In the world of health optimization, it is not uncommon to hear hours of debate about whether vitamin D should be taken with K2, or whether a carnivore diet outperforms a vegan diet for inflammation.
But according to a new “rule” jokingly coined by respected neuroscientist and podcaster, Dr. Andrew Huberman, those conversations should be off-limits until basic fitness standards are met.
Introducing “Attia’s Rule” — named after Dr. Peter Attia, whose frustration with supplement and nutrition dogma has reached a boiling point.
“I just can’t get enough of the machinating and arguing about this supplement versus that supplement,” Attia said. “And I feel like you shouldn’t be having those arguments until you have your exercise house in order.”
Huberman, a Stanford neurobiology professor, formalized the concept during their discussion: “I’m going to call it Attia’s rule: Please refrain from talking about supplements and nutrition until you can do the following things.”
What are the prerequisites? Attia laid out several “low hanging fruit” benchmarks:
- Deadlift your body weight for 10 repetitions (a number Attia acknowledged he “just made up” as a reasonable standard)
- Achieve a VO2 max at or above the 75th percentile for your age and sex
- Dead hang from a bar for at least one minute
- Perform a wall sit (or air squat hold) for at least two minutes
“You shouldn’t be arguing about the nuance of your carnivore diet versus this nuance of your paleo diet versus this nuance of your vegan diet until you can deadlift your body weight for 10 reps,” Attia said. “Then you can come and talk about those things.”
The rule, delivered with humor but serious intent, has already inspired a proposed social media hashtag: #attiasrule. While Attia jokingly protested that naming something after oneself is inappropriate unless you were a scientist before 1950, Huberman overruled him.
The message, however, is no joke: foundational fitness trumps nutritional fine-tuning every time.