01/12/2026
Everything you need is within you!
Mernin yall, lets get right to it today...
Every January, people like me in the health and fittnes space see the same thing happen.
People start looking for the next thing.
The next peptide. The hot new supplement.
The next best form of workouts. The next piece of equipment that promises less pain and more energy without changing anything else.
To be fair, there are new tools, better research, and smarter ways to approach health and performance today than there were ten or twenty years ago so being curious about "what's best" is great!
But here’s the boring & uncomfortable truth I keep running into, both in my own life and in the clinic.
The basics, done consistently, still win.
No biohacker headlines. Just fundamentals applied over long enough periods of time that the body is allowed to adapt instead of constantly being yanked in a new direction.
So I narrowed things down to five priorities that move the needle the most for health, energy, pain reduction, and quality of life, these would be them:
1. Fix your circadian rhythm before chasing hormones
Most people think hormone issues mean they need to “boost” something. Testosterone. Cortisol. Thyroid. Estrogen.
What they miss is that hormones are not independent k***s you turn. They are outputs. Signals that respond to timing, light, sleep, and stress.
For most of human history, we woke with the sun and went to sleep shortly after it went down. Light exposure early in the day told the brain, “It’s safe to be alert.” Darkness at night told the brain, “It’s time to recover.”
Fast forward to now. Screens at midnight. No morning sunlight. Irregular sleep times. Artificial stimulation all day. Then we wonder why energy is low, weight creeps up, sleep is trash, and labs look off. Simple improvements like consistent sleep & wake times, morning light exposure, dimming lights at night, and protecting sleep windows can regulate cortisol rhythms and downstream hormones far more effectively than most people realize.
2. Lead with protein and fats in the morning
This one tends to rub people the wrong way for some reason. Too many of us are emotionally connected to their food choices.
Charlie Francis (all time great Olympic coach) was big on this idea for his athletes, and the logic still holds up.
In the morning, your nervous system is already coming out of a cortisol driven state. Dumping a big hit of sugar on top of that pushes blood glucose up fast, which then requires a strong insulin response to bring it back down. For a lot of people, that sets the tone for crashes, cravings, and poor focus the rest of the day.
Protein and fats digest more slowly. They stabilize blood sugar. They provide amino acids for repair and neurotransmitter support without spiking energy and dropping it an hour later.
It’s about earning your carbohydrates later in the day when your system is better prepared to handle them. Most people don’t have an energy problem. They have a regulation problem.
3. Use creatine later in the day and separate it from caffeine
Creatine isn’t just about muscle. It plays a role in cellular energy availability, brain function, and resilience to stress. What gets overlooked is timing.
Caffeine increases energy output and stimulation. Creatine supports energy storage and buffering. Taking them together early in the day is like pressing the gas pedal while trying to fill the tank at the same time. Spacing creatine into the second half of the day allows it to support recovery, hydration at the cellular level, and nervous system resilience without competing with stimulants.
4. Train with lower volume and higher intent
More is not better. Better is better. I see a lot of people bury themselves in volume because it feels productive. Sets upon sets. Endless variety. No clear direction.
Lower volume, higher intensity training with a single metric to progress keeps you honest and keeps you safe. Focus on 3-4 movements that you feel confident with and focus on one variable to improve: one more rep each week. That allows for cleaner ex*****on week after week.
That approach stacks small wins without frying your nervous system or beating up your joints. It also makes training sustainable instead of something you have to recover from emotionally and physically.
Consistency beats novelty every time.
5. Protect time for your mind
This one gets lip service and then ignored. Journaling. Quiet walks. Creative outlets. Time without input.
Your nervous system doesn’t distinguish between physical stress and mental stress. It just counts total load.
If you never give your mind a place to downshift, your body stays on edge. Recovery suffers. Pain lingers. Sleep degrades. Mental health practices are not optional extras. You don’t need to do everything. You just need to do something consistently.
I hope yall see that’s the common thread here...
Not perfection. Not optimization. Consistency.
If you’re tired of bouncing between ideas and want help applying these basics in a way that fits your life, your stress level, and your body, that’s exactly what our core work is built around.
Control what you can. Stack small wins. Let time do the rest.
Dr. Dom + Team
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