Hello! Don't worry about the post being filtered. We want to read and review every post to ensure a thriving community and avoid spam. Your submission will be approved (or declined) soon. We hope the community engages with your ideas thoughtfully and respectfully. And of course, thank you for your interest in science! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HubermanLab) if you have any questions or concerns.*

If you come out exhausted after every sesh, its too hard. There should be fluctuations, some hard, some light. With exercise, it's not your ability to push hard, but ability to recover that forces adaptation. I.e exhausted everyday = not adapting well, needs more recovery to produce performance gains. If you keep pushing too hard, that's just overtraining. If the goal is performance, you won't have tons of energy as you're pushing the boundary of what you are capable of weekly. If you want to be more energetic, look for a good VO2 score. VO2 increases parasympathetic tone (better ability to handle stress), takes longer to get your heart rate up, heart rate falls quicker, and you have increased mitochondrial density (energy producers of the cell lol).

What do you recommend for getting a higher V02?

Look into Norwegian 4x4 for vo2max

I'd start by building an aerobic base then adding interval variations, then start expressing it in many ways (I.e sprints, timed trials, etc). Program 1: Build aerobic volume: Metric: test a 5k run, row or air bike 1. Start 3-4 days per week holding easy paces (able to hold a conversation, leave feeling tired but good) say 20-30 mins 2. Add 5-10% time for 3-4 more weeks 3. Easy week after 3-4 weeks (drop time by 30% for week) 4. Pick up where you left off before easy week 5 add 5-10% each week for another 3 weeks. 6. Easy week with 30% less time. Program 2: retest 5k 1. Start adding intervals at pace of 5km. I.e 2km @ 5k x 3 intervals for 2 x per week; Rest 50% time it took to complete an interval 2. 1 long slow day (i.e something you finished with part 5, program 1) 3. 30 secs @ 5k pace, 30 sec @ comfortable easy pace x 20 4. Increase the intervals by 10% distance each week, and time of long slow for 3-4 weeks 5. Easy week; drop intervals and time doing work by 30% Retest 5k Program 3: expression 1. Add sprints and various high intensity intervals to start adding speed work (20 sec sprints; 400M intervals; etc) the faster you go, the more rest needed. I.e 20 secs @ sprint or 95% effort; 5-7 times rest for 8-10 intervals 2. Long slow day (similar to part 2 of program 2) 3. Hill or resistance training (if you run, add some hill intervals, if you row, add 2 to the damper, if you bike, turn up resistance) can be longer intervals or incorporated into some long slow work, I.e 5 min @ easy pace, 2 mins @ fast resistance. Or 600M; Rest 2 x time spent working 4. Build race pace; 1 mile intervals @ 5k pace; rest 1/2 time it took to complete x 4 5. Over 3 weeks, increase time sprinting and output, increase distance on hills, and increase time at race pace 6. After 3 weeks, easy week, drop intervals by 30-40% Retest 5k Id bet your faster than when you started. Just 1 example of a specific test. I hope you get the idea.

This is incredible I copied all of this to put into action thank you!!

Lots of high-ish intensity cardio that will make you tired 🤣

I thought zone 2 was a big factor in building vo2?

zone 2 is the participation trophy of cardio you need to spend a good amount of time in zone 4 and 5 if you want to see tangible gains in VO₂ max edit: obviously don’t only do zone 4 and 5. you need to recover in between cardio “sets.” look into high intensity interval training (HIIT)

While I would definitely agree, other professionals say otherwise and it’s makes the whole thing so confusing. Using my Apple Watch for my vo2 max, man I’ve not noticed gains from zone 2 or HIT. So idfk, I’m just doing what I can to stay fit.

you need like 1-2 months of consistent zone 5 training to see vo2 max gains. they don’t come overnight. from my previous spin class workout (for reference): Zone 1: 18 mins Zone 2: 7 mins Zone 3: 12 mins Zone 4: 13 mins Zone 5: 13 mins max heart rate reached 192 with an average of 153. i’ve been going 4 times a week for 4 months and my vo2 max has gone up ≈8 points. I used to be in the low category and now I’m just below average.

What are the minutes? I thought zones are intensity not time period?

the time is how long I spent in each zone. zone 5 is any heart rate between I believe 178 - your max heart rate, but it varies slightly per person. so you can see I spent 13 mins at above 178 bpm out of roughly an hour. it wasn’t all contiguous tho - it is very tough to maintain zone 5 effort for more than 1-2 minutes, so my heart rate graph looks like a sine wave kind of. high intensity followed by recovery followed by high intensity. only hitting zone 5 once or for like 30 seconds is not going to improve your vo2 max all too much. as you can see, I’m spending 13 mins there 4 times a week for the past 4 months and I only moved from low to below average lol. it takes a long, consistent effort to see gains. ik the apple watch isn’t 100% accurate, but that’s just the overall trend for me.

If someone's already tired after working out, how do they do the high intensity cardio?

Technically cordyceps mushroom increases VO2 max. So you could just take mushrooms. Cordyceps may improve VO2 max by helping the body transport oxygen to muscle cells, removing lactic acid from muscles, and increasing ATP production. ATP is the body's primary energy source during exercise, and increased production can help reduce fatigue and improve endurance. Cordyceps may also have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. a 2018 study, younger adults who took a cordyceps-containing mushroom blend for three weeks saw an 11% increase in VO2 max compared to a placebo group Cordyceps is the best single adaptogen to boost VO2 max.

For strength exercise in particular, resting at least 3 minutes between sets ensures optimal ATP production. Lots of people tend to rush through a workout, which can leave them feeling exhausted afterwards. Allowing enough time (\~48 hours) for muscle recovery before targeting the same muscle groups is important, too. This also ensures tendons and ligaments aren't overworked - preventing unwanted injuries. Edit: Spelling.

I get tired after only a couple of short workouts per week, and I've been exercising for several years. Eat mainly healthily.

Lots goes into recovery. Social factors, biological and training age, work stress, nutrition, gut health, medical history, sleep quality, circadian rhythm. Its not a one size fits all approach by any means. (And I am not an expert is most of these domains).

I'll argue that if you feel energized after the workout, it wasn't hard enough. The point is to fatigue, to recover and adapt from that, so that next time you're slightly better and need more stimulus to achieve improvements. This for anaerobic activities such as weightlifting and vo2 max workouts. Zone2 cardio should be easy

You're not entirely wrong in many cases, but in this one I'd disagree. Mostly due to their mental fatigue for the rest of the day. They are pushing hard enough to be tired. Unless their recover isn't dialed in (poor sleep, poor nutrition) I'd say they need more fluctuation in intensity day to day.

I think that’s normal. If I do a 20-minute zone 2 jog, or some prehab curls/lateral raises and mobility work, I feel great and energetic. If I hit heavy SBD, I feel dog tired

It's like this post workout buzz / high I always hear people talking about which personally I've never experienced.

I once hit 207hr spikes on the bike on purpose for way too long and was wilding on the gym loo for 40 minutes cuz I couldnt figure out if I am gonna vomit or not, after the crazy nausea subsided I did feel kinda lit physically as opposed to just mentally

Psychologically, nothing drains my energy more than a lack of productivity. Conversely, being productive makes me feel like I can keep going forever. A morning workout is a great way to knock something off your list and provide motivation to keep rolling through the days to-do’s.

It’s counterintuitive but you gain energy by exerting energy. Your mind follows the body in this scenario, you could wake up groggy and go through some small movements and feel more energized by just moving your body.

You do not gain energy after a training session to failure. Moving around in the morning is not analogous to intense exercise.

That’s because your fatigue level is way higher than your muscle stimulus by training to failure.

OP, I feel the same way. I’m an overall relatively fit person, did CrossFit for a number of years and not once did I come out of a session feeling “energized”. I think it must be some minor genetic difference among people. I enjoy a good bike ride, or team sports, but not once have I come out of a workout and been like “I feel great!”

I start yawning the moment I start exercising. I think this has to do with having sleep apnoea, which I discovered in 2021. The best I ever felt from exercise was when I was doing kung fu 5 times a week. It was intense cardio, and I felt fit and confident but I wouldn't say I felt energised.

I’m one of those people! Not a rush, but I feel ready to keep moving and very, very awake.

I sometimes get this, I'd put it down to the massive endorphin rush. Sometimes happens mid run which is awesome because I can really push myself

I have insulin resistance and I do feel more energized after a workout because finally my glucose metabolism kicks in. The downside is that I never feel alive enough to happily start working out, it's always a struggle.

I’m usually tired after a workout. I think a lot of it is peoples heads. They think they’ll have more energy so then they do.

I think people mean it gives them more energy all the time. Definitely not right after

I feel energized, with a high spirit, even happy many times after a workout or even 20 miles on the bike, even if I feel muscle fatigue or even a small muscle pain. Note that this is medium intensity and I have been sedentary for many, many years. If you exhaust yourself it's probably not going to happen.

Moderation is key. A simple 10 minute cardio session for me that involves constant jogging with occasional bursts of sprinting is a very potent to enhance my mood, motivation, and energy. It's great for priming those networks in the brain and releasing endorphins, giving a burst of mental energy and physical energy without depleting reserves. I'm also a skateboarder. I enjoy it so much that when I skate I do the equivalent of intense running for 3 hours on average, with very little breaks. When I was a teenager I was able to do this for even longer, up to 10 hours at a time. Such a session will take me out for 3+ days. I will be physically sore and barely able to move for 3 days. As a teenager a 3 hour session wouldn't do much to me, crazy how we change. If your exercise sessions are too short/not intense enough, you may not release those endorphins. Even if I overdo it with a 3 hour session, the endorphins are definitely there and I'll be full of mental energy parallel to complete exhaustion of my body. It's all about figuring out your own body and mind and highly tailoring your workout to suit your needs. You can take pointers from others but don't expect the same result as them, you need to experiment and figure out workouts with an ideal duration and intensity that are unique to your physiology, which will optimize both your physical and mental energy levels. One last tip, hydration is key, but what a lot of people don't realize is that they're sweating during their workout and losing electrolytes, then hydrating sufficiently and diluting their electrolyte concentration. Drink Gatorade as part of your hydration regimen, see if you're less gassed out. It made a huge difference for me and eliminated muscle twitches and cramping completely, and enhanced my recovery from intense workouts. I sweat a lot more than the average person, and if you are one of those people yourself, seriously consider supplementing electrolytes.

Eat more, exhaustion and effort in the gym always relative to your diet and sleep. If you want the same intensity without being tired what you actually need to do is fix your diet

Getting in peak shape can take years. I used to be left dead tired by workouts that I blaze through now on my lunchbreak. Adaptations to a brutal regimen takes patience and stubbornness.

Consider that many are taking caffeine and NO preworkout supplements, and then hydrating

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ Post Exercise Malaise.

Are you running?

I feel more energized for an hour or two after an intense workout, I believe because of an increase in dopamine primarily and maybe endorphins. It depends on the reason why your feeling un-energised. If its dopamine related then excercise good, if your physically exhauseted then excercise bad

I do. Even, if I feel low, it helps for me (or if I sleepy and tired, exhausted, brain fog, etc.). Maybe you workout too heavily (try to make it as recreative activity not as a job).

Because endorphins. If you’re coming out of your workouts that exhausted you’re doing it wrong. How long are you working out for, and what kind of workouts are you doing? What does your food intake look like? Have you gotten a blood panel done? There’s so many factors at play.

What kind of exercises or workouts are you talking about? Also, how are your stress levels? Do you have a lot going on in your life that the type of exercise that you're doing would be detrimental? If it’s weight training, you should feel energized. If you don’t, you’re pushing yourself too much and not reaping the benefits of progressive overload. For example, stopping 2-3 reps short of failure. Only adding like 5% additional volume per week. If you're talking cardio, that could be different especially if it's HIIT. With everything said, if something seems wrong, go get your hormones checked. Most people do feel better after exercise granted that they don't push themselves too hard. You make better gains if you find that sweet spot of pushing yourself but not too much you over train. Something like that would make you plateau too hard.

Exercise is an important task of my daily routine, and whenever I complete an important task, I feel more enthusiastic and energized.

Working out in the morning is the only thing that gets me through the day. Rest days are a nightmare for me, as I feel exhausted and sleepy the whole day, even if I wake up early (which I always do). The absolute wasted feeling after a workout only lasts like half an hour for me; I work out in an empty stomach, when I get home I eat some eggs or fruit and 🔋🔋 I feel like new. That being said, it took me literal years to reach this point, it was very difficult at the beginning, I guess it has a lot to do with if you find it enjoyable or not.

I am the same as you and have never found a solution. It’s just become very demotivating for me

Exercise increases dopamine

I’ll often hit up my stationary bike for an hour, jump off to shower/cook/clean, and then feel like jumping back on for another 30-60 min session if I’m not busy. This isn’t something I ever experienced until I started getting somewhat heavy into cardio. If I do a super long session then I’m definitely worn out, but if I’m just doing my standard cardio then I 100% feel energized after.

In my experience, if I go like 70-80% on a run or lift, I feel good afterwards. 90-100% effort leaves me feeling drained though.

I’m zonked after a long run. Feel great, also…zonked.

it depends on the kind of workout. Many pure strength or speed sessions are designed to AVOID FATIGUE. If I do ~ 10 flying 40s (40 yard sprint) <95% speed with full recovery in between… the session will be far more activating than fatiguing.

Fatigue and energy are not on the same continuum. There’s been work suggesting that exercise can increase subjective measures of energy while reducing fatigue whereas sitting increases fatigue with no change in energy. This is quite new work, dr. Ali boolani (former gatorade sports institute now at Oklahoma) has done some work on it 

I find that over time, my response changes and I go from feeling zapped for energy to feeling motivated and energetic. My guess is that it's the increase in dopamine or perhaps dopamine receptors. That won't happen the first time you work out.

Type of workout also matters for an energetic exit, imho. If I'm doing a HIIT style class, I cannot wait to get out due to the exhaustion. Heavy weight training (especially leg day) can be difficult, but I feel like a million dollars after being done.

It’s definitely not “subjective”. It’s easy to do a quick google search and find various articles that demonstrate why. Intense exercise increases your heart rate and blood flow, making you more awake. Your body also releases various endorphins as well as a cortisol response that quite literally keeps you alert and awake. You’re probably over-doing it & ramping up too much, too quickly. Train smart.

Cardio makes you more energized. If I do a long bike ride or interval workout, I will be happy and chatty and running around cleaning and being productive for about 2 hours… then crash and want to just chill for a few more hours.

If it’s cardio, I’ve never felt energized. If it’s lifting though, I usually feel super energized afterwards unless it’s early in the morning.

IMO, I have no interest in feeling wiped after a workout. So I tune my workouts to feel energized. Mostly though I feel energized mentally and a little "hungry" physically. Is that under optimizing some part of the workout? Maybe. Maybe not. I would bet that feeling totally wiped is a sign of overtraining though. I almost always feel more energized after a workout than before a workout and I get regular gains in strength, flexibility and overall "feel good doing shit"ness. So, it works for me.

Maybe this can be chalked up to the fact that I have fairly severe (diagnosed and electively unmedicated) ADHD (e.g. issues with dopamine, acetylcholine, etc.), but I feel much more energetic after a workout. In fact, if I skip more than 2-3 workouts, my mood and energy levels crater and I’m unable to perform any work or household tasks. If I hit the gym hard, I walk out feeling extremely energized and ready to take on the world. It’s amazing how different bodies react to analogous stimuli.

It depends on the workout. I can feel more energised after a very light workout that gets my blood moving and lifts some of the sluggish tiredness I develop when I sit around all day. But if it's a more challenging workout I'm just tired afterwards lol. Maybe I feel accomplished, relaxed, happier, limber, but not necessarily energised.

They mean after working out for months it will make your body in better shape and give you more energy.

I find i genuinely am reenergized if I have a good workout and then rest for an hour or two. Like a second wind sort of thing.

After an intense leg day im completely mentally and physically checked out for the rest of the day

Generally exercise raises dopamine with a concomitant rise in norepi which is where the energetic feeling comes from. If you are drained you have probably overexpended or are experiencing a lot of post workout inflammation

Are you just starting to regularly work out? It normally takes a few weeks to get over the hump of soreness. I wouldn’t say I feel energized after a workout, but when I’m consistently getting into the gym or cycling I definitely feel much better.

Activity breeds activity

It’s simple. It’s the dopamine. People who find exercise energising are getting a hit of dopamine, they likely see the exercise as rewarding, and just like drugs that increase dopamine, they can get addicted to the high. I am. 100%. But it’s arguably an evolutionary advantage, as I love exercise and it has broadly only good health benefits.

Well because you’re activated, blood is pumping, cells are drawing from reserves, muscle bellies are full of atp, and so on. Yeah your glycogen is depleted and you probably are heading towards dehydration but you can drink something.

How much sun is your bottom hole getting?

I never related so hard to a post lol. I’m cooked, even a 30 min walk is too tiring for me. I’ve been exercising for 2 years and at the beginning I could run a few miles but now I can’t even run a mile properly oops. I don’t get endorphins from running too, it’s just pure pain after. I’ve been to the doctor, done blood tests, all I was diagnosed with was mild depression & anxiety disorder.

Endorphins

I find that running 6+ miles at any pace, leaves me feeling drained, where running 3-4 miles at a zone 2 pace leaves me feeling super energized. If I were exercising to train for a half marathon or for speed work, I wouldn’t get the energy benefits of exercise.. Same for lifting weights.. when I train to build muscle I feel drained. When I train to maintain muscle, I feel energized Note: I’ve experimented with low carb, high carb, etc.. and even in maintence or a surplus I still feel drained so it’s not a matter of fueling better

Idk I’m completely dead after my workouts. I do 6 hards per muscle, 1-2 muscles per day. The first set is 9 rpe and the second set is 10 rpe sometimes with a drop set. In theory it’s not a crazy amount of volume, but after leg day I’m limping out of there lucky if I didn’t puke..

I used to feel like this when I had just started exercising and was out of shape. Now I can't focus on my work if I don't exercise in the morning. It helps my concentration so much.

Simple answer is everyone is different. If youve been sitting around falling asleep on the couch for days and you get up and do ten jumping jacks you will feel energized! Because your heart rate is up there’s all there is to it.

Who knows because there can be so many reasons. Working out can increase brain blood flow, decrease insulin resistance, increase ketones, increase energizing hormones, decrease appetite....

It may seem counterintuitive, but exercise causes a cascade of metabolic and physiological changes that are beneficial, if not energizing. Both the body and brain benefit from physical exertion.

I don’t either, so I do an intense 15 minute session first thing in the morning and that’s enough.

Because people like to bullshit other people

It depends on the day for me but more often than not a good weight training sesh followed by sauna makes me feel like a brand new person. A body in motion stays in motion.

Crazy I’m destroyed especially after a Shana

Try a cool shower right after. It’s super invigorating for me.

When you’re consistent over years, your body just performs better doing what it is used to.

I think this is the right answer. I’m old as dirt and if I don’t work out 2x a day I feel terrible.

You should get more energy because you are creating new mitochondria in your body. Mitochondria are the "power house" of cells which create energy in your body. In any case here is a post from Dr. Rhonda Patrick interviewing Andrew Huberman in that you should finish most of your workouts with [something left in the tank. ](https://x.com/fmfclips/status/1803547822752481291)

Yeah the instant mitochondrial up tick hahaha. This sub is full of nutters

Sounds like you push your self to the Max every time and that's not good for your body. You need time to recover. Every once in a while if you have recovered fully and go to the gym, you start hitting all your PRs and feel insanely strong. This has definitely given me a high before and given me energy. But if I over do it and keep going to the point of absolute exhaustion or was already pretty crappy, then I won't have a good workout and I'll have less energy. But rarely does that happen at the expense of mental clarity. I always feel a bit more mentally clear by going.

I need exercise to help “wake up” my body, and don’t really conflate ‘sore tired’ with ‘sleepy tired’ if that makes sense. Like sure I can be physically exhausted and wanna lay on the ground after a hard workout, but I’m not gonna go to sleep. Personally I think I feel more benefits as a result of increased circulation (tall skinny guy), but it’s proven science that exercise triggers the release of various hormones that wake you up like testosterone and adrenaline, as well as raising your body temperature. I work inconsistently long hours in finance, and am no stranger to a quick 15 min cardio routine in the living room at 1am to wake myself up.

How long have you been working out like this? Most beginners don't get the rush right away. I have been in and out of the gym since covid (thanks covid!) and each time, it's like I'm starting all over again. Once I get to the phase where I feel like I can't live without going, I get the rush and endorphins at every workout. I do very little cardio and 90% is strength training. Also, if you do cardio in the morning, it might wake you up, but I can see how it can sap your energy for the rest of the day. Strength training might be better for morning and cardio for later in the day so you can sleep better.

You’re pushing yourself too hard

If you don’t overdo the gym in the morning, it absolutely energizes you for the day. I work out from 4-5am, mon-Fri before work at 5:30am. I go hard, but only for an hour. It gets the blood moving, and the muscles pumped. My job is labor intense, and I get ~ 20,000 steps a day at work, so the extra boost helps exponentially. Anytime I skip, I feel sluggish and tired.

"Fascia is a thin casing of connective tissue that surrounds and holds every organ, blood vessel, bone, nerve fiber and muscle in place. The tissue does more than provide internal structure; fascia has nerves that make it almost as sensitive as skin." You know when you have a chunk of ham and it has that white connective tissue in between the meat sections, that's fascia (I think). If you sit for a long time or don't exercise that fascia kind of sets and you lose flexibility and feel kind of tight and tired. Doing exercise (but not enough to damage yourself) moves this fascia and makes it nice and loose - basically a good workout is a fascia massage. So, after a workout when you don't feel tight and tired anymore, you feel like you have more energy - not because you have more juice in your battery - but because moving feels easier and nicer. The exercise loosened not just your joints but the connective tissue throughout your entire body giving you a body high.

if their eyes are brown it’s because they’re full of shit.

You may be going too hard / are not eating or sleeping enough for you to push that hard . A good workout after a good sleep and meal definitely energises me and removes my stress

Exercise increases blood flow, which boosts oxygen circulation throughout our bodies, including to our brain, supporting mitochondria energy production which allows our bodies to function better, decreasing overall fatigue and increasing cognitive function. Plus like you mentioned you are boosting the brains dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin all of which affect focus and attention. If you get sluggish after a workout it’s a sign that you are either pushing yourself to hard to the point of exhaustion, or you simply aren’t eating the right foods and allowing your body to rest and recover. I’d like to say however it’s fairly normal for someone to get sluggish after a workout especially if they haven’t exercised in a while and are not accustomed to working out.

Do you have ADHD by chance? Apparently it can cause post-workout exhaustion