Andrew Huberman Workout And Diet
Neuroscientist
Andrew Huberman is a California native. After high school, he attended UC schools for undergrad, graduate, and he received his PhD in neuroscience from UC, Davis in 2004. Huberman worked as a researcher from 2005-’10 and was an assistant professor at UC, San Diego from 2011-’15. In 2016, he moved to Stanford where he worked on a cure for blindness. In 2017, Huberman created a virtual reality platform to study anxiety. Huberman launched the Huberman Lab podcast in 2021. He has millions of followers on social media. Huberman is 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs about 225 lbs.
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Andrew Huberman’s Diet
Diet Summary
Huberman practices intermittent fasting which means he restricts his eating to a certain window of time each day. He usually waits 6-8 hours after waking up before having his first meal. To curb his hunger in the meantime, he will have water, sometimes with salt. He usually holds off on having coffee for an hour or two after waking to help prevent a caffeine crash later on. For his first meal, he will generally stick to protein and healthy fats, but if he exercises particularly hard in the morning, he will have carbs such as oatmeal or rice. His second meal is usually light, such as a protein shake or a handful of nuts. Huberman takes a reverse approach to dinner and goes low on protein and high on carbs for his final meal of the day. He supplements with a multivitamin, fish oil, and vitamin D, and always drinks plenty of water starting first thing every day.
Estimated Macros
Medium Protein
Medium Fat
Medium Carb
Diet Details
The Scientific Approach to IF
Huberman has been doing intermittent fasting for over a decade. He created a video about the benefits of restricted time eating including improvements in blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels, as well as a sharper memory.
Timed Eating
Huberman eats low-carb early in the day to avoid the blood sugar roller coaster. He holds off on the coffee for a few hours too so he won’t have a caffeine crash. Then he eats high-carb in the evening, about 2-3 hours before bed, to help him sleep.
Meal Plan for Premium Sleep
While Huberman will have red meat early in the day, for dinner, he’ll only have a little bit of fish as protein because he says too much meat before bed messes with his sleep.
Intuitive Eating
Overall, Huberman listens to his body’s signals on what and how much he should eat each day.
Drink Up
Huberman will have water with lemon juice a little salt upon waking. This helps counteract the feeling of hunger in those who eat a low-carb diet.
What to Eat
- Fast 12-16 hours a day
- Water
- Lemon juice
- Salt
- Coffee
- Meat
- Eggs
- Poultry
- Vegetables
- Nuts
- Protein shakes
- Pasta
- Rice
- Oatmeal
What to Avoid
- Eating outside your meal window
- Added sugar
- Junk food
- Trans fats
- Artificial ingredients
- Processed foods
- Chemicals
Huberman on intermittent fasting (IF)
Making the body think it did not eat at all can be quite beneficial.
Huberman on restricted-time eating
Mice who ate a high-fat diet…but only during a restricted window maintained or lost weight overtime, whereas mice who ate the same diet around the clock gained weight, became obese and quite sick.
Huberman on further benefits of IF
Restricting your eating to a particular window has now clearly been shown in mice and in humans to enhance liver health, which is wonderful.
Andrew Huberman’s Workout Routine
Workout Routine
Foundational Fitness Protocol
Huberman has developed a detailed exercise plan to optimize fitness, energy, and overall health.
Choose Your Own Fitness Adventure
Huberman says it’s up to you whether you work out on a full or empty stomach.
Downshift Breathing
Huberman recommends spending 3-5 minutes after each training session doing yoga nidra breathing to relax the mind and body and help with muscles recovery.
Flexibility Matters
Huberman recommends doing 30-60 second static stretches 3 times a week for flexibility. He multitasks by doing his stretches before bed, while dinner is cooking, or while he’s on hold on the phone.
Daily Dose
Huberman exercises every day, usually around noon. He does 3 days of cardio, 3 days of weight training and 1 day of hot/cold recovery.
Well-Rounded Cardio
Huberman recommends a variety of cardio. He does 1 day of long-endurance, 1 day of high intensity sprints, and 1 day of moderate cardio.
Targeted Training
Huberman’s resistance training plan involves doing just 2 exercises per muscle group in each session, alternating exercises monthly.
Safety & Prevention
Huberman recommends neck exercises to correct posture and reduce the risk of injury. To pump out toxins, he does 20 minutes of sauna followed by 5 minutes in an ice bath or cold shower.
Exercise Style
The Andrew Huberman Foundational Fitness Protocol
Day 1: Long endurance workout
- Zone 2 cardio
- 30+ min. Work your way up to 60-75 min.
- Examples: jogging, swimming, hiking, cycling.
- Use nasal breathing when possible.
Day 2: Leg Resistance Training
10 min warm-up + 50-60 min training
Alternate Schedule A & B monthly.
Schedule A:
- Choose 2 exercises per muscle group.
- Exercise 1: maximally contract muscle
- Do 4-8 reps (heavier weight) x 3-4 sets per exercise with 2-4 min rest between sets.
- Example: hack squat, glute-ham raise, seated raise
- Exercise 2: resistance in a lengthened position
Schedule B:
- Do 8-15 reps (lighter weight) x 2-3 sets with 90 sec rest between sets.
- Example: leg extension, leg curl, standing calf raise
Day 3: Hot & Cold Recovery
Sauna: 20 min + ice bath or cold shower for 5 min
Day 4: Torso & Neck Training
10 min warm-up + 50-60 min training
Push/pull exercises
Follow Schedule A/B exercises above.
Contracted muscle exercises (A)
- Chest: cable crossover
- Back: seated row or dumbbell row
- Shoulders: lateral raises, rear deltoid flys
Lengthened muscle exercise (B)
- Chest: incline press
- Back: chin-up or pull-up
- Shoulder: shoulder press
- Neck exercises
Day 5: Cardio
35 min moderate intensity cardio (75-80% of max)
Day 6: High Intensity Training (HIIT)
20-60 sec full sprint x 8-12 rounds with 10 sec rest.
Day 7: Arms, Neck & Calves
10 min warm-up + 50-60 min training
Alternate A/B Schedule
Contracted muscles (A)
- Biceps: dumbbell curls
- Triceps: triceps or regular dips
- Calves: seated calf raise, tibialis raise
- Neck exercises
Lengthened muscles (B)
- Biceps: incline curl
- Triceps: overhead extension
- Calves: standing calf raise
Huberman on his fitness plan
I designed this protocol to address all major fitness goals, including strength, hypertrophy, endurance, and cardiovascular training.
Huberman on fasted vs. fed training
Some people prefer to train after eating. It’s vey individual.
Huberman on what time of day to work out
I don’t weight train at night because it keeps me awake. Cardio does not seem to have the same effect on me.
Andrew Huberman’s Supplements
Multivitamin
Huberman eats clean, but he still takes a daily multivitamin to fill in any unintentional gaps in nutrition.
Fish Oil
Fish oil is another of Huberman’s staples. It supports brain and heart health, and combats inflammation.
Vitamin D
Another of Huberman’s go-to supplements is vitamin D which is essential for many processes in the body including building strong muscles and bones. He also takes a 10-minute walk outside every day to absorb vitamin D from the sun.
Whey Protein
Huberman recommends taking whey protein 30-60 minutes after a workout to support muscle gains and encourage fat loss.
Alpha-GPC
Huberman is a fan of the nootropic alpha-GPC because it has been shown to decrease anxiety and stress and improve memory and cognition as well as increase power in athletes.
L-Tyrosine
Huberman likes the amino acid tyrosine because it boosts mood, energy, and motivation and can significantly improve gym performance. It should be taken an hour or less before exercise.
Creatine
Huberman also uses creatine because it increases energy. He recommends 5g daily.
Myo-Inositol
Myo-inositol is a natural sugar which helps with sleep. Huberman takes about 900 mg of myo-inositol within an hour before bed, but only every few days.
Fadogia Agrestis
The herb fadogia agrestis stimulates testosterone production, and Huberman says he saw about a 200 point increase in his total testosterone score after taking it.
L-Theanine
To cut down on the coffee jitters, Huberman recommends taking 100-200 mg of the amino acid l-theanine.
Andrew Huberman’s Lifestyle
Get Your Zzs
Huberman goes to be around 11 pm, and wakes up around 5:30, getting around 6 hours of sleep each night.
Non-Sleep Deep Rest
Huberman advocates for non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) as an alternative to true sleep. He says 10-30 minutes can do the trick, and give you energy to get through a workout or other important activity.
Eye Training for Better Health
Huberman says it’s very important to spend a few minutes being exposed to sunlight when the sun is low in the sky in the morning and evening because that type of light positively influences mood, metabolism, sleep and hormone production, and even things like memory and pain threshold. In cases of heavy cloud cover, artificial blue light can be substituted.
Simple Exercises for Stronger Vision
Huberman has created a series of exercises to keep the eyes and vision strong by alternating between near and far vision and other sight drills.
Virtual Reality for Healing
Huberman developed a virtual reality program to help people recover from traumatic experiences.
Prioritize Sleep
Huberman says that sleep is more important than exercise, and if you’re stressed out, you should focus on rest. You can always catch up on workouts another day.
On Sleep Supplements
Huberman is not a fan of melatonin because he says potential side effects outweigh the benefits. He prefers myo-inositol, but he does not recommend taking it every night.
Curing the Blind
Huberman is doing promising research on finding a cure for glaucoma, a degenerative eye disease.
On Trauma
Huberman says he learned a tremendous amount by reading Paul Conti’s book Trauma and recommends it to anyone who wants to learn about healing.
Play Every Day
Huberman says that it’s important to enjoy what you’re doing while you’re doing it, and not just focus on the end result.
Gratitude Matters
Huberman says that while some might think gratitude leads to complacency, it is in fact a commonality of most high-achievers.
Huberman on the importance of sleep vs. exercise
Consider skipping your workout if you are under chronic stress…Focus on getting a good night’s sleep or relaxing, and double up on workouts later in the week.
Huberman on the benefits of myo-inositol on sleep
The depth and quality of sleep that I’ve obtained on myo-inositol is pretty remarkable.
Huberman on anxiety
Ultimately, it’s your vision that determines whether or not the thing you’re afraid of…is in your environment…Even trauma as it relates to an experience can be visual.
Huberman on the power of positive thinking
Positive thinking is not delusional. It’s about learned to take control of internal processing and knowing it’ll shape your external environment.
Huberman on sun exposure
We don’t know time as a real thing because on clocks and watches. We know time based on where the sun is.
Huberman on gratitude
Gratitude sounds like complacency,…[but] if you look at high performers…they have gratitude practices and they incorporate them.
Huberman on the importance of enjoying the ride
If we’re not enjoying it and we’re just waiting for the end result, we’re going to be unhappy.
Huberman on play
I think play is important because it’s a great way to learn dopamine release, and it’s a great way to expand one’s experience of life.
Recommended Products
Huberman Lab Apparel
Huberman Lab Subscription
Light Therapy Lamp
Trauma by Paul Conti
Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke