I recently listened to a fascinating episode of the Huberman Lab Podcast featuring Dr. Andrew Huberman and his guest, elite coach Stuart McMillan. Andrew Huberman, a Stanford neurobiology professor and avid fitness enthusiast, set the stage by explaining that this discussion would focus on unconventional methods to increase speed, mobility, and longevity. The star of the episode, Stuart McMillan, is renowned in the sports world – he’s coached over 70 Olympians across nine Olympic Games and worked with athletes and coaches from virtually every major sport. In this episode, he shares his hard-won insights on how anyone can get stronger, run faster, and move better at any age.
From the get-go, the conversation had me intrigued because it centered on something surprisingly simple: skipping and striding. Yes, the kind of skipping many of us did as kids. As Andrew summarized in the intro, skipping (along with a drill called striding) may look childlike, but it turns out to be one of the best zero-cost plyometric exercises for boosting power, speed, coordination, and even improving posture. Stuart enthusiastically explained that incorporating a bit of skipping into our weekly routines can help protect against injuries, enhance muscle and tendon function, and keep us feeling youthful. Throughout the episode, they explored how these playful movements and sprinting drills can translate into serious benefits for athletic performance and long-term health.
Beyond skipping, the episode also ventured into the realm of sprinting technique, running form across different speeds (from walking to all-out sprinting), and training philosophy. I was excited to hear them break down the mechanics of running – discussing foot strike, body position, and common misconceptions – in a way that was both geeky and totally practical. They even touched on why certain populations dominate specific sports (think Jamaican sprinters or Kenyan marathoners) by examining genetics and environment. The conversation didn’t shy away from tough topics either; Andrew and Stuart openly discussed the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports, past and present. By the end, I felt like I had not only learned a ton about plyometrics and sprint training, but also gained a richer understanding of how we can “find ourselves through movement,” as Stuart put it so beautifully.
Key Takeaways
- Skipping isn’t just for kids – it’s a powerhouse exercise for adults: One of the biggest revelations was that simple skipping (yes, the “skip, skip, skip” you might remember from childhood) is actually a top-tier plyometric drill. Stuart emphasized that skipping can dramatically improve coordination, hip mobility, and explosive power while being low-impact. After a skip-focused workout, Andrew reported feeling “like my hips were nice and open” and his posture taller, as if he “grew an inch”. It’s a fun, feel-good movement – and Stuart believes we should all “normalize skipping for adults” to reap its benefits.
- Most of us stop sprinting too early in life: Stuart pointed out a striking truth – many people stop sprinting in their teens or early twenties, and by our 30s almost “nobody is sprinting” anymore. We still have strong “engines” (cardio capacity) as we age, but our bodies lose the ability to handle the high forces of full-speed running. In other words, if you haven’t sprinted in years, going out and trying to sprint all-out could easily result in injury (think pulled hamstring or worse). This is why maintaining some form of explosive running or mimicry of it is crucial as we get older.
- Skipping and hill sprints are secret weapons for maintaining speed safely: So, if we can’t just start sprinting at full tilt out of the blue, what’s the solution? Stuart recommends two things: hill sprints and skipping. Running uphill forces you to drive hard but with reduced impact on joints, making it safer. And skipping, in Stuart’s view, is even more important – it replicates many of the benefits of sprinting (high knees, powerful pushoff, coordination) without the extreme stresses. He even shared that he’s skipped up to 10 miles in a session himself! It might look a bit funny to bystanders, but the payoff in joint-friendly conditioning and power is huge.
- Great sprinters have a certain “pop” and effortlessness: When discussing how to spot running talent, Stuart described how an elite sprinter’s foot strikes the track with a crisp “pop, pop, pop” sound. He recounted watching kids run at a track and immediately picking one out as a natural sprinter just by the sound and quick rebound off the ground. That kid’s form was far from perfect (arms and legs flailing), yet he moved with fluidity and made it look easy. This effortlessness – making a hard thing look relaxed – is the hallmark of athletic talent at any level.
- Don’t rush kids (or yourself) into specializing too early: A key coaching insight Stuart shared is that young athletes shouldn’t be pigeonholed into one event or sport too soon. When Andrew asked if you can tell a 100m runner from a 400m runner in youth, Stuart said at 12-14 years old, it’s best to let them try everything – sprints, middle-distance, jumps, relays, even throws. Over time, two things will emerge: what the athlete enjoys most and what they show aptitude for. Ideally, those align. Even in college, many top sprinters still compete in multiple events (100m, 200m, 4x100 relay, long jump, etc.) before narrowing their focus. The lesson: experiment broadly, find your passion and strength, then specialize.
- Self-identity can both guide and misguide athletic development: The story of sprinter Jody Williams illustrated how our identity in a sport can shape our path. Jody was a youth prodigy who won 150 races in a row in the 100m and 200m and naturally saw herself as a 100/200 specialist. But as an adult she plateaued at the world-class level in those events. It wasn’t until she unexpectedly ran a fast 400m relay split and enjoyed it that she considered switching to the 400m. With Stuart’s guidance, she transitioned and two years later placed sixth in the 400m at the Olympics with a blazing sub-50 time. This showed that sometimes an athlete’s preconceived identity (“I’m a 100m runner”) can hinder finding their true forte – it took Jody over a decade to embrace the event she was built for, but once she did, she thrived.
- We “find ourselves through movement”: A beautiful theme in the conversation was that physical activities can reveal who we are. Stuart said that people discover what they love and what they’re best at by moving – trying different sports or exercises and seeing what resonates. Andrew connected this to life in general, noting that you often can’t think your way into your perfect career or calling; you have to get out there and do things. In the context of running, this means experimenting with jogging, sprinting, distance running, etc., to see what makes you feel alive. Movement, in a sense, is a form of self-exploration and self-expression.
- Running form naturally adjusts with speed – don’t overthink foot strike: I learned that as we transition from walking to jogging to running faster, our gait (stride and foot strike) should change intuitively. Walking is typically a heel-to-toe roll at slower speeds. As you speed up, that pattern becomes inefficient and you’ll naturally shift – eventually into a jog, where you land more mid-foot, and at a sprint, where you’re up on the balls of your feet. Stuart hammered home that the speed should dictate how your foot strikes, not some one-size cue. He hates the old coaching advice “run on your tippy-toes.” Instead, he tells runners to think about a “flat foot” contact, which basically means let your body find the right position based on how fast you’re going. This way, whether you’re walking or sprinting, you’ll strike in the biomechanically optimal way without forcing it.
- Posture and gaze matter, especially in sprinting: Another technical takeaway: where you look with your eyes can affect your running form. In an all-out sprint, if you stare upwards (like at the sky or a distant horizon), your head will tilt back and your body tends to follow into a less efficient upright, arched posture. Stuart explained that the body follows the eyes – so sprinters are coached to keep their gaze aligned with their torso angle. As you accelerate, you gradually raise your eyes and head with your rising torso, rather than leading with the head. This prevents “hyperextension” and keeps you in an ideal forward-lean sprint posture. It’s a subtle cue, but as someone who runs, I found it fascinating how something as simple as eye placement can influence speed and power.
- The ability to sprint (or move fast) is a hallmark of vitality: Stuart argued that being able to safely express maximum running speed is one of the best indicators of overall fitness and health. He suggested that if he had to pick a single metric for physical vitality, it might be whether a person can still sprint (relative to their capacity) without breaking down. That really struck me. We often think of VO2 max or strength numbers, but the act of sprinting is a full-body coordination feat – it requires strength, flexibility, power, and neuromuscular control. It made me realize that keeping some “spring” in our step as we age (through activities like skipping or short strides) isn’t just about speed, but about maintaining a youthful physiological capability. Stuart gave the example of his own 78-year-old father, who still runs four days a week, two of those involving skipping and strides intervals, to preserve that explosive capacity.
- Genetics and culture shape elite athletes, but hard work and passion are still key: The episode touched on why certain groups excel in certain sports – like why Jamaica produces so many star sprinters or Kenya so many champion marathoners. Stuart acknowledged that genetics (like a predominance of fast-twitch muscle fibers for sprinters, or specific body morphology) set the foundation. There are also environmental and cultural factors: for instance, in parts of Kenya, practically “every single person they know is a marathoner” so endurance running is woven into life and identity. However, both Andrew and Stuart stressed that while genetics “get you in the room,” what you do with them (the training, technique, and drive) is what makes someone a champion. In short, you might be born with the build or muscles for sprinting, but you still have to fall in love with sprinting and work at it to truly excel.
- Top sprinters today are likely clean, but doping has been a big part of sports history: As an athletics fan, I found their discussion on performance-enhancing drugs illuminating. Stuart, who’s been around track and field for decades, said that in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, steroid use among sprinters was extremely common – “everyone was on something” to paraphrase. But with better testing in the 90s and 2000s, he believes doping in elite sprinting has dramatically declined. In fact, he couldn’t point to any current top sprinter that he definitively suspects as “dirty”. There are exceptions in certain countries or disciplines (they mentioned the state-sponsored Russian doping programs, and a number of busts for EPO in Kenyan distance running). Andrew noted that endurance athletes often use blood-boosting drugs rather than steroids. The takeaway was cautiously optimistic: the culture at the elite level, at least in sprinting, seems cleaner now. It was refreshing to hear Stuart’s perspective that you can reach the top through smart training and genetics, without drugs – and that having fun and loving the sport (as exemplified by Usain Bolt’s relaxed dominance) is perhaps the greatest performance enhancer of all.
Key Points
Skipping and Striding: Relearning “Kid” Movements for Adult Performance
One of the first things that grabbed my attention was the idea that skipping and striding – those playful movements we did as kids – are actually serious exercises for improving athleticism. Andrew admitted he found it surprising that something as simple as skipping could be so beneficial. Stuart, however, was adamant: skipping is a fundamental plyometric movement that almost every track athlete does regularly, yet the general public largely abandons it after childhood. Early in the episode Andrew even joked about titling that segment “let’s normalize skipping for adults” because it feels silly, but it’s incredibly useful.
Stuart explained why skipping is such a gem. When you skip, you alternate hopping from one foot to the other in a rhythmic pattern – this action trains what he calls the “spring” in your legs. It forces your ankles, knees, and hips to coordinate their flexing and extending in unison, much like they do in sprinting but with less pounding force. He noted that when people jog slowly, they often don’t engage the hips fully – the motion becomes mostly about the lower legs, putting stress on the calves and feet. Skipping, by contrast, drives you to push your knee behind your body and extend your hip with each bound, opening up that front-of-hip angle that we rarely use in normal walking. That hip extension is crucial for speed and also counteracts all the sitting most of us do. As Stuart reminded us (referencing a previous guest, Kelly Starrett), we should frequently “find opportunities” to get the knee behind the butt – essentially to stretch our hip flexors through dynamic movement.
What I loved was hearing Andrew’s personal experience after Stuart put him through a skipping workout. Andrew said he finished the session feeling incredibly good – “my hips were nice and open, tons of extension, posture up… I feel like I grew an inch”. That’s a pretty strong endorsement for an exercise! He also noted he was stronger in the weight room the next day, likely because that explosive skipping primed his nervous system. Stuart chimed in that skipping “feels so damn good” and is deceptively taxing in a positive way. It elevates your heart rate and works your muscles, but it doesn’t leave you gasping or with joint pain. I could sense both of their genuine enthusiasm – they had rediscovered an almost childlike joy of movement and were basically urging listeners to give it a try.
A practical tip was to incorporate skipping into a weekly routine as a substitute or complement to high-intensity running. If you’re not used to sprinting, you can start by simply adding 5-10 minutes of skipping drills a couple of times a week. Stuart himself mentioned doing 20 minutes of skipping every morning on roads, and even having done a 10-mile continuous skip (he got a few honks from amused drivers for that!). The main point: don’t be self-conscious – embrace the silliness because the benefits are real. By re-learning how to skip with good form, we can unlock better coordination and power that carry over to running and other sports. This section truly convinced me that sometimes the simplest, almost forgotten exercises can have outsized impacts on our fitness and longevity.
From Talent to Training: Identifying Sprinters and the Path to the Right Event
Another compelling part of the episode was when Andrew and Stuart discussed what makes a great sprinter and how to recognize raw speed talent. Stuart recounted a moment from the day before recording: they were at a track watching some school kids run. In a matter of seconds, Stuart singled out one kid and said, “That kid right there, he’s got it. He’s a sprinter.” Andrew was amazed at how he could tell so fast. Stuart explained that it wasn’t about polished form – most of the kids had arms and legs flailing all over. What he noticed was how the talented kid interacted with the ground. There was a certain quality to his foot strikes – a quick, springy rebound that you could literally hear as a distinct “pop” each time his foot hit the track. Stuart compared it to the sound of an elite boxer hitting a heavy bag: there’s a sharp snap or pop that indicates efficient force production. He said often he hears a great sprinter before he sees them, because of this popping rhythm.
Beyond the sound, the kid also had a fluidity despite the chaos of limbs. Stuart noted that even with a bobbing head and sloppy arm swing, the boy’s movement was smoother and more relaxed than the others. This is a hallmark of athletic talent: the best make it look easy. As Stuart put it, elite athletes often appear like they’re not trying as hard, even though they’re producing tremendous output. That was a key insight – it’s not just raw speed, but how effortless someone can make high speed look.
This segued into advice on developing young athletes (and really, anyone finding their niche). Andrew asked if you could determine a kid’s ideal track distance (100m vs 200m vs 400m, etc.) just by testing them in one race. Stuart cautioned against labeling kids too early. At 12 or 13 years old, the priority should be exposure to a variety of events and skills. He said, “let them do as many different events as possible… sprints, middle distance, relays, a couple jumps, even some throws”. The dual goals are to see what they enjoy most and observe where their natural strengths lie. Ideally, the event they love and the event they’re physically best at will align. Stuart gave an example that even in NCAA college track programs, you’ll see sprinters running the 100m, 200m, 4x400 relay and doing the long jump all in the same season. Only later, maybe in their 20s, do they specialize in one or two events exclusively. This was eye-opening because so often in youth sports today there’s pressure to specialize early. Stuart’s perspective is that broad development leads to a higher ceiling later on.
A real-world story that highlighted this was the journey of Jody Williams, an athlete Stuart coached. As a teenager, Jody was unbeatable in the 100m and 200m – she won 150 races in a row over five years and became known as “the sprinter.” That identity stuck. When Stuart started coaching her in her early 20s, she was still focused on the 100/200, but she wasn’t progressing to truly elite times. Everyone expected her to be the next big 100m star because of her youth record, but it wasn’t clicking at the world-class level. Then came an interesting twist: during a 4x400m relay in training, Jody ran an excellent split and actually enjoyed the race. She realized she might have potential in the 400m (which she previously resisted because “I’m a 100m runner”). In 2019 she tentatively started the shift – she still made the British team in the 200m but underperformed there, yet ran the fastest 4x400 split of any country at World Championships. That was the confirmation. By the next Olympics (2021), Jody was a dedicated 400m runner and finished sixth in the Olympic final with a blazing 49.9-second run. Stuart mused that had she switched to 400m a few years earlier, she might even have medaled.
The lesson from Jody’s story was powerful: sometimes an athlete’s self-image can hold them back from their best event. It took a long time for her to “find herself” in the 400m, because she was so used to being the short sprinter. Stuart and Andrew connected this to a broader idea that we often discover our true talents and preferences through a bit of serendipity and exploration. Stuart said, “we find ourselves through movement” – meaning Jody had to actually run that 400m, feel the difference, and connect with it emotionally to embrace the change. This is a great reminder not only for athletes but for anyone: be open to trying new things, because you may find out you’re made for something you didn’t expect.
Breaking Down Running Mechanics: From Walking to Sprinting
As someone who runs recreationally, I found the deep dive into running mechanics particularly useful. Stuart broke down the continuum of gait patterns from a slow walk to an all-out sprint, and how our bodies naturally adjust across this spectrum. We started at the very basics: walking. When you walk at normal speeds, you almost always strike the ground with your heel first, roll through the foot, and push off the toe. This heel-to-toe motion is efficient up until a certain speed (roughly 2 to 2.3 meters per second, according to Stuart). If you try to walk faster than that, it actually becomes awkward and inefficient – you might notice yourself bobbing or having to work disproportionately hard. That’s your cue that you’ve hit the limit of the walking gait.
Once you reach that speed threshold, your body will naturally transition to a different pattern: jogging. Jogging is like a new “gear.” You’ll stop doing a pure heel-to-toe roll and land more flat-footed or mid-foot. Stuart described it as an automatic self-organization: if you don’t overthink it, your nervous system will find the most stable, efficient way for you to run at that pace. I found it reassuring that our bodies have this innate intelligence – we don’t really have to obsess over our footstrike; it will evolve as we speed up.
As the jog speeds up to a run and then a sprint, the pattern shifts further forward on the foot. In an all-out sprint, you’re up on the balls of your feet (forefoot), because that’s the only way to apply force quickly and powerfully at max velocity. However, here’s the kicker: Stuart’s big coaching cue for all levels was simply “think flat-footed.” By that he means, keep your foot relaxed and let it land where it naturally should for the speed you’re going. If you consciously try to run on your toes because you heard that’s what sprinters do, you’ll probably overdo it and mess up your form. In fact, Stuart mentioned how most of us were taught as kids to “sprint on your tippy-toes, arms at 90 degrees, stay tall” – and he flat-out says that advice is wrong. It tends to make people run too stiff and overly extended. Instead, he prefers the cue of being flat-footed, which paradoxically will result in the correct form: at a sprint you’ll still be on your forefoot, but not exaggerated, and at a slower run you’ll be more mid-foot. The underlying principle is that velocity dictates where on your foot you land, so you should focus more on how fast you’re trying to go and let your body figure out the footstrike.
They also touched on another key aspect of running mechanics: posture and in particular, head and eye position. For sprinting, Stuart emphasized that where you look is surprisingly important. If a sprinter’s eyes start to drift upward (say, looking at the finish line tape too early or gazing at the sky), the head will tilt back, which then causes the spine to arch (an overextended position). This chain reaction can ruin an efficient sprint posture. In sprinting, you actually want a slight forward lean and a neutral head alignment. So the rule is, the head/eyes should come up with the torso as you accelerate, not before. Stuart cues his athletes to “let the torso dictate when the eyes and chin come up”. Andrew related this to a yoga exercise he’d done where you slowly unroll your spine from a bent-over position, bringing the head up last. In both cases, the idea is to avoid leading with the head. I thought that was a neat cross-pollination of ideas – using a yoga concept to perfect a sprint technique.
An example given was weightlifting: Andrew remembered being taught to “look up at the ceiling” when squatting, a common old-school cue. He realized later (with input from experts like Stuart) that it’s better to keep a neutral gaze and focus on moving the chest and hips together. This prevents an inefficient bending at the waist. Similarly, in running, good mechanics often mean keeping your body in alignment and moving as one unit rather than craning the neck or arching the back too much. The takeaway for me was that small cues – like where to look or thinking about a flat foot – can have outsized effects on running efficiency. And often the “intuitive” or old advice isn’t the best; instead, understanding the underlying principles (speed changes form, eyes lead the body, etc.) helps you make better adjustments on the fly.
Sprinting for Longevity: Keeping the “Spring” in Your Step as You Age
A major theme that resonated through the episode was using sprinting (or its proxies like skipping) to promote long-term health and longevity. Andrew himself, despite loving long-distance running, conceded that Stuart had him convinced “sprinting is more valuable than jogging” for overall fitness. The reason comes down to something Stuart articulated well: as we age, we maintain our cardiovascular “engine” much longer than our musculoskeletal “chassis.” In plain terms, you might still have the heart and lungs of a younger person, but your tendons, joints, and muscles can’t handle certain intense activities if you’ve neglected them.
Stuart described how most people in their 30s, 40s, and beyond simply stop doing anything close to a maximal sprint. We lose the ability to exert that kind of force because our tissues aren’t conditioned for it. Think about it – when was the last time you ran as fast as you possibly could? If you suddenly had to sprint after a bus or in a pickup soccer game, there’s a good chance you’d pull a hamstring or feel wrecked the next day. Stuart sees that as a key marker of declining functional fitness. It’s not that our “engine” is gone; it’s that we haven’t maintained the body’s ability to handle high-intensity, high-impact movement.
To combat this, Stuart advocates incorporating safe forms of high-intensity running into one’s routine well into middle age and beyond. Earlier, I mentioned his two go-tos: hill sprints and skipping. Running up an incline naturally limits your top speed (so you won’t reach the absolute max force that might injure you on flat ground) and also shortens the stride, which can protect the hamstrings. It’s a gentler way to build power and speed. Skipping, as we thoroughly covered, lets you practice explosiveness with even less risk. The beauty of both is that they allow you to train that sprinting ability without needing a ton of recovery or risking major injury.
Stuart gave a brilliant example of this principle in action: his own father. In his 70s, his dad still runs about 20-25 miles a week over four days. Two of those days aren’t just slow runs – they include what Stuart called “skipping sessions” where he cycles through walking for 30 seconds, skipping for 30 seconds, and then striding (running faster, maybe not full sprint but a good clip) for 30 seconds. He repeats that pattern. This routine allows an older athlete to safely get doses of impact and intensity. In fact, Stuart’s dad ran a marathon in his early 70s and still trains regularly, which is pretty inspiring. The key is that he adjusted the training to include these explosive intervals in a controlled way.
The broader takeaway here is that maintaining the ability to move fast is akin to maintaining youthfulness. Stuart even suggested that the ability to sprint (safely) might be the best single test of one’s vitality or “biological age” in a way. That stuck with me: rather than just counting how many push-ups or measuring VO2 max, maybe see if you can do a short sprint without falling apart. Of course, if you haven’t sprinted in a long time, you’d build up to that with things like skipping drills, progressively faster strides, strength training, etc. Both he and Andrew emphasized that the goal is longevity – we want to be those 70- and 80-year-olds who can still jog across the street or play with grandkids without fear. Incorporating plyometric movements and not abandoning sprinting entirely as we age can help us preserve that “spring.” Listening to this, I felt motivated to not shy away from adding a bit of intensity to my own workouts in a smart way, because I want to keep that capability as long as possible.
Genetics, Culture, and Performance: Why Some Dominate and Others Don’t
No conversation with a top coach would be complete without addressing the nature vs. nurture aspects of performance. Andrew raised the question of what funnels someone into being, say, a world-class sprinter versus a marathoner. Is it body type, genetics, personality, or just what they train for? Stuart’s answer acknowledged multiple factors. He stated plainly that if you “don’t have the genetic capacity to run fast, you won’t run fast. Sorry”. Sprinting, for example, requires a high proportion of fast-twitch muscle fibers and certain leverages – traits largely determined by genetics. However, genetics only get you “in the room,” as he put it. Many people might have the raw ingredients, but what happens from there depends on environment, culture, and personal drive.
They talked about interesting examples: East African dominance in distance running and Jamaican dominance in sprinting. In Kenya and Ethiopia, there’s a combination of genetic advantage (many athletes with slim builds, efficient VO2 max, etc.) and a cultural environment that produces champions. Stuart mentioned how in some Kenyan communities, essentially everyone around you is a runner or knows a great runner, so from a young age kids see endurance running as a path and are motivated to excel. There’s also likely a selection bias – those with the genetic gifts are winning and inspiring the next generation. Similarly, in Jamaica, sprinting is a national pride. It’s celebrated, the talent pool is huge, and kids grow up racing each other with heroes like Usain Bolt to emulate. So Jamaica ends up producing an outsized number of top sprinters.
Andrew tossed in a fun aside that on social media he saw an animation comparing different animals in races over various distances – the conclusion was that humans actually win over really long distances (ultramarathon range) against any other animal. That underscores how as a species, humans are built for endurance running (we’re literally the best marathoners on the planet in the animal kingdom) but individuals can be extreme outliers for speed. This led to a point that even within humans, some people are just wired to be explosive. Stuart agreed and added that even hormones and other factors we don’t fully understand yet play a role. For instance, someone might naturally produce more testosterone or have stiffer tendons that act like better springs. All of these things can confer an edge.
However, both were keen to emphasize that raw talent only manifests with the right training and personal connection. Stuart said an athlete’s understanding of themselves and what they connect with is crucial. If a person has the build of a marathoner but truly loves sprinting (or vice versa), it creates an interesting dynamic. Sometimes passion can drive someone to overcome genetic odds, but usually the best case is when passion and genetics align. They didn’t frame it deterministically; rather, it was “acknowledge your gifts, but also follow what you love.” And as seen with Jody Williams, even a well-gifted athlete might be in the wrong lane for a while due to identity or external expectations. So there’s a bit of trial and error and self-discovery in finding the right event or sport.
Stuart’s perspective as a coach is to never tell a young athlete “you can’t” based on their body alone. There are always exceptions – like the story of Spud Webb (Andrew brought up) who, despite being very short for basketball, won the NBA Slam Dunk contest in the 1980s. It reminds you that sometimes heart and dedication find a way around physical limitations. Still, at the elite Olympic final level, you’ll notice common traits (sprinters with certain builds, distance runners with others), indicating that genetics sorted who made it to that stage. In summary, the episode recognized the importance of innate traits and cultural environment in shaping athletes, but also celebrated the individuality of how people find their place in sports. It’s a nuanced view: genes and environment load the gun, so to speak, but the athlete’s choices and hard work pull the trigger.
Performance-Enhancing Drugs: A Candid Look at Doping in Sport
Toward the end, the podcast took a turn into a frank discussion on performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in athletics. This was spurred by Andrew mentioning the proposed idea of an “enhanced games” where doping is allowed, highlighting the ongoing intrigue and controversy around this topic​:contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}. Stuart’s take, coming from someone deeply embedded in track and field, was both informative and somewhat reassuring. He said that in the current era (2020s), at least in the sprints, blatant steroid use is not common among the elite athletes he knows. This honestly surprised me – given all the scandals you hear about, I expected a more pessimistic view. But Stuart emphasized that things have changed since the wild west days of the 70s and 80s.
He gave a quick history lesson: back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, steroid use was rampant in sprinting. Testing was either nonexistent or very easy to beat, so many athletes (especially in certain countries) took advantage. The infamous Ben Johnson case in 1988 (where the 100m Olympic champion was stripped for steroid use) was a turning point. By the 90s, testing protocols improved, and while doping certainly didn’t disappear, it became riskier and less widespread. In the 2000s and beyond, Stuart believes that the majority of top sprinters are clean or only taking things that are within legal bounds (like supplements).
They did acknowledge that some pockets of sport still have issues. Stuart mentioned the state-sponsored doping of the Soviet and later Russian system – basically, if you were an elite Russian track athlete in the 2000s, you were almost certainly on a program of banned substances. This has been exposed and Russia is banned from competition currently, but it illustrates how a culture can institutionalize cheating. Another example was the surprisingly high number of doping positives among Kenyan distance runners in the last decade (over 150 cases). Andrew and Stuart noted that in endurance sports, the drugs of choice are often blood boosters like EPO, not the anabolic steroids you’d see in sprinters. The motivations can also be different: some poor athletes might be lured by promises of contracts and see doping as a way out of poverty. Stuart empathized with the hypothetical 18-year-old kid in Kenya offered a drug regimen by an agent promising a pro career. It’s hard to blame individuals when the incentive structure and lack of education push them that way.
The conversation on PEDs wrapped up on a thoughtful note. Andrew mentioned how the greatest sprinter of all time, Usain Bolt, brought something special beyond just times – he brought joy and showmanship that “gave everyone permission to have fun” on the track. Bolt is widely seen as clean and dominated through freakish talent and hard work. Stuart’s outlook is that chasing those moments of flow and self-improvement should be the focus, not shortcuts. They both seemed to agree that while doping will always be a shadow in elite sports, the best performances have an element of magic that you can’t bottle. As a listener, I appreciated the nuance: neither demonizing all athletes of the past nor being naive about the present. It made me respect the clean athletes even more, and also to understand the context in which doping occurs.
Conclusion
By the end of the episode, I felt genuinely inspired and loaded with practical insights. Andrew Huberman and Stuart McMillan managed to deliver a conversation that was both highly technical and deeply human. The overarching message I walked away with is that maintaining our ability to move powerfully and efficiently is one of the keys to long-term health. Whether it’s incorporating a playful activity like skipping into our workouts or paying attention to how we run and sprint, these “little” things can yield big dividends over time. I was particularly struck by how passionate Stuart is about keeping sprinting (or at least a semblance of it) in one’s life, even when most of us have left true sprinting behind in youth. It’s not about being an Olympian; it’s about preserving that fundamental capacity of our body – to generate speed and power – which so often fades with a sedentary lifestyle. Hearing that a 78-year-old can do skip-and-stride intervals as part of his weekly routine was a wakeup call; it makes me realize we have fewer excuses than we think.
The episode also stood out in how it connected the dots between elite athletic training and everyday wellness. I loved the idea that “we find ourselves through movement.” For me, that crystallized the intangible benefit of exercise: it’s not just sets and reps or calories burned, it’s learning about your own mind and body. Andrew’s open-minded curiosity and Stuart’s decades of wisdom made for a potent combination. They delved into biomechanics, genetics, and even ethics in sport, but always with a view of what the practical take-home is. For instance, understanding that your footstrike will adjust naturally to speed frees you from overthinking your running form. Knowing that skipping can be a viable alternative to keep your explosiveness means you can train smarter and safer. Realizing that even the pros have to figure out their path (like Jody Williams did) is encouraging for the rest of us trying to find what we’re “built for” in fitness or in life.
What really stayed with me was the sense of rediscovering the joy of basic movement. There was a moment where they talked about how fun it felt to skip again, to just move with that childlike freedom. It reminded me that exercise doesn’t always have to be grim or ultra-competitive; it can be playful and still incredibly effective. Stuart’s enthusiasm was contagious – I found myself literally wanting to go outside and try skipping after listening. And on a thoughtful note, the discussion about performance and ethics – from genetic gifts to doping – added depth, showing respect for both the science and the spirit of sport. In summary, this episode was a treasure trove of information and inspiration. It left me with a fresh perspective on training: sometimes the simplest tools (like a skip or a stride) can unlock the greatest gains, and the ultimate goal is to keep our bodies capable and our love of movement alive.