What We’re Actually Fighting: The 7 Biological Processes of Aging

Before you can build a protocol you need to understand what’s breaking your body down. Aging isn’t just one thing. It’s a combination of specific biological processes that are all happening at once.

Chronic inflammation is the silent killer. It’s behind almost every major disease. Heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, all of it. Most of us are walking around with low grade inflammation every single day and we don’t even know it’s there.

Muscle loss is another big one. Doctors are calling muscle mass the organ of longevity. More muscle means better insulin sensitivity, lower inflammation, stronger bones, better hormones. The guys who stay independent and functional into their 90s are the ones who kept their muscle. It’s that simple.

Hormonal decline hits everyone. Testosterone, growth hormone, IGF-1. They all start dropping and when they do your muscle goes down, your fat goes up, your energy tanks, and your recovery falls off a cliff.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is why you feel tired all the time. Your mitochondria produce energy for every cell in your body. When they break down everything slows down with them.

DNA damage and telomere shortening are your biological clock. Every time your cells divide your telomeres get shorter. When they’re gone your cells stop working properly. This is aging at the genetic level.

Cortisol from chronic stress is destroying you slowly. High cortisol breaks down muscle, increases belly fat, wrecks your sleep, and accelerates every other aging process on this list.

Cellular senescence is when damaged cells refuse to clear out. They just sit there poisoning the environment around them and as you age you accumulate more and more of them.

Now here’s how I’m attacking every single one.

Muscle Mass: The Foundation of Longevity

Crushing Inflammation with BPC-157 and TB-500 Peptides

Chronic inflammation is the silent killer behind almost every disease that takes people out early. Heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, autoimmune conditions. All of them have chronic low-grade inflammation as the underlying driver. Most guys are walking around inflamed every single day and they don’t even know it until something breaks.

Nutrition is the first line of defense. I cut out processed foods and seed oils years ago. Those industrial oils are in everything and they’re destroying people from the inside out. I eat fatty fish like salmon and sardines multiple times a week. Real olive oil, not the fake stuff they cut with canola. Turmeric with black pepper to boost absorption. Dark leafy greens like spinach and kale. All of it works together to keep systemic inflammation down naturally without needing drugs.

On the peptide side I run BPC-157 and it’s one of the most well researched compounds out there for inflammation and gut health. Here’s why gut health matters so much. A massive amount of chronic inflammation actually starts in your gut. Leaky gut, dysbiosis, poor gut lining integrity. When your gut is compromised you get lipopolysaccharides and partially digested food particles leaking into your bloodstream. Your immune system sees them as invaders and starts attacking. That creates systemic inflammation that spreads everywhere.

BPC-157 comes in two forms and which one you use depends on what you’re trying to fix. Injectable BPC-157 at 500 mcg subcutaneously works systemically throughout your entire body. It’s what I use for overall inflammation control, joint and tendon issues, systemic healing, and general tissue repair. If you’ve got a nagging shoulder injury or chronic joint inflammation the injectable form is what you want because it gets into your bloodstream and works throughout your body.

Oral BPC-157 in capsule form is what you use when your primary issue is gut-related. If you’re dealing with IBS, leaky gut, ulcers, gut inflammation, or digestive issues the oral capsules stay concentrated in your GI tract and do serious work on repairing your gut lining. The capsule form doesn’t make it into your bloodstream in meaningful amounts so it’s not going to help your joints or systemic inflammation the way injectable does. But for gut repair it’s incredibly effective because it’s working directly on the tissue that needs it.

I personally run injectable BPC-157 at 500 mcg daily in 10- to 12-week cycles, with 8- to 10-week breaks in between to avoid receptor desensitization. If I’m dealing with gut issues I’ll add oral BPC capsules on top of the injectable protocol. The gut repair alone makes BPC worth running but the systemic anti-inflammatory and healing effects throughout your entire body are what make it essential for longevity.

I stack it with TB-500, which I run at 2 mg subcutaneously two times per week during the same cycle. TB-500 is thymosin beta-4 and it works on a different pathway than BPC. Where BPC focuses heavily on gut repair and localized healing, TB-500 works systemically to promote tissue repair and regeneration throughout your entire body. It supports healing in muscles, tendons, ligaments, and reduces inflammation at the cellular level. The two together create a powerful one-two punch for crushing inflammation and accelerating recovery from training or old injuries that never fully healed.

Growth Hormone Optimization with Ipamorelin, CJC-1295, and Tesamorelin

This is where peptides really start to show their value and why I’ll never touch synthetic growth hormone. Growth hormone is critical for building and retaining muscle as you age. When your GH levels are optimized you recover faster from training, you build lean muscle more efficiently, you burn fat easier especially around the midsection, and your sleep quality improves dramatically. The problem is natural GH production drops off a cliff after your 30s. By the time you’re in your 50s you’re producing a fraction of what you did at 25.

Most guys think the answer is synthetic HGH injections. It’s not. Synthetic HGH shuts down your own natural production completely. Your pituitary gland stops making growth hormone because you’re flooding your system with exogenous hormone. When you come off you’re left with even lower natural production than when you started. It’s also expensive as hell, requires daily injections, and comes with serious side effects like insulin resistance, joint pain, and increased cancer risk if you run it long term.

Peptides work completely differently. Ipamorelin and CJC-1295 don’t give you growth hormone. They signal your pituitary gland to release more of your own natural growth hormone. Your body is still producing it. You’re just amplifying the signal. This means you maintain your natural production, you avoid the shutdown that comes with synthetic HGH, and you’re working with your body’s existing feedback loops instead of overriding them.

I run 300 mcg of Ipamorelin and 300 mcg of CJC-1295 together before bed, 5 days a week with weekends off. I run this for 12 weeks and then take a 4 week break before starting another cycle. Taking it before bed matters because that’s when growth hormone naturally peaks. You’re amplifying your body’s existing rhythm instead of fighting against it. The 5 days on, 2 days off schedule prevents receptor desensitization and keeps your pituitary responsive to the signal.

The muscle-building and retention benefits are significant. Better recovery means I can train harder and more frequently without overtraining. Improved protein synthesis means the protein I’m eating actually gets used to build muscle instead of just getting burned for energy or stored as fat. Fat loss accelerates especially visceral fat around the organs which is the most dangerous kind. And sleep quality goes through the roof which feeds back into better recovery and hormone production.

Tesamorelin is another option I cycle in and it’s incredibly effective for growth hormone release and visceral fat reduction. Tesamorelin is a GHRH analogue so it works through the same pathway as CJC-1295 but it’s more potent and specifically researched for reducing belly fat. You can run Tesamorelin at 2 mg before bed instead of the Ipamorelin/CJC combo, or you can cycle between them like I do. I’ll run Ipamorelin/CJC for 12 weeks, take a 4 week break, then switch to Tesamorelin for 12 weeks. Both work extremely well but they hit the pathway slightly differently so cycling between them prevents receptor burnout and keeps your body responding.

Why this approach is safer than synthetic HGH or even HCG. With synthetic HGH you’re introducing a foreign hormone that shuts down your natural production. With HCG you’re manipulating your testosterone and estrogen levels which can create a cascade of hormonal issues if you’re not dialed in perfectly. With secretagogues like Ipamorelin, CJC-1295, and Tesamorelin you’re just telling your body to do what it’s already designed to do. Produce growth hormone naturally through your own pituitary. You’re not replacing anything. You’re not shutting anything down. You’re amplifying what’s already there.

I also make sure my zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D levels are optimized. All three are critical for hormone production. Zinc is a cofactor in testosterone and growth hormone synthesis. Magnesium supports over 300 enzymatic reactions including hormone production and sleep quality. Vitamin D is actually a hormone precursor and most guys are severely deficient. If these aren’t dialed in your peptides won’t work as well as they should.

Peptides can get expensive, but as an FYI - BioEdge is doing 10% off this month (code pep10 at bioedgepeptides.com), one of the few suppliers that consistently delivers what their lab reports claim.

Buy Now

Supercharging Mitochondria with NAD+ and MOTS-c Peptide

Your mitochondria are the powerhouses inside every cell in your body. They produce ATP which is the energy currency that runs everything. When your mitochondria break down you feel it immediately. Low energy even after sleeping well. Slow recovery from workouts that used to be easy. Brain fog that makes it hard to focus. You just feel old and worn out even though nothing specific is wrong. That’s mitochondrial dysfunction and it’s one of the primary drivers of aging.

As you age your mitochondria get damaged, stop producing energy efficiently, and your body can’t clear out the dysfunctional ones fast enough. You end up with cells full of broken mitochondria that can’t do their job. This is why you see guys in their 50s and 60s who are exhausted all the time even though they’re not doing anything particularly demanding. Their cellular energy production has collapsed.

NAD+ supplementation is the foundation for fixing this. NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is a coenzyme that exists in every cell in your body and it’s absolutely critical for mitochondrial function. Your NAD+ levels drop by roughly 50% between age 40 and 60. When NAD+ drops your mitochondria can’t produce ATP efficiently. Your cells can’t repair damaged DNA. Sirtuins which are longevity proteins can’t function properly. Everything starts breaking down at the cellular level.

I use injectable NAD+ which you can get from BioEdge Research Labs. Injectable is significantly more effective than the oral precursors like NMN or NR because you’re getting actual NAD+ directly into your bloodstream instead of hoping your body converts a precursor efficiently. I run 50 to 100 mg subcutaneously 2 to 3 times per week. Within a week of starting NAD+ most people notice dramatically improved energy levels. Recovery from training gets faster. Mental clarity improves. Sleep quality often gets better because your cells have the energy to repair themselves properly at night.

The benefits go way beyond just feeling more energetic. NAD+ activates sirtuins which are proteins that regulate cellular health, DNA repair, and inflammation. It supports mitochondrial biogenesis which is your body’s ability to create new healthy mitochondria to replace the damaged ones. It improves insulin sensitivity because your cells can actually process glucose properly when they have adequate energy. And it supports DNA repair mechanisms that prevent the genetic damage that accumulates with age.

MOTS-c is the other piece and this peptide is seriously underrated for longevity. Your body makes MOTS-c naturally in your mitochondria but levels drop significantly as you age. MOTS-c is a mitochondrial-derived peptide that activates AMPK which is your body’s master energy sensor and metabolic regulator. Think of AMPK as the switch that tells your body to burn fat for energy, clear out damaged cells, improve insulin sensitivity, and optimize metabolic function.

When AMPK is activated your body shifts into a state that mimics caloric restriction and exercise even when you’re not in a calorie deficit. It tells your cells to burn stored fat for energy instead of just relying on incoming glucose. It activates autophagy which is your body’s process for clearing out damaged proteins and dysfunctional cellular components. It improves mitochondrial function by promoting the creation of new healthy mitochondria and clearing out the old broken ones. And it dramatically improves insulin sensitivity which protects you from diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

I run MOTS-c at 5 mg subcutaneously three times a week for 10 week cycles and then take a break. The fat loss effects are noticeable. You start leaning out without changing anything else in your diet or training. Energy levels stay elevated throughout the day. Recovery improves because your cells have better metabolic flexibility and can produce energy more efficiently. And the insulin sensitivity improvements mean you can handle carbohydrates better without spiking blood sugar or storing everything as fat.

NAD+ is the fuel that powers your mitochondria. MOTS-c is the signal that tells your body to optimize energy production and clear out the dysfunction. Together they’re attacking mitochondrial decline from both angles and the results are significant. Better energy. Faster recovery. Improved body composition. Better metabolic health. This is cellular optimization at the most fundamental level.

Protecting DNA and Telomeres with Epitalon and GHK-Cu

Telomeres are the protective caps on the end of your chromosomes. Every time your cells divide your telomeres get shorter. When they get too short your cells stop dividing properly and either die or become senescent which means they’re alive but dysfunctional and poisoning the tissue around them. This is aging at the genetic level.

Most supplements marketed for telomere health are garbage. Epitalon is different. It’s one of the few compounds with actual research showing it can influence telomere length by upregulating telomerase which is the enzyme that rebuilds telomeres. Russian researchers have been studying it since the 1980s and the data shows it can extend telomere length and improve markers of biological aging.

I run Epitalon at 1 mg subcutaneously every day for 20 consecutive days. Then I leave it completely alone for 5 to 6 months before doing another cycle. Short concentrated cycles are more effective than continuous dosing because you’re creating a strong signal for telomerase activation without desensitizing the pathway. This isn’t something you feel immediately. You’re playing the long game. Slowing down aging markers and maintaining your cells’ ability to function properly for longer.

GHK-Cu is a copper peptide that works on a completely different angle. It drops significantly as you age and by 60 you have roughly 60% less than you did at 20. This peptide is involved in wound healing, tissue remodeling, and clearing out senescent cells. Senescent cells are damaged cells that refuse to die and just sit there creating inflammation and poisoning healthy tissue around them. They’re one of the major drivers of aging.

GHK-Cu helps clear out these senescent cells and supports tissue regeneration. It activates genes involved in collagen synthesis. It has antioxidant properties that protect cells from oxidative damage. It supports new blood vessel formation so your tissues get better nutrient delivery. And it reduces chronic inflammation throughout your body.

I run GHK-Cu at 1 to 2 mg subcutaneously daily for 10 week cycles and then take a break. Some people notice improvements in skin quality and wound healing quickly. The deeper effects on cellular repair and senescent cell clearance are happening in the background. You’re cleaning up damaged tissue and supporting your body’s natural regeneration processes.

On the nutrition side I eat berries for polyphenols and antioxidants that protect DNA from oxidative damage. Green tea has EGCG which supports telomere length. Dark leafy greens provide folate which is critical for DNA synthesis and repair. The antioxidants protect your DNA from damage while Epitalon maintains telomere length and GHK-Cu clears out damaged cells.

This is longevity at the genetic level. Protecting your telomeres. Clearing out senescent cells. Supporting DNA repair. These interventions determine whether you’re healthy and functional at 80 or falling apart.

Peptides can get expensive, but as an FYI - BioEdge is doing 10% off this month (code pep10 at bioedgepeptides.com), one of the few suppliers that consistently delivers what their lab reports claim.

Buy Now

The 72 Hour Fast Protocol for Autophagy and Longevity

Twice a year I do a 72 hour water fast. This is one of the most powerful tools in the entire protocol for cellular cleanup and metabolic reset.

By hour 24 your body has burned through glycogen and shifted into ketosis. By hour 48 autophagy kicks in hard. That’s your body’s cleanup system and it’s aggressively clearing out damaged cells. By hour 72 you’re in deep autophagy and your stem cells are being activated. Your body is essentially rebooting itself.

The fast crushes inflammation, resets metabolism, and growth hormone can spike significantly during extended fasts. I do this twice a year. Any more than that and you’re not giving your body time to rebuild properly. I continue BPC-157 during and after the fast to support gut health through the process.

Breaking the Fast Right

The refeeding period is just as important as the fast itself. After 72 hours your body is primed to absorb nutrients and rebuild. If you screw this up you lose a lot of the benefit.

I start with bone broth. Nothing heavy. Let my digestive system ease back in. Then small meals over the next couple days. Eggs, lean protein, vegetables. I don’t immediately jump back into eating like normal. I take 2 to 3 days to ease back into regular eating.

Managing Cortisol and Stress for Anti-Aging

Chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated and elevated cortisol is quietly destroying everything you’re trying to build. It breaks down muscle tissue even when you’re eating enough protein and training properly. It increases visceral belly fat which is the most dangerous kind because it surrounds your organs and creates systemic inflammation. It wrecks sleep quality so you can’t recover. It suppresses testosterone and growth hormone production. And it accelerates every other aging process on this list. Most guys completely ignore stress management and then wonder why they can’t make progress even though they’re doing everything else right.

Cortisol isn’t the enemy. You need cortisol spikes to wake up in the morning and respond to acute stress. The problem is chronic elevation where your cortisol never comes back down. You’re stressed about work, about money, about family, and your body is in fight-or-flight mode 24/7. That constant elevation is what destroys you.

I take ashwagandha daily and the research on this for lowering cortisol is solid. Studies show it can reduce cortisol levels by 20 to 30 percent in chronically stressed individuals. I take 500 to 600 mg of a high-quality extract. Magnesium at night supports the parasympathetic nervous system which is your rest-and-digest mode. It helps you actually relax and get into deep sleep instead of lying there wired. Vitamin D kept in the optimal range has been shown to modulate stress response and support healthy cortisol rhythms. These three together make a measurable difference in how your body handles stress.

I do 10 minutes of meditation in the morning. Nothing fancy. Just sitting quietly and focusing on breathing. It sets the tone for the day and keeps my nervous system from being reactive to every little stressor. When stress builds during the day I use box breathing. Inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4. Repeat for a few minutes. It’s simple but it works because you’re directly activating your parasympathetic nervous system and forcing your body out of fight-or-flight mode.

I also get outside and walk every day. Even if it’s just 20 minutes. Time in nature lowers cortisol in a way you can’t replicate indoors. There’s actual research showing that walking in green spaces reduces stress hormones, lowers blood pressure, and improves mood more effectively than walking in urban environments. It’s not just the movement. It’s the exposure to natural light, fresh air, and being away from screens and constant stimulation.

You can have the perfect peptide protocol and train like a machine but if your cortisol is chronically elevated you’re fighting a losing battle. Stress management isn’t optional. It’s foundational.

Sleep Protocol for Longevity: Why 7-8 Hours is Non-Negotiable

Sleep is the most underrated longevity tool and most guys are completely ignoring it. You can have the perfect peptide protocol, train like a machine, eat clean, and if you’re sleeping 5 to 6 hours a night you’re aging yourself faster than you think.

Sleep is when your body does the real work. Damaged tissue gets repaired. Your brain clears metabolic waste through the glymphatic system. Growth hormone spikes. Testosterone gets produced. Your immune system rebuilds itself. Screw up sleep and you’re undoing everything you did during the day.

Here’s what my sleep protocol looks like. I aim for 7 to 8 hours every single night. Non-negotiable. I keep the room dark with blackout curtains. I keep it cool, around 65 to 68 degrees. Your body temperature needs to drop to get into deep sleep. I stop screens an hour before bed. Blue light wrecks your melatonin production.

For peptides I run CJC-1295 and Ipamorelin before bed at 200 mcg each. This combo creates a powerful nighttime growth hormone pulse and significantly improves deep sleep quality. If sleep is really an issue I’ll add DSIP at 100 mcg 2 to 3 times per week. It’s a game changer for deep sleep.

Magnesium before bed supports muscle relaxation and sleep quality. I also use ashwagandha which helps lower cortisol and supports deeper sleep. If sleep is an issue for you those two alone can make a noticeable difference.

Consistency matters. I go to bed and wake up around the same time every day, even on weekends. Your circadian rhythm thrives on consistency. When you’re all over the place with sleep timing your hormones get wrecked and recovery suffers.

Poor sleep accelerates aging. It increases inflammation, spikes cortisol, tanks testosterone and growth hormone, and screws up insulin sensitivity. You can’t out-supplement bad sleep. Fix your sleep and everything else works better.

Recovery Protocol: Sauna, Sleep, and Healing Peptides

Recovery is everything. If you’re not recovering properly nothing else works.

I do sauna 2 to 3 times a week. The research on sauna for longevity is extensive. It lowers inflammation, supports cardiovascular health, and can boost growth hormone. Twenty minutes at 180 degrees is my sweet spot.

BPC-157 and TB-500 are doing a lot of the recovery work too. These peptides support healing and tissue repair faster than your body would do on its own. If you’re training hard or dealing with any lingering injuries this combo is essential.

The Peptide Protocol