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 AG1: https://athleticgreens.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/hubermanlab Waking Up: https://wakingup.com/huberman Momentous: https://livemomentous.com/huberman 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   Disclaimer & Disclosures