About Me

So what is it you actually do, Andy? Tough to explain, but here goes.

Quick Background

I don’t come from science, fame, or money. I was born & raised in majestic Rochester, WA and am a die-hard Seahawks, Huskies, & Mariner fan (RIP Sonics & welcome Kraken!). I played football, basketball, baseball, and track & field and was pretty darn good. I worked at a grocery store, gas station, hayfields, the blueberry farm, and in road construction with my dad, brother, and occasionally grandfather. Around 14 y, I started lifting weights and immediately knew it would be a part of my life from then on.

I took my limited athletic talents to Linfield College to play football (2004 National Champions and 2x Captain of the "All-Ugly" Team) and earn a degree in Exercise Science. I got a prestigious internship as an S&C coach in Tempe, AZ working with dozens of pro athletes (mostly MLB & NFL). It was dope - I’d never met anyone famous before. But I quickly realized that life wasn’t for me. So I went back to school and got my Master’s in Human Movement Sciences from The University of Memphis (an elite program at the time).

Since football was done, I started competing in a sport that I taught myself; Weightlifting (even got 7th at 2007 National Championships!). From there, I transitioned to combat sports and loved every second of it - despite having no background or interest in it growing up. At the same time, I wanted to know more about muscle, so I spent 4 years studying the structure and function of human skeletal muscle at the single-cell level, which earned me a Ph.D. in Human Bioenergetics. After that, I got my first job and built the fancy-named “Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Lab” - which I do a horrific job of keeping the website updated. But like coaching, I also knew from the beginning that I could never be a full-time scientist.

So what did I do?

Simple. I created a career that allows me to be a 1) Scientist, 2)Teacher, & 3) Coach and I couldn’t love my life more as a result.

Scientist

I’ve been a full-time Professor at CSU Fullerton since 2011 (tenured in 2016 and promoted to “Full” Prof in 2020!) and Director of the Center for Sport Performance since 2015 where I conduct research on anything I think is relevant to human performance. My interests range from nutrition to strength training to single muscle fiber physiology (I’ve performed hundreds of muscle biopsies) to breathwork and much more. My CV is all over the place, and I love it that way - I’ve published innovative methodologies for measuring signaling proteins in individual human muscle fibers, how heavy resistance bands alter the deadlift, the muscle characteristics of elite male and female (Olympic) weightlifters, the influence of intermittent dieting on athletes. Who knows what’s next. I’m trying to keep all new studies posted here, but don’t do a very good job. My bad.

Teaching

At CSUF I teach Sr/Grad classes in Strength & Conditioning, Program Design, Muscle Physiology, Applied S&C, and Nutrition for Performance. It was my frustration with teaching that led to the creation of this website and my mega-famous YouTube page. A better way had to exist - and that saved my ass when the 2020 pandemic hit. Serendipity, I suppose. That’s also why I agreed to step into the public space with social media and podcasts (I’ve been on a LOT of them - like this one with my friend, Joe who is only slightly more famous than me). I’m so ultra-famous, I even have my own IMDB page (seriously), singlehandedly made Conor McGregor an international star (see here …OK, a mild exaggeration but not complete fabrication), and was featured in a way-too-long article by Men’s Health. I honestly don’t care for the publicity much, but what good is research and science if it never gets to the people? This is just as important of a method of '‘teaching’ as class lectures and multiple-choice midterms in my mind.

Coaching

And what good is research if it doesn’t stand up to application? I’ve been blessed to work with professional athletes for >15 years now. The list includes NBA All-Starts, MLB MVPs, Olympic medalists, HOF’s from multiple sports, NFL Pro Bowlers, and the #1 athlete in three major American sports (MMA, MLB, PGA). To name a few (who don’t mind me telling you about it - many have NDAs…) it includes Olympians like Helen Maroulis (wrestling) and Morghan King (weightlifting), World-Title contending boxer Mike Lee, UFC stars Brian Ortega, Tatiana Suarez, Matt Brown, and Scott Holtzman, 25x World Record Powerlifter Stefi Cohen, and am the “Director of Athletic Development (or whatever he calls it) for 2020 Cy Young Winner Trevor Bauer (MLB). There are many more, but hey, I don’t want to brag and you probably get the point by now.

So this is who I am and what I do. I guess I could’ve saved you a bunch of time reading and just answered the initial question by saying:

“I tell stories about human performance.”

P.S. I built and run this site by myself, so you know, you get what you pay for kinda thing.

Fancy Official Bio

Andy Galpin is a tenured full Professor at California State University, Fullerton. He is the Co-Director of the Center for Sport Performance and Founder/Director of the Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Laboratory. He is a Human Performance scientist with a PhD in Human Bioenergetics and over 100 peer-reviewed publications and presentations. Dr. Galpin has worked with elite athletes (including All-Star, All-Pro, MVP, Cy Young, Olympic Gold medalists, Major winners, World titlist/ contenders, etc.) across the UFC, MLB, NBA, PGA, NFL, Boxing, Olympics, and Military/Special Forces, and more. He is also a Co-founder of Vitality Blueprint, Absolute Rest, BioMolecular Athlete, and RAPID Health & Performance.