You are probably asking “what changed”?

For most of my career, I did not talk about mobility. I focused on lifting weights, resistance training, and aside from my one mobility guide, it wasnt a primary topic. My overall approach to training was holistic, and for me, the mobility work was already built into the lifting essentially.

Additionally, I had my dance background experience, and my baseline of flexibility and mobility is very good for an average person or athlete. For a dancer my flexibility was mediocre, but for any other athlete, my flexibility was exceptional. I never had tight hamstrings, tight hips, anterior pelvic tilt, stiff shoulders, bad posture, stiff neck, or any other of the common movement issues that people experience.

But time has passed, and Ive gotten older.

I am 37.

And I went all in on my personal brand and online business back in 2017. So ten years in.

This past year. I noticed a difference finally. Not with my mobility exactly, but my recovery…it got slower. I found that I absolutely require 7-8 hours of sleep now for my body to recuperate from workouts.

And movement wise…it finally happened that I needed to WARMUP. As in fully warmup. I cant rush into compound exercises or intense movement. Ive got to get reps in and get the blood flowing to the tissue.

Thankfully my flexibility and mobility are excellent, but damn, was it a thing to admit that YES, my body is changing.

And I especially noticed a difference with all my friends

My circle of friends is all men in their 30s-50s and some of them 60s.

And Ive always been the health and fitness guy in my circle. Each passing year, Ive heard the comments on stiffness, pain, and a reduction in overall movement capacity.

This is all to Say that Yes, I have Changed my Mind

I used to think that telling people to lift intelligently was enough. Its not.

Mobility is Essential for Longevity

But is mobility just glorified stretching?

NO, its much more than that. It does include stretching, but the health goals and outcomes we want to achieve are objective and more holistic

1. Mobility is not about becoming more flexible. It is about maintaining access to positions.
   The goal with mobility as we age is not circus-level range of motion. You dont need to be a contortionist with super flexibility. Rather, its you being able to squat, hinge, rotate, reach overhead, get on the floor, and move without compensation. Past 35, losing these options starts to quietly affect your training and daily life. Small losses in capacity now are big losses later.

2. Strength does not automatically preserve mobility.
   You can be strong at weights and big compound movements, and still gradually lose usable range of motion and dynamic movement ability, especially if your training is only sagittal plane with no rotation, lateral movement, or elastic exercises (bouncing, skipping, jumping, sprinting, landing). I’d make the point that strength and mobility are complementary: strength gives you force, mobility gives you places to express it.

3. Mobility work should improve training, not compete with it.
   This is probably the strongest “changed my mind” angle. You do not need 45-minute mobility sessions on top of 3-5 hours of lifting. Five to fifteen minutes of targeted work can improve joint movement, joint comfort, nervous system tone, and dissipate pain and stiffness. Small doses have big results

4. Your 40s are when small restrictions start becoming expensive.
   A stiff ankle becomes you slipping and rolling an ankle. Limited hip rotation changes how you walk, run, or golf. Poor shoulder motion changes pressing mechanics and ignoring it is rotator cuff wear and tear. None of these may feel serious at first, but over years they can reduce what you can comfortably do. A daily movement practice of 10-20 minutes (maximum) is preventative maintenance: address small movement deficits before they become costly ones.

5. Mobility is part of longevity because freedom of movement is part of quality of life.
   The payoff is bigger than avoiding injury. It is being able to sprint at 55, hike and ruck at 65, travel without your back locking up, play with your kids (or grandkids), get off the floor easily, and continue training hard. Muscle and cardiovascular fitness matter enormously, but they only matter if the enable the physical freedom to actually use them.

My point is this: Mobility work is maintenance for the physical capabilities you want to keep for the next 30–40-50 years.

So you can expect more forthcoming videos and articles on this topic.

And if there is any particular aspect of mobility, flexibility, longevity, and training pain-free you have questions about or would like me to cover, please reply and tell me!

Rather, the premise is

What are essential nutrients that everyone needs, but may not get in sufficient amounts?

Ideally we get ALL of our macros and micros through diet, but idealism and reality rarely equalize.

This list is SHORT. Its only 3 things. The 3 supplements list are all nutrients that can be obtained through diet, but for various reason, are likely to be under consumed.

These three are also things that my wife and I use DAILY as well. This list is not me reaching to list out a dozen products. Its 3 nutrients in total, all of which I have talked about for years.

What are those 3?

1. Magnesium

I first read about magnesium depletion in soil almost 20 years. Its when I first became aware that magnesium deficiency was common and found in about half the population.

Magnesium is used in more than 300 enzymatic reactions: ATP, muscle contraction and relaxation, nerve firing, glucose handling, and blood pressure.

I WISH I had started supplementing sooner, but live and learn. More than any other supplement, magnesium has a positive impact on my sleep, my recovery, and heavily supplementing with it (along with potassium and sodium) ended my predilection for severe cramping from training.

Magnesium obviously can be obtained through food, but in light of the aforementioned soil depletion, supplementing is a simple and foolproof route. You can eat spinach and almonds and oysters. You can also take a few capsules at breakfast and dinner and be covered daily.

What are the benefits of daily magnesium supplementation?

1. Fills a gap most people already have

If you train, sweat, drink coffee, and endure the normal stresses of life, magnesium gets depleted daily. Low status shows up as tightness, poor sleep quality, muscle cramps, and a struggle to relax. Supplementing with magnesium restocks a cofactor the modern diet under-delivers.

2. Calms the nervous system and supports sleep

I am not claiming magnesium knocks you out like a sleeping pill. The RCT literature on sleep is mixed and a lot of it is small. What is not mixed is the physiology: magnesium is a natural NMDA modulator and it helps GABA signaling. The glycinate form is the one people actually tolerate at night. If you are already a perfect sleeper, skip it. If you lay in bed wired, this is one of the cheapest levers you can pull that could make a real difference.

3. Muscle function

On a basic level, you magnesium helps muscles contract. If you exercise a lot, you need more of it. Magnesium sits in the ATP-magnesium complex. No magnesium, sloppy energy handling at the fiber. Malate in particular is the form I want in an active person because it pairs the mineral with an intermediate in the Krebs cycle.

4. Small but real blood-pressure and metabolic support

Meta-analyses put the blood-pressure drop around 2 mm Hg at typical supplemental doses, larger if you start low or already have hypertension or type 2 diabetes. That is not a drug, but its also not zero. Same story with glucose handling: magnesium is a cofactor in insulin signaling, and higher intake tracks with lower type 2 diabetes risk in the observational data.

5. Migraine frequency

Ive never experienced migraines, but this is an interesting one that is real in some people. Umbrella reviews grade magnesium as having strong evidence for reducing migraine intensity and frequency. Its the same situation of being a cheap lever that could have outsized effect.

The Form matters.

Magnesium Oxide is a laxative with poor absorption. Never buy it.

Magnesium Citrate is only if you need to defecate your bowels.

For daily repletion you want absorbable chelates: glycinate for calm, malate for energy and muscle, and a brain-facing form if you can get it.

Optimize Mag stacks dimagnesium malate, magnesium bisglycinate, and magnesium acetyltaurinate. Pretty much an ideal blend.

I always take it with food. Taking more at once is not better.

I take 3 capsules in the morning, and in the evening.

I recommend Optimize Mag from Myoxience.

2. Collagen

Ive talked about collagen going on a decade.

Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body. Skin, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, bone matrix, gut lining. You make less of it every decade after your twenties. That is not a theory. That is simply the reality of how tissue ages.

The objection has been the same idiotic.: “BUT research says it doesnt build muscle” No SHIT REALLY? MAYBE I TAKE IT FOR OTHER REASONS!?!!!

Yes, its true that collagen is not a complete muscle protein and I am not selling it as one.

However, it is a delivery system for glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline in amounts food protein does not give you unless you are eating skin, tendon, and bone on purpose. Collagen contains abundant bioregulators that affect hundreds of reactions. And we know that collagen production declines over time.

So supplement with it.

1. Skin elasticity and hydration

Meta-analyses of hydrolyzed collagen (dozens of RCTs) show improvements in hydration and elasticity versus placebo, usually after 8 to 12 weeks. A 2025 analysis argued the effect shrinks when you throw out industry-funded trials. Fine. That doesnt contradict the fact that collagen contains abundant bioregulators and your body uses it daily for all its structural proteins.

2. Joint comfort and osteoarthritis symptoms

Pooled RCTs show reductions in knee pain scores (WOMAC, VAS) with collagen peptides. You are not regenerating a new joint. You are giving your tissues the material it is built from and, in some people, lowering pain enough that they move better. That is the outcome that matters.

3. Tendon and connective tissue when you actually train

Collagen plus loading (lifting weights) is the strategy. Trials that pair daily peptides with training show better tendon morphology and modest gains in fat-free mass and muscle architecture. The mechanical properties data is weaker. Translation: take it around the session, train the tissue, give it 12 weeks.

4. Glycine load you will not get from a whey shake

Collagen is roughly one-third glycine. Glycine is a precursor for creatine, glutathione, and bile acids, and it is the residue that makes collagen fibers coil. You can eat brisket and bone broth. Most people will not do that daily. A scoop is the adult version of “eat the whole animal” without the logistics.

Human studies that move skin and joints are usually 10 to 15 grams a day of hydrolyzed peptides, for months.

Equip is grass-fed bovine Type I and III, which is the pair that actually shows up in skin, tendon, and gut tissue. Unflavored, one ingredient, mix it in coffee. Chocolate and vanilla exist if you need them to comply.

And yes, you could “jUsT dRinK bOnE bROtH” and eat tendons. Then do that. I enjoy the morning ritual of collagen and coffee.

I take 10 grams in the morning with coffee, every morning. Sometimes I take more later in the day, mixed with nonfat high protein milk.

I recommend Collagen from Equip.

3. Omega 3 fatty acids (aka, Fish Oil)

Most people are not eating 10 servings of fish a week. So supplement.

Ive seen the counter arguments to fish oil, but bluntly, the overall totality human evidence points towards clear health benefits

But RAY PEAT said otherwise!!!

Okay. So listen to what he said then. I dont care what you do.

My position is simple

There have been upwards of 4,500 filed scientific studies on Omega 3 fatty acids since 1970.

Yes, that many. Its a lot of data.

What does all that research tell us?

There are some consistent and notable benefits which I believe merit including Fish Oil as a daily supplement.

1. Lowers triglycerides

Fish oil (EPA + DHA) consistently reduces blood triglycerides. Examine notes this as a clear effect, while also saying it does **not** appear to reduce actual cardiovascular events.

The usual mechanism is that EPA and DHA cut the liver’s production of triglyceride-rich VLDL particles and speed up their clearance from the blood.

2. Reduces depressive symptoms

To be clear, I am not saying fish oil solves the psychological roots of severe depression.

That said, it does reduce symptoms of depression in mild to moderate cases. Evidence is stronger when EPA is relatively high compared with DHA.

How is that possible? Because EPA specifically appears to help by dampening neuroinflammation and supporting neurotransmitter signaling.

Now maybe you are a happy and positive person, but considering neurological inflammation can still happen from stress, I think the “depressive protective” effect of fish oil is worthwhile.

3. Helps some painful inflammatory conditions

Fish oil can improve pain and related symptoms in certain inflammatory states (for example joint-related pain).

EPA and DHA compete with arachidonic acid and are converted into resolvins and related mediators that help resolve inflammation rather than just block it. Research has also shown a reduction in C-Reactive protein (another systemic inflammatory marker)

4. Improves range of motion

This is rarely mentioned but oddly shows up in human research multiple times. How could be possible? I think its from two factors

-The first is that omega3s are found in synovial fluid, which is the fluid that lubricates all your joints. Better joint lubrication facilitates better joint range of motion

-The second is improved joint comfort because of less inflammatory stiffness

5. Raises serum BDNF

This goes back to brain health. DHA and EPA can increase BDNF expression, which supports synaptic plasticity and neuronal survival. BDNF supports neuronal health and plasticity, which is part of why fish oil is studied for mood and brain function. The human evidence for slight improves in cognition has been repeated across multiple studies.

Overall, you have a supplement that can improve overall cardiovascular health, improve joint health, and improve brain health. And you only need to take 2-4 capsules daily, its a fatty acid, and is easily consumed with food. Whats not to like?

And yes, you could “jUsT eAT fiSH”. Fish is expensive and I dont expect people to eat high quality fish every day. Please stop being retarded.

I recommend Fish Oil from Nordic Naturals

I take 2-4 grams daily. Thats 2 capsules, once or twice a day. With food.

What about PEPTIDES?!?

Technically collagen has peptides. Otherwise, all the peptides and small molecules on the market today are contextual in usage, there is nothing in the entire body of evidence (both clinical and anecdotal) that merits daily inclusion.

Download the peptide guide and join the biohacker telegram group if you want to get into peptide research, but there is nothing in that realm thats mandatory on the level of nutrition.

Meanwhile our REAL lives in the present pass us by. We are living out of sync, out of time.

I do not believe there is any mental prescription for this problem. You cannot solve overthinking with more thinking. Its a contradiction in terms.

The solution for this trapped mental state does not come from the mind, it comes the body.

It comes from MOVEMENT.

When you are ready to prioritize your health in full with a world class team, contact Velocity Health.

Since becoming a founder and meeting other founders, Ive watched how peoples mental load becomes a silent weight on their life and function. And I feel this myself every day as well.

How could you NOT feel this?

You are betting your whole life on a high risk idea, you spend hours daily obsessing over a topic, people depending on you, constant problem solving, grappling with unknowns all the time.

Your thoughts can circle for hours on an infinite drain to nowhere, it doesnt end, and the body internalizes ALL of this.

For the sake of your long term durability and mental function, I am telling you

YOU NEED TO MOVE

More thinking is not going to alleviate all the thinking.

Movement is the direct path out of this stressed state. Movement is how you can reset your nervous system. Movement is how you can process your stress and not be overwhelmed by it. Movement is how you maintain a robust body and mind that can handle what you are building.

Live by this

Move now, understand later.

Before reading the rest of the article, I am going to ask you to watch this video and MOVE FIRST, get some oxygen to your brain. Then come back and read the rest

Now that your brain metabolism has gotten a boost, I want you to internalize the following principles. These principles are best learned through action.

1. Movement is how you change the Mind

Popular culture often treats the mind as the commander and the body as a sort of passive machine that just goes along for the ride. This is not accurate. Neuroscience, physiology, and phenomenolgy all support a more integrated view: the brain continuously constructs perception, emotion, attention, and action using information from the body; heart rate, breathing, blood chemistry, muscle activity, joint position, pain, temperature, balance, and signals from internal organs.

The brain and body are not separable operating systems. They flow bidirectional. The Mind is the body. The Body is the Mind.

They are in constant two-way communication through the nervous system, endocrine system, immune system, circulation, and sensory pathways. Movement changes that incoming information and changes the body’s state. These changes can shift mood, stress, arousal, attention, and cognitive performance. All this is achievable within a few movements of movement, and consistently through regular training.

This is not mysticism. It is physiology: physical activity changes neural signaling, cerebral blood flow, autonomic regulation, metabolites, inflammatory signaling, and exercise-responsive molecular messengers (exerkines as they are called). The result is that changing the body through movement can meaningfully change the mind.

2. Stress comes from physical position as much as it does mental

There is nothing wrong with sitting a desk or using a keyboard. The real issue that these physical positions become wired with stressful emotions and stressed nervous system. You are looking at emails, messages, spreadsheets, cortisol is increasing, adrenaline may spike. Sitting is normally passive, but your mind is active. You get tight, stiff, and this gets reinforced for hours at a time. Sitting down to open the laptop is the opposite of relaxing.

Its a funny problem to think about; your body is still, but the mind is active and anxious.

Whats the solution? SWITCH THE TWO.

3. Movement returns Agency almost instantly

Simple movement that emphasizes breathing, elongating muscles, getting blood flowing, and returning the body and mind back to a calm state is how we all can reclaim agency. You spend hours on things they cannot finish in an afternoon. That mental tab never closes.

You can give yourself short periods of achievement through movement and exercise. Endorphins make you feel good. You can change your state on demand. The daily midday walk clears your mind and takes you away from problems. A finished workout is a deposit on your future self performing better.

The worst position to be in is feeling trapped by your obligations, responsibilites, and calendars. Sitting and ruminating is how people trap themselves.

Movement is the antidote.

4. Your Focus needs to rest to be Effective.

When you are a founder, entrepreneur, operator, you are in the position of being the problem solver. At times there are challenges that absolutely demand your attention, no question. But what is also true is that you hit points regularly you cannot THINK about this anymore than you already have. You will find yourself on a loop.

It becomes essential that you give your focus a break, and allow this ability to recharge itself in your subconscious.

Again, this is where movement becomes essential. The mind gets a temporary job that is physical, finite, and done.

5. You don’t need to take time off for Movement to Work

A lot of founders and entrepreneurs shun vacations. You might give yourself that occasional day of less work, or you get forced into taking a day off of some sort because of travel or family obligations. A lot of self care gets pushed into the future.

What is available to you daily though that keeps you healthy? MOVEMENT.

Exercise. The only obstacle to this is disregarding yourself as a priority. Which is irrational, as the entire company is riding on YOU being healthy and sharp enough to lead it to success. Dont make that trade of “I’ll be unhealthy now and then get healthy later”

6. Pain and stiffness are terrible narrators.

Once the body begins to get stiff and hurt, your entire day to day life slowly gets rewritten. You groan, you strain, you dread stairs, you wake up and your body feels like its working against you. Clothes get tighter, your face gets blood, the stress you feel internally is clearly expressing itself. Dread can creep in. When your back is stiff and your neck is tight and you feel tired, there is no trick to tell yourself “I FEEL GREAT”. Your mental health and physical health are too clearly intertwined.

The best narrator is physical STRENGTH. Endurance. Feeling that regardless of what life throws at you, you can handle it, overcome it, and at the very least survive it. This state is what real, practical fitness is. And its available to you to live, provided you MOVE enough to create it.

En Summa

Overthinking has no mental cure. More thinking cannot end thinking. The way out is physical: movement first, explanation later.

If you are living the founder/entrepreneur life, you must apply this. You bet years on an idea, carry other people’s dependence, and live in unsolved problems. Your mind loops. The body stores the loop as stiffness, tension, and a nervous system that never clocks out. Durability is more than a mindset. It comes from a Body that is resilient. Breathe, stretch, and in your allotted time, go to the gym.

This is blamed on Liberal policies, demographics, high taxes, poisoned water, EMFs, the air quality…all the stuff that would sends orthorexic health influencers into anxiety.

Well, I walked 26,000 steps here yesterday…and NYC was fantastic.

New York City is a global city, its THE global city. Its the center of the universe.

Going around Manhattan all day, the vibrance and energy were unmatched.

New York is extremely walkable; it’s the most European city in America…and one of my followers replied to my tweet announcing I was here, sharing more data showing that NYC has some of the lowest obesity rates in the country.

Why am I even mentioning this?

Because the more people I meet, the more I see the divide between the so-called ‘plugged in’ crowd, and the so-called ‘regular’ people they lie about to invent fake problems and a distorted reality.

As much as my business is built off of being an online personality, the real substance and times of my life are spent OFF LINE.

With PEOPLE. My family, my friends, constant get togethers.

I am very social and constantly pushing and organizing anything that gets people together.

I also travel frequently, and I “walk the city” where I go.

To the average health influencer, or chronically online person, New York is like the pit of hell.

To a “normie” living there and doing life, its NEW YORK CITY.

The vibes are unmatched.

This pattern of constant catastrophizing crosses over with health Orthorexia and is seen broadly across the internet: negativity and fear are what SELL.

They get you views, they get conversation started, they almost make you look credible.

But ultimately, the act of being a constant “commentator” and pundit is a whorish, debased existence.

Every day, theres something you need to harvest emotional energy around and give people a problem.

You are a Cortisol dealer, and manipulating the human psyche is your game.

Its an empty way to live, even if it gets you popular in the short term.

The Future Belongs to those who SHOW UP

And Create It

Through ACTION.

I am an eternal optimist for the future. The future of America is going to be decided by people who live in reality. Walking through Manhattan yesterday, people were working, young people were out, families were in parks, restaurants were full, the city was moving at full speed. I see the same pattern every time I leave the house and walk wherever I am. The online gutter class has been selling collapse since COVID because collapse gets attention, and health slop is the same racket aimed at the body. The people who make life worth living now and into the future will be the ones already offline with their families, building things, and staying in contact with actual places and actual people.

Dont ever bet against America.

Or yourself.

I mistakenly had the broscience chat hidden this entire time, it’s free for anyone to join

https://open.substack.com/pub/ajac/chat?r=8t9u&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=share

When I first became a trainer, “gut health” wasnt something I paid much attention to. But I realized fast how COMMON it was that people would report they “bad digestion”, and these complants only increased over time.

As I learned, gut problems aren't some niche health complaint. If you look at the statistics, it makes sense how the concept of “Gut health” has become so widespread.

• 61% of Americans reported at least one gastrointestinal symptom in the previous week in a nationally representative survey of 71,812 U.S. adults. The most common were reflux/heartburn (30.9%), abdominal pain (24.8%), bloating (20.6%), diarrhea (20.2%), and constipation (19.7%).

• A major Rome Foundation study of 73,076 adults across 33 countries found that 40.3% of internet respondents and 20.7% of household-interview respondents met diagnostic criteria for at least one disorder of gut-brain interaction. These conditions were also associated with worse quality of life and more doctor visits.

• Nearly 18% of people globally experience bloating at least once per week. That comes from a 26-country analysis involving more than 51,000 people.

• About 20% of Americans have GERD, according to the NIH/NIDDK.

• About 16% of U.S. adults have symptoms of constipation, rising to roughly 33% among adults 60+.

• A recent meta-analysis covering 96 studies across 52 countries estimated global IBS prevalence at about 14.1%.

• The newest CDC figures estimate that 1.6% of U.S. adults have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease, including approximately 3.1 million adults with ulcerative colitis and 1.3 million with Crohn’s disease.

• A 2026 meta-analysis involving nearly 400,000 participants estimated celiac-disease seroprevalence at 1.5%, or roughly 1 in 70 people, with biopsy-confirmed disease around 0.8%, or approximately 1 in 120. Interestingly, about 41% of biopsy-confirmed cases were asymptomatic.

Gut Health is a BIG Problem

Ive seen people spend thousands of dollars trying to fix.

Im not a gastroenterologist. I dont have a magical answer to the root cause.

As a personal trainer and broscientist though whose worked with thousands of people online, I will say there are some very low hanging, strategic habits that people overlook in favor of more complex solutions.

People will buy a probiotic with 40 billion CFUs, dump it on top of a diet built around processed food, fail to drink water, ignore fiber intake, and then wonder why their digestion still sucks.

Gut health is not a supplement problem.

I remain unconvinced that supplements will do anything fundamental to fix poor digestion. Some of them might calm inflammation in the short term and give you space make changes, which is helpful (I like BPC+KPV for this purpose)

But long term you need to be able to EAT and have healthy bowel movements. Thats the functional definition of a healthy gut.

There are five things you should address FIRST.

1. Fix Your Hydration and Electrolytes

Ive shared this story many times, but over 15 years ago, one of my first training clients I ever had, he kept complaining about recurrent headaches, this came up in his first session.

I asked him how often he hydrated and drank water. He was surprised, thought about it, and said he doesnt really drink water, he mostly consumed coffee.

I told him to try drink 3 liters over the course of the day.

His headaches went away within a week.

Hydration has two parts

-How much water enters your mouth

-maintaining the right balance of water and electrolytes so your cells, nerves, muscles, and digestive system can function normally.

I suggest EVERYONE consume around 100 ounces of water daily.

What if thats TOO much? Then drink a bit less

What if thats not enough? Then drink more

The point is that you should drink water daily, in sufficient quantities. Figure out what that is. Drinking minimal to no water is NOT good for your health.

Your gut needs water for two basic jobs: maintaining the intestinal mucus layer and moving stool through the colon.

The bro bodybuilder practice of drinking a gallon a day is directionally useful and correct.

Then we have electrolytes

Sodium, chloride, potassium, and magnesium all matter.

And yes, electrolytes directly affect digestion.

Sodium is heavily involved in intestinal water absorption. Your intestines absorb sodium alongside nutrients like glucose, and water follows with it. This is the basic physiology that makes oral rehydration solutions so effective.

Chloride is also required to produce hydrochloric acid in the stomach. That does not mean eating more salt automatically increases stomach acid, but chloride is literally one of the raw materials your body uses to make it. Salting your food is GOOD for digestion.

Potassium and magnesium are important for nerve signaling of both your big superficial muscles, and smooth-muscle contraction. Like your intestinal tract, which is essentially a long muscular tube, that uses coordinated contractions to move food through it.

When electrolyte balance gets significantly disrupted (or is absent) motility can suffer.

Too little magnesium can also contribute to constipation. That said, too much supplemental magnesium can do the opposite, pulling water into the intestine and producing loose stools or diarrhea.

Potassium disturbances can also affect smooth-muscle function and intestinal motility.

This is why hydration and electrolyte status are connected to digestion.

If you’re training hard and sweating heavily, replace the electrolytes you’re losing.

This distills down to

Drink sufficient water.

Salt your food appropriately.

Eat potassium-rich whole foods.

Get adequate magnesium.

2. Eat Both Kinds of Fiber

Another thing I ignored for years.

“Fiber” gets talked about like it’s one substance, but there are in fact two (or three) different types.

Soluble and fermentable fibers can be metabolized by gut bacteria and these produce short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate, acetate, and propionate.

Butyrate is particularly interesting because colonocytes use it as an important energy source. Short-chain fatty acids also participate in signaling related to intestinal barrier function, immune regulation, and metabolism.

These types of fiber do FEED the gut microbiome and you should consume them regularly.

Good sources include:

Oats. Beans. Lentils. Apples. Psyllium. Chia. Flax. Certain fruits and vegetables as well, such as Kiwis.

Insoluble fiber contributes more to stool bulk and intestinal transit. This more often what people think of. They imagine the fiber of plants that can help with firm bowel movements.

This fiber comes from vegetable skins, leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, and wheat bran.

I STRONGLY RECOMMENED STEAMING OR BRAISING INSOLUBLE FIBER FOODS FIRST

This is not an absolute rule, but its helpful. Ive made the mistake of consuming too much insoluble fiber at once, and now youre gut is torn up. Dont overdo the fiber, and breaking it down first with heat makes it more digestible in the first place.

There’s also an important caveat.

If fermentable foods consistently cause severe bloating, pain, diarrhea, or other symptoms, don’t conclude that fiber is inherently bad for you.

Something else may be going on.

That could include IBS, altered fermentation, food intolerance, constipation, or bacterial overgrowth. Symptoms alone cannot tell you which one.

This is where some people go carnivore, their symptoms disappear, and they assume they’ve repaired their gut.

Maybe.

Or maybe they simply removed the foods that were triggering the symptoms.

Those aren’t necessarily the same thing.

For most healthy adults, somewhere around 25 to 40 grams of fiber per day is a reasonable target. Build toward it gradually and get most of it from actual food.

3. Make Whole Foods the Default

This is the least exciting advice in the article and probably the most important.

Eat meat. Eat fruit. Eat vegetables. Eat potatoes, rice, oats, dairy, eggs, and other minimally processed foods that you digest well.

I am not saying to do an elimination diet, but eliminating the processed foods from your diet, TRY IT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

You don’t need a named diet.

You need better ingredients.

Highly processed diets tend to combine refined carbohydrates, added fats, low fiber density, high palatability, and a long list of additives in a package that makes overeating almost effortless.

Some food additives, including certain emulsifiers, are also being investigated for their effects on the intestinal mucus layer and microbiome. The human evidence is still developing, Im not pretending that every emulsifier is intestinal napalm.

But regardless,

The simpler rule works better anyway:

The more of your diet that comes from recognizable whole foods, the fewer variables you have to worry about.

4. Consider Colostrum

Once the foundation is handled, bovine colostrum becomes interesting.

Colostrum is the first milk produced after calving. Compared with ordinary milk, it’s rich in biologically active compounds including immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, growth factors, and oligosaccharides.

The reason I’m interested in it isn’t because it’s some magical “superfood.”

It’s because there is human research suggesting bovine colostrum may help support intestinal barrier integrity under certain forms of physiological stress.

Exercise is one easy example.

Hard training, particularly prolonged exercise in the heat, can temporarily increase intestinal permeability. Some controlled studies have found that colostrum supplementation can attenuate markers of this response.

There is also experimental research looking at its potential protective effects against NSAID-related intestinal injury. (something Ive personally experienced)

That makes colostrum more interesting to me than randomly throwing ten probiotic strains into a dysfunctional digestive environment and hoping they establish themselves.

I generally think of colostrum as a supporting nutrient to use for a limited period of time, not something every human MUST take forever.

By itself, its still a very nutritious food, regardless of whether its for a specific health issue.

A practical trial might be 10 to 20 grams daily for three to four weeks, assuming you tolerate dairy proteins.

Then evaluate what actually happened.

Did bloating improve?

Did bowel movements improve?

Did food tolerance improve?

Did anything change at all?

Supplements should have a job. If they’re not doing that job, stop taking them.

Equip Colostrum is a staple in our house for my wife after each of her pregnancies

5. Eat on a Schedule

Your digestive system likes predictability. So does your mind, and muscles, and all the rest of your body. Biology runs on timing. Entrainment is real.

Most people think digestion begins when food hits the stomach, but it actually starts before that.

The sight, smell, and expectation of food begin preparing the digestive system in advance. Saliva increases. Stomach acid and digestive enzymes are released. The gut starts getting ready for the meal it expects.

That process becomes more efficient when you eat at roughly the same times every day. Your body keeps a schedule.

If breakfast is usually at 8, lunch at 1, and dinner at 6:30, your digestive system begins anticipating those meals. You’re giving your body a consistent rhythm instead of randomly throwing food at it from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to sleep.

This works for another cool reason.

Between meals, the stomach and small intestine enter a fasting pattern called the migrating motor complex, or the MMC (sounds like a Marvel film)

This is the cleaning cycle so to speak of the digestive track.

Repeated waves of muscular contractions move residual food, secretions, and bacteria through the upper digestive tract. Eating interrupts that cycle and shifts the gut back into digestion.

This is the mistake of the Bro bodybuilder eat 6 times a day schedule. Not that most people are doing this, but for those that do, you never give your stomach a break. Its probably why modern bodybuilders are so bloated looking.

That aside, have regularly scheduled breaks from eating is GOOD.

The best approach is boring…

Eat three substantial meals at roughly the same times every day.

Leave around four to five hours between meals between meals.

And thats it.

You don’t need to obsess over whether lunch happens at exactly 12:32 every afternoon. The point is consistency. Your body should have a reasonably predictable feeding schedule instead of a sporadic and chaotic one.

Meal timing also wires in with your circadian rhythm. Digestion, glucose tolerance, gastric emptying, hormone secretion, and intestinal motility all follow daily biological rhythms.

That means when you eat matters alongside what you eat.

Ive come to prefer finishing my last substantial meal roughly three hours before bed.

Id suggest this to all of you as well, especially if you’re prone to reflux at night. Going to sleep with a stomach full of food is rarely doing your digestion any favors.

ALSO

Walk for 10 to 15 minutes after all your meals. I didnt think this deserves its own section. Walking after meals reduces blood sugar and improves digestion.

Eat. Digest. Leave your gut alone for a few hours. Repeat tomorrow at roughly the same time.

Run the Basics Before You Get Fancy

Give these five habits 4 weeks and see what happens.

1. Get your hydration and electrolytes right.

2. Eat enough fiber from whole foods.

3. Build your diet around whole foods.

4. Experiment with colostrum if you have a reason to use it.

5. Eat on a schedule.

6. Walk after you eat.

Then assess what improves for you.

After more than 15 years working with clients, I’ve watched people spend extraordinary amounts of money trying to solve problems that were being created by their daily habits.

Some people genuinely do need an expensive level of investigation and treatment. Persistent bloating, abdominal pain, reflux, constipation, diarrhea, blood in the stool, unexplained weight loss, anemia, or major changes in bowel habits deserve proper medical evaluation.

But for most people, FUNDAMENTALS FIRST.

There were various blogs, influencers, doctors, and brands that all staked their claim on a plant based diet being the ultimate diet for human health.

The zenith of this was the documentary “Gamechangers” which featured the most logically broken arguments imaginable arguing for veganism, and was pure propaganda slop.

Its funny to look back in time, because prior to the rise Trump, MAGA, and the extreme partisan polarization of Amercian politics, the most vicious and cruel arguments I ever saw happen online were between those of militant vegans and various paleo and carnivore advocates.

The “Diet wars” were a real phenomenon in the fitness industry in the early to mid 2010s.

Now its all been largely forgotten.

The major influencers all renounced veganism due to health issues

The brands are dying

Eat an Omnivorous Diet WON

I always knew it would. Vegans and vegetarians simply cannot be taken seriously from an evolutionary science or practical perspective.

Ive traveled the world. Ive been to India, where the majority of people are vegetarian leaning and eat minimal protein.

Ive been to Korea, and the Scandinavian countries, where people eat copious amounts of meat and dairy.

WITHOUT QUESTION, ANIMAL PROTEIN RESULTS IN HEALTHIER PEOPLE

The nutrient deficiencies that compound over a lifetime are obvious when you visit a place like India.

The nutrient abundance that produces healthy bodies are obvious when you go to a country like Finland.

Travel around the world, and the patterns of health become obvious.

Weston Price Identified all this 100 years ago in the book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration-the human body needs a full spectrum of nutrients and non processed foods for healthy oral development and a strong body.

Where does that leave Beef?

To be clear, I am not advocating for carnivore diet. Nor am I saying that red meat is the ONLY protein source you should consume.

Rather, I make the point that for nutritious, full spectrum nutrition, red meat and dairy is about as perfect as a food source that you could conceive.

And beyond food, the paradigm shift that I have been amazed by the past decade has been the increased appreciation for not just “eating meat”, but a recognition of how plants and animals are raised, and the stewardship of the food chain itself and what it means for civilization.

That’s the context for this next part.

I am partnering with Equip.

We started using Equip Protein a few years ago. When I say we, I mean my wife. Preethi is very health conscious and has never liked whey protein. She always felt it digested too fast and wasnt satiating.

She’s also very dialed into the recent trend towards more glycine balanced amino acid intake. That led to her buying Equip.

Truthfully, I didnt notice this at first. My wife does the shopping, not me. It wasnt until I noticed the texture and satiety of the protein shakes had changed that I realized she was using a different brand.

It was Equip. And it tasted REALLY GOOD.

Equips flagship product is Prime Protein, which is grass-fed beef protein: 21 grams of complete protein per scoop, with naturally occurring collagen and gelatin.

They also have the collagen, which I use religiously. And bars. Which our kids like. And colostrum (overlooked for digestive health)

I am not telling you to live on powder, but Equip is the cleanest and best tasting animal-based protein powder I have found, built on the premise that the animal is the nutrient-dense item.

If you want to try it, use this link / code: AJAC

That’s an affiliate link FUYI. I make a commission if you buy. I would not put it here if I thought the product was generic slop with better branding.

Eat real food. Eat the animal. Eat like a healthy human should.

Anyways, his reasons for making September his personal new year were interesting.

1. EVERYONE slacks off during Summer. In Europe, most people dont work for the entire month of august. In America, people take vacations. The overall drive for productivity is lower

2. Everyone always slacks off going into Winter. The holiday season is awesome for sales, but its also cruising time or downtimes for many other industries. The holidays for fitness are usually the worst months of the year.

3. If you had a good year, by September your decision making has compounded. In 8 months and 240 odd days, you should have made progress and achieved milestones for any kind of goal. If your usage of time was effective, you’ll know by September. If your year is going flat or backwards, you’ll know that as well.

4. For companies in the consumer business, September is the time to start planning. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, New Years. Businesses that rely on Q4 spending should be strategizing in Q3

And I will add my own reasons

5. Jewish is New Year happens in September. I am Jewish, if you all didnt know.

6. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, September 1st is the start of Liturgical New Year.

I have a fondness for orthodox chants and hymns as background music when working

This post was brought to you by

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Equip Protein-My wife started using Equip protein a few years ago and Ive liked their protein powders far more than whey. The addition of glycine makes it a bit more balanced in comparision to whey, and with slightly slower digestion. They also do an incredible job with the flavoring.

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What follows is a collection of Health briefs

1. Lengthy Mobility routines are largely unnecessary.

If you spend 45 minutes on a foam roller doing band distractions before touching a barbell, you are wasting your life. Ever since “mobility” hit the mainstream public Ive seen people engage in circus trick sequences and its largely a time waster.

The fastest way to gain real mobility is to train a joint with full range of motion under tension. Lifting weights is in essence weighted stretching, its lengthening and shortening a muscle in line with its given function.

This is not to say mobility work itself is worthless

Excess stiffness can be a symptom of inactivity, a stressed nervous system, and you can train your muscles to be more relaxed, but this work is best done separate from a lifting session

I recorded this short mobility recently that I personally enjoy doing in the morning, and after flying. There are no deep stretches or anything challenging, its simply to facilitate bloodflow through body’s joints and dissipate tension

2. High-rep intensity > 1RMs as you age

As you age, your 1 rep max inevitably declines, but this is what many men fight to preserve. And fail, eventually you have to accept that the glory days have ended.

What you SHOULD prioritize are high reps, especially when it comes to legs, and bodyweight work.

Part of aging is fundamentally a decline in mitochondrial energy output.

Being able to lift a heavy-ish weight for 20+ reps keeps mitochondrial output high. It requires a lot of ATP, it produces lactate, it pushes your muscles to their energetic brink. Its also immensely stimulating for muscle tissue along multiple pathways.

3. Training Grip is probably pointless if you already lift

I saw a post the other day on twitter from a well-known health influencer talking about how grip strength was so important and how training it was crucial because it correlates with lower risk of disease

NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN.

Grip strength is a PROXY for lean body mass and physical strength. It is NOT something you need to train directly.

People who have strong bodies and retain muscle age better. Skinny and fat and weak people dont.

The real message is to build muscle.

If you go to the gym, lift heavy weights, can do pullups, your grip gets stronger by default.

If you want to train grip as a specialty, have at it, but its not having a special effect on the heart. Thats what cardio is for.

4. Be Useful

I was talking to a friend the other day about this; while my goals have shifted on this the past year with Athanor…I spent the first decade-plus of my internet career just talking to people and being as useful as I can.

I built my moat around a small, high-intent audience.

People that (for the most part) I actually would hang out with and see myself being friends with long-term.

Admittedly now, I am aiming to go for a bit of a wider reach, especially on Instagram and twitter…

But if you’re reading this right now, you’ve probably known about my beginnings.

Right now, I’m in that phase where I conver that into something tangible in reality, in hard techn (chemical tech to be more specific).

All of this has been possible because Ive done my best to help people over the past 10 years and provide practical solutions for their health.

Be useful isnt sexy, but if your goal is to have a virtuous following, you should internalize it

Lets talk STRESS.

Stress is the root cause of almost every illness, disease, lack of gains, and early grave that health experts (including me) have warned people about for decades.

Saying that stress is a killer is nothing new.

BUT, my perspective on fixing it is counter to what I often see recommended...

The current meta is about relaxation, calming the nervous system. And I dont entirely disagree, but this approach is very female coded.

Men are built to endure. Greatness requires stress tolerance.

If we are to be Pragmatic Men, We can do two things with Stress

-Eliminate it entirely. Which itself is often not practical to do (maybe some things can be eliminated, but not all things)

-Become more resilient to it.

Its true that your nervous system can only handle so much. So you either remove the amount, or improve HOW it handles the amount you load it with.

Yet what I often promoted are stress multiplication practices that make the problems worse,

I talk to a lot of founders in hard tech, heavy industry, and high-earning fields, and there’s a pattern where I end up in the exact same conversation happening over and over again.

These guys are redlined, they feel fried, but they are misled into stacking MORE protocols on top of an already fatigued nervous system and mind.

Rather than improve stress tolerance or remove stress, they introduce more chronic stressors disguised as fake solutions.

This is bad, for a multitude of reasons. To understand why

The Dichotomy of Two Stresses

Stress can be divided into two categories. Acute and Chronic.

Acute stress is voluntary.

You go to the gym, you load a barbell, you lift heavy weights, and you put them down. You do it again until your system has had enough for the day.

You rack the bar, and the stressor is over. This is the good kind of stress because IT HAS AN END.

Bruce McEwen at Rockefeller spent his career studying this: The body and mind has a healthy stress response that gets switched on, stays on for a period of time, and then switched OFF.

This is sympathetic nervous system being activated. The part of the nervous system that Fight-Flight-Freeze. This is called the SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System).

Acute Stress engages the SNS, and then the body transitions to the PNS, the Parasympathetic nervous for recovery.

The Stress of Exercise makes you rise to the challenge of Stress, and makes you better at Relaxing after the challenge is done.

You WANT your body to be able to use both systems and transition. This is trainable

Sandra Klaperski, a psychologist out of the University of Freiburg, ran an experiment that demonstrates what happens when you build the body underneath it.

In a randomized trial out of Freiburg, researchers took 149 men and split them into three groups: twelve weeks of exercise, twelve weeks of relaxation training, or doing nothing.

Then they brought everyone into a lab and stressed them out.

The exercise group’s entire stress response—cortisol, heart rate, heart rate variability—came in completely blunted across the board.

In comparison, the other two groups did not perform nearly as well.

When you pit stress management protocols head-to-head against physical training, training wins every single time.

And then we have Chronic Stress

Chronic stress is often not as intense as acute stress.

But its stress that never stops.

Chronic stress simmers in the background. Its often of a more psychological dynamic.

It looks like worrying about your bills, your health, your family, your business. Over the long term, this drains your immune system, and opens the door to almost any disease imaginable.

Now to be Clear, The answer is NOT. “GET RID OF ALL CHRONIC STRESS”.

Again, we must be realistic.

If you are a parent, an entrepreneur, an operator, you chose this chronic stress voluntary. Your goal is not to live a carefree life with zero responsibility.

And your body evolved to handle an enormous physical load, provided the load is manageable.

But modern life blurs all our stressors together. Work stress, money stress, health stress, family stress can all become one.

And some health influencer encouraging you to be orthorexic because of fragrances or dish soap or the sun being too bright is just adding to the insanity

Which reminds me…

The Bryan Johnson Optimization Trap

If you know me, you know that I appreciate Bryan for being willing to document everything and getting tons of data on his health. I think that’s cool and he is being a scientist running his own N=1 experiment.

That said...

Bryan’s approach, I believe, skews toward becoming completely orthorexic in trying to document and questionably optimize every parameter.

He is making himself more inclined to be fragile — said simply.

He recently announced he has an autoimmune condition—autoimmune gastritis—that in his own words, is causing his “stomach to eat itself.”

Stomach and gut issues are always the first warning lights of the wrong kind of stress.

Neither of us has a crystal ball, but I would bet that even if he ate the way I do, trained the way I do, and stopped avoiding the sun, he would have ended up in a similar place.

He was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition at 21. The underlying predisposition was there long before the protocols.

The issue isn’t his disease. It is his POSTURE towards it.

His entire philosophy is “don’t die.” He is using every piece of anti-aging science available, applied with maximum force, to try and control the one thing no man controls.

In an interview with MIT Technology Review, talking about his movement, he said they are “playing with the idea that the body is God.”

When you pile up tools and protocols just to defend a rigid self-image, treating your body like a machine to be optimized instead of a human organism with dynamic needs, your nervous system stays locked in a state of functional freeze.

He is optimizing his way into his own body attacking itself.

The Reaching Spiral

Bryan is just the most prominent example. This is the exact same thing a thousand online coaches and protocol salesmen are pushing onto you.

Every bad feeling must be fixed. Every input must be managed.

And the reaching for tools under stress is what makes the load worse.

Take breathing exercises. Great in concept. They’re designed to induce a parasympathetic response. They help you relax.

But you cannot always be relaxed. You need to be able to toggle back and forth. Get too far into the relaxation rabbit hole, and mildly stressful situations become major problems.

Sometimes your cortisol will spike. Thats okay. Getting caught in the mental loop of “am I handling this right” creates a double bind of worrying about worrying. Your anxious because your getting anxious.

This is the biggest problem with wearables and health data

You get info, stress about the numbers, and the numbers get worse. Are the numbers even accurate? DO they matter or at all? Are they “real” in any objective sense.

Maybe, maybe not, but they start directing peoples decision making and guiding their nervous system.

How To Actually Use Tools

I have a simple Binary.

A tool exists to solve a problem. Clearly.
Not to create problems. Which gets messy.

As basic as that sounds, a lot of the “stress management” is performance. It’s “tool shaped” but doesn’t deliver on the outcome.

The intention behind the actions you take makes all the difference.

If a tool creates more work and needs it own KPIs without clear ROI, it’s NOT A tool. Don’t bother with it.

To assess a tool, ask what the objective outcome should be from it. If there isnt one, if its a vague promise, or if it creates more work…its NOT something you need to bother with.

There are simple things that I use and they have clear outcomes

-Phone call with my team. yeah we have slack and do zooms, but I call people on the phone. We figure things out faster. We reply to texts quickly. A culture of quick communication is how you get shit done. Dont wait for meetings and BS email chains to get to the point.

-Black out curtains. They make the room dark, and I sleep better. FIN

-Incandescent and circadian friendly lightbulbs. The lights in my house arent white light blue light blasting us all day. We wake up at dawn, fall asleep a few hours after sunset. The whole family. The peace of mind this gives is immeasurable.

-A home gym. I can train without leaving my house. Exercise makes me stronger, and I handle stress better and Im healthier. FIN.

-Magnesium, collagen, nattokinase. Somewhere around half the population doesnt get enough and its depleted from soil. Collagen is good for connective tissue. Ive promoted it for years. Not everyone drinks bone broth, I put it in coffee. Nattokinase is good for cardviovascular health.

Neurovolt, as a pick-me-up in the morning before I start my workday.

I built Neurovolt specifically because I wanted a cognitive and energetic edge without the sympathetic-nervous-system-on-fire feeling. That redlined feeling can be like rocket fuel in the moment, but it taxes your stress budget for the rest of the day. And long term you burnout.

As a father, I don’t always get a perfect sleep score. Nor do I obsesses about the score in the first place. I don’t need a ring to tell me I did t sleep optimal. Some nights I get 5 hours. It’s not ideal, but worrying about lost sleep causes more stress than the lost sleep itself.

On those short nights, I find it significantly easier to get all my work done and be present with my kids when I have a nootropic that improves my focus and stress resilience That’s what I made it for.

This simple framework applies to all forms of chronic stress

1. Build the physical organism Get into the gym and lift heavy weights 3 to 4 days a week. Physical strength expands your nervous system’s capacity for friction. Stop looking for relaxation hacks until your baseline is built. “A stronger human is harder to kill, more resilient to stress and more useful in general”

2. Organize the Stress so its easier to process. If it cannot be organized at all or you are not the person to do it, delegate. If you dont have a choice, learn the skill. If its messy and can be made neat, organize. If you are avoiding it, stop and confront it. Its its truly toxic, then get serious about cutting it out.

3. Stop treating information as the destination Stop obsessing over your Oura ring scores, lab tests, and micro-protocols. Reaching for endless fixes keeps your mind convinced that you are constantly in danger.

4. Always do your best: being an entrepreneur is a roller coaster ride, you are constantly learning and failing, and trying to create solutions. You are leading a team, creating your own path, and figuring all of this out yourself. If you push yourself to the best of your abilities…even if you fail, you will still be ahead of where you started. Acting with this kind of integrity in your actions will give you peace of mind.

I did all I could, and it WORKED. (And transformed you into a more capable and wiser person)

Holding back and knowing you could have done more is what creates stress and regret later.

That being said…

5. Accept what you cannot control The bills, the business problems, the thing keeping you up at 3 AM, some of it cannot be solved tonight. Pretending otherwise just keeps your stress switch buzzing needlessly.

Act daily, move the proverbial needle forward. Dont stop moving.

And finally

6. Dont Try to Do it ALL Yourself. As a new company founder and Father, I haven’t given myself a Plan B. All I have is Plan A, and a backup plan to make Plan A work.

My calendar is on lockdown for the first time since I was a personal trainer, budgeted by the hour.

I did something very counter intuitive to protect the most important habit I have:

I hired a Fitness coach.

More specifically, a bodybuilding coach.

I won’t say who. I handed my programming over them, and I follow it. I don’t ask a thousand questions; I don’t tweak it,

I just run the program, get my training in, and leave.

En Summa

Become Resilient as Possible. Recognize what is important. Ignore what is Not. And protect your foundations.

and Keep your mind sharp with NeuroVolt.

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References

1. McEwen BS. Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators. New England Journal of Medicine. 1998;338(3):171-179.

2. Klaperski S, von Dawans B, Heinrichs M, Fuchs R. Effects of a 12-week endurance training program on the physiological response to psychosocial stress in men: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 2014;37(6):1118-1133.

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I made the group so people have an open forum to share their experiences with GLPs and other “peptides”, and we could all learn from each other.

I knew that GLPs were going to take the industry by storm, and I myself experimented with GLPS and dozens of other compounds.

Some are amazing and life changing. Others, their usage is more contextual, or purely experimental, and certainly not mandatory.

Of all the “peptides” on the market, its the GLPs that are having the biggest impact, primarily for weight loss.

That said, after observing the anecdotal reports of literally thousands of people using these, there are some fundamental mistakes that are constantly being made

The BIGGEST mistake people make on GLP-1s isn’t taking the medication.

It’s thinking the medication does all the work.

Now, in MY broscience group, we push everyone to exercise hard, eat protein, and make the habit changes to build muscle and burn fat in the right way.

However, in many other groups Im in (that are GLP support groups for less fitness focused people), MOST people using GLPS are not doing that. And the DATA says as much

-The majority of people using GLPS dont exercise

This is partly where the OZEMPIC FACE Phenomenon is coming from

People are essentially crash dieting, but they cannot FEEL that they are crash dieting.

They are skipping out on protein. They are not eating regularly. They are not prioritizing macros or micros. They are not staying hydrated.

Rather they are aiming for fast weight loss, losing muscle, and then doing this for months on end.

I’ll refrain from posting the various female and male celebrities who have shown dramatic weight loss the past few years and look sickly and skeletal. Its painful to look at.

ALL of this is Avoidable and does not need to happen

If you want to use. GLP to lose fat without sacrificing muscle and dramatically improve your health the RIGHT WAY, this is what matters:

• Eat enough protein-Aim for at least 1 gram per lb of estimated lean mass. This should come primarily in the form of food. Id suggest lean proteins, egg whites, fish, and anything that is palatable and not too fatty. With GLPS youll get full fast, so fatty protein sources like steak tend not to be a good choice.

If this is especially challenging, use protein shakes, protein milk, and liquid forms. DO NOT skip out on the protein


• Lift weights 3–5x/week-Nothing with training changes because youre using a GLP. Follow a program that has you doing moderate volume and working every major muscle group hard each work. The type of program does not matter. I’d suggest a simple Push Pull legs style program

• Don’t skip meals just because you’re not hungry-But the GLP is making me not want to eat!! Yes I know, but youre undereating and crash dieting as a result. Again, protein, simple and complex carbohydrates. Low to moderate fat intake. Whole food sources. You still need macros and micros same as before.

• Prioritize nutrient-dense foods over empty calories-This one in particular is bad; people barely eat with their glp, but then eat JUNK because its “easy to digest” and its the only food thats appetizing

But what do I eat????
THE SAME THINGS YOU SHOULD BE EATING IF YOU WERENT USING A GLP

Protein Sources

-Lean Cuts of beef
-chicken breasts, chicken tenderloins, chicken thighs
-any kind of white fish
-Pork (if you eat pork)
-Eggs

Carb Sources

-rice (any kind of rice)
-oatmeal
-whole grain pastas
-greens (any kind)
-potatoes
-fruit
-vegetables (all kinds are acceptable)

Cooking Oils

-Butter
-Olive Oil
-Avocado Oil
-Coconut Oil

• Stay hydrated and get enough fiber-People are not only undereating, theyre also dehydrated. They are missing out on water intake from food, and drinking less fluid. I would recommend drinking a gallon of water a day if you are over 200lbs, and at least 100 ounces a day if you are less than 200lbs.

A NOTE ON ELECTROLYTES-GLPs such as retatrutide increase excretion of potassium and sodium. You MUST make sure to consume enough of both of these in your daily diet, otherwise your energy levels and physical performance will be crashing

I recommend SPORT DRINK


• Lose weight steadily, not as fast as possible

Yes, everyone is always impressed by massive weight loss. This is the worst approach and its how you lose muscle.

I will share that this past year, I experimented with Retatrutide, Tirzepatide, and Semaglutide, I tried THEM ALL.

Tirz ended up being my personal favorite, (for reasons I will discuss in another post).

Over the course of about 10 months, I slowly brought my bodyweight down from around 205 to 195.

Thats 1lb a month.

Now, this an ultra conservative approach, and for someone with much more weight to lose, Id suggest aiming for 4-8lbs a month, but I share this to make a point.

That 10lbs was essentially 100% fat, I didnt lose any muscle, and it enabled me to get a to leaner bodycomp and set myself up for a “growth phase”

If you have a lot of fat to lose, 1-2lbs a week is a reasonable target. Unless you are very obese, you dont need to aggressively lose more than that monthly.

If you want to lose weight the RIGHT way with GLPS, join the Broscience telegram group. Its free and carefully moderated to be productive and helpful for everyone

Join here.

Many years ago when I was still training clients full time, I had a bodybuilder show up to the gym wanting to talk. He was an enhanced guy, had a great physique, but was having recurrent problems with bicep tendinitis, forearm and arm and shoulder tightness, and wasnt quite sure what to do.

He was quite muscular, and it was a classical case where outwardly looking at him, you’d never guess he was in pain or struggling with training.

But he reported numbness in his arms, the aforementioned bicep pain, and as he described, his mind muscle connection had declined, and it was very concerning to him.

He’d tried talking to his regular doctor, but muscular as he was, the doctor told him him he likely overtraining, and didnt offer much beyond that.

Myself, Ive never been a competitive bodybuilder obviously, but Ive have a talent for movement and was well known for being able to assess biomechanics to a deeper level than most trainers.

He described his symptoms, his training history, and asked me what I thought.

I did not have an immediate answer, and I asked him if I could feel his arms and shoulders and take him through some movement drills

Hands on Assessment, Touch, and palpation is a Real Skill

If I put my hand on your shoulder and ask you to raise your arm to the front, that will feel different to the touch versus you raising your arm out to the side. I can feel what your joint is doing by way of touch.

And that is just one example. Hands on cueing and movement direction is not popular in the coaching world so much, but is used much more in physical therapy.

For legal purposes, always ask peoples permission and be very clear where you are touching them

Its well established in hands on palpation (actively touching a working muscle) actually increases neural drive to the muscle. Touch is powerful.

In his case, I asked him to squeeze his hand into a fist, do some simple resisted bicep curls, and some deltoid raises

While he did this, I simply felt his muscles with my hands, going from the wrist to the shoulder

What I noticed immediately is that his muscle tonicity was extremely high. Meaning his muscles felt hard to the touch. This is not unusual in guys who are using steroids, but his muscle felt hypertonic. They were hard to the point of being stiff.

When he flexed and contracted his muscles, this contraction did not feel “smooth” to the touch, but rather cramped.

To understand what i mean, imagine trying to flex your muscles as hard as you can while walking; you cant do it. They are opposing actions. Muscles contract and relax in cycles. If they are overly contracted, movement becomes increasingly stiff to the point of immobility.

His forearms and biceps and shoulders all had this feeling, as did upper back.

My assessment was not a diagnosis (Im not a doctor), but it ended up being the correct one

I think you may be experiencing Compartment Syndrome

Specifically, Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome (CECS)

Compartment syndrome is when excess pressure builds up inside a muscle or group of muscles, with pressure the muscle tissue, nerves, blood vessels and fascia.

As the muscle contracts and expands during repetitive activity, the fascia may not expand enough, temporarily limiting blood flow and irritating the nerves.

Compartment syndrome is somewhat similar to when you have “pump” in the muscle. Normally this temporarily swelling and mild pain is enjoyable, except it doesn’t go away, and it becomes irritating and starts affecting muscle function.

Compartment Syndrome can potentially be life threatening, this is called Acute Compartment Syndrome, but this is typically from a serious injury where blood is pooling up.

That is a very different situation from what this gentlemen was experiencing. His was the chronic kind.

I offered two suggestions to him.

-See local sports orthopedist who I knew was skilled and could confirm (or contradict, maybe it was something else, like thoracic outlet syndrome)

-See a local Chinese Medicine doctor who was well known for massage and using acupuncture.

TCM (traditional chinese medicine) gets argued about in mainstream medical world, but there is some evidence for it working for certain conditions, and as I told him, the intervention he clearly needed was getting the muscles in his arms to RELAX and not be so stiff.

What was the Outcome?

About a month later he dropped in again in high spirits. My observation had been the correct diagnosis, and the TCM doctor had done multiple rounds of deep tissue massage and acupuncture on him and his pain had decreased immensely and his workouts were far better.

In particular, he highlighted how he had never been a guy that gets massages, but now he was a believer in their effects and they’d become a regular part of his recovery.

-the merits of acupuncture we can discuss in another newsletter

Why Can Massage Be So Powerful?

If you ask some clinicians about massage and its effects, they may be pessimistic

-You cant change fascia or muscle with your hands!

-Any effects are temporary

-its placebo+relaxation

-Its impossible for someone to accurately FEEL muscle tension and knots and tissue quality with their hands!! Its PREPOSTEROUS!!

I am sharing this first to frame the skepticism that people have towards massage. Some people are very turned off by the idea of another person touching them, while others are doubtful that massage will do anything at all. This doubt is sometimes shared among some in the medical world as well.

However, massage has a LONG history as being used as Medicine

The Egyptians, Greeks, and Chinese all treated soft tissue restriction with hands. This is depicted in artwork, and described in historical literature.

The power of TOUCH is undeniable.

Touch is one of the oldest regulatory systems humans have. The universe is TACTILE, its atoms interacting with one another on a physical level. Touching another person creates a dynamic interaction between two peoples nervous system. Touch is an ultra powerful phenomena.

The skin is packed with mechanoreceptors that feed directly into the spinal cord and brain. When another person’s hands apply pressure, shear, or sustained contact, those receptors fire in patterns that self-touch and foam rolling cannot fully replicate. The nervous system receives the novel sensory data and responds to it.

Massage treats the nervous system through the skin and muscles

Muscle tonicity drops. Blood flow and oxygenation improve from the improved fluid dynamics within the muscle. The bodily intuitive sense of where the limb is in space can increase. This effect may not be permanent, but it is happening.

The ancients knew this. They observed actions and outcomes. Massage was prescribed for athletes 3000 years ago because it helped them recover from hard training. It was prescribed to help the body improve its vital powers to heal. Nothing has changed.

This is why I am dismissive of Modern skepticism.

If it didnt work, it wouldnt have lasted across civilizations for millennia. Our lack of understanding as to how it works does not negate the outcomes it produces.

Massage can change emotional state

A common phenomenon among masseuses is people experiencing “emotional release” during massage. This can be tears, sobbing, and rush of shame/fear/sadness/regret/trauma and more that is characterized as emotional repression.

Again, this phenomenon is dismissed by some as more a peculiarity than anything substantial, but Im not of the mind to dismiss it.

That the body and mind keep a record or “score” over time is a valid concept. Motor development, mental development, and skill acquisition from the time we are born through adulthood are all predicated on exposure and repetition. Our mindbody is ALWAYS keeping a score and maintaining a dynamic record of inputs, and this memory is dispersed throughout the body itself. It does not exist only in the mind-brain.

Dr. John Sarno’s work on Tension Myositis Syndrome must be mentioned

Sarno argued that unconscious emotional tension, especially repressed anger and the constant drive to perform, this causes the autonomic nervous system to constrict blood flow to specific muscles, nerves, and tendons. The result is mild oxygen deprivation. The tissue stays slightly ischemic. It tightens, and it hurts. The more primitive parts of the brain then treats the pain as a structural problem and keeps the cycle running.

This is how high mental stress people can end up with non specific pain and tightness that has no identifiable origin.

This can also be the people where they want a deep tissue massage to feel like being put underneath a steamroller.

They might get temporary relief, but there bodily tightness is psycho emotional in origin, not physical.

If this resonates with you, I would encourage you to explore Dr. Sarno's work further

The Divided Mind, the Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders

Practical Recommendations

If you've never had massage before, where should you get started? And what types are most beneficial?

The world of massage is Broad, I've had about every kind, from the various styles of Asian massage to medical massage, and niche therapies like muscle activation technique, active release, and electrical stimulation of various types.

I don't have a favorite, but I do have contextual recommendations

-if you are simply looking for a relaxing experience, Swedish massage, and Thai massage are good places to start

The masseuse will always ask you how much pressure you’d like and the overall focus is relaxation.

-if you have specific issues around muscle tightness, muscle condition, and recurrent muscle strain

-for tight muscles or muscles you have trouble recruiting in training, I’d recommend Muscle Activation Technique (MAT). This modality specifically focuses on improving communication between the brain and neuromuscular innervation.

-if you have inhibition due to past injury and scar tissue, I would recommend active release technique (ART)

-if you have more challenging neurological issues where it seems MAT can’t fix it, try ARPwave. This uses electrical stimulation to rebuild motor coordination

Always keep in mind that the mind body journey is never perfectly linear

The body rebuilds itself through experience. You learn by doing, you heal by experiencing.

-This post was brought to you by coffee from the gas station, and NEURVOLT. You you should try

Now lets talk about HOW to squat Better

Ive written a lot about the squat over the years, largely because its been the most challenging exercise for myself.

But in this article, I want to keep it simple

What is the ONE THING Anyone can do to improve their squat pattern?

Heel Elevation

Elevating your heels instantly enables you to squat deeper, stay more upright, put more of the load on your quads and glutes versus low back, and overall is a fantastic tactic that ANYONE can use at ANY level of training.

You dont need to be bodybuilder, powerlifter, olympic lifter. You could be 15 or 75, super experienced at lifting or a novice.

Regardless, elevating your heels will improve your overall squat technique.

WHY?

Becauase by raising the heel, you artificially increases your dorsiflexion range of motion.
Heel elevation creates whats called a negative shin angle, meaning your tibia is angled backward relative to a vertical line over the ankle/foot compared to if you were standing flat foot.

This gives you the gain in dorsiflexion, which means your knee can now travel further forward over your toes before you hit the natural end-range of your ankle mobility.

This increase in forward knee travel yields two big benefits:

1. Squatting with a More Upright Torso: Because the knees can track forward, the hips don’t need to shoot backwards as far to maintain balance. The torso stays more vertical. A more vertical torso means the heavy barbell on your back compresses the spine in more balanced fashion from top to bottom (axial loading) from reducing the sheer force (stress on the low back) that can happen with the torso more bent over.
   
   This is a GOD SEND if you are one of those people with a long femurs and a short torso. No more good morning squat.

2. Maximum Quadricep Recruitment: Hypertrophy is about placing tension on the target muscle. When the torso leans forward and hips go back, the glutes and lower back take the brunt of the load. When the torso stays upright and the knee tracking increases, the mechanical tension and load is now balanced between glutes and quads.

My Professional Recommendation is that this is an Ideal Way to Squat

Whats the BEST Way to Elevate Your Heels?

A weightlifting shoe.

Weightlifting shoes have a non-compressible, elevated heel, typically ranging from 0.5 to 1 inch (roughly 15 to 25 millimeters).

What are good brands??

I have no affiliate code or any ONE company to recommend.

Personally I have Inov8s (which Im not sure are in stock right now). I like them because they have a lot of heel elevation. I use them for Front squats.

I had my personal GPT make this table.

If you dont want to use weight lifting shoes, you can always use a 2x4

-Creatine is in stock with Ferta Supplements

Then the cognitive health benefits started to emerge. This is when the 10 gram daily recommendation became popular. Which to be fair, broscientists and athletes had already been doing for 2 decades, but these things take time to hit mainstream.

Im making a huge bet on the creatine market continuing to expand, because the newer research is going beyond the gym.

The benefits of creatine are extending to reproduction and fertility.

Admittingly the science on this is in its early stages, but the evidence is becoming more and more interesting.

Right now, the strongest data is for female reproductive health and pregnancy, with a smaller but plausible body of evidence and direction for male fertility.

Creatine and Female reproductive health

The simplest way to understand creatine is that is net effect is increasing the production and availability of ATP.

Respective to the reproductive system, the ovaries, uterus, placenta, and developing embryo all have enormous energy demands.

These tissues rely on the creatine-phosphocreatine system as a rapid ATP energy buffer to help maintain normal cellular function.

One 2024 analysis of more than 4,500 women in the NHANES database found that women consuming more dietary creatine had:

• Lower odds of irregular menstrual cycles

• Lower rates of several obstetric complications

• Lower rates of certain pelvic disorders

Now this was purely an observational study. Its association, not causation. But it aligns with nutrient availability playing an obvious role in overall metabolic and hormonal health.

Considering that women by default produce less creatine than men and have more of a natural demand for it, its not a wild conjecture that having a diet higher in creatine would be beneficial.

Creatine and Getting Pregnant (and Delivery)

This is arguably the most exciting area of research.

Across multiple animal studies, maternal creatine supplementation has been shown to:

• Protect the fetal brain during periods of oxygen deprivation

• Reduce birth injury caused by hypoxia

• Improve neonatal survival

• Protect the heart, kidneys, and diaphragm

The mechanism behind this is that creatine functions as an energy reserve during the stress of labor and delivery, helping tissues maintain ATP production when oxygen availability falls. It falls in line with research showing the metabolically healthy, fit women have easier labor and delivery than unhealthy women.

There is also the overall energy demands of pregnancy itself. Being lethargic is a common experience for many women; creatine can potentially alleviate this.

Human clinical trials are understandably limited (giving creatine to women about to give birth is not a simple experiment to run, let alone get approved), but the overall body of evidence is that creatine is a Prenatal supplement to consider taking.

Creatine and Male fertility

To preface: Sperm are among the most energy-demanding cells in the human body.

Sperm are packed with mitochondria to power their swimming, and that swimming requires ATP.

That ATP powers:

• Motility

• Capacitation

• The acrosome reaction

• Fertilization itself

Much like the female system, creatine kinase enzymes are also highly abundant in sperm, suggesting that creatine is deeply involved in sperm energy metabolism.

Human clinical evaluations show that normal, fertile males tend to have higher creatine levels in their spermatozoa compared to infertile males.

Conversely, elevated CK activity in seminal plasma often correlates with poor sperm morphology and biochemically immature sperm. For men who are infertile or “low fertilitity”, something is going wrong with the sperms energy metabolism.

Creatine can help with IVF: The addition of exogenous creatine to insemination media has been shown to enhance sperm capacitation, velocity, and overall fertilizing capacity during in vitro fertilization (IVF), even sustaining motility under hypoxic conditions.

Furthermore, dietary administration of creatine precursors in animal has resulted in improved semen concentration, total sperm count, and forward motility.

What does this mean for Men? Supplementing with creatine is probably good for your swimmers.

This is why I think Creatine is going to become known as Fertility Supplement.

The creatine-phosphocreatine system helps maintain ATP availability during periods of exceptionally high energy demand. And that is what reproduction is for both sexes.

Sperm have high energy demand. Eggs have high energy demand. Pregnancy has high energy demand.

Its well established that mitochondrial function players a major role in fertility. Younger people have MORE mitochondria than older people, and can make more ATP.

Anything that improves the ability to rapidly regenerate ATP has a biologically plausible role in supporting reproductive function.

What supplements can help our mitochondria with ATP? Creatine is the obvious choice, and its already well established in its effects in the muscular skeletal system.

My Recommendation

I recommend creatine already for the muscle and brain benefits. And Im recommending it again for the potential Reproductive health benefits.

Ferta Creatine is in stock.

-Obviously its branded for women with the packaging. Its 100% microionized creatine monohydrate. Your wife can take it. You can take it as well if you want (speaking to the men). (Larger blue container will be coming soon in Q4, for Him and Her).

Ive been thinking ahead to the future lately. Im 37 right now. In only 3 years I will be 40. And then the big milestone will be 50. And then 60.

By 2050 I will 61 years old.

Ive no doubt the time will pass quickly, and I wonder what advances in longevity medicine and health enhancement will be established by then.

I obviously experiment with lots of things, and Im trying to be proactive as possible. I dont believe that humans will ever become immortal, but increasing health span and overall robustness as we age is without a doubt possible.

Within the next 25 years, I foresee the medical paradigm shifting from its current reactive, pathogenic model of disease management, to one of continuous health optimization.

We wont define health as the absence of disease, but the presence of functional robustness. Healthspan as its often called.

My earnest hope is that it will be possible to be 70-80 to even 90, and have a level of function comparable to a 40-50 year old.

How will that be achieved?

My 7 Predictions

1. Optimizing Via Genetics

In the future, you will personalize their health enhancement based on their DNA.

This is already possible with genomic sequencing, and tests such as Fitness Genes. Use code AJAC20 for a discount

But this is not currently widely practiced or known, even though the testing is there.

However as understanding of genomics increases, I predict daily nutrition and supplementation being tailored to individual genetic expression.

Things like optimizing for methylation cycles, or bypassing predispositions for inflammation, or even changing training volume, everything will be customized and you’ll be able to use the knowledge to run at peak function.

Provided you are willing to put in the work of course.

2. Organ Preservation

This is where the bioregulators come into the play. If we can keep our heart and other organs functioning in a youthful state, lifespan and quality of life should correspondingly increase.

I believe heart disease and organ failure will be drastically reduced through theis preemptive maintenance. Im bullish on Lipid-lowering therapies, such as PCSK9 inhibitors, in preventing heart disease. Concurrently, targeted bioregulators will become standard practice to maintain the function of aging organs, preserving the output of glands like the thymus, pineal gland, and thyroid to keep systemic immunity and circadian rhythms youthful. Well have a clear hierarchy of organs to target as we age to maintain vitality

3. Hormone Replacement Therapy

I expect Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) will lost all the remaining stigmas around it and become the baseline standard of care for aging adults. Rather than accepting the inevitable physiological decline associated with falling testosterone, estrogen, and growth hormone levels, by 2050 we will be living in a time of broad optimization. Both menopause and andropause will be things of the past (for health minded people that can afford it). Older people will be able to maintain bone density, preserve lean muscle mass, and protect neurosteroid balance well into the later decades of life. You will feel younger, look younger, and perform younger

4. On-Demand Tissue Healing and Pain Reduction.

In the broscience world, its already widely practiced to use the “Wolverine stack” (BPC-157 and TB-500), along with Growth hormone, to accelerate tissue regeneration after injury. In another 25 years, that will become standardized (along with other peptides, and things like stem cells), and we will have the ability to recover from injuries in significantly less time. The era of being injured and then being in chronic pain and permanently deficient will be gone.

5. Amplified Adaptation to Tension

The exercise mimetics breathrough is coming. While exercise will be remain essential, mechanical, we will have the ability to amplify our bodies response to exercise, especially cardiovascular training (and testosterone already amplifies the response ot resistance training). Exercise mimetic compounds that trigger pathways like AMPK will accelerate the metabolic adaptations. We will essentially be giving ourselves elite cardio epigenetics. Running a 6 minute mile will be possible for almost anyone.

This will allow aging populations to maintain elite levels of cardiovascular fitness and metabolic insulin sensitivity with significantly less joint wear and tear as they age. It also will also lead to higher levels of performance in sports.

6. Mitochondrial Bioenergetics

Alongside the exercise mimetics we have the mitochondria. By 2050, we will have multiple therapies that can be combined with exercise to maximize ATP production and improve cellular respiration. Keeping our mitochondria younger, creating new mitochondria, and eliminating old ones (senescence), there will be protocols and strategies for all of this.

7. Cognitive Optimization

Youre only as old as your Brain function. Along with preserving the body, we can preserve the brain and improve it. Ironically, I dont think exercise will be replaced ever in this regard. There is nothing more powerful for elevating brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), enhancing synaptic plasticity, and driving neurogenesis. What will exists this will be expanded brain supporting peptides like Semax and Selank, better understanding nootropics, and more focus on brain energy metabolism supplementation and protecting the brain from stress and inflammation.

-This is what NEUROVOLT was designed for.

Ultimately, 2050 will be the end “normal aging.”

If you are affluent enough and motivated enough, your 2nd half of life will be markedly different than all prior generations, and living to 100 with health span will be possible.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments

I started calling myself a Broscientist years ago when I saw the “Science and Evidence” crowd turn obnoxious.

“Wheres your STUDY??” became their constant refrain.

The study says this

The study says that

I didnt think any of these people were scientific thinkers. They simply wanted to be dogmatic know it alls, in a field where the body of historical evidence and observing natural phenomenon has existed for thousands of years, and in a domain where the human body is complex dynamic system.

Exercise science has an epistemological problem

I think part of this is the fault of academia, and the illusion that “exercise scientists” are intellectually rigorous. Exercise science is considered a joke field to go into (so has fitness for a long time). Im a personal trainer, so its the pot calling the kettle black right now.

What are the issues though with exercise science, and whole “science and evidence based crowd?

In no particular order.

1. The Ergodicity Problem (The N=1 Dilemma)

Big words I know, but its the only word that suits what Im trying to describe.

In statistics, a system is “ergodic” if the average behavior of a group perfectly predicts the behavior of a single individual over time.

It might take time, but it will eventually happen.

However, human biology is non-ergodic. The behavior or adaptation of ONE individual does not predict the others. In fact the behavior of the group varies considerably, and the more people you add into the group, the more different behaviors/adaptation outcomes you get.

If you get enough people together, some trends DO emerge, no question there. But its still a way range, and its not a perfect standard distribution either.

Attempts to find “optimal” then are innately doomed to fail. At best you can elucidate principles, but making declarations over things like sets and reps is plainly stupid.

2. The Epistemological Wall of Blinding

And on that note, the obession with STUDIES.

Fitness studies are TERRIBLE by study standards.

Why?

Some context: in pharmacology, the gold standard is a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial.

In these studies, the patient doesn’t know if they got the drug or the sugar pill, and the researcher handing it to them doesn’t know either.

No bias.

In Exercise science, this is fundamentally impossible.

EVERY study is “biased”.

You cannot blind a human to the fact that they are doing a heavy set of squats to failure. Or high reps. Or 5 sets instead of 1. Or slow reps versus fast. Or training legs once a week versus 2x. etc etc etc

They always know what the intervention is. And you also cannot blind the researcher or the coach administering the protocol.

Because both parties are aware of who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group, this psychological variable of belief instantly contaminates the data.

If the experimental group believes they are doing a novel, cutting-edge protocol, their sympathetic arousal is higher, their intent is sharper, and their motor unit recruitment increases.

If the experimental group BELIEVES they are on steroids, they will respond MORE to training and get correspondingly higher strength increases.
The psychological vector is impossible to ignore and remove

3. And there is no Control Group, because how could there be?

Who exactly constitutes a “control group” in an exercise study?

• The “Dont train at all” Control: If the control group is sedentary, the study merely proves that moving your body produces more adaptation than sitting on a couch. This is biologically obvious and practically useless. Yes, exercise works, no shit really?

• The “Standard Care” Control: If the control group does a so called generic 3x10 routine while the experimental group does a complex undulating periodization model, the control subjects inevitably realize they are in the “boring” group. They are doing 3x10. They can count.
  
  This triggers a nocebo effect, a drop in enthusiasm and central drive, which could artificially depress their results and makes the experimental protocol look superior.

  
  And going further

4. There is Biological Flux (The Heraclitus Principle)

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

You never wake up in the same body twice. Think about that. Every exercise/fitness experience youve ever done has left some neurological/genomic/epigenetic memory in some form. Even if its only a metal memory.

But a true scientific experiment by conventional thinking requires controlling the independent variables to test a dependent variable.

But then in a human, the variables are constantly shifting:

• prior training experiene

• prior BELIEFS about training

• past and current mindset

• plus things like

• Circadian rhythm fluctuations

• Systemic inflammation and prior central nervous system (CNS) fatigue

• hydration and glycogen levels

• Psychological allostatic load (stress)

This is the reality of being human, there are no baseline starting conditions to ever be replicated. As such you CANNOT ever double blind yourself, or run two experiments and compare results with neutrality. The former will influence the latter. Your training is ALWAYS biased, your body is always biased. You never wake up in the same body twice.

But what about if you’ve NEVER trained?

5. Now we have the “Novice” Noise Effect

A massive portion of exercise science literature is conducted on untrained or moderately trained college-aged males (because they are the easiest subjects for university researchers to recruit).

Thats fine, but in untrained populations, the signal-to-noise ratio is completely skewed.

Because the stimulus is novel, and humans are adaptive organisms (an organism by definition is an adaptive system) we find out that everything works.

So how do you extract the efficacy of a specific variable (like rest periods or volume load) when the subject’s body is adapting simply because they picked up a weight?

To find a strong signal/protocol, you’d need some kind of training system run thousands of times across many many novices, and then compare it, rougly, with other systems, and then you might find a protocol worth following.

-To date, the best protocol thats been innovated on is simple 3x5 or 5x5 barbell training. The Starting Strength novice program is probably the most proven in the world.

5. The Personality and Belief Variable

You also cannot separate the psychological from the psychological. If someone believes a new high-intensity protocol is the “secret” to growth, or a high volume protocol, they will psychologically arouse their sympathetic nervous system more effectively. They are more engaged with training. They probably even stimulate a greater GROWTH response.

This heightened and excited state drives stronger neural drive, higher motor unit recruitment, and ultimately, better results. The belief literally changes the biochemical output and adaptations.

This is why I say that PERSONALITY is the overlooked dynamic in training results. We can assess skeletons and muscles, but what do you ENJOY. Enjoyment is probably anabolic.

En Summa: Science is a Compass, its not a Map

If we accept that true, blinded exercise science is impossible on the individual level, what are we left with?

We have heuristics. AKA principles,

• Progressive overload/stress exposure is required for continual adaptation.

• The body follows Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands (SAID principle).

• For strength and muscle gains, we need some mechanical tension (aka lifting weights)

Beyond that, the actual application, like manipulating volume, frequency, intensity, understanding biomechanics, its not science by itself

Its the engineering of the human body, and the art of application, and the science of biology, and all of that together leads to experience and outcomes.

And the beauty of this, despite the complexity, is that the practice of training CAN be simple in practice. Its self discovery and creation of self knowledge that never ends.

The past 2 years have been ALL about peptides on Health X and the overall fitness industry.

People have taken issue with this (like not neglecting the “basics”), but the reality is GLPS are life changing were on the edge of massive breakthroughs in health enhancement.

Ive led the charge on this, and the past year Ive experimented with dozens of compounds. GLPs of course, but also many small molecules, and bioregulators.

Its been very 80/20 to say the least.

80% effects are questionable, arent needed and are simply something to spend $$ on.

20% works great, hugely impactful.

The GLPS without question are number 1.

behind that would be growth hormone (but you need a prescription for it from a super cool doctor)

And behind that...the bioregulators. SOME of them. Not all, but some.

Specifically Pinealon and Epitalon.

Whats the big deal with these?

After obesity, fucked up sleep is the most common health issue for people

I dont think I need to write a thesis on why sleep is important.

People sleep bad in myriad ways. Too much caffeine, never seeing the sun, blasting their eyes with their phone at midnight. So on and so forth.

The TAM of Sleep is the entire human race.

What peptides exist to help this?

Enter Epitalon, and Pinealon

To be clear, these are not sedative compounds the way most people think of sleep supplements.

Their development in Russia was never to “make you sleepy”.

They were developed by Professor Khavinson under the auspices of improving brain function; specifically resistance to stress and decreasing inflammation/oxidation.

It emerged in the human research that the research subjects reported sleeping better. This was not a specific goal.

What exactly are they doing then?

We will go in alphabetical order.

Epitalon gets your pineal gland to make melatonin, in the EVENING, when its supposed to be made.

When people are chronically stressed and produce cortisol around the clock, they often wont produce melatonin in the 2nd half of the day.

If you are one of those people who is more tired in the morning and gets more awake in the evening, this might be your issue.

Epitalon targets the pineal gland and upregulates AANAT, the rate-limiting enzyme for melatonin synthesis, and pCREB, a transcription factor essential for circadian gene signaling.

It in essence signals the pinealon gland to resume evening timed melatonin production.

Not everyone benefits from Epitalon, but a single course is a worthy experiment to run. Khavinson recommended it TWICE a year. Not something you take daily and for forever

Typical protocols run 3–6 mg daily for 20-30 days, dosed usually in the evening, with 6 months off before reassessment.

Elite research carries it in stock and the capsules are enteric coated to ensure they get absorbed.

The other one is Pinealon

This is one people tend to notice more (although they both synergize together).

Pinealon is more of an “anti stress” bioregular/peptide. It was intended to be neuroprotective, with the effect of reducing oxidation/inflammation in the brain itself.

It also has the effect of improving serotonin production (itself a precursor to melatonin)

This is the one that people tend to report more cognitive benefits from

The typical protocols run 1–3 mg daily for 20–30 days, dosed usually in the morning, with 3 months off before reassessment.

They ALSO Work Well Together

Epitalon restores circadian timing in the pineal gland itself. Pinealon fortifies the neural environment and flow between the pineal gland and the brain.

Considering they only need to be used 1-2 times a year, they are an experiment worth running

Elite Research carries both of them. They are blended with sodium and enteric coated to ensure digestion.

Order Pinealon+
Order Epitalon+

Pseudo functional trainers love to dunk on it.

Regular gym goers love to throw on weight and do half reps and believe it’s a show of serious strength

Leg presses are not all made equally well. Depending on the design and setup, some models work better than others

Used correctly it’s a fantastic weigh to develop the quads and glutes and spare the spine.

Used incorrectly it’s a lumbar crunch and ego lift.

Let's learn how to do it right

1. Pelvic Positioning

https://youtu.be/4PYXEYqgCqk?is=klT9d-nXNP19WpUg

I want to watch this video

When you like press, you need to maintain a neutral spine in pelvic position, your pelvis should not tuck under you. The posterior pelvic tilt puts a ton of pressure on the lumbar spine. It's the reason why many people strain their lower back leg pressing.

1. Knee Bend

An “ass to grass” leg press is not the goal. If your knees are coming up to your chest, but your butt is rounding underneath you, you're going to injure yourself.

The target Is 90 degrees of bend at the knee. Maybe slightly more. And thats it.

Some people have the BONE STRUCTURE to “go deep” on a leg press and not lose their pelvic position. If this is you, you will figure it out within your first few training sessions. It’s not something you can force your body to do.

1. Keep your spine straight

Don't tuck the chin. Dont round the upper back. Maintain a neutral spine

It should look like this

https://youtube.com/shorts/S4c9EYGYDA8?is=mgpgp1Jwsv4vOvSO

1. Feet high? Feet low? It depends

The forward flexion you get in your knees, the more your quads will be recruited. If you leg press with less knee bend and more vertical shin, it will be more of your glutes taking on the load.

https://youtube.com/shorts/nRrlAneS8ic?is=KlOw5fuc_6Rrhqrs

Most people have a “sweet spot” position that enables proper depth, and is in the middle of the two. You can alternate the foot position if you want, or stick with the middle position that works both muscles.

1. Different leg presses suit different bodies

A conventional 45 Degree leg press doesn’t work for some people. The torso angle inhibits knee bend and hip flexion. I am one of these people.

For more, horizontal leg press works far better.

here is my favorite model

https://youtu.be/L5ZQH5Ppjq8?is=_b5DbZpcOPuP30oC

Another version I like is an upright leg press. It's not as angled as a 45, and allows for better ROM

https://youtu.be/BqtKBC68GJw?is=PQi5KR1SenT4FLUP

Major point here; experiment and find the machine that works best for you. If you can find a good groove with one machine, try another.

6. Tempo

Slow the reps, feel the burn. Control the eccentric, press hard on the concentric. Keep your reps honest. Take your working sets to failure, or at least your last set

1. Reps, high reps

I don't see the point of Doing less than 10 reps for working sets. The entire point of leg press is that you can overload your legs and not have to worry about your back. There’s no better exercise for high rep sets.

I will also add, the regardless of what arguments the “sCiEnCe” based lifting crowd likes to make, higher reps lead to more leg growth.

my favorite set and rep protocol is 30 Reps on your first set, and then keep doing sets with only 1-2 minutes inbetween, and keep going until you can barely do 10 reps. Maybe it’s 5 sets, maybe it’s 7, maybe it’s 4. Do it and watch your legs grow

This post was brought to you by this mornings NeuroVolt, Dad energy, and waiting till my kids fell asleep.

They didnt aspire to live to be FIT, rather they wanted to be fit to LIVE. Their goals were having good bloodwork, losing bodyfat, being relatively lean, and feeling strong and confident with their body. Health was a platform for the other areas of their life

Side note-At any given time, this is the majority of the market for the health and fitness industry. I always remind fitness professionals of this. The “hardcore” market of people is a much much smaller market.

The challenges to becoming health are numerous, and often center on the struggles of the individual; forming good habits, mindset, time management, hunger (although GLPs alleviate this)

One significant obstacle that is often overlooked is the resistance of Others

Said simple, the biggest obstacle to becoming healthy will often be those closest to you.

This tends to catch people off guard, and is painful to experience. Its an uncomfortable realization; the people that you believed cared about you and had your interest at heart are upset that you are trying to be healthy.

We have silent contracts with all of our loved ones

They know you as someone that does not exercise. They know you as someone that does not prioritize health. They know you as someone that likes to drink, or likes to eat, or the fat friend.

Or the fat spouse.

And now you are changing that, and its disruptive to their understanding of your identity. You are violating their ideas and expectations about you. And they are mad at your for it. They are not encouraging. They are upset

How Do You Handle This?

If you have 100% supportive friends and family, you are very blessed and should be appreciative.

If you do not, you need to be prepared. These are my lessons for you

1. Be vigilant for resistance

The day you make the decision to become a better version of yourself and assert agency is a great day. But do not expect automatic support from your entire social circle. As you begin to make changes and demonstrate new habits, you will find that not everyone supports this. Cynical comments, snark, confusion, questioning can come in unexpected way. Some people may be more resistant to your efforts than others. You cannot anticipate where this will all come from, but simply recognizing it is half the battle to dealing with it.

2. Do not compromise yourself

In the midst of holding yourself accountable to your new actions and habits, you will have people trying to get you stop, slow down, do less, be less obvious about it, do not give into any of this.

You must hold your ground. The new version of your life that you are creating is not going to be found in negotiating with people who want you to stay the same.

3. Remove yourself from pathogenic relationships and environments

This is understandably challenging, but it must be done. You are never going to win a war against a diseased environment. You are never going to transform friends and family who want you to be fat and unhappy and resent you for breaking out of the cycle. You become a mirror to all their insecurities and failures and they will resent you for it.

Likewise, if your job and work life are a major drag on your health, you MUST change that. Whether it takes a month or a year, you cannot allow that diseased status quo to persist unchecked.

4. Put people in their place

You will need to have uncomfortable conversations. There will be tension. There might be insults or arguments. Again, no compromising, hold your ground. If you can change the terms of a relationship and someone is accepting, fantastic. If not, then minimize interaction, or remove them from your life. Not everyone you know is going to be good for you

5. Health comes from Coherence

Coherence means alignment between your mindset, your actions, your relationships, your environment. Its another way of saying “holistic” but is more defined by logical consistency between all the different parts. People who are healthy “by default” have coherence between all areas of their life. Their inner world and outer world are in a virtuous cycle.

En Summa

Do not let anyone stop you.

Keep your mind sharp with Neurovolt.

This post was brought to you by Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee, and a double serving of Neurovolt this morning.

During this saga of life with building Athanor, I find myself returning to fitness subjects for a comforting familiarity. Recently I changed my training schedule recently to a bodypart split recently and Ive been enjoying it immensely. It made me consider my perspective on lower body training after the most recent leg day.

What you will learn today

• The dumb trend I fell for when I started personal training (and what you shouldnt fall for either)

• Why I consider free weight squats to still be essential, but…

• Why the leg press is probably the real size builder

• The power of the leg press for longevity

On the subject of leg training

When I got started a personal trainer in 2010, there were two dominating trends

-Powerlifting, which encouraged everyone to squat bench press and deadlift, and these lifts were all anyone really needed to be fit strong healthy muscular

-Functional training, which discouraged machine usage, isolation training, and emphasized “stabilizing” exercises, balance movements, single limb training, and what I later came to dub “trainer trick exercises” which look cool but serve no real purpose other than wasting peoples time.

Being a novice personal trainer, I fell into the powerlifting camp. I didnt use machines, I did not have my clients use machines, and I was critical of machine based training of any kind.

I trained my clients exclusively with free weights, the barbell, and bodyweight movements.

This was not bad, dont get me wrong, but the my exclusion of an entire set of tools left me with limited options at times.

My stubbornness also led to poor training decisions with my own workouts. Ive said many times, Ive got terrible structure for powerlifting with with long arms, long femurs, shallow rib cage, a short torso, and congenital Spondylolisthesis.

Over time and way of experience, I became far more open minded and dropped the dogmatism about exercises.

Everything is simply a TOOL. You can use it, not use it, and all tools have their place, some are more powerful than others, with broader use. Others more specific.

Arguing over exercises are arguments between weak egos.

In particular, the Leg Press

When you squat, the limiting factor in the weight you can use is typically NOT the legs, but the TORSO.

Its your low back, your spine, your shoulders, maybe your arms. Its not the pelvis and thigh muscles.

This is intuitive for anyone who has ever lifted. You can get on a leg press and move FAR more weight than you can on a free weight squat. The leg press is only loading the hips.

At the same time you have this increase in intensity and loading on the legs, there is also the removal of stress and fatigue from the spine/torso.

This allows you to go HARD on your legs, arguably harder than you could squatting. But with no risk of spinal fatigue and injury.

You can safely do high rep sets. You can do drop sets. You can experiment with tempo. You can go to failure. You can pyramid up or down in weight.

And all without the risk and fatigue limitation that comes with free weight squats.

This is all to say that the leg press is a fantastic tool for building size and strength in quads and glutes.

Especially as you AGE-Applying intensity requires intelligence. I want you to do things that challenge the energy capacity of your legs and stimulate the maximum amount of muscle fiber. The leg press allows you to do this.

To be clear, the leg press is NOT a substitute for squatting.

Its a common refrain in the health and fitness world that you need to do SQUATS.

And this is correct.

The ability to have your knees and hips bend together from a standing position is a fundamental human movement. This trains the quadriceps and glutes. Humans are a bipedal organism. There are no disadvantages to having strong legs. Only advantages.

Squats can be done many different ways

The past few years in particular, pendulum squats have become popular. But having used them and compared them, Ive still come to favor some kind of free weight squat that you have to stabilize your torso.

The old school adage of “free weights build more strength” I partially agree with. The ability to internally stabilize and control your bodyweight in space under load MUST be trained directly. The core stability and overall recruitment of muscle cannot be matched.

What kind of free weight squats?

That can be a back squat,

A front squat

A goblet squat

or a bulgarian split squat.

you also have unloaded bodyweight squats, and Hindu squats as well.

and if your spine for whatever reason cannot tolerate any kind of heavy loading on the torso, then use a belt squat.

Stabilized squats are great too

Smith machines, pendulums, and hack squats remove the need for stabilizing and allow you to often use heavier weight and be more targeted with where you emphasize muscle tension.

That said

Free weight squats and leg press should have equal priority in your training

With free weights you can focus on perfect technique, not take sets to failure, and stick with your 5-10 rep range.

With the leg press following, you can go higher rep, go for a pump, and thrash your legs as hard as you want. I would not do less than 10 reps in a set. Its a leg press. I would say do 10-30 reps for your working sets.

A workout I am enjoying right now

Front squats, 5 sets of 8-10 reps

Leg press, 5 sets of 10-30 reps.

Leg curls, seated or stability ball. 4 sets of 10-20 reps

Leg extension, 4 sets of 10-20 reps

Dumbbell romanian deadlift, 4-5 sets of 8-12 reps

Thanks for reading friends, until next time

-This post is brought to you by neurovolt that I took this morning

Brian looks amazing. I said as much. He went from 30% bodyfat to looking like a superhero. His before and after was the result of getting SERIOUS and remaking his whole identity.
Great guy and ive enjoyed following him. I believe he works with clients as well

But but but did he use anabolics?

Sure did, he was and is quite open about it.

But testosterone doesnt lift the weight or follow the diet for you.

This kind of change doesnt happen without being absolutely DIALED IN with training, nutrition, discipline on all levels.

I already know the grumbling is starting

I think this kind of transformation is INSPIRING.

Not everyone shared my opinion though.

The comments were a mix of respect and admiration, and spiteful resentment and browbeating.

Because he’d used anabolics, aka steroids, aka your-hard work-and-total transformation of your physique is meaningless, get-fucked-Im-a-better-more-moral-person-than-you

Brian had a sense of humor about it, and as mentioned he himself is 100% open about his anabolics usage.

I was probably more upset about it than he was, and recorded a RANT in my car on the bullshit moralizing around anabolics/PEDS/TRT

Ive seen similar arguments now about people losing weight GLPS.

You Dont DESERVE to feel good or be recognized for what you did for yourself, because you didnt suffer enough for it.

For essentially all of human history, we’ve regarded greed, gluttony, and sloth as moral failures, and categorized them as sins.

Consequently, the fitness industry (and society at large) for man years considered obesity to be character defect, and a willpower failure.

This was judgmental without question, and let us say the judgements were correct, but being judgmental has had a very poor track record of fixing peoples behavior at scale.

Working on “mindset” and the infinite multitude of fat loss gurus and fitness pros failed to stop the rise of obesity. So did religion for that matter. Whether you gave your life to Christ and were saved or believed in Allah and Muhammed as his prophet…

People were are are still fat. Calling things a sin doesn’t sufficiently stop people. Especially not with consumption.

And as obesity was studied as a medical disease, we learned that was an extremely challenging situation to fix. Yes, it required a calorie deficit and exercise, but breaking the psychosomatic, neuroendocrine, hormonal cascade and all its loops that reinforced counter-health behavior was a seemingly intractable problem at scale.

Then GLPS came along. They reduced the hunger drive, drove down the mental fixations, and allowed people FINALLY, for the first time in history, to change their behavior in the more “moral” direction.

Obesity rate is going down finally as a result.

That is the power of technology.

Technology exists to improve the human condition and lower the cost of an outcome. Technology is the application of knowledge to achieve a goal, in a way that can be replicated.

A GLP is a technology in the same sense that an antibiotic is. Or insulin.

Or testosterone for that matter.

Someone identified a mechanism, isolated the signaling involved, and produced a molecule that does a job the body is supposed to do or unable to do.

Now the objection is that the weight came off the wrong way.

Or the muscle was gained in the wrong way.

We can use medicine and technology everywhere else in our life to relieve stress and achieve our goals faster, BUT fat loss and muscle gain MUST be done “naturally” to be respected.

The “RIGHT” Way is you Fail repeatedly over and over again and are in poor health until you figure it out “naturally”

The RIGHT Way is you can only make gains naturally and slowly, and if youre not genetically blessed, haha fucking get over it. Too BAD you skinny fuck.

I find this patently absurd. Every year of your life spent obese is a tragedy and no one gains anything from it.

Nor is spending life weak and struggling against the genetic hand you’ve been dealt. Life is not fair. We accept that.

But why cant we improve the odds for ourself?

Everywhere else in Life, you are considered SMART for Getting results with efficiency and figuring out a better way.

You can hire a coach to learn a skill and hire a CPA to save taxes and hire experts to get the job done right

but with the BODY, now its a problem.

That brings me back to the anabolics conundrum

Ive always been open that Im a natural lifter. I dont use testosterone. Not out of any sense of moral superiority, but because I genuinely dont have the desire for it. I started lifting in HS for female attention. It worked. My test levels are good, my quality of life high, Im happy with how I look. Training is a part of my identity. I dont have good genetics for size or strength, but I also have reasonably decent “hormonal” profile naturally, thank you Mom and Dad.

That said, I recognize that for many men, they are suffering, their life is not what it could be, and their suboptimal hormonal state is behind it.

Testosterone replacement therapy is about far more than muscle. Restoring androgen levels improves bone mineral density, insulin sensitivity, visceral fat, sexual function, and makes men feel alive again.

You gain nothing by being in a Low T, low energy state. You only lose.

TRT is a godsend for guys everywhere.

There are also men who simply want to be BIG and Muscular and Strong.

Thats great. We can psychoanalyze this to death if want about the edge cases and the guys with “bigorexia”, but wanting to be strong with muscles is as natural a masculine a desire that a man can have.

So men uses steroids (testosterone) to achieve this.

There are also men who want to be OPTIMIZED and desire a heightened state of performance and well being. Maybe they dont absolutely need TRT, but they want the enhancement.

If using anabolics improves your life, use them.

If you dont care about for them, then dont. You have free will.

My desire is simply, I want people to be happy and healthy.

Be responsible in whatever form of enhancement you use. And track your biomarkers accordingly.

If you are a man or woman interested in hormone replacement therapy, TRT, and want the most qualified medical guidance and supervision, contact Velocity Health.