Essentials: How to Build Strength, Muscle Size & Endurance | Dr. Andy Galpin

What It Covers

Exercise physiologist Andy Galpin breaks down the nine physical adaptations from training — from skill to long-duration endurance — and explains how to manipulate five modifiable variables (exercise choice, intensity, volume, rest intervals, and frequency) to target strength, hypertrophy, or power with precision.

Key Questions Answered

• •Strength vs. Hypertrophy Intensity: To build maximal strength, train above 85% of one-rep max for five reps or fewer per set, with two-to-four minutes rest between sets. For hypertrophy, any rep range between five and thirty is equally effective — the non-negotiable requirement is reaching muscular failure, not a specific rep count.
• •Hypertrophy Volume Threshold: Muscle growth requires a minimum of ten working sets per muscle group per week, with fifteen to twenty sets being the practical target for most people. Spreading sessions across two to three days per muscle group makes hitting this volume achievable, whereas consolidating into one weekly session makes it nearly impossible.
• •Recovery Timing for Muscle Growth: Hypertrophy requires seventy-two hours between training the same muscle group because protein synthesis — the actual tissue-building process — takes twenty-four to forty-eight hours to complete. Returning too soon interrupts this cellular process and blunts growth. For strength training, daily same-muscle training is viable since intensity, not recovery, drives the adaptation.
• •Three-to-Five Framework for Strength and Power: A practical programming template uses three-to-five exercises, three-to-five sets, three-to-five reps, three-to-five minutes rest, performed three-to-five days per week. To shift toward power rather than strength, reduce load to forty to seventy percent of one-rep max and prioritize movement velocity, since power equals strength multiplied by speed.
• •Post-Workout Down-Regulation Protocol: Spending three-to-five minutes after training doing exhale-emphasized breathing — exhale duration double the inhale, such as four seconds in and eight seconds out — accelerates recovery between sessions and prevents an adrenaline crash several hours post-workout. This practice is largely overlooked but produces measurable improvements in afternoon energy and workout-to-workout recovery.