[@hubermanlab] Build Your Ideal Physique | Dr. Bret Contreras

Link: https://youtu.be/7SIjcX5B1Vs

Short Summary

In this episode of the Huberman Lab podcast, Dr. Andrew Huberman interviews Dr. Brett Contrarus, "the glute guy," about science-backed resistance training strategies for building strength and muscle, particularly in specific areas like the glutes. Dr. Contrarus explains training frequency, exercise selection, progressive overload, and tailoring programs to individual aesthetic and performance goals. The discussion covers hypertrophy, leanness, muscle recovery, and actionable methods for both novice and experienced lifters to optimize their fitness routines and achieve better, faster results.

Key Quotes

Here are 5 direct quotes from the transcript that represent particularly valuable insights or interesting data points:

1. "If you want to maximize your gains, you need to hit a muscle probably twice a week. There's some evidence that you that you know maybe three times a week is best, but that's hard to recover from. But I would say for the majority of listeners who are eager to get started, you get so much of your results from the first set, the first set you do, the first work set after the first working set you do. Um, and then you know adding more volume, adding more frequency, it's not linear." (This highlights the importance of hitting a muscle twice per week to maximize gains, but also emphasizes the value of the first set.)
2. "We can talk about volume frequency, all these things, but the main thing is are you progressively overloading the muscles? Are you putting more tension on the muscles over time? And that's how people grow. So, it's like you can you can geek out on the variables, which I love to do, but if your program is working, then you're getting stronger over time." (This reinforces that progressive overload is the most important factor for muscle growth, regardless of other details.)
3. "So some of these exercises that give you the most bang for your buck and they're the most efficient exercises, they sometimes aren't the best exercises if you're training them a muscle frequently. And I like to I like to say walking lunges are probably the best glute exercise there is. The problem is they're too good. If you really go to failure to where you can't get another step with a you know um they they can beat you up a lot." (This introduces a nuanced consideration: the most effective exercises might not be the best for frequent training because of recovery demands.)
4. "EMG doesn't perfectly predict growth. I like about hip thrust is you can do a lot more volume lately I've been just prioritizing hip thrust I do nine sets every third day and I think that's overkill but I do I do different types like uh and I can recover from it. I don't even get sore from it. It's crazy. You can do so much volume" (Important consideration because a lot of people see EMG in studies and think a given result necessarily means more growth.)
5. "The psychological component is huge and that gets ignored and I try to help people tune into that as a as a coach and I try to stray from like I have my system but I've I've had great gains um you know like with people straying far from the norms." (This recognizes that psychology is important but is often neglected in fitness recommendations.)

Detailed Summary

Okay, here is a detailed summary of the YouTube video transcript provided, using bullet points:

Key Topics:

• Resistance Training Fundamentals: Frequency, sets, reps, exercise selection, progressive overload.
• Hypertrophy (Muscle Growth): How to stimulate muscle growth, particularly in lagging muscle groups.
• Glute-Specific Training: Exercise selection, importance of training from different vectors, addressing concerns of women who want to grow glutes without growing legs.
• Program Design: Structuring workout routines to achieve specific aesthetic and performance goals, specialization phases, considering individual needs and recovery.
• Importance of progressive overload: Creating a stimulus that one needs to adapt to so that the muscle grows and gets stronger.

Arguments and Information:

• Introduction:
  • Dr. Andrew Huberman introduces Dr. Brett Contrarus ("The Glute Guy") and the importance of resistance training for health and aesthetics.
  • The podcast aims to clarify how to best resistance train for specific goals and provides science-based tools.
• Frequency of Training:
  • Minimum: Twice a week full body workouts.
  • Optimal: Hitting a muscle twice per week; potentially three times a week, but harder to recover from.
  • Newbie gains in the first year make frequent workouts beneficial.
• Sets and Reps:
  • Three sets are generally recommended in online programs. Two sets is typical when working with clients.
  • Progressive overload is more important than the number of sets.
  • Focus on gaining strength over time; keep a workout log to track progress and have a goal in mind.
  • Don't just go through the motions; have a plan.
  • For example, push to set a personal record each workout.
• Training Splits (LOWER/UPPER):
  • Lower, Upper, Lower with rest days (Monday through Friday).
  • Most followers are women that prioritize lower body.
  • Exercise selection will differ, and splits will differ.
  • Women: three lower body days, two upper body days. Men: Typically the opposite.
• Progressive Overload:
  • Key tenant of strength training; focus on increasing tension on muscles over time.
  • PRs should not come at the expense of decreased range of motion or sloppy form.
  • Barometer for progress: loads, sets, and reps.
• Sponsor Messages:
  • Discussions about Aurora Water Filters, and a Carbon app.
• The Importance of Strength & Conditioning:
  • Should be prioritized during the start of the training, to ensure they have a foundational base to begin with.
• Bodybuilding Back in the Day:
  • The bodybuilders back then before steroids did three full body workouts with barbell training and focused on the big basics.
• Transfer Between Different Lifts:
  • You can get stronger by identifying weak links, but you don't need to repeat the same movements all the time.
  • Example squat and bench month then next month will be deadlift and chin up month.
  • Chin up goal example that if you focus on the chin ups during the chin up months, the back muscles will get bigger.
• Hydration:
  • Ensuring you get enough hydration every day is an underrated tool to improve mental health, physical performance, and your cognitive performance.
• Training Frequency and Recovery:
  • The typical woman and man in their 30s and 40s would benefit from training a minimum of 2-3 times per week.
  • Training each muscle group twice per week is beneficial, with the possibility of training them three times a week for even greater results
• Movement Pattern Selection:
  • There is a "squat" movement pattern which includes squats, hack squats, leg press, step ups, and Bulgarian split squats. They all work similarly.
• Progressive Overload Is Key
  • To be gaining strength if you want a muscle to substantially change, but the increased PR cannot come at the expense of decreased range of motion or sloppy form.
• Aurora Water Filters:
  • They remove harmful substances and preserve beneficial minerals.
• Carbon App:
  • Nutrition expert Dr. Lane Norton uses it for effective weight management.
  • Doesn't just hand you a one-size-fits-all plan, and it actually learns your metabolism over time.
• Delving Deeper into Training Techniques:
  • The purpose of training is to create stimulus
  • There's also a focus on increasing intensity during exercise.
  • There's the need to have the proper split
• Individualization:
  • Training programs will differ based on people's genetics, recovery rate, and also recovery genes.
• Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV):
  • The amount of volume that a person can train while still being able to recover from.
• Mind Muscle Connection:
  • Can be used to increase strength and intensity during the exercises.
  • It is important to be able to flex and contract a muscle before being able to train it.
  • The idea is that you do increasing demands on the muscle over time.
• Lowload Glute Activation:
  • These were done back in the day with bodyweight exercises to wake up the glutes, with two sets of 10.
• Flexing:
  • The fact that men are able to flex their muscles is because they have been flexing all their lives.
• Delts:
  • He prioritized delts for the last year and incorporated a lot of exercises, cables, machines, dumbbells, and bands.
• High Intensity Training:
  • Requires that you warm up, you do a super intense focus set or sets, and then take a couple days off before hitting those muscles again.
• How to Approach New Clients:
  • First, two or three weeks teaching the movement and how to properly target the muscles.
  • Determine MRV and then find what the skill and ability is for people to target those muscles.
• Genetics:
  • Some genetics are built to recover faster, they will benefit a lot more from high intensity sets.
• Mental health and exercise:
  • It is vital to keep the mental and psychological aspect to it, since the long term sustainability is all about this.
• Yin and Yang of external and internal:
  • That are necessary to have optimized muscle hypertrophy over time.
• Tempo:
  • Tempo doesn't affect hypertrophy that much, so as long as you are controlling the weights on the way down.
  • Tempo mostly matters for longevity and preventing injury.
• External Load:
  • You can either produce more force in those reps, or add weight to that rep.
• PowerLifting vs Strong Lifting:
  • Powerlifting has three main lifts
  • Strong lifting is the concept of having six main lifts. That included the other three lifts. Squats, bench press, deadlifts, military press, chin-ups and hip thrusts.
• Strong Lifting:
  • Is influenced by Loui Simmons
  • They would cycle the lifts around and they wouldn't just be working on powerlifting, they would cycle in machines.
• Element:
  • Electrolyte drink that has everything you need and nothing you don't.
• AG1:
  • Created a new product called AGZ to get better sleep and have you wake up feeling super refreshed.
• Training at failure:
  • Leads to injuries, if exercises aren't rotated. So that is why it is better to change or increase the difficulty.
• Carbon Nutrition App
  • Is powerful for effective weight management
• Muscle Stimulation:
  • The point of going into the gym is to create a stimulus, that one has to adapt to grow stronger.

Detailed Glute Training:

• Glute Function: Hip extension, hip abduction, hip external rotation, posterior pelvic tilt.
• Exercise Selection:
  • Rule of Thirds: 1/3 vertical (squats, deadlifts, lunges), 1/3 horizontal (hip thrusts, glute bridges), 1/3 lateral/rotary (abduction movements).
  • Provides more muscle for recoverable volume.
  • Different Exercises hit the glutes in the most efficient way.
  • It is recommended to prioritize one of the four (squat lunge, hinge pull, thrust bridge, or abduction) on each workout to make it easier to be done, and to be able to set PRs.
• Lower Glute Max (Near Hamstrings):
  • Best exercise: Reverse lunge but can be "too good" (cause excessive soreness).
  • Alternative: Step-ups (more manageable for frequent training).
  • If only going to train legs once a week, use the reverse lunges.
• Upper Glute Max:
  • Hip thrusts (and variations).
• Common Hip Thrust Mistake: Not reaching full hip extension. Solutions are hyperextension in the hip.

Muscle growth through strength:

• There's different genetic types.

• If the legs are growing fast, but the glutes are growing slowly. It is more beneficial to use a single leg, since they tend to get you more sore in the muscles.

• Training around injuries:

  • When there is a knee injury, switch from squat to leg press, and if that hurts too then single leg version of a deadlift.

• Neck Strengthening:

  • If one can't do many of the neck exercises, then they'll need to practice on the neck strength.

• If You are training a part of the body 3x a week:

  • Adjust the variables of the exercise.
  • That way one is training in the correct level and also properly progressing over time.

Lagging Muscle Group Prioritization (General Principles):

• Assess: Identify weak points aesthetically and strength-wise.
• Increase Frequency/Volume: Add an extra training day and prioritize that muscle group.
• Reduce Volume Elsewhere: Maintain (don't try to build) other muscle groups to focus energy on the lagging muscle.
• Variety: Cycle through different exercises/movements within each workout.
• High Volume: For short amounts of time.
• Genetics and satellite cells:
  • Different genetics will determine what muscle groups are easier to grow than others.

Benefits of strategic workouts:

• Helps with pain.
• Helps heal injuries.
• Helps the psychological mind.

Other Important points:

• If having problems with pain, that can decrease the non-exercise activity thermogenesis.
• The training schedule is very vital to set up and maintain.

Taking an Extended Rest Period:

• Helps with getting newbie gains all over again.
• Helps heal nagging injuries and pain.

Benefits of Walking:

• It burns more calories than one knows.
• They should try to reach 40k steps per day.

Most Unusual Tip (But Effective):

• Whole body, one set to failure to the muscles. It is very time effective.

In summary, the podcast emphasizes the importance of individualized resistance training programs tailored to specific goals. It highlights the critical role of progressive overload and provides practical advice on how to design effective training routines, select exercises, and periodize training to maximize results while minimizing the risk of injury. A strong emphasis is placed on understanding individual needs and recovery capabilities to create sustainable, long-term fitness plans.