Supercharge Exercise Performance & Recovery with Cooling

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2021

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode I explain the science of heating and cooling the body, a process called thermoregulation-- and how to apply that knowledge to significantly improve physical performance. I describe the three areas of our body that can remove heat (or bring heat into the body) faster than anywhere else, why that is so, and how proper cooling of these areas with specific protocols can allow people to perform 200-600% more volume and repetitions of resistance exercises at the same weight loads, or to run, cycle or swim significantly further. I also describe how to use directed cooling of so-called glabrous skin: the bottoms of feet, palms and face, to significantly enhance recovery times from exercise. Also, why the common practices of trying to heat up or cool the body via the torso or whole-body submersion in cold can be inefficient and/or dangerous-- and the better alternatives. Finally, I discuss the temperature-effects of caffeine, alcohol and anti-inflammatory compounds. The information in this episode is focused on mechanisms and tools for increasing athletic or exercise performance. For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/huberman Thesis: https://takethesis.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Introduction (00:05:08) Physical Performance & Skill Learning (00:06:40) Optimal Learning Protocol (Recap): 4 Steps (00:08:31) Variables Impacting Physical Performance (00:10:00) Temperature Is the Dominant Variable (00:12:08) Understanding Mechanism Is Key (00:13:42) Heat: The Enemy of All Performance (& Why) (00:16:30) Blood Flow & Sweating & Piloerection (00:22:35) Heat Is What Limits Effort: Even If You Feel Fine/Motivated (00:25:29) Proper Cooling Can Double, Triple, Quadruple (Or More) Your Ability (00:26:42) Heat Induced Confusion & Death (00:30:02) The Three Body Parts Best For Heating & Cooling Your Whole Body (00:31:38) Face, Palms, Bottoms of Feet; Glabrous Skin (00:33:00) Arterio-Venous Anastamoses (AVAs) Are Super Cool(ing)! (00:37:15) Palmar Cooling Can Supercharge Your Athletic Performance (00:38:35) ATP, Pyruvate Kinase & Heat (00:40:55) Palmer Cooling Outperforms Anabolic Steroids Several-Fold (00:43:45) Increasing Endurance, Willpower & Persistence (00:46:33) Cardiac Drift, & Moving the ”I Quit” Point (00:50:44) Deliberate Heating: Myths and Better Protocols (00:53:20) Protocols For Self-Directed Cooling To Vastly Improve Performance (00:59:23) How To Use Cold To Recover Faster & More Thoroughly (01:02:05) Ice Baths & Cold Showers Can Prevent Training Progress: mTOR, etc. (01:06:29) Alcohol, Caffeine, NSAIDs: Their Temperature Effects Matter (01:09:44) Are Stimulants Counter Productive For Performance? It Depends. (01:12:00) The Caffeine Rule & “Caffeine Adaptation” (01:14:20) NSAIDs for Training: Performance Enhancements & Risks (01:17:00) The Best Way to Explore Your Own “Parameter Space” (01:18:35) Tools: How To Try (01:21:35) Cost-Free Support, & Additional Support & Resources Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac Disclaimer

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
0:09.0	I'm Andrew Huberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.
0:15.0	This podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford.
0:19.0	It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring you zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public.
0:27.0	In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast.
0:31.0	Our first sponsor is Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens is an all-in-one vitamin mineral probiotic drink.
0:37.0	I've been taking Athletic Greens since 2012, so I'm delighted that they're sponsoring the podcast.
0:42.0	The reason I started taking Athletic Greens and the reason I still take Athletic Greens once or twice today is that it helps me cover all of my basic nutritional needs.
0:50.0	It makes up for any deficiencies that I might have.
0:52.0	In addition, it has probiotics, which are vital for microbiome health.
0:57.0	I've done a couple of episodes now on the so-called gut microbiome and the ways in which the microbiome interacts with your immune system, with your brain to regulate mood, and essentially with every biological system relevant to health throughout your brain and body.
1:11.0	With Athletic Greens, I get the vitamins I need, the minerals I need, and the probiotics to support my microbiome.
1:17.0	If you'd like to try Athletic Greens, you can go to AthleticGreens.com slash Huberman and claim a special offer.
1:22.0	They'll give you five free travel packs plus a year supply of vitamin D3K2.
1:27.0	There are a ton of data now showing that vitamin D3 is essential for various aspects of our brain and body health, even if we're getting a lot of sunshine.
1:35.0	Many of us are still deficient in vitamin D3.
1:38.0	And K2 is also important because it regulates things like cardiovascular function, calcium in the body, and so on.
1:43.0	Again, go to AthleticGreens.com slash Huberman to claim the special offer of the five free travel packs and the year supply of vitamin D3K2.
1:51.0	Today's episode is also brought to us by Inside Tracker.
1:54.0	Inside Tracker is a personalized nutrition platform that analyzes data from your blood and DNA to help you better understand your body and help you reach your health goals.
2:03.0	I am a big fan of getting regular blood work done, and I've been trying to do it as much as I can afford for years.
2:09.0	The reason is that many of the factors that impact our immediate and long-term health can only be discovered from a quality blood test.
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