”— Andrew Huberman
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“I bought a four-way neck machine on Amazon for 350 bucks... Works great. Nothing fancy, but it works”
“I bought a four-way neck machine on Amazon for 350 bucks... Works great. Nothing fancy, but it works”— Tim Ferriss
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AssaultBike
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“My favorite way to do this is I'll get on the AssaultBike”
“I'll get on the AssaultBike, so the ones with the handles with the fan... do 20 second on sprint, 10 second rest”— Andrew Huberman
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“big fan of the book Play It Away”
“I'll do an hour of play type stuff, non-competitive, low stake stuff, big fan of the book Play It Away”— Andrew Huberman
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How to Change Your Mind (Netflix miniseries)
Michael Pollan
“I do recommend the Netflix, How to Change Your Mind miniseries... the MDMA episode I thought was spectacularly well-done”
“I do recommend the Netflix, How to Change Your Mind miniseries that Pollan was involved with... the MDMA episode I thought was spectacularly well-done”— Tim Ferriss
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How to Change Your Mind
Michael Pollan
“I think How to Change Your Mind is a great place to start”
“If you want a good overview, I think How to Change Your Mind is a great place to start”— Tim Ferriss
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“there's also a documentary that I helped bring to, well, outside of Israel called Trip of Compassion... which contains session footage as well”— Tim Ferriss
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The Healing Journey
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“an oldie but a goodie, The Healing Journey by Claudio Naranjo, I think is excellent”
“an oldie but a goodie, The Healing Journey by Claudio Naranjo, I think is excellent. Even if you just buy it for the introduction”— Tim Ferriss
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“I would recommend if people want to keep up to speed with these things, The Microdose from UC Berkeley is fantastic”— Tim Ferriss
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“DanceSafe... which I encourage people to check out, which provides kits... There are kits you can purchase which will help you to detect some of these contaminants”
“There is an organization called DanceSafe, which I encourage people to check out, which provides kits... to help you to detect some of these contaminants”— Tim Ferriss
The guest's own work
BookBy the guestISBN verified
The 4-Hour Workweek
Tim Ferriss
“so much of how I ran my laboratory when I first became a professor was based on principles from The 4-Hour Workweek”— Andrew Huberman
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The 4-Hour Body
Tim Ferriss
“I was following The 4-Hour Body slow carb diet. I was training. I had my cheat days and on and on”— Andrew Huberman
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Huberman Lab
Andrew Huberman
“Andrew's the host of the podcast Huberman Lab, which is often ranked as one of the top five podcasts in the world”— Tim Ferriss
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
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Whoop
Whoop
“a lot of the wristbands and rings for tracking sleep, while they can be quite good and are quite good, WHOOPs and Ouras being the two most popular ones”— Andrew Huberman
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Ashwagandha
“Ashwagandha is a very potent suppressor of cortisol. There's some evidence it can indirectly increase testosterone”— Andrew Huberman
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Shilajit (Fulvic Acid)
“Shilajit, right? Fulvic acid, which is Shilajit, is a mineral pitch. It's used in Ayurvedic medicine... It stimulates the release of FSH”— Andrew Huberman
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L-Glutamine
“people who increase their intake of omega-3s... or who take small amounts of L-glutamine, reduce their sugar cravings”— Andrew Huberman
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L-Carnitine
“egg health and sperm health greatly enhanced by L-carnitine. Pretty remarkable results there. Injectable L-carnitine of about one mil”— Andrew Huberman
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Alpha-GPC
“whether or not taking three or 600 milligrams of Alpha GPC and how often to do that and does it work, and yes, it works”— Andrew Huberman
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hCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin)
“I've done experiments with hCG. I think you have too... it definitely will increase sperm volume”— Andrew Huberman
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Garlic (allicin) supplement
“you can offset that by taking 600 milligrams of garlic, because of the allicin in garlic”— Andrew Huberman
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Maca
“taking copious amounts of L-carnitine, adding in a few other things like maca and a handful of other basics, my sperm quality is actually better”— Tim Ferriss
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INDO BOARD
INDO BOARD
“he can do a full barbell snatch, ass-to-heels while on top of an INDO BOARD, which are those balance boards on top of a cylinder”— Tim Ferriss
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Charlotte's Web CBD
Charlotte's Web
“So-called Charlotte's Web, I think is what it's called, mainly available in Colorado... is a powerful anti-epileptic”— Andrew Huberman
Big reveals from this episode
- Huberman says he has doubled down on five foundational categories that must be re-upped every 24 hours: sleep, nutrients (macro and micro), movement, light (especially morning sunlight), and relationships.
- He reversed his belief that you cannot train for endurance and strength at once; the data on concurrent training convinced him you can pursue multiple adaptations simultaneously, so he rebuilt his program to target one specific adaptation each day.
- He details his full weekly split: Sunday endurance hike/jog, Monday legs, Tuesday sauna/cold plunge recovery, Wednesday cardio or torso, Thursday torso or cardio, Friday short VO2 max work, Saturday smaller muscle groups.
- Tibialis (tib) raises, learned from Ben Patrick (Knees Over Toes Guy), eliminated his right-side sciatica, fixed shin splints, and let him run pain-free; he also discovered he never actually had flat feet, just weak tibs.
- Dedicated neck training improved his posture, eye contact, confidence, and injury resilience; he does it lying on a bench and stomach with a towel-wrapped plate.
- His sleep stack remains magnesium threonate, theanine, and apigenin, with added myo-inositol (900 mg) to help fall back asleep; if forced to pick two, he chooses magnesium threonate and apigenin.
- Rhodiola rosea (200 mg pre-workout) is his standout recent performance addition because it reduces perceived effort and post-exercise energy crash without suppressing cortisol, unlike Ashwagandha.
- Huberman has been monitoring sperm parameters and freezing sperm, and credits Ferriss with the idea that optimizing for fertility is a proxy for optimizing overall vitality.
Worth remembering
- The circuits devoted to movement plus those devoted to vision make up roughly 75 percent of the human brain.
- After about 25-30 minutes of repetitive exercise, central pattern generators engage so the movement becomes near-automatic, like an autopilot button appearing on the steering wheel.
- Protein synthesis peaks around 48 hours after a resistance workout but is held for additional days, so a muscle group does not need to be hit every 48 hours.
- Charles Poliquin's caution: resistance training beyond 60 minutes raises cortisol, harming sleep and recovery, so Huberman keeps lifts to an hour or less.
- A University of Houston study found 'soleus pushups' (seated calf raises) done while sitting significantly improved insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake.
- The soleus is about 1 percent of body musculature but can account for over 15 percent of daytime energy expenditure.
- Gulping fluid signals the bladder to urgently urinate, so sip your last evening drink, but gulp large amounts of water first thing in the morning when the kidney functions differently.
- Morning light raises cortisol about 50 percent above baseline; late-shifted cortisol is associated with depression and immune disruption.
- Neuropod cells in the gut signal sugar, fatty acids, and amino acids via the vagus nerve to the brain's dopamine centers, driving cravings and satiety.
- An Israeli study found 20 minutes of afternoon sun on bare skin three times a week significantly increased free testosterone, estrogen, and libido; the skin acts as an endocrine organ via the P53 pathway.
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