Somewhere in your health and wellness routine, you probably have a gap that needs filling.

It could be adding more movement. It could be sleeping better. It could be as simple as relaxing more.

For many, nutrient deficiencies stem from our current diet and require better, more strategic eating, even if it means sacrificing taste for those nutrients.

Enter supplements.

As most of you who’ve been subscribed for some time know, I’ve written about supplements more than once:

• Here’s a basic list of the simplest, most high-yield ones

• Here are a few that fall into the “peptide” category that I’m still skeptical about for the general population

• A bit of a gut check (no pun intended) for verifying ingredients in supplements

My stance on supplements throughout most of my newsletter has remained the same — take them only if your blood work shows deficiencies or your doctor has given the recommendation or thumbs up, or if you’ve done enough research and self-testing to justify the recurring costs of them.

The industry of supplements, though, has grown massively since all of those posts.

Supplements are no longer just for making up nutrients missing from food.

Nootropics are gaining popularity in the age of low focus (just quit the doomscrolling, guys).

Fertility supplement lines seek to bolster reproductive health in an age where birth rates are declining, and people are nervous about having children (and where a simpler solution might be just ditching the polyester clothing).

People are even taking supplements to aid in sleep, which again, I find a bit excessive. (Have a nighttime routine, turn off the phone notifications, cool your room down, drink some chamomile tea).

Whatever the need is, there seems to be a supplement for it.

I’m here to challenge you whether or not you need all of them if you’re taking a bunch so that you’re not spending money unnecessarily.

And if you’ve stayed away from Big Supp up until this point, this may comfort you.

Are you taking too many supplements?

One thing that we can still be certain about regardless of where your supplement routine is — Americans are not that healthy.

It’s interesting that while we’re still one of the most obese and unhealthy developed countries, supplement use in the U.S. has gone up over the last quarter century by a non-trivial amount in men and women, with a large portion of those users being older adults.

The JAMA study cited above tracking 100k participants says that only 1 in 4 supplement users started because they were advised to by a physician.

Which means 75% of supplement protocols are most likely word-of-mouth, hearsay, and marketing-driven.

This should come as no surprise. If you’ve browsed a CVS, Duane Reade/Walgreens, or other pharmacy, the aisles have grown. The influencer marketing around supplements borders on toxic. And the $250 billion industry seeks only to make them easier to consume by turning them into gummies, chews, and textures that are easier to blend into our day.

But do we need to be adding all these pills and potions to our routine?

The most recent research says maybe NOT.

I’m going to guess it’s been a little while since any readers have had their blood drawn, and even longer since any of you got flagged for nutrient deficiencies.

So, without telling you “go to your doctor,” here are a few quick ways to check yourself before you wreck yourself (and your wallet) with supplements.

There might be a simple way: just eating better food, if you’re willing to expand your palate.

The CDC tracks a list of biomarkers it deems necessary for “healthy growth and development,” and measure in a yearly nutrition report that is tracked in blood and urine samples instead of self-reported dietary intake.

In their 2026 report, they accounted for the spike in supplement use we’ve seen since 2000 and noted a few key points we should be aware of.

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There’s a meme going around that says, “Men used to go to war.”

The crux of the joke is that the even the most arduous of demands were not even a second thought a few decades ago.

Now, there is a culture of hyper-fixating on small, inconsequential things that some might argue are softening us — and I don’t think it applies only to men, either.

Optimization Culture, which focuses on maximizing everything about your day, from the morning routine to the very last flickers of your eyelids before you go to sleep, has gotten out of control.

At first, the goal was admirable — to improve “healthmaxxing,” or maximizing your health’s potential — but the niches formed around each piece of optimizing have become too much to handle.

Quitting alcohol was a great start. Recent alcohol industry numbers show sales and general interest in drinking and nightlife are way down, which I think led many to believe that a movement could form from advocating for subtracting vices.

Some optimizers pushed for cancelling subscriptions, quitting smoking, scrolling and other bad habits to help improve stress levels, sleep, and relationships.

I think the practice of subtracting was where the trend should’ve halted. Taking things away allows for clarity and better understanding.

But whoever pioneered these trends ushered in a wave of new salespeople to take the hull.

A common understanding of human psychology reminds us that those who have bad habits (or are addicted to something) often don’t eliminate the habits or addictions altogether — they replace them with something else.

Whether or not the replacement is a healthy one is what I’m focusing on this evening.

Where Optimizing Went Wrong

What came into the fold of health optimization after the abstinence movement — a personal favorite highlight was “Raw Dogging Flights” — was a host of substitute activities that achieved the inverse of optimization.

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The New York Knicks just won their first title in 53 years.

Hey guys, it’s Fran. It’s been way too long, and I’ve had this one in drafts for two weeks.

Last night was the kick-in-the-ass reminder that I have almost 400 subscribers who read this newsletter and could benefit from an article that reminds us to fight against th…

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Multitasking seems to be all the rage these days.

Having Claude CoWork write your schedule for you to start the day while you’re having your coffee, in the shower, all while scrolling through your social feed in the morning.

Okay, maybe it’s not that extreme. Or is it?

The productivity obsession naturally leads most …

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You may remember that about a month ago, my wife and I left our apartment after finding out we had a pretty bad case of MARCoNS due to some mold exposure.

Since then, we’ve been on a pretty strict detoxification protocol, and I went over it (along with general detox ideas) with Olivia on this episode of the High Performance Health Podcast

Expect to learn about:

- What protocols are best for detoxifying your body

- The frequency of daily poops, Olivia thinks, is the gold standard

- What supplements are best for detoxifying your body

- What bodily processes/organs are responsible for detox

- How often should anyone be detoxing

I really enjoyed this one, and it helped color in my experience, and I hope it helps you rethink the way you’re constantly refreshing your body.

Link to the Amazon Body Roller here.

Link to the Shake Plate I mentioned here!

Enjoy!

Saying that “abs are built in the kitchen” is about 75% true.

A proper diet is going to ensure that bellies stay lean, but the abs need to be trained, too.

This newsletter was published in partnership with Form50 Fitness, a reformer strength and conditioning studio in New York City and Florida.

A big prerequisite for a …

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I’ve had a chance to reflect on some of the most important things that have moved the needle forward for me physically over the past two years.

Unfortunately, the answers aren’t all that sexy.

And that’s the point.

Two years is both a long time and a short time depending on how you look at it. And the headline of this new…

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“Nothing’s wrong, you’re perfectly healthy.”

That’s what many doctors told my wife over the past year after we went from specialist to specialist to try and figure out why she wasn’t feeling herself.

The last month has been a hectic one — it’s no excuses for not having written something for you all. I strive to write…

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Since my 30th birthday,

Everyone’s always asked me a question on my birthday that they never asked me in the first 29 years of my life:

How does it feel?

To which I always respond, “not much different.”

It’s a peculiar question, one that always makes me feel like the answer that someone was rhetorically expecting was, “old…

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What has always frustrated me about working in fitness are the stark differences between thought processes

Between how medical doctors (and even physical therapists!) understand the realm of exercise.

I’m sharing opinions and anecdotes of my experience in eight years as a trainer in today’s newsletter, so I w…

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I have to admit,

When I’d heard Lindsey Vonn tore her ACL on January 30th and saw videos of her strength training like nothing had happened, I felt polarized.

Maybe at first, the athlete and we felt some level of hope that injury specialists had finally turned the corner on ACL science.

Videos of NBA players returning to…

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If you’ve trained hard for anything at all,

You know that sensation of burning that enters your muscles when they’re under stress for a prolonged amount of time.

Maybe it’s that group fitness class that’s solely focused on two or three muscles for the entire 45 to 60 minutes.

It could happen on your long runs, when your…

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Good Morning!

If you’re reading from the Northeast U.S. (or anywhere above the equator) right now, you’ve probably had a piping hot cup of coffee and are bundled up on this holiday.

Make no mistake, I hate the cold.

I’m a February baby, but there’s nothing about this climate that makes me happy (unless I’m snowboarding).

But lately I’ve forced myself to continue exploring my passion for running this winter, despite the average daily temperature being 20° or colder lately,

Why?

Well for as much as I sh*t on ice baths (reminder: they do next to nothing for performance, but improve your tolerance to torture) cold-weather running is my personal preferred method of cold exposure for the season.

Over the last year, I’ve developed a sense of grit and obsession about my running, and I learned last spring that there are some benefits for running outside that undoubtedly helped me with my performance in last year’s NYC marathon.

Newsletter Summary

• The case for cold weather running and it’s benefits

• One quote about tolerance to start the week

The case for cold weather running

On a 15° January afternoon, I laced up my Nikes, grabbed my heattec gear with the built-in balaclava, and threw a beanie and two pairs of wool socks on for a 10K around my neighborhood.

Before I started my smartwatch, my pre-run heart rate was around 90 bpm.

I was excited.

Even with cold gusts from wind tunnels around Queens belting me in the face like a roller coaster ride, I was up for the challenge.

And a challenge is what it was.

The right playlist, a creative route circling Astoria Park and the East River waterfront, and a few close calls with some drivers speeding through yellow lights brought my internal temperature right where it needed to be for this run to actually be…fun.

The first argument I’ll make for cold runs is that they can be invigorating.

It’s similar to the rush of adrenaline that an ice bath brings, but unlike ice baths, there’s a certain body heat that comes with running outdoors that honestly makes the cold feelings dissipate quickly.

This is purely anecdotal, and I can’t guarantee it for everybody. Especially if you’re not already a runner.

As the folks at Idaho Spine and Sport physical therapy point out, it’s not always fun or enjoyable.

But it does come with unique benefits that will bode well for springtime and summertime running:

• Improved heart health, which is a byproduct of blood vessels working harder to pump blood to chillier areas of the body during cold runs

• Better sweat management, where (with repetition and proper winter hydration) the body is conditioned to sweat less and retain more water during cold runs, which is great preparation for hotter temperatures where sweat is more frequent

• Ample Novelty for the brain; something new and challenging strengthens our anterior mid-cingulate cortex, the part of the brain that deals with difficult things, and makes future difficult things easier

The spring runs that will (eventually) be here soon will be so much easier because I got out in December, January and February.

Not just psychologically, but physiologically too.

If there’s one thing that this newsletter will constantly challenge you to do, it’ll be to do hard stuff.

But what can’t be underscored is how often hard stuff benefits your body at a microscopic level, too.

If you’re a runner and have started to develop a weekly habit of getting the legs moving, this might not sound as attractive.

But that’s okay.

I’ve got an another try at the NYC marathon in November, and it’ll be cold again for that when it comes.

So getting the reps in now — loooong before I need to be ready to run that 26.2 miles across five boroughs — will pay dividends down the road (literally).

One Quote About Tolerance To Start March

“What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature.

— Voltaire

Love this quote right here.

We have to learn to endure things.

That’s what makes us, us.

If you’ve been here a while, you can do 300 something newsletters.

That’s impressive.

I’d highly encourage you to suggest this newsletter to somebody who could benefit from learning a thing or two.

Subscribe now

Thanks in advance! See you later this week.

I recently spoke with a client of mine who — not to brag, but — PR’d their age group in a 10K. They’re a long-time runner, and they told me something I won’t forget:

“It’s impressive what you’ve done over the last year and a half alone!”

They’re right.

I haven’t shifted this newsletter content to reflect it much, but runnin…

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“Once you hit (random age), it’s all downhill from there.”

If I never heard this phrase again, I’d be so happy.

This utterance comes from people who have an archaic mindset about what it means to age. Sure, every now and again it’s said jokingly.

But some people seriously mean it. Those who let their fitness capabilities…

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Every year I write an article like this, hoping it helps at least some of the people who read it.

But every year, I’m not sure if it resonates. I’m opening up the comments section to this post (a feature I sometimes forget to turn on before I publish) so that if this article helps you, you can let me know.

And if it doesn’…

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For as long as you’ve known me to write this newsletter, I rarely ever get too political.

But comments made weeks ago about the current president’s fitness for office had me a little alarmed.

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Now and again, I like to think about the ways in which exercise can be more accessible for people.

Truly, there are a myriad of factors that limit people from exercising.

No access to a gym.

Expensive equipment.

Injuries and pain.

Busy work schedules.

Children.

Not enough time in the day for something meaningful.

The list goes on.

However, I’m not cynical enough to believe that Movement isn’t possible for everyone.

I’ve seen some amazing transformation stories, sparked by one catalyst moment and someone’s life that might seem trivial to another’s.

It’s probably a cliche, but the impetus to take control of your health starts in your mind.

And no, I’m not here to tell you that you just need to try harder or be more consistent, or even talk yourself into a daily routine of it.

I’m here to tell you that just believing that you’re more fit than you initially thought and reframing the way you think about “exercise” can have a massive effect on your life.

But first…

Something that’s had a massive effect on my life recently is the Thrive25 app.

I wake up at 5:30 am every day, and it was hard for me to rationalize having a routine.

But Thrive25 is a great place to start for tracking your labs, improving your health, and setting goals to feel better and live longer.

I’ve partnered with them and developed my personalized longevity routine, not one that’s cut-and-pasted from the web.

Best of all? Thrive25 is super affordable and secure. If you sign up for their app with my affiliate link, you’ll save on your health for life.

Use my link to get an early access discount FOREVER and take real control of your health.

Reframing Exercise And Your Relationship with How “Fit” You Are

I started working with a client with scoliosis 18 months ago.

She routinely mentioned feeling uncomfortable, like she was out of alignment, and that her day-to-day work had her feeling drained.

I should also mention she was exiting a toxic relationship, which may have had something to do with how she was feeling overall.

But I’m not a spiritual healer.

I do, however, know how movement heals.

Two or three months into training, she hadn’t noticed it, but her posture, shoulder position, and foot arch had dramatically improved from just mastering a few exercises.

Five or six months in, she reported actually feeling better.

But that is a standard trajectory.

What’s happened in the last four months may have changed her life trajectory forever.

Once we started moving to more complex lifts, she gained a certain insatiable quality for exercise.

But the interesting part was… she didn’t think of it as exercise.

A few months ago, this client reported starting a daily stretching routine in between our training sessions together that she said, catapulted her feelings of alignment into a new stratosphere.

While I always try to assign homework to clients, this practice of hers was self-taught.

When I asked her what prompted her new routine, her answer surprised me:

“I stopped thinking about the stuff I do outside of the gym as ‘exercise,’ and started thinking about it as ‘connecting with my body.’”

This answer was something I figured I couldn’t gatekeep.

I started telling my other clients about this, too.

And suddenly, strength training wasn’t the only thing my clients were doing outside of our workouts.

Yoga, running, massages, stretching…

These are all forms of connecting with your body and moving.

In isolation, they don’t achieve much. But when combined in a stew of all-encompassing movement and bodily attention, they create an incredibly healthy human.

My client, who started this trend, doesn’t just stretch anymore.

She joined a gym and connects with her body there three times a week.

Her simple change in language around exercise turned her aversion to difficult training into a habit that she associates with pleasure.

The Power of Language and What You Tell Yourself

My client’s story is not a new one either.

Changing the language around how you exercise and what you call exercise is only part of the story.

Doing this can help form a habit, but one way you can also help improve your fitness outcomes is simply believing that you are capable of exercising more (and even thinking you “exercise a lot).

Studies show this form of delusion actually leads people to healthier lives.

You don’t necessarily need to be perfect every single day, despite popular belief.

If you simply tell yourself you’re doing well enough, or even better than the average person (which you probably are), you’ll probably keep going…right?

In my case, I didn’t think of myself as much of a runner a year ago.

I didn’t dedicate nearly enough time as some of the hardcore amateurs (35-40 miles per week) do. I’d be lucky to eke out 20.

Still, I told myself it was enough, given my schedule constraints.

As of 2025, I’ve found enough time to make 30 miles per week work. And boy, has it paid dividends.

I finished top 100 in a 5k recently with over 4,800 people.

Earlier this year, I finished 479th out of 11,000 in a 10k, running 6:30-minute miles. Do I consider myself an “elite” runner?

No, but in the past year and a half, I’ve become a damn good one.

That mindset shift took time.

As do many of them.

But the stories you tell yourself — down to the very last word and way you describe that story — MATTER. A LOT.

Don’t take it from me. Take it from the amazing clients I work with. (You know who you are).

Interested in 1:1 coaching? Comment on this post and let’s get started.

Good Afternoon!

I hope everybody had an amazing Thanksgiving.

Reading comprehension is (generally) defined as “the ability to extract meaning from a written text, prior knowledge, and analysis to understand and integrate it into what’s already known.”

Too many readers today lack this skill or have thrown it to the wind …

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Some Turkey Trot Thoughts

You probably don’t need to hear this unless you’re as Type-A obsessive as I am about progress, but not every race needs to (or will be) a personal best.

If you live with those expectations, you’ll almost certainly be let down more times than you’re impressed with yourself.

This…

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