How to Build Strength, Muscle Size & Endurance | Dr. Andy Galpin
Dr. Andy Galpin, Professor of Kinesiology at CSU Fullerton, provides a masterclass on building strength, hypertrophy, and endurance. He details specific protocols for training, recovery, hydration, and mental tools to optimize physical adaptations.
Deep Dive Analysis
15 Topic Outline
Nine Adaptations of Exercise & Progressive Overload
Modifiable Variables for Training Outcomes
Strength Training: Intensity, Reps, Rest, & Frequency
Hypertrophy Training: Volume, Repetition Ranges, & Recovery
Mind-Muscle Connection & Activating Difficult Muscle Groups
Breathing Strategies During & After Resistance Training
Endurance Training: Exercise Choice & Interference Effects
Muscular Endurance: Slow vs. Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers
Hydration: The Galpin Equation & Electrolyte Intake
Cold Exposure: Timing Relative to Training Goals
Heat Exposure: Benefits and Timing Relative to Training
Gauging Recovery: Tools and Metrics
Sodium Bicarbonate for Enhanced Performance
Creatine Monohydrate: Broad Benefits
Absolute Rest: A Holistic Approach to Sleep Optimization
6 Key Concepts
Progressive Overload
To continue improving in any exercise adaptation (strength, endurance, etc.), one must consistently increase the challenge to the system. This can involve adding weight, repetitions, frequency, or complexity to movements, as adaptation happens as a byproduct of stress.
Henneman's Size Principle
This principle explains that muscle fibers are activated in a specific order: slow-twitch fibers first, followed by higher-threshold fast-twitch fibers. To activate these larger, stronger fast-twitch fibers, the muscle must be demanded to produce more total force, which is why heavy loads are crucial for strength development.
Interference Effect
Historically, it was believed that endurance training significantly compromised muscle growth and strength development when performed concurrently. More recent research suggests this effect is often overblown, especially for moderate zone 2 cardio, unless the endurance work is heavily eccentric-based, very high volume, and energy intake is uncontrolled.
Muscular Endurance
This refers to the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to sustain repeated contractions against a resistance for an extended period. It is crucial for maintaining joint health and integrity, as slow-twitch postural muscles need to be able to contract lightly for long durations without fatiguing to hold joints in optimal positions.
Hormetic Curves
This concept describes how a small, short, fast dose of a stressor can be beneficial, leading to adaptation and making the system bigger, faster, or stronger. However, too much of the stressor can become detrimental. This applies to various physiological factors like hydration, testosterone, and cold exposure.
Absolute Rest
A comprehensive approach to sleep optimization that analyzes four key areas: psychology (mind control), physiology (hormone/neurotransmitter levels), pathology (sleep disorders like apnea), and environment (temperature, humidity, CO2, allergens). It aims to identify and correct specific root causes of sleep issues.
9 Questions Answered
To increase strength without significant hypertrophy, focus on high intensity (above 85% of your one-rep max) with low repetitions (5 or less per set) and long rest intervals (2-4 minutes) to prioritize neural adaptations and force production over muscle damage and metabolic stress.
For hypertrophy, any repetition range between 5 to 30 reps per set can be equally effective, provided you take the set to muscular failure or very close to it. Varying rep schemes can also help with motivation and target different mechanisms of growth.
For strength, muscles can be trained daily, with a minimum of twice per week being very effective, as adaptations are primarily neural. For hypertrophy, allowing 48-72 hours of recovery between training the same muscle group is generally optimal to allow for protein synthesis and tissue repair.
The interference effect is likely overblown for most people. Zone 2 cardio (conversational pace) is unlikely to significantly hinder hypertrophy, and may even be beneficial. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can also be complementary, but caloric intake and recovery must be sufficient, and heavily eccentric-based endurance work can be more problematic.
A general guideline for daily fluid intake is half your body weight in ounces (e.g., 100 oz for a 200 lb person). During exercise, aim to consume your body weight in pounds divided by 30, in ounces, every 15-20 minutes. This is the 'Galpin Equation' for mid-workout hydration.
You can get sweat testing done (e.g., Levolin or Gatorade patch) to measure the exact milligrams of sodium in your sweat. A simpler visual cue is to check your hat or headband after a workout: a large white salt band indicates a high sodium sweater, while a clear band suggests low sodium output.
Avoid ice baths immediately after strength or hypertrophy training, as it can blunt adaptation signals, especially for muscle growth. It's generally recommended to wait at least four hours after a workout, or perform cold exposure on separate days or before training.
Heat exposure is generally beneficial for overall health and can be done frequently. It may even augment hypertrophy if done immediately post-training, potentially by aiding blood flow and nutrient delivery. It's less of a concern for interference effects compared to cold exposure.
Useful metrics include daily grip strength (e.g., using a scale), Heart Rate Variability (HRV), vertical jump height, or a tap test (how fast you can tap your finger). The Carbon Dioxide Tolerance Test (long controlled exhale after deep breaths) can also be a good indicator of systemic recovery.
29 Actionable Insights
1. Prioritize Post-Workout Down-Regulation
Immediately after a workout, engage in a 3-5 minute calming breathing routine, ideally with nasal breathing and an exhale twice as long as the inhale, to down-regulate the nervous system and enhance recovery. This can be done in the shower if time is limited.
2. Apply Progressive Overload
To continuously improve in any exercise adaptation (skill, speed, strength, endurance, etc.), you must implement progressive overload by gradually increasing weight, repetitions, frequency, complexity, or other variables over time.
3. Optimize Hydration with Electrolytes
Drink Element (sodium, magnesium, potassium, no sugar) dissolved in 16-32 ounces of water first thing in the morning and during physical exercise to ensure proper hydration and electrolyte balance for optimal brain and body function. Aim to consume half your body weight in ounces of fluid per day as a baseline.
4. Manage Exercise Sodium Intake
Consume around 500mg of sodium before and after workouts, adjusting higher if you are a ‘high sodium sweater’ (which can be determined by sweat testing or observing salt residue on clothing). If you lose more than 1% of your body weight in fluid during a workout, consider consuming 300mg of sodium during the session.
5. Implement 3-5 Strength Protocol
For strength training, choose 3-5 exercises, perform 3-5 reps for 3-5 sets, rest 3-5 minutes between sets, and train 2-5 times per week, using loads above 85% of your one-rep max. Work up to your working sets with lighter warm-up sets.
6. Optimize Hypertrophy Training
For hypertrophy, aim for 5-30 repetitions per set, taking each set to muscular failure. Target 15-20 working sets per muscle group per week, allowing 2-3 days of recovery (e.g., train a muscle group every 72 hours) to allow for protein synthesis.
7. Weekly Max Heart Rate Efforts
Once a week, engage in an activity that pushes you to your maximum heart rate (e.g., 30-second sprints, burpees) for 4-8 bouts, even if it’s just for a few minutes of hard work, to challenge and improve all cardiovascular adaptations.
8. Sustain Hard Work Intervals
In addition to max heart rate efforts, include 4-12 minute bouts of sustained hard work at around 80% intensity, with equivalent rest periods, repeated 2-6 times, to provide significant cardiovascular benefit and improve work output.
9. Build Muscular Endurance
Develop muscular endurance (e.g., planks, wall sits, slow tempo bodyweight squats) to support slow-twitch muscle fibers, maintain joint integrity, and prevent fatigue in postural muscles, which reduces injury risk during heavy or fast movements.
10. Train Below Pain Threshold
If experiencing pain or injury, do not stop movement entirely; instead, reduce exercise complexity, volume, or intensity to train just below the pain threshold to build tissue tolerance and desensitize the pain signal.
11. Manage Soreness, Don’t Avoid
Soreness is a poor indicator of workout quality; aim for a soreness level of around three out of ten between workouts. You can train sore muscles unless the pain is debilitating, as excessive soreness can lead to missed sessions and reduced total volume.
12. Enhance Training with Intent
For strength and power, intend to move the weight as fast as possible, even if the actual speed is the same. For hypertrophy, focus on the mind-muscle connection and visualize the muscle contracting, as intentionality can lead to better outcomes.
13. Improve Muscle Activation
To activate difficult muscle groups, use tactile cues (e.g., a partner tapping the muscle), visualization, or eccentric overload (focusing on the lowering phase of a movement) to enhance awareness and engagement.
14. Avoid Cold Post-Hypertrophy
Avoid ice baths or cold water immersion immediately after hypertrophy training, as it can be detrimental to muscle growth; ideally, wait at least four hours or perform cold exposure before the workout.
15. Heat Post-Training, Not Substitute
Consider using a sauna or hot bath (aim for 60 minutes per week, e.g., three 20-minute bouts) immediately after training, as it may augment hypertrophy and offers general health benefits, but it is not a substitute for exercise.
16. Optimize Sleep with Absolute Rest
Utilize a comprehensive approach like Absolute Rest (AbsoluteRest.com) to diagnose and address sleep issues by analyzing psychological factors, physiological markers (dopamine, serotonin, cortisol), potential pathologies (sleep apnea), and environmental factors (temperature, humidity, VOCs, CO2 cloud).
17. Supplement Creatine Monohydrate
Consider supplementing with creatine monohydrate, which is highly effective, safe, and cheap, with benefits extending beyond sport performance to neurological function and mental health.
18. Supplement with Beta-Alanine
Supplement with Beta-Alanine, which converts to carnosine in the muscle, acting as an intracellular buffer to delay acid buildup and combat fatigue during exercise.
19. Utilize Sodium Bicarbonate
To delay fatigue and reduce acid buildup during intense exercise (especially anaerobic intervals or circuit training), consume 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in water 20-60 minutes before training. Start with a lower dose to avoid gastric distress.
20. Zone 2 Cardio Won’t Hinder Gains
For most people, Zone 2 cardio (conversational pace) will not significantly interfere with strength or hypertrophy gains, and may even be beneficial by increasing blood flow, especially if energy intake is sufficient and the activity is not heavily eccentric-based.
21. Favor Concentric Endurance Activities
When starting endurance training, especially if untrained, choose activities that are mostly concentric-based (e.g., cycling, swimming, rowing, sled pushing, uphill walking/running) to minimize eccentric landing and reduce muscle soreness and injury risk.
22. Nasal Breathe During Zone 2
For long-duration, lower-intensity endurance activities (Zone 2), try to breathe exclusively through your nose, going as hard as you can while maintaining nasal breathing, to regulate intensity and gain additional benefits.
23. Morning Cold Boosts Alertness
Engage in deliberate cold exposure (e.g., 3 minutes in 30-degree water) in the morning to experience a hormetic stressor that can lead to improved HRV and enhanced alertness throughout the day.
24. Utilize Belt for Core Activation
When lifting, wear a belt just tight enough to provide proprioceptive feedback, then actively press your core musculature against it to enhance abdominal strength and spinal stabilization, rather than letting the belt do all the work.
25. Strategic Breathing for Lifts
For resistance training, hold your breath during the eccentric (lowering) phase and exhale during the concentric (pushing/lifting) phase. For higher reps, consider exhaling every third breath, but for single reps, omitting breathing is fine.
26. Monitor Recovery with CO2 Test
Perform a CO2 tolerance test (four deep, slow nasal breaths, then max exhale through the nose, timing duration) consistently each morning to gauge recovery, as it can be a useful indicator of nervous system and respiratory regulation.
27. Tap Test for CNS Recovery
Utilize a tap test (tapping a finger as fast as possible for a set duration, e.g., one minute) to get a rough indicator of central nervous system recovery, comparing daily scores to your average.
28. Train Based on Preference
Whether to train fasted or fed is largely a matter of personal preference for the average person, as long as overall nutritional needs are met.
29. Follow Dr. Andy Galpin
Follow Dr. Andy Galpin on Instagram and Twitter (@DrAndyGalpin) for terrific information about recent studies and in-depth exercise protocols.
8 Key Quotes
Your exercises themselves do not determine adaptations. If you don't execute it in the right fashion, then you're not going to get that adaptation.
Dr. Andy Galpin
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.
Dr. Andy Galpin
The total driver of strength is intensity, but the total driver of hypertrophy is volume.
Dr. Andy Galpin
If you want to know the ones that are going to generally give you the most physiological adaptations across the most categories, you're almost always looking for hypertrophy type of training and then this anaerobic conditioning piece.
Dr. Andy Galpin
If you understand the point of physiological failure, then you understand the place of adaptation.
Dr. Andy Galpin
You do not get hurt deadlifting because deadlifts are dangerous. You only get hurt deadlifting because you either got in bad position, you got in bad position because you either started in bad position, or you ended up in bad position.
Dr. Andy Galpin
Water is the only thing that is ubiquitous across biologies in terms of every living thing has to have it.
Dr. Andy Galpin
If you're like, hey, I'm not super concerned with growing muscle and I want these other things that come with cold water immersion, fine. It's not a zero. It's not zero. It's not taking you backwards. How much does it cut you down? I don't know.
Dr. Andy Galpin
5 Protocols
Strength & Power Training (The 3 to 5 Concept)
Dr. Andy Galpin- Select 3 to 5 exercises (balancing upper/lower body, push/pull movements, and full range of motion).
- Perform 3 to 5 repetitions per set.
- Complete 3 to 5 sets per exercise.
- Rest 3 to 5 minutes between sets.
- Train 3 to 5 times per week.
- For strength, use intensity above 85% of one-rep max. For power, use 40-70% of one-rep max to emphasize velocity.
Post-Training Down Regulation Breathing
Dr. Andy Galpin- Immediately after a workout, find a calm position (e.g., lying on your back).
- Engage in intentional, calming breathwork for at least 3-5 minutes.
- Focus on nasal breathing as much as possible.
- Aim for an exhale length that is double the inhale length (e.g., 4-second inhale, 8-second exhale).
- Alternatively, use box breathing (equal inhale, hold, exhale, hold for 4 seconds each).
Endurance Training: Max Heart Rate Intervals
Dr. Andy Galpin- Once per week, perform a workout that gets you to your maximum heart rate (or very close).
- The duration of each maximal effort can be 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
- Perform 4 to 8 repeated bouts of this maximal effort, with appropriate rest in between.
- Ensure a thorough warm-up before engaging in these high-intensity efforts.
Endurance Training: Sustained Hard Work Intervals
Dr. Andy Galpin- Once per week, perform sustained hard work for 4 to 12 minutes.
- Aim for approximately 80% of your maximum heart rate.
- Follow each hard work bout with an equivalent amount of rest (e.g., 5 minutes work, 5 minutes rest).
- Repeat this cycle as many times as your fitness level allows, ideally 2-6 times.
Sodium Bicarbonate for Performance Enhancement
Dr. Andy Galpin- Start with a low dose, such as a quarter to half a teaspoon of baking soda, dissolved in water.
- Consume the solution approximately 20 to 60 minutes before your workout.
- Increase the dose gradually if tolerated and desired, while monitoring for gastric distress.
- Consider using for anaerobic-demanding activities like high-intensity intervals or circuit training to buffer acid buildup and delay fatigue.