The limit of human energy expenditure - Assistant Professor Andrew Best

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This week on the podcast Mikki speaks to Andrew (Drew) Best about the limit of Human Energy expenditure. Related to the Herman Pontzer interview that we had on Episode 51, Drew is currently studying the limit of human performance, or rather, energy expenditure in a group of elite-level endurance runners and cyclists to determine whether the theoretical ceiling of 2.5x our basal metabolic rate (BMR) holds for these outlying individuals.

Drew and Mikki discuss how basal metabolic rate is measured, if we can shift our BMR, how to measure TEE and why a TEE is risky from an evolutionary standpoint. They also discuss the contribution of non exercise activity thermogenesis and how this may change when we ramp up activity, and specifically what drew is finding in his study of the elite athletes - what lessons we might learn from this.

Andrew Best is a biological anthropologist and Assistant Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts; he is also a respectable endurance athlete in his own right. Andrew is currently conducting a research project on ultramarathon and ultra-endurance athletes that further tests the limits of the human metabolic scope.

Andrew can be found at:

Website: https://www.therunningprimate.com/

Instagram: @therunningprimate

Twitter: @RunningPrimate

Strava: The Shreddy Professor

Episdoe 51 Herman Pontzer: The misunderstoood science of metabolism

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