Biohacking Fitness: Maximizing Workout Efficiency

If you’ve spent much time in a gym, spotting goal-oriented people is easy. They’ve got a plan, easily move from machines to benches, and get their reps completed without many grunts, smartphone breaks, or attention.

These people might be biohacking their workouts. We’ll explain what that means, learn the benefits of this type of system, and give you tips on how you can get started and experience better, higher-quality workouts with more energy and focus. 

What Is Biohacking Fitness?

Biohacking is a buzzword worth knowing. It describes the process of DIY biology, using what we know about our bodies and how they function to modify them to improve performance, increase mental clarity, optimize our energy levels, and live longer and healthier lives. 

Biohackers use methods like intermittent fasting, cryotherapy, red light therapy, and even drinking coffee and using supplements to modify how their bodies work. In the realm of fitness, biohackers look for ways to maximize their workouts by doing more strenuous work in less time for better results. 

These biohacks can range from simple adjustments to workout routines through high-tech workout equipment designed to give you a higher-intensity workout in half the time. 

Does Biohacking Fitness Work?

If you’ve been accustomed to working out for 30 minutes to an hour each day, you will be a hard sell on accepting that it’s possible to get better results in a shorter amount of time. Science says it’s not only possible; it’s factual. 

In studies, high-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT, actually supported more energy production on the cellular level by supplying the mitochondria with more proteins. 

Shorter workouts with higher intensity also trump continuous moderate-intensity workouts when it comes to the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. BDNF helps protect neurons and is essential for maintaining your brain’s plasticity as you age. Brain plasticity helps your brain retain new information, increases memory, improves cognitive function, and allows it to change and reshape itself. 

Will I Gain Muscle With Short Workouts?

Most of us would be lying if we said we didn’t work out (at least partly) to maintain a body composition we like. Can shorter strength training sessions still increase muscle mass as much as traditional weightlifting? Is it possible to maintain a healthy weight without doing 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise each week?

Science says yes. Research suggests that the best way to gain lean muscle is to focus on lifting heavier weights (a certain percentage of your one-rep max weight) for fewer reps, as opposed to higher reps at a lower weight. 

As for cardiovascular exercise, a study published in 2018 found that weight lifting and resistance training was better for your heart health than any amount of cardiovascular exercise, with benefits that can be detected years after you stop strength training. In addition, science supports that weight lifting alone burns more fat than cardiovascular exercise, helps keep your metabolism supported, and helps you burn more calories by helping you build more muscle. 

Bottom line: Science supports biohacking your workout. Now, let’s talk about how to do it. 

How Do I Biohack My Workout?

There are multiple ways you can biohack your workout. From techy, wearable gadgets (like a smartwatch) that give you a constant stream of data while you exercise to machines capable of customizing a full-body workout based on your specific fitness level, there are numerous ways for you to work smarter and maybe a little harder, in a shorter amount of time.

1. Sprinting > Running

Running is the go-to cardio workout for many. It’s easy, doesn’t require a lot of equipment, and gives you a massive endorphin release. However, there are mixed reviews on running, from the fact that it can be hard on your joints to indications that some types of long-distance running may not be good for your heart. 

Biohack your running by swapping your typical 5k for timed sprints. Sprinting is a form of HIIT that helps keep your heart rate within the 60 to 85 percent range for the majority of your workout, with short bursts of high-intensity exercise that utilizes your maximum heart rate. 

You’ll burn more calories, take better care of your heart, and get a great workout in half the time it takes you to knock out a three-mile run. 

2. Warm up with an infrared sauna. 

Hitting the sauna before your workout? Yes! Your warmup will likely cost you time that you could use more efficiently. 

Stepping into the sauna for a few minutes (or until your body naturally begins to sweat) helps increase blood flow, loosen up your muscles, and get you ready for an injury-free workout. 

The bonus of using an infrared sauna is that its light waves can penetrate the skin. These rays can stimulate mitochondria, which can encourage more cellular energy. You’ll save time, amp up your energy, and keep yourself safe during your workout.

3. Use devices wisely. 

Your Apple Watch or Garmin is more than just status wrist decor. These gadgets have tools that can help support you during your workouts. 

Most smartwatches give you the ability to:

• Track and log your workouts.
• Monitor your heart rate during workouts.
• Measure caloric burn based on your workout style.
• Protect your hearing. 
• Listen to your favorite biohacker’s podcast.

You can even take an echocardiogram with some models and upload your blood work and use apps to keep track of your blood sugar. Find which apps work best for you and actually help you during your workouts, and use those. Don’t waste time or energy tracking information you don’t need.

4. Try a machine. 

As technology and AI advances, so do our workout machines. Now, we have access to “smart” machines that help us get a better workout in less time in a format that is completely tailored to our own bodies and abilities. 

Popular AI machines, like the ARX, use controlled, motorized resistance in place of weights. The same type of technology is available for spinning and rowing, too. 

These machines are compact, usually come with an available subscription for workouts, and are designed to be used to get a complete strength training workout in about 12 minutes. 

5. Go for a walk. 

At the end of the day, walking is one of the biggest biohacks for maximizing your workouts. In a world that often accepts the “more is always better” mentality as a fact, walking has taken a backseat to running, rowing, cycling, or doing anything higher in intensity. 

Walking is one of the best ways to biohack your body and improve your overall well-being. Studies associate higher daily step counts with a quantifiable decrease in the risk of mortality. 

Walking is low-impact, helps support lymphatic drainage and flow, exposes you to natural light if you walk outdoors, and even helps improve mental clarity and focus. 

How a Supplement Can Help Biohack Your Workouts

Protein powder, creatine, and caffeine are popular biohackersupplements that are routinely used to get the most benefit out of a workout and improve health. There’s a new biohackingsupplement available that research shows can help you biohack your workouts on a cellular level.

 

Introducing C15:0

C15:0 is an odd-chain, saturated fatty acid that science accepts as the newest essential fatty acid to have been discovered in over 90 years. C15:0 helps improve your workouts, and your overall wellness, by literally reversing cellular aging. 

The foundation of your health begins in your cells. When your cells are healthy, your body is healthy, and you can tackle more aggressive workouts with more sustainable, long-lasting energy. With age, our cells begin to weaken and lose their function. 

Their protective membranes wear thin, causing them to lose their shape and impacting their ability to work properly. Their mitochondria lose speed, producing less energy and affecting every system in our bodies. 

C15:0 targets these weak areas by: 

• Strengthening cell membranes. C15:0 is a sturdy fatty acid that integrates itself into cell membranes to fortify them and help them stay protected and keep their shape. In studies, C15:0 increased cellular strength by 80%.

• Improving mitochondrial function. C15:0 rescues cellular energy pathways by decreasing damaging reactive oxygen species by 45%.

• Increasing cellular energy. C15:0 has been shown to have significant cell energy (aka ATP) generating power. In one peer-reviewed study, C15:0 was shown to increase ATP levels in cells by 350%.

• Clearing damaged cells. By activating AMPK, C15:0 helps support cellular homeostasis and downstream C15:0 inhibits mTOR, which helps clear damaged “zombie” cells. 

• Regulating inflammatory response. Proinflammatory cytokines are a key driver in aging, and C15:0 helps calm and lower levels of these molecules. 

• Restoring balance to homeostatic functions. C15:0 activates both AMPK and PPARɑ and PPARẟ receptors, which control glucose uptake, immunity, and metabolic health and play a role in heart and liver health. By activating these receptors, C15:0 helps modulate and balance their function, which can also result in improved sleep, lowered anxiety and less snacking between meals. 

Taking C15:0 daily can help support your energy levels and biohack your cells so they function better, regardless of age. It’s one of the best choices you can make to support your body and your workouts.

Where To Find C15:0

C15:0 is found primarily in whole-fat dairy products like whole milk and full-fat butter. However, increasing your intake of these foods may not be the best idea because that would mean taking in extra calories and unhealthy, even-chain saturated fats. Instead, there’s a hack for that.

Fatty15: The C15:0 Solution

Fatty15 is the first and only supplement that contains the pure, vegan-friendly, sustainably-produced, award-winning version of C15:0, known as FA15™. Taking one capsule per day is enough to biohack your workouts, support your cells, and give you the ability to age on your own terms.

Biohacking Workouts 

When you look into biohacking the system, you can elevate your workouts and get more done in less time. Using more energy over a smaller period of time can yield more beneficial results and help you establish a better baseline for your health. Not to mention, you’ll also pay dividends into your longevity. 

You can take biohacking a step further by taking a supplement that helps support your longevity and keeps your cells aging healthfully. Fatty15 gives you the ability to keep your cells functioning healthfully, longer. 

Sources:

Enhanced Protein Translation Underlies Improved Metabolic and Physical Adaptations to Different Exercise Training Modes in Young and Old Humans

Elevated Lactate by High-Intensity Interval Training Regulates the Hippocampal BDNF Expression and the Mitochondrial Quality Control System

The role of resistance exercise intensity on muscle fibre adaptations

Different types of physical activity offer varying protection against heart disease

Strength training can burn fat too, myth-busting study finds -- ScienceDaily

Far-infrared rays enhance mitochondrial biogenesis and GLUT3 expression under low glucose conditions in rat skeletal muscle cells - PMC

Prospective Associations of Daily Step Counts and Intensity With Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Incidence and Mortality and All-Cause Mortality | Cancer Screening, Prevention, Control | JAMA Internal Medicine | JAMA Network

Efficacy of dietary odd-chain saturated fatty acid pentadecanoic acid parallels broad associated health benefits in humans: could it be essential? | Scientific Reports

A review of odd-chain fatty acid metabolism and the role of pentadecanoic Acid (c15:0) and heptadecanoic Acid (c17:0) in health and disease