SNR #215: Andy Galpin, PhD - Science to Practice, Technology and Adaptation to Stress

Dr. Andy Galpin of CSU Fullerton talks about blending evidence and practice, as well as the potential beneficial and detrimental roles of technology for making training decisions.
Andy is a tenured Professor in the Center for Sport Performance at CSU Fullerton. Andy spent 4 years studying the structure and function of human skeletal muscle at the single cell level, a feat which earned him a PhD in Human Bioenergetics in 2011. This also resulted in the friendship with frequent collaborator Dr. Jimmy Bagley and the ability to open up his own "Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Laboratory" at CSU Fullerton.

He now focuses his attention on teaching classes (Sports Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, Designing Exercise Programs, Applied Strength and Conditioning, Athlete Assessment and Measurement, etc.) and running the BMEP lab (which studies the acute responses and chronic adaptations of human skeletal muscle in response to high force/velocity/power and fatiguing exercise from the whole body, down to the individual muscle fiber and even into the individual DNA. The team does this by taking muscle biopsies from non-athletes and elite athletes from different backgrounds (e.g. normal college student, MMA fighter, Boxer, Weightlifter, etc.) and use highly sophisticated laboratory techniques and equipment to address questions about single fiber "type", size, function, protein quantity, diameter, mitochondria, and myonuclear function.

In This Episode We Discuss:
Communication of scientific concepts
Physiology of the adaptive response
Decision-making process for how to decide on whether a specific technological tool is useful to use
Assessing readiness to train: in either remote athletes or combat athletes where you can’t visually see them for every session

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