Dr. Duncan French: How to Exercise for Strength Gains & Hormone Optimization
In this episode, I talk to Dr. Duncan French, Ph.D., the Vice President of Performance at the UFC Performance Institute and a world-class performance specialist. We discuss specific resistance (weight) training regimens for increasing testosterone in men and women and how to vary mechanical loads and rest between sets and workouts to optimize hormone output and training results. We also discuss how stress-induced "catecholamines" can increase testosterone or decrease it, depending on duration and mindset. And we discuss specific cold- and heat- therapies for increasing resilience, reducing inflammation, heat shock proteins and more. We discuss nutrition for training and how to match nutrition to training goals and metabolic flexibility. We discuss mental focus and how long to train for skill development. Finally, we discuss how mixed martial arts and the UFC Performance Institute are a template for exploring human performance more generally. This episode is intended for anyone interested in athletic and mental performance: athletes, students, and recreational exercisers and includes both science and many practical tools people can apply in their own training.
Read the full show notes for this episode at hubermanlab.com.
Thank you to our sponsors
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Timestamps
00:00:00 Dr. Duncan French
00:02:44 Sponsors: AG1, LMNT & Waking Up
00:05:44 Duncan’s Background in Exercise Science
00:11:45 How Certain Exercises Increase Testosterone
00:16:22 What Kind of Training Increases Testosterone & Growth Hormone?
00:20:19 Intensity: Mechanical Load; Volume: Metabolic Load; Inter-set Rest Periods
00:25:25 Training Frequency & Combining Workout Goals
00:29:35 How Stress Can Increase or Decrease Testosterone
00:36:55 Using Cold Exposure for Mindset, Anti-Inflammation, Muscle-Growth
00:46:55 Skill Development
00:50:05 Why Hard Exercise Creates Brain Fog: Role of Nutrition
00:53:55 Low-Carbohydrate Versus All-Macronutrient Diets on Performance
00:56:15 Ketones & Brain Energy, Offsetting Brain Injury; Spiking Glucose During Ketosis
00:59:13 Metabolic Efficiency, Matching Nutrition to Training, “Needs Based Eating”
01:05:00 Duncan’s Work with Olympic Athletes, NCAA, UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)
01:08:00 Why UFC & MMA (Mixed-Martial Arts) Are So Valuable for Advancing Performance
01:12:40 Voluntarily Switching Between Different States of Arousal
01:14:30 Heat, Getting Better at Sweating, Heat Shock Proteins, Sauna
01:20:12 Using Rotating 12-Week Training Programs; Logging Objective & Subjective Data
01:24:07 Surprising & Unknown Aspects of The UFC and UFC Performance Institute
01:27:45 Conclusions, Zero-Cost Support, Sponsors, Supplements, Instagram
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