# Dr. Andy Galpin: How to Assess & Improve All Aspects of Your Fitness | Huberman Lab Guest Series Check out the Huberman [Lab Episode Page & Show Notes](https://hubermanlab.com/dr-andy-galpin-how-to-assess-improve-all-aspects-of-your-fitness/), [Podcast Notes](https://podcastnotes.org/huberman-lab/dr-andy-galpin-how-to-assess-improve-all-aspects-of-your-fitness-huberman-lab-guest-series/) **Exercise can create physiological adaptations that can be bucketed into 9 areas:** * Skill/technique * Speed * Power * Force/Strength * Muscle hypertrophy * Muscular endurance * Anaerobic capacity * Maximal aerobic capacity * Long-duration training ## Basic Fitness Measurements for Healthspan & Lifespan ### Skill/technique * Ideally with a physical therapist * Record yourself with basic movements like squats, running, or yoga if there are any differences in symmetry (left to right, back to front), shaking, or breaking of form. ### Speed & Power * You should be able to broad jump your height, women * 0.85 * 2-handed vertical jump >60 cm, women * 0.85 ### Strength * Dead hang time >30 seconds (but really should be >60) and/or A grip strength of 40-60kg when using a hang grip dynamometer * Hold the bottom of a goblet squat with a dumbbell equal to half your body weight for >45 seconds * Leg extension test-one rep max * Use repetition conversion equation; put on a load that is close to your maximum and just do it for as many reps as you can * As long as it’s under five reps total, you can then actually go online and enter that into any number of calculators anywhere * Under age 40, leg extension of your body weight for 1 rep (using both legs) ### Hypertrophy * **FFMI (fat-free mass index)** at least 20 for men and 18 for women, assuming you are reasonably lean * All you need to know is your total body weight, your body fat percentage, and then your height. Enter those three numbers and then they’ll tell you your FFMI score. That’s going to tell you if you have sufficient muscle mass ### Muscular Endurance Test * ALL males should be able to do >25 consecutive push-ups, women 5-10. If you’re bellow 5 pushups it’s not and endurance but strength problem. ### Anaerobic Capacity Test * This is a 30-second maximal test where you’re going to see how much work can you do in that 30 seconds (bike, run, burpies) * Watch the recovery heart rate - recovery should be 0.5 beats per second (=30 BPM). So, if you hit a max heart rate of 200. 1 minute later, you should be at 170 after stopping. ### Maximal Heart Rate, VO2 Max Test * Resting hearth rate < 60 * VO2 max: minimal >35 mL/kg/minute for men, >30 for women. Ideally >55 men, >50 women. * Ideally in laboratory but we can use test from [resting HR, one mile run, etc.](https://www.wikihow.com/Measure-VO2-Max) * 12-minute Cooper’s test * Run for 12 minutes as far as you can, and record the distance you covered * You can go online to any number of calculators, enter that distance in, and that will tell you your estimated VO2 max ### Aerobic Test (Long duration training) * Run for 20+ minutes (moving at a nonwalking pace without stopping) and ideally breathe only through your nose