Redox is one of those concepts that everyone has heard of but very few people truly grasp, and yet almost everything in human physiology depends on it. For trainers and clinicians, redox is the hidden language that tells you why someone can train hard one day and crash the next, why fat loss stalls even with perfect macros, why motivation drops without a psychological trigger, why inflammation rises mysteriously, or why protocols that used to work suddenly stop producing results. Redox isn’t a supplement, a lab marker, or a buzzword. It is the most fundamental process life uses to create energy, repair damage, and adapt to stress. When redox flows, people adapt. When it gets stuck, people stagnate. Understanding redox at a deep level gives you the ability to see beneath symptoms, beneath lab markers, beneath surface-level physiology, and down into the actual physics and molecular dynamics that determine whether a person is moving toward resilience or toward dysfunction. This redox deep dive will walk through what redox is, why it matters, how it gets stuck, what “stuck” actually means at the molecular level, and how different stressors push the system into different dysfunctional patterns. Throughout this, I’ll use analogies and imagery that make the invisible world of electrons and membranes feel intuitive and concrete, allowing you to visualize exactly what is happening inside cells when energy is being made—or when the system jams. You’ll see how mitochondrial membranes behave like electrical waterfalls, how electrons move like crowds of people flowing through hallways, how redox imbalance can freeze a system the way traffic jams choke off a city, and how trainers and clinicians unintentionally worsen stuck redox by focusing on quantity of activity instead of the phase of the system. Redox is short for reduction and oxidation the transfer of electrons. To understand why this matters, imagine every cell in your body as a tiny city. Energy isn’t created in one burst; it’s created by passing electrons down a series of steps, like handing a baton from one runner to the next. Reduction is when a molecule gains electrons, oxidation is when it loses electrons. In biology, electrons fall down an energetic staircase inside mitochondria called the electron transport chain. As electrons move, they power tiny pumps that push protons across a membrane, building what can be imagined as a “pressure gradient” or electrical tension. This tension the mitochondrial membrane potential is like the charged battery that lets ATP synthase spin and generate ATP. Think of it like water flowing through a hydroelectric dam: the higher the water pressure behind the dam, the more electricity you can generate. If the water level drops too low, the turbine stops. If the dam wall gets blocked and pressure rises too high, the system becomes dangerous. Mitochondria work exactly the same way. Redox is the management of electron flow across the mitochondrial inner membrane. Everything hinges on whether electrons are moving, whether they have somewhere to go, whether the membrane potential is balanced, and whether the cell can match energy demand with supply.

Most people approach supplements the same way they approach a checklist. Energy is low, so they take something for energy. Sleep is off, so they take something for sleep. Inflammation is present, so they take something to reduce inflammation. On the surface, that feels logical. In practice, it’s why so many people stay stuck. Take a common example. Someone uses magnesium for sleep and it works for a week or two, then the effect fades. The assumption is that the dose is wrong or the product isn’t strong enough. Almost never does anyone ask a better question. What changed in the system that made it stop working? The body is not a collection of independent problems waiting to be patched. It is an integrated, adaptive system built around one central priority: managing energy and information flow. Every symptom you experience is an output of that system. Not random. Not isolated. It is a response. When you take a supplement, you are not fixing anything. You are introducing a signal into that system. That signal interacts with cellular pathways, shifts chemistry, and influences how the body allocates resources. Sometimes that produces a desirable outcome. Sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes it works briefly before the system adapts and you are right back where you started. This is the point where most protocols quietly fail. This is where most people get stuck. They judge supplements based on whether they work instead of asking a more important question. What did this actually do to the system? If you zoom in at the cellular level, the picture becomes clearer. Every cell is constantly managing the movement of electrons through metabolic pathways, essentially how cells generate energy. That flow determines whether energy is produced efficiently or whether stress signals begin to accumulate. Mitochondria sit at the center of this process, integrating fuel availability, oxygen, and signaling inputs to decide how energy gets generated and how the cell responds. When pressure builds at key points in the system, particularly around the electron transport chain, the balance between electron supply and redox capacity begins to shift, and signaling follows. The system moves away from performance and toward protection.

Since they all work on mitochondria in different ways if you wanted to do the three in what order would you do the Epitalon and Ss-31? I’m sure mots would be the final stage. How would you run a cycle like this and why? And where would SLU-pp-331 come into play?

Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid made in the gut when bacteria ferment fiber that you cannot digest on your own. That simple process creates a molecule that acts as both a fuel and a signal across multiple systems in the body. Instead of thinking of fiber as something that just helps digestion, it is more accurate to think of it as a raw material that your microbiome converts into regulatory signals that influence metabolism, inflammation, and even sleep. When you eat fiber from foods like vegetables, fruits, and resistant starches, it travels through the small intestine largely unchanged. Once it reaches the colon, bacteria break it down through fermentation. This produces acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Of these, butyrate plays a particularly important role because it is the preferred fuel for the cells that line the colon. These cells, called colonocytes, form the barrier between your internal environment and the outside world. When colonocytes are fueled by butyrate, they function efficiently and maintain a strong barrier. When butyrate is low, these cells shift toward less efficient energy production and the barrier becomes more permeable. That allows substances like endotoxin to leak into circulation and drive inflammation throughout the body. So at the most basic level, butyrate helps determine whether the gut acts as a strong wall or a leaky filter. Inside the cell, butyrate is converted into acetyl CoA and enters the mitochondrial energy system. It feeds into the TCA cycle, which produces the reducing equivalents needed to drive the electron transport chain and generate ATP. This is not just about making energy. The type of fuel you use affects how electrons flow through the system. Butyrate tends to support a more balanced redox state compared to a heavy reliance on glucose metabolism under stress. That balance helps maintain efficient mitochondrial function and reduces the likelihood of excessive reactive oxygen species disrupting signaling. Butyrate also acts at the level of gene expression. It inhibits enzymes called histone deacetylases. These enzymes normally tighten DNA around histones and limit access to certain genes. When butyrate inhibits them, the DNA structure becomes more open and accessible. This allows increased expression of genes involved in antioxidant defense, mitochondrial function, and inflammation control. In simple terms, butyrate helps unlock parts of your genetic library that support repair and resilience.

A new area of research is starting to reshape how we think about aging, energy, and performance at the cellular level. At the center of this discussion is a molecule called NAD, which stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. NAD is not just another nutrient or supplement. It is a core currency of life inside your cells. Every time your body creates energy, repairs DNA, regulates inflammation, or adapts to stress, NAD is involved. As we age, NAD levels naturally decline, and this decline is closely tied to fatigue, slower recovery, reduced cognitive function, and increased susceptibility to disease. Understanding what controls NAD and how we can influence it is one of the most important frontiers in both medicine and performance. To understand NAD, it helps to picture the cell as a city powered by electricity. The mitochondria are the power plants, and NAD is one of the key carriers that moves energy through the system. Specifically, NAD exists in two forms, NAD plus and NADH. NAD plus is like an empty battery waiting to be charged, while NADH is the charged version carrying energy. When nutrients like glucose and fatty acids are broken down, electrons are transferred onto NAD plus, converting it into NADH. This NADH then delivers those electrons into the mitochondrial electron transport chain, where energy is converted into ATP, the usable form of energy that powers everything from muscle contraction to brain function. As long as this cycle is flowing efficiently, energy production remains stable. But this system is not just about energy. NAD also acts as a signaling molecule that controls enzymes involved in DNA repair, inflammation, and cellular stress responses. Some of the most important enzymes that use NAD include sirtuins, which are often described as longevity proteins, and PARPs, which are involved in repairing damaged DNA. There is also another major consumer of NAD that has gained attention recently, an enzyme called CD38. CD38 plays a unique role in the body. It sits on the surface of many cells, especially immune cells, and acts as an NAD degrading enzyme. In simple terms, CD38 breaks down NAD. This is not inherently bad. CD38 has important roles in immune signaling and calcium regulation, which are essential for proper cellular communication. However, as we age, CD38 activity tends to increase. This means that more NAD is being consumed and less is available for energy production and repair processes.