Experts › Strength & muscle › Andy Galpin

Strength & muscleAll-rounderEvidence: strong

Andy Galpin

Exercise physiologist (PhD, human bioenergetics) · Executive Director, Human Performance Center, Parker University · host of Perform with Dr. Andy Galpin

Train every part of fitness on purpose, test where you stand, and use simple rules of thumb such as the 3–5 method for strength.

In short

  • Strength: 3–5 exercises, sets and reps
  • Muscle: 10+ hard sets per muscle a week
  • Creatine 3–5 g a day
Build my plan in Galpin’s style
Words explained (4)
VO2 max
The most oxygen your body can use in hard exercise. A good measure of fitness; higher is better.
Hypertrophy
Muscle growth.
Creatine
A well-studied supplement that supports strength and muscle.
Fibre
The part of plant foods you don't digest. It feeds healthy gut bacteria and keeps you full.

At a glance

Strength 50%Easy cardio 30%Intervals 15%Mobility & stability 5%

Training focus: our estimate from what they recommend.

“3–5 rule” lifting
Signature habit
Daily total matters most
Protein
All-rounder
Training style
Strong
Overall evidence

Background

Andy Galpin studied exercise science at Linfield College. He went on to a master's in human movement sciences at the University of Memphis and a PhD in human bioenergetics at Ball State University in 2011.

He joined California State University, Fullerton in 2011 and became a tenured full professor of kinesiology. There he led the Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Laboratory and co-directed the Center for Sport Performance. His research looks at how skeletal muscle, down to single fibres and genes, responds to strength, power and high-intensity training.

Alongside academic work he has coached and advised professional and elite athletes in sports such as mixed martial arts, boxing, baseball, American football and the military. He has co-founded several performance companies, including BioMolecular Athlete, Vitality Blueprint, Absolute Rest and RAPID Health & Performance.

He became widely known to the public through a six-part guest series on the Huberman Lab podcast in early 2023, covering fitness testing, strength, endurance, recovery and nutrition. In 2024 he launched his own podcast, Perform, in partnership with Huberman Lab.

In August 2024 he moved from Cal State Fullerton to Parker University in Dallas, Texas, as Executive Director of its new Human Performance Center.

Known for

  • The 3–5 rule for strength training
  • Nine adaptations of fitness, from skill and speed to long-duration endurance
  • Muscle fibre and molecular exercise research
  • Huberman Lab guest series and the Perform podcast
  1. 2005BS in exercise science, Linfield College
  2. 2008MS in human movement sciences, University of Memphis
  3. 2011PhD in human bioenergetics, Ball State University; joins Cal State Fullerton faculty
  4. 2017Co-authors the book Unplugged (Victory Belt)
  5. 2023Six-part guest series on the Huberman Lab podcast
  6. 2023Co-authors a review on exercise and gut microbes in Experimental Physiology, later named one of the journal's most-cited 2023 papers
  7. 2024Launches the Perform podcast with Huberman Lab
  8. 2024Named Executive Director of Parker University's Human Performance Center

Core ideas

  1. Fitness has many parts, from speed and power to strength, muscle size and several kinds of endurance, and each needs its own kind of training.
  2. Test yourself first, then put more effort into your weakest area and retest it more often.
  3. Strength comes from a few heavy, fast, high-quality reps with long rests, not from grinding out fatigue.
  4. Muscle growth is driven mainly by weekly volume of hard sets taken close to failure.
  5. Progressive overload is the thing most people get wrong: small, steady increases matter more than variety.
  6. Recovery is planned, not left to chance: calm the nervous system after training and watch for signs of declining performance.

The protocol

Galpin talks mostly about how he coaches athletes and the public; we could not verify specific figures about his own weekly routine, so none are shown here.

Training

  • Strength: the 3–5 rule – 3–5 exercises, 3–5 sets of 3–5 reps, 3–5 minutes' rest, 3–5 days a week, every rep done with full intentStrong evidence
  • Muscle growth: at least 10 hard sets per muscle group a week, each within 1–2 reps of failure; 15–20 sets for more experienced liftersStrong evidence
  • Add load gradually for strength, roughly 3–5% a week, and keep the same main exercises for about 6–12 weeks before changing themSome evidence
  • Moderate, conversational-pace cardio of about 150–200 minutes a week for general healthStrong evidence
  • Warm up for about 5–7 minutes, up to 10 if you are stiff or olderPersonal habit
  • Run a simple fitness test battery about once a year (for example grip strength, jumps, push-ups and an estimate of VO2 max) and retest weak areas more oftenSome evidence

Go deeper: Strength (Brad Schoenfeld) · Heart & fitness (Benjamin Levine, Martin Gibala) · Mobility & balance (Mike Fitch, Jules Mitchell)

Eating

  • Total daily protein matters more than exact timing around workoutsSome evidence
  • Daily fluid baseline of about 30 ml per kg of body weightPersonal habit
  • During training: drink about 2 ml per kg of body weight every 15–20 minutes; afterwards replace about 125% of the weight lostSome evidence
  • For long or very hard sessions, start at about 60 g of carbohydrate per hourStrong evidence

Go deeper: Eating (Tim Spector, Chris van Tulleken)

Supplements

  • Creatine monohydrate 3–5 g a day; larger people may need moreStrong evidence
  • Creatine takes about 3–4 weeks to saturate muscle at normal doses; a loading phase is optionalNote
  • Caffeine about 1–3 mg per kg roughly 30 minutes before exercise; performance tends to drop above about 5 mg per kgStrong evidence

Sleep & recovery

  • After training, lie down for 3–10 minutes with eyes covered and breathe slowly through the nose (for example box breathing) to switch into recovery modeSome evidence
  • Cold-water immersion can ease soreness but may blunt muscle growth, so keep it away from strength sessions if muscle is the goalSome evidence
  • Hot baths for next-morning stiffnessPersonal habit
  • Pair one physical recovery tool (compression, light movement, a swim) with one breathing practice rather than chasing every gadgetPersonal habit
  • Watch three markers – performance, physiology (resting heart rate, HRV) and how you feel; five or more days of decline is a sign to back offSome evidence

Go deeper: Sleep (Matthew Walker, Colleen Carney)

Strong evidence = trials or large studies · Some evidence = smaller or observational studies · Personal habit = their own choice, little evidence · Doctor only = prescription or blood-test dosing, never in your plan.

Galpin’s style in your plan

Choose “Follow one expert” and we keep this balance of training and the methods above, then fit them to your age, your available time and your health screen.

What we adapt

Session length and number to your week. Loads start from your self-tests, never a one-rep max. Hard sessions never on back-to-back days.

Never in your plan

Anything marked “Doctor only”: prescriptions, and doses set by blood tests. We show these as their choice, not as advice.

You can mix

Prefer someone else’s eating or sleep advice? Pick one expert per area and set your own strength-cardio balance.

Build my plan in Galpin’s styleCompare with other experts

The research behind it

Training volume and muscle growth

More weekly sets per muscle led to more muscle growth, with clear gains up to about 10 or more sets a week.

Schoenfeld, Ogborn & Krieger, Journal of Sports Sciences, 2017 (online 2016)

Grip strength and survival

In about 140,000 adults across 17 countries, weaker grip predicted higher death and cardiovascular risk, more strongly than blood pressure did.

Leong et al., The Lancet, 2015 (PURE study)

Exercise and gut microbes

A review co-authored by Galpin summarising how single bouts of exercise and short training periods change the gut microbiota, and where evidence is still missing.

Grosicki, Langan, Bagley, Galpin et al., Experimental Physiology, 2023

Honest about weak spots

  • Much of his detailed advice (hydration formulas, carbohydrate per hour, caffeine dosing) is built for athletes and hard training; it needs scaling down for most adults over 50.
  • Several recovery tools he discusses, such as compression, cold and heat, have modest or mixed evidence, and he himself notes cold immersion may reduce muscle gains.
  • His fitness-test benchmarks are practical rules of thumb rather than age-adjusted clinical norms.
  • He co-founded companies that sell performance testing, coaching and sleep services (BioMolecular Athlete, Vitality Blueprint, Absolute Rest, RAPID Health & Performance), which overlaps with the testing-heavy approach he recommends.

Where experts disagree

  • Protein timing: Galpin says total daily protein matters more than timing; Gabrielle Lyon puts strong weight on a large protein dose (30–50 g) at the first and last meals.
  • Cold exposure: Galpin warns cold immersion soon after lifting may blunt muscle growth; Andrew Huberman promotes regular deliberate cold exposure (around 11 minutes a week) for other benefits.

Sources

Last reviewed October 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us at hello@lifelongmethod.com and we’ll correct it.

Compare Andy Galpin with…

Peter AttiaAndrew HubermanGabrielle LyonRhonda PatrickLayne NortonStacy SimsMary Claire HaverRangan ChatterjeeKelly & Juliet StarrettBryan JohnsonGary BreckaMark HymanVonda WrightBrad StanfieldMike IsraetelJason Fung