Huberman Lab Podcast: Jeff Cavaliere on Longevity, Training & Why Small Things Matter

By Grant Frost · Physiotherapist • Last clinically reviewed: 03 June 2026

If you have ever trained hard and felt great in your 20s, only to find yourself dealing with mysterious back pain, cranky knees, or nagging shoulder issues in your 30s and 40s, you are not alone. The culprit may not be the big lifts themselves. It could be those small things you neglected along the way.

In this episode of the Huberman Lab podcast, Dr Andrew Huberman sits down with Jeff Cavaliere - a master of science in physical therapy, certified strength and conditioning specialist, and the founder of Athlean-X.

This conversation covers Jeff's perspective on everything from why your low back pain might actually be a glute problem, to how to bulletproof your shoulders with external rotation, to the simple "old man test" that reveals hidden weaknesses in your balance and stability. If you have ever wondered why you can squat and deadlift heavy but still struggle to put your socks on without pain, Jeff's perspective might be for you.

The glute medius: hidden cause of back pain

One of the most powerful takeaways from this episode is that your low back pain might not be a back problem at all. It might be a glute problem.

As a physio, I have my own perspective on this, but Jeff explains that the glute medius - a muscle on the side of your hip - controls pelvic position. If it is weak, your pelvis may tilt or drop, and your lower back (lumbar spine) may be loaded differently. Over time, this may create a cycle of spasm, tightness, and pain.

Here is the key insight: muscle spasms are often the body's attempt to provide artificial stability to an area of weakness. If your glutes are weak, your low back will tighten up to protect you. The pain is real, but the cause is elsewhere.

Jeff's simple glute medius fix: Lie on your side. Place a lacrosse ball or tennis ball on the tender spot in your glute medius (the side of your hip). Then perform a straight leg raise – lifting your top leg up and slightly back. This movement helps release the spasm and restore normal motion.

But Jeff emphasises that releasing the spasm is only half the solution. You then need to strengthen the glute medius to prevent it from happening again.

Reverse hypers and glute strengthening

Jeff is a big fan of reverse hypers – an exercise where you lie face down on a bench (or even on your bed at home) and lift your legs behind you. This works the glutes in the sagittal plane (front-to-back movement).

Why reverse hypers work: Most people are chronically weak in their glutes. Even lifting just your own legs against gravity is enough stimulus to create overload. You can do this at home by lying on your bed with your torso on the bed and legs hanging off, then lifting your heels until they are parallel to the floor.

Simple wall exercise for glute medius: Stand sideways next to a wall. Place the foot closer to the wall on the ground, and lift the leg further from the wall. Let your hips drop toward the wall, then use your glute medius to pull yourself back up to level. This is a fantastic at-home exercise that requires no equipment.

Mini band exercises: Place a small loop band around your heels. Lie on your stomach with knees bent to 90 degrees. Spread your feet apart (external rotation) or cross one leg over the other (internal rotation). These movements target the smaller rotational muscles of the hip that are often completely neglected.

The old man test: put your shoes on standing up

One of the most surprising and effective tests Jeff recommends is also one of the simplest. Every morning, put your socks and shoes on while standing on one leg. No sitting down, no leaning on a wall. Stand on one foot, bend over, pick up your sock, put it on, pick up your shoe, put it on, tie it, then put that foot down and repeat on the other side.

What this tests:

• Balance (vestibular system)
• Ankle mobility
• Hip strength (glute medius control)
• Low back paraspinal muscle control

Many people – even very strong people – find this surprisingly difficult. Jeff's point is simple: if you cannot do this basic daily task without losing balance or feeling unstable, you have a weakness that needs addressing. And like any skill, it can be trained. Practice it every morning, and you will get better.

Dr Huberman shares that he does this every morning, and even after years of training, some mornings it is still challenging – especially with a new puppy grabbing his shoelaces.

Shoulder external rotation: protecting your rotator cuff

Most people spend their days in internal rotation – typing on a keyboard, texting on a phone, driving. Over time, this tightens the internal rotators and weakens the external rotators. When you then raise your arm overhead, the internally rotated shoulder has less space, leading to pinching, inflammation, and eventually rotator cuff tears.

Jeff's favourite external rotation exercise: Attach a resistance band to a stable anchor (a rack or stair post). Hold the band with your elbow bent 90 degrees and pinned to your side. Externally rotate your arm away from your body, keeping your elbow glued to your side. Pause at the end range to ensure you are muscling it, not swinging it.

How to prevent cheating: Place a small towel under your armpit. If the towel falls, you are lifting your elbow away from your body and using your deltoid instead of your rotator cuff.

Progression: Once you master the basic movement, you can step away from the anchor to dynamically increase tension, or even add small jumps to make it more ballistic. You can also perform the exercise with your arm at different heights – the higher your arm, the more challenging it becomes.

Jeff emphasises that the real function of the rotator cuff is not just to rotate the arm, but to keep the ball of the shoulder joint centred in the socket. When you raise your arm, the deltoid pulls the humerus upward. The external rotators counter this pull, keeping the joint centred and preventing impingement.

Neck training: the forgotten muscle group

Neck training is not just for fighters. Jeff argues that a strong neck is essential for everyone – not just for aesthetics (balancing wide shoulders), but for functional stability and injury prevention.

The neck series (using a weight plate wrapped in a towel):

• Flexion: Lie on your back with head off the bench. Place the plate on your forehead. Retract your chin (pull it straight back) for stability, then lift your head back to neutral.
• Extension: Lie on your stomach, plate on the back of your head. Let your head sink forward, then extend back to neutral.
• Lateral flexion (left and right): Lie on your side, plate on the side of your head. Allow your head to bend toward your shoulder, then lift back to neutral.

Jeff cautions that these should be done slowly and with very light weight to start. A 5 or 10 pound plate is plenty. You will likely be sore the next day – that is how under-trained these muscles are for most people.

For women concerned about neck thickness, Jeff notes that the neck muscles do not grow to astronomically large proportions. Women who train their neck without heavy trap work will simply have a stronger neck, not a thicker one. And stronger necks are particularly important for women, who often report neck fatigue during abdominal exercises like crunches.

Grip strength and elbow pain: the pinky finger problem

Dr Huberman shares a personal story: he struggled with inner elbow pain for years, assuming it was tendinitis. Jeff diagnosed the real cause – it was his grip. Specifically, the bar was sitting too deep in his fingers during pull-ups and rows, putting excessive strain on the tendons connected to his ring and pinky fingers.

The fix: Get the bar into the "meat" of your hand – your knuckles over the bar, not the bar sitting in your fingertips. This engages the stronger intrinsic hand muscles and takes the load off the weaker finger tendons.

The test: If you have inner elbow pain, try pressing each of your fingers against resistance. You will likely find that the ring and pinky fingers are the weakest and most likely to cause pain. This is a clear indicator that your grip is the issue.

Jeff notes that you can intentionally use a "hook grip" (with the bar in your fingers) to reduce forearm involvement during back exercises, but only if you do not have a history of elbow issues. If you do, it is not worth the risk.

Foot strength and flat feet

Jeff has flat feet – and he admits that years of lifting heavy without addressing foot strength made them worse. The foot has intrinsic muscles that can be trained, just like any other muscle.

Simple test: Place a towel on the floor. Barefoot, try to scrunch the towel toward you using only your toes. If you cramp up immediately, your foot muscles are weak.

Why foot strength matters: If your foot collapses (over-pronation), your tibia (shin bone) rotates internally. This torque is transmitted up through your knee, hip, and lower back. Every step you take sends forces through a misaligned chain.

Solutions:

• Towel scrunches
• Barefoot balance drills (single-leg standing)
• Walking barefoot on sand or uneven surfaces

Jeff notes that orthotics can help by putting you in a better position, but they do not fix the underlying weakness. They are like wearing a brace – supportive, but not corrective.

Training splits: breaking the 7-day week rule

One of the most liberating concepts Jeff discusses is that the 7-day week has no special meaning for your muscles. They do not care about calendars. They care about stimulus, recovery, and adaptation.

Jeff personally takes 9-12 days to complete a full training cycle, not 7. He trains a muscle group directly only once per cycle, but gets indirect work from other exercises (for example, biceps get worked during back exercises).

The "split the split" concept: Jeff admits that sometimes he falls asleep while putting his kids to bed. Rather than skip his workout, he will go to his home gym at 10 or 11 PM and do only half of his planned workout – maybe just the isolation exercises, not the heavy compound lifts. He then finishes the workout 2 days later.

He acknowledges that this is not ideal, but it is better than nothing. And it works for his current life situation. The message: do not let perfectionism stop you from doing something. Adapt to your constraints.

Jeff's nutrition philosophy: clean omnivore

Jeff does not count calories. He has never needed to after the initial learning phase. His approach is simple and sustainable:

• Base every meal around lean protein – about one-third of your plate (chicken, fish, beef, pork)
• Divide the remaining two-thirds into carbohydrates – roughly a 2:1 ratio of fibrous (vegetables) to starchy (rice, potatoes, pasta)
• Be aware of fats – they are calorically dense, even healthy ones like olive oil and avocado
• Avoid processed foods and added sugars – but do not ban foods you love. Learn to manage them.

Jeff emphasises that extreme diets (keto, paleo, etc.) work for some people, but only if they are sustainable. He knows he could never give up pasta and oatmeal forever, so he does not try. The goal is not to be perfect; it is to be consistent over decades.

He also advocates for an initial period of food logging to build awareness. You cannot change what you do not measure, and many people have no idea how many calories they are actually consuming.

From my clinical experience: small things, big impact

As a physiotherapist, I cannot overstate how solid Jeff's philosophy is. The patients who do best over the long term are not the ones who squat the heaviest or deadlift the most. They are the ones who pay attention to the small things – the glute medius strength, the rotator cuff control, the neck stability, the foot arch.

The good news, as Jeff says, is that all of these things are trainable. If it is trainable, it is fixable. You don't need hours in the gym. Five to ten minutes of targeted "special programming" a few times per week can transform your long-term joint health.

And the "old man test" – putting on your shoes standing up – is something worth trying. It is a simple, free, at-home assessment that reveals hidden weaknesses in balance, hip strength, and low back control. And doing it every morning builds those skills over time.

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