For the last few years a sort of battle has existed regarding protein.

Is meat or vegan protein better?

How much protein should I take? Is it too little or too much? Do people in general need more protein or less protein?

Beyond that, some say that meat proteins cause an inflammatory response in the body so we should get protein from plants.

Others say we need more animal protein, that it’s a superior protein source and provides key nutrients not available in plant proteins.

Some say too much protein is toxic and others say too little protein impacts our hormones, muscle, bones, mood, and immune system.

So how do we answer this?

Well, we don’t.

Because we’re asking the wrong questions.

And the reason we’re asking the wrong questions is because we’re starting from the wrong point of data.

Let's dive in.

Getting good sleep is one of the most important things we can do, not just for muscle building and fat loss but for our mood, energy levels, and overall health.

Sleep is when our body is able to recover and repair cells, a lack of it even affects our aging process, speeding it up internally, as well as visibly causing wrinkles and sagging skin. 

During the first few hours of deep sleep is when many hormones, including growth hormone and IGF (major fat-burning hormone) are released.

Getting enough sleep also helps to keep cortisol levels lower and balance estrogen, testosterone, progesterone and thyroid.

So if we want a lean, toned or muscled body, then we need deep sleep every night for full recovery, muscle building, natural fat loss and hormonal balance.

Yet a third of Americans get poor sleep, and those with the worst sleep generally have poor health.

So what causes this and what can we do to not only get better, deeper, more refreshing sleep, but also to reverse the effects of poor sleep?

Let’s dive in and see.

In this article we want to give you a window into the life of an elite athlete and find out how they train on a daily basis, and how they ready themself for an international tournament.

Because, whether you’re training to elite level yourself, or just trying to stay fit and healthy, what they know and do could work wonders for you.

We want to know how they prepare, both physically and mentally, and even strategically.

What is their training cadence, diet, workout regimen, and mind set?

What is their recovery protocol and sleep routine, and what other tricks do they have?

In short — we want to know what it takes to become the best?

And to find out, we asked one of the best.

Meet Mitchell Saron, a Filipino American, right-handed saber fencer who is, quite literally, one of the best on the planet.

Let’s dive in.

We know about amino acids, hormones, and how different foods affect our ability to build lean muscle, burn fat and stay healthy. 

But if we want to achieve maximum levels of energy, recovery, health and performance, and build the most lean muscle, then we need to go down to the cellular level. 

After all, our bodies are just one big mass of some 100 trillion cells all bonded together. 

How well we're doing is an exact reflection of how well our cells are doing.

Many people think of bodybuilding as just trying to build the biggest muscles we can. And that’s not quite true.

Bodybuilding is about building one’s ideal physique. And, while that includes achieving bigger muscles, it also means achieving balance, symmetry and aesthetics.

But there are those who do try for building the biggest muscles they can, which there is nothing wrong with.

Unfortunately, many of them employ substances which, while helping to achieve their goals faster, and in some cases achieve more than they could naturally, also result in serious health conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, something which is becoming more and more prevalent amongst bodybuilders today.

In this article we’re going to cover the use of steroids and insulin injections, why they're used, how they work, and how these significantly increase the risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes down the road.

In this article we're going to cover something that is key to increasing the overall endurance, performance, and recovery ability of an athlete.

But while it's very important for an athlete, or anyone into fitness of any sort — it’s also important for anyone who is just wishing to raise their overall health and energy levels.

This is because, no matter where we're starting from, very high or very low, if we address it, we can significantly raise not just our energy production and performance abilities, but our overall health, across the spectrum, possibly even removing health troubles we thought were: "just they way it is."

It's called VO2 Max. V is for Volume, O2 is for Oxygen, and Max is for Maximum.

VO2 Max literally means the maximum amount, or volume, of oxygen that your cells are currently able to utilize during intense exercise, before you burn out.

Note the word currently.

Because when we raise the maximum amount of oxygen each cell can take in and use, so that they're able to and do use more, we end up raising energy production, performance, endurance, our ability to recover, and possibly even reverse conditions we thought would never go away.

And it's not hard to do.

So let’s dive in.

Most people think of electrolytes as something to take when they’re dehydrated. And this is true.

But there’s much more to it than that.

They allow your nervous system to function, your cells to function, and energy to be created.

When they’re low we can get brain fog, have headaches or back aches or feel exhausted.

They’re even necessary for protein synthesis for recovery and muscle building, and this slows down when we don’t have our electrolytes.

And they’re absolutely vital for hormonal creation and balance.

So let’s take a good look at what electrolytes are and what they actually do in the body. Because they’re very important.