Movement Expert: Ideal Workouts From 0 to 70+

Dr. Andy Galpin is a world expert in exercise science and tenured full professor at California State University, Fullerton, where he co-directs the Center for Sport Performance and leads the Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Laboratory.

In this conversation we discuss physical training for longevity, how to get started, and the importance of focusing on concepts rather than methods.

More from Andy:

NSCA Position Statements [see 10:17]

🔗 LET’S BE FRIENDS

🧪 WHO AM I?
Hi Friends - I am the world’s most measured human.

At 46, my cardiovascular fitness ranks in the top 1.5% of 18 year olds; I celebrate my birthday every 19 months because we’ve dramatically slowed my speed of aging, and in 2023I achieved the world’s best recorded sleep score, 8 months of 100% perfect sleep.

This is remarkable because previously, my health was in a pretty bad place.

In 2020, I started Project Blueprint to help you achieve similar results. I share everything I do and learn for free, so you can access the best health science available.

Project Blueprint and Don’t Die celebrate that we, humanity, are evolving into something new. Join me on this journey.

Chapters
0:00 - Intro
1:13 - What Does Andy Think About Blueprint?
2:55 - Enjoying Discomfort
5:50 - Would We Retire?
7:37 - Training From Age 0
11:22 - 1. Run, Jump, Throw
17:44 - 2. Squat, Push, Pull
18:54 - 3. Concepts vs Methods
23:20 - 4. Injury Prevention
25:14 - How to Start
30:00 - Where Most Adults Fail
32:35 - Bringing Movement Back Into Your life
38:25 - What About 30+?
39:40 - Defining Exercise for Longevity
44:52 - Andy’s 1-Year Training Program
48:23 - Your 1-Year Training Program
55:04 - Does Exercise Damage Joints?
1:02:02 - Exercising 500+ Days In a Row
1:02:57 - Criticisms of Blueprint
1:06:49 - Should We Avoid Risky Activities?
1:09:58 - Resilience vs Prevention
1:14:06 - David Goggins
1:17:23 - Acute vs Long-term Injury Risk
1:19:52 - How Will Humans Exercise in the Future?
1:25:11 - What’s Missing From My Blueprint Workout?

[BryanJohnson]

Pt.2 coming soon, in which Andy designs my new workout routine. Subscribe and turn on notifications to be alerted when it’s out.

[hickorysocks]

I’ve never witnessed an interview where the two speakers have such radically different sitting positions. I’m still processing it

[Daisy-ff]

I don’t get why Bryan Johnson gets any hate at all. He’s literally living his life as an experiment so that we can live a longer healthier life.. Pretty admirable 🤷

[manipurihunabopa]

I agree that we lost our ability to be childish. When we were a child, we jumped a lot. However, i have managed to maintain that. Immediately, after waking up in the morning, i jump 20 times. It keeps me happy and robust.

[Bee-radd]

First shot showing how they're both sitting with their own super cool "Dwight Schrute Fitness Orb" postures I lold.

[planetmuskvlog]

I became so used to seeing Bryan interviewed on podcasts, it threw me for a second seeing him host the show

[laurastarbrook]

Thank you for opening people's minds and giving us different options on moving our body, working out and being healthier for the long run❤

[leononymous]

Very nice. More of this. Be active in a wide variety of movements, sometimes play, sometimes be more thoughtful about it. Our goal is to get better. Making mistakes means you just learned something and can improve it!

[veganandlovingit]

Bryan is so cool - he never comes across as a try hard. Some people look like they have something to prove. Usually those people are doing something wrong.

[snarlynx]

If Andy Galpin does 100 interviews - imma watch all 100

[Ruudwardt]

Listening to Andy gets never old.
Few extra magic tricks to get kids moving:
- gymn rings. I can't even have access to these with kids around. They will monkey around for hours..
- Bars on their reach.
- Rope.
They are not that far from actual monkeys.

The long term training scope:
- 9 out of 10 people used to have physical occupation not so long ago.
The best sticking movement is some hobby that requires movement. I like carpentry and hiking.
The next best thing is something that could bring in income or reduce expenses - walking instead of going with car, producing something with physical labour and selling it. Personally I harvest firewood and do gardening besides my office job.
The next best one is performance goals - but that one is stimulating to only a few. I have strength goals - that works very well for me because I like goals.
For some goals of health can work, but this is likely later in life when people start paying attention to age related issues and that is already sub optimally late.
Goals of muscle mass can work well too, probably more so for men.
The least effective is probably aesthetics goals because it is very tricky to measure.

Resilience.
Andy is touching here on something masses of people dismiss.
We live in good times, even the Covid and some proxy wars going on are still on the prosperous side of things for most people on the planet.
This can change. It will change, it is only matter of time.
Even when in our life time nothing abysmal happens in our environment, it is great for health to be resilient. And teach our children to be resilient for their future.

Recovery and escaping injury.
It is not so bad to injure yourself in youth - you will most likely recover fully and have learned a valuable lesson.
Personally I have never liked the common 'progressive overload' thinking - the linear one.
The one that has worked well for me is - 'embrace the plateau'. Spend significant time on plateau - train with same weight, same intensity, same reps, same rom etc for a month - instead focusing on increasing the quality (control, clean form, tempo/timing).
Then tweak it up. And repeat. I have prevented injury and made good progress that way. It takes patience of course. This is more important at advanced levels of performance.
It bullet proofs joints and connective tissue and insures great technique.
This I learned from the 80's Russian coaches - I trained under one, too.
Of course at very advanced levels more trickery is involved, the undulations, the tapering and well timed recovery weeks, precise assessment of recovery etc.

[donnam]

I'm interested in the power/speed aspect. I've seen this in my husband who has early onset AD - he began to move slowly and carefully, like a much older person, years before his diagnosis, even when he was fit and flexible (did yoga) and stronger. His walking speed was like an 80 year old, in his 50s. His mental and physical power declined in tandem. I am doing things like cycling and hitting a tennis ball against the wall, walking on rocky trails etc, which require quick "responding" to changing conditions. But these activities have to be balanced with increased injury risk. I loved this discussion, thank you so much to the two of you!

[mactireliath]

I appreciate that Galpin is trying to open up his communication on fitness so the most amount of people can extract value from it. It really shows his growth in the podcast space

[Icarianbrother]

Consider interviewing Clarence Bass. In the June 2017 issue of Men's Health, Bass was named "one of America’s greatest fitness visionaries". He is 87 years old and in phenomenal condition.

[ThomasAT]

Andy Galpin is an absolutely incredible resource. Shares great points on what actually matters, sleep tracking, balance and much more. Gets me grounded and makes me think about what I'm doing every time.

[ashzty]

Bryan really looking young these days!

[allstrongfitness]

I used to do SBD type workouts with a lot of running, and now I literally do full body weights with varying weights, and positions almost every day, multiple types of sport/cardio, with walking throughout the day when I can. I have implemented a large amount of knees over toes guy strength/ mobility exercises and with all of this together my body feels better than ever

[Jake-vtow]

Love Bryan’s plan. Adapt my recipes to his. His chocolate is crazy good. Retired for 1 year, went right back to work! Swimming is great. 4 miles a week.

[tony]

"Life will either move you...or remove you" - Preach

[JuanaLove]

I can't say enough how wonderful it is to have a fantastic personal trainer! I never have to plan or think, and he knows how hard or less-hard. Being an expert he knows my body better than I do.. Been an athlete all my life, but having my coach is a blessing!