VO2max Training

Advanced tools and free alternatives for performance optimization

Galpin promises to share advanced tools and technologies used with elite athletes while always providing low-cost or free alternatives that are scientifically valid for driving physiological change.

"I will go out of my way to ensure I mention alternatives. So what strategies are available, ideally low or free cost? that are still scientifically valid ways to either identify, interpret, or intervene and drive the appropriate physiological change that you're looking for."

Vo2Max Training Discussion

Metformin prevented the exercise-induced improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness by 50%. Other randomized controlled trials have shown this to be true in people with type 2 diabetes.

"So, that's really concerning. Cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the biggest predictors of disease and mortality. So, that is really not good that metformin prevented it by 50%. It also inhibited improvements in mitochondrial respiration. And that may be something linked to some of we I didn't talk about all the mechanisms of metformin, you know, one of the molecular mechanisms that's thought to play a role in improving, you know, all this glucose regulation and insulin sensitivity is the activation of an important pathway called AMP kinase. That pathway is activated by energy stress. And energy stress can be caused by things like exercise, can be caused by fasting or calorie restriction, or metformin. Another thing that metformin does, and it's actually even thought by some people that this is how AMP kinase is activated is by basically disrupting a certain part of the mitochondria that generates energy called complex one. You've got five complexes inside your mitochondria. They're basically just passing electrons around. And this is how you can make energy in the form of ATP. Well, metformin disrupts one of those complexes, mildly disrupts it, complex one. For the longest time, I wasn't hugely convinced by that because the majority of data was in vitro, meaning you dump metformin on cells in culture and this happened. And it's like, well, that could be a really big dose dependent thing. Most in vitro studies, you can show one thing and completely show an opposite thing if you were talking about what's called in vivo or at the level of the whole organism. But there was a study published a few years, like 2014 or 15 or something like that, showing giving, if you fed rats, actually they were rats that had type 2 diabetes and they were fed various doses of metformin, 30 milligrams per kilogram body weight, 100 or 300 milligrams, right? Showed that at higher doses, 100 or 300 milligrams per kilogram body weight, metformin could decrease the mitochondrial oxidative capacity, specifically linked to complex one activity if they isolated muscle from these rats that were orally given these doses. So I was like, okay, that's evidence that it is obviously doing something that's physiologically relevant. So that could be why it's preventing cardiorespiratory fitness, which has been linked to mitochondrial function. It could be why it's in metformin inhibiting adaptations with mitochondria. Metformin also diminished whole body insulin sensitivity after aerobic exercise, but it wasn't like everything was bad. So metformin didn't diminish other improvements from exercise like the decrease in HbA1c, which is like a long-term marker of blood glucose levels. It didn't affect fasting insulin or blood glucose or fat mass or skeletal muscle cheloma length, which increased with exercise. So that's good. But it is concerning that it had all those negative effects, right? And these are in common people. Do you think this is something where eventually, you know, because we do want this activation of AMPK, right? That's a positive thing. So here's the thing. So activation of AMPK... Can we pulse it? So the activation of... So here's the thing. That's the question, right? Well, what if you time your metformin, right? There's things to consider other than the half-life of metformin or, you know, the important thing is, so for example, exercise activates AMP kinase. The activation is relatively transient, but the effects of exercise last about 48 hours. Metformin activates AMP kinase and the effects of metformin last about 36 hours after the last dose. So is it the AMP kinase activation that's responsible for these effects? We don't even know. Like, it's not even known. Or how long is the complex one inhibition lasting after you take your last dose? Is that also 36 hours after? We don't know. They're open questions, right? Not to mention that there was just, I don't know, a couple of months ago, another randomized double blind controlled trial showing metformin. This was also in healthy adults that were doing resistance training. And they were older adults. Both of these studies were older adults, 65, you know, age 65 years and older. But this study also showed that after 14 weeks of taking about 1,700 milligrams of metformin, which is quite high, that it, and this gets back to your friend's anecdote, the participants that took the placebo gained more lean body mass and also thigh muscle mass compared to those took metformin. So, metformin blunted some of the gains in muscle mass. It also diminished the strength, but those results were not significant, statistically significant. So, it's trending towards your friend's anecdote, what he found with his power and output and stuff. What about brain health? What do we know that metformin does there? Well, because glucose levels, like glucose dysregulation is heavily tied to disrupting brain health. It makes sense that improving blood glucose levels and blood glucose regulation improves brain health. So there have been some clinical studies showing that metformin in people with type 2 diabetes taking metformin can improve cognitive function and things like that, which is almost certainly linked to the improvements in glucoregulatory improvements. I say my thoughts, my concluding thoughts on this is that I think exercise is better than metformin for preventing type 2 diabetes. That's been shown treating type 2 diabetes. But also, I think it's better than metformin in delaying aging. I think that you're better off doing exercise than taking a metformin pill. Now, I don't think the effects are going to be synergistic. So, you know, is there a place for metformin? Absolutely. I mean, there are tons of people that will never exercise, right? So, you sit down, you tell someone you have to exercise 150 minutes a week or you can take this pill. They're going to be like, give me the pill, you know? Right."

Finding the minimum effective dose of intervals for VO2 max

Sisson discusses searching for the minimum effective dose of interval training to achieve an impressive but not extreme VO2 max, calling himself the anti-biohacker who looks for secret codes to optimize with minimum input.

"What's the minimum effective dose of intervals I can do to get me to a VO2 max that is impressive but"

Vo2Max Training: How To

My son runs that company. There's a lot of different ways liposomes are made, man.

"My son runs that company. And I was looking for how to deliver small molecules or peptides in a solid state. And so I partnered with a pharmaceutical scientist and their liposomes. So everybody here's liposomes. There's a lot of different ways liposomes are made, man. It's like people can just pour some lethosin in with something and shake it up and say it's a liposome. This is a multi-layered liposome where the And so, whether it's a botanical, so I think you tried that in Duro2, which you really like that, which is like a botanical that we enhance the absorption of, and then your VO2 max goes up and you oxygenate your tissues. Or synapsin, which is a ginsinicide that's hard to get the absorb orally, but now when you get it to absorb, your brain gets clear. Yeah, and by the way, real quick, I'm glad you brought those two because I was just kind."

Building aerobic base through slow running transfers to faster race times

The host highlights Maffetone's key insight that aerobic base developed through slow, low-heart-rate running actually transfers to faster times over longer distances, even though the training feels counterintuitively easy.

"hearing him speak about how aerobic base can be developed through the slow running and actually transfer to faster time over longer distances."

Why low heart rate running has surged in popularity after decades

Despite Maffetone writing about low heart rate training since the late 1970s, the approach has only recently gained widespread adoption among community-level runners, challenging the traditional focus on volume and intensity.

"For as long as I can remember the conversation, it always just been around volume and intensity and how long you can do that for without getting injured."

Fat as the primary fuel source for endurance performance

Maffetone argues that the endurance community's dependence on carbohydrates as the only fuel source is largely propaganda, and that prioritizing fat burning through low heart rate training yields superior long-term performance.

"I've heard him on a number of occasions say that he believes the reason that so many endurance athletes still seek carbohydrates is that one and only way to fuel endurance sports is largely due to propaganda."

Two people with the same heart rate can have completely different HRVs

The cardiologist emphasizes that heart rate variability is highly individual, with two people sharing the same heart rate potentially showing vastly different HRV readings, underscoring why personal baselines matter more than population averages.

"Can two people with the same heart rate have completely different HRVs? Oh yeah, absolutely."

Isometrics, strength, and plyometrics: which modality runners neglect most

Physical therapist Dr. Matt Silver identifies which of the three training modalities -- isometric training, traditional strength work, or plyometrics -- most runners are neglecting, and explains why this gap increases injury risk.

"Ready, set, go!"

How to program all three modalities without overcomplicating your plan

Dr. Silver provides a practical framework for incorporating isometrics, strength training, and plyometrics into a running program without adding excessive complexity or training volume.

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The distinct injury-prevention roles of each training modality for runners

Each modality serves a distinct role in injury prevention: isometrics for tendon health and pain management, strength for structural resilience, and plyometrics for elastic recoil and impact tolerance.

"Ready, set, go!"