What are the four fixes, and does the order matter?

Yes, the order matters. They are listed in the sequence that produces the least friction: the first one is usually the constraint everything else is waiting on, and starting at number three while number one is still broken is why previous attempts stalled. Run them in order, give each one long enough to actually take hold, and resist the urge to add a fifth. The shortest list you will still be following in three months beats the complete one you abandon in two weeks.

How long before I see anything change?

Different markers move on different clocks, and knowing the order in advance is most of what stops people quitting in week three. Subjective things — sleep, energy, appetite stability — usually shift first. Strength follows. Waist and bloodwork are slower and considerably more informative. We do not publish weight-loss figures or timelines, because honest ones do not exist for an individual. What the research does show consistently is that adherence predicts the outcome better than which framework you picked.

Do I need blood work before I start?

You can start the structural parts — sleep window, protein floor, resistance training, reducing ultra-processed food — without any test at all. None of them require a diagnosis to be sensible. Bloodwork earns its place when it changes what you should do, or when a marker needs watching while you change your diet. If any of the items on the right apply to you, get the labs first and involve a clinician.

Can I run this while I am on medication?

Usually, but not unsupervised. Dietary change alters how much medication some conditions need — glucose-lowering drugs in particular — and that adjustment belongs with the person who prescribed them. Tell your prescriber what you are changing and when. It is a two-minute conversation that prevents the one genuinely risky failure mode in an otherwise low-risk protocol.

What happens if I miss days?

Nothing structural. This is a protocol, not a streak — the physiology responds to what you do most weeks, not to an unbroken chain of perfect ones. Missing a training session or a bedtime does not reset anything. The pattern to watch is not the missed day but the missed fortnight. If one of the four fixes keeps sliding, that usually means it was too big a change to start with, so shrink it until it is boringly achievable and rebuild from there.

How is this different from the paid programme?

The research is identical and none of it is held back. What the free protocol cannot do is sequence twelve weeks for you, read your bloodwork, or notice that your logs stopped matching your plan three weeks ago. Most people should run the free protocol first. If it holds and you want structure and human review on top of it, the programme is there — and if the free version is working on its own, we would rather you kept your money.

Starter protocol · free

The Aging Lifter Protocol

45+ and active. Anabolic resistance, recovery slowing — adjust the system.

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Fixes first

Week-one actions

Citations

01The mechanism

What is actually happening

Older adults experience 'anabolic resistance' — they require higher protein per meal to trigger the same muscle protein synthesis that younger adults achieve at lower doses. Phillips 2016's 'beyond the RDA' work establishes the optimum at 1.2–1.6 g/kg for body composition, satiety, and ageing — and the per-meal threshold rises from ~20g (young adults) to ~30-40g (older adults) for maximal MPS. Cermak's 2012 meta-analysis confirmed protein supplementation augments resistance-training adaptations across all ages. The Fragala 2019 NSCA position is unambiguous: resistance training for older adults preserves strength, mobility, bone density, and metabolic health. The challenge isn't muscle's responsiveness — it's distribution, dose, and recovery. Tendon and joint adaptation slows; the same training stimulus that worked at 30 may produce overuse at 50 without thoughtful programming.¹²³⁴⁵

Who this fits

Adults 45+ have anabolic resistance — need higher protein per meal to trigger muscle protein synthesis. Recovery is slower; adjust accordingly.

Evidence base

This protocol rests on 5 peer-reviewed sources, listed in full further down the page. Where the evidence is mechanistic rather than outcome-based, the text says so.

02Highest leverage first

The four things to fix first

In this order. The first one is usually the constraint everything else is waiting on — starting at number three while number one is still broken is how previous attempts stalled.

01
Protein per meal, not just per day
30-40g at each of 3-4 meals beats hitting daily total in 1-2 large meals. Older adults need the per-meal dose to trigger MPS reliably. Spread it.
02
Strength train 3x/week, deliberately
Compound lifts, progressive overload, but with smarter recovery. Schoenfeld 2017 volume guidelines still apply (10-20 sets/muscle/week) but joint care matters more — warm up properly, periodize.
03
Tendons and joints: slower than muscle
Tendon adaptation lags muscle by ~3-6 months. Jumping volume aggressively produces tendinopathies that knock you out for months. Add volume in 10% increments every 4 weeks; deload every 4-6 weeks.
04
Recovery infrastructure
Sleep 8+ hours. Address mobility daily. Consider creatine 5g/day (one of the best-studied supplements for older adults — preserves muscle, may benefit cognition). Manage chronic stress.

03Start on Monday

Week one to two

Not a diet plan — a short daily list. Tick them off as you go; the point is to see how much of the protocol you are actually running before you judge whether it works.

Tick as you go

0 of 6 done today

Nothing here is saved or sent anywhere — it resets when you leave the page.

What to track

Evidence about your own body

01Strength progression (key lifts)
02Joint comfort 1–10 daily
03Sleep hours
04Weight monthly

Eight weeks of this gives you data about you, rather than an average from a study population.

04Where to go next

When to consider the full programme

This gets you from zero to functional

The starter protocol is designed to be self-run for two to four weeks. If you want the structured twelve-week curriculum — daily sequencing, meal guidance, lab interpretation by a clinician and a mentor who reads your logs — that is what the Ancestral Reset is.

See the programme Pricing

Related on this site

Other archetypes

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05The receipts

Every claim, sourced

These are the papers this protocol rests on. Follow any of them — we would rather you checked than took our word for it.

References

1.Fragala MS et al. (2019). Resistance Training for Older Adults: Position Statement From the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. PubMed 31339875
2.Phillips SM, Chevalier S, Leidy HJ (2016). Protein 'requirements' beyond the RDA: implications for optimizing health. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. PubMed 26960445
3.Phillips SM, Van Loon LJC (2011). Dietary protein for athletes: from requirements to optimum adaptation. Journal of Sports Sciences. PubMed 22150425
4.Cermak NM et al. (2012). Protein supplementation augments the adaptive response of skeletal muscle to resistance-type exercise training: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. PubMed 23134885
5.Wolfe RR (2006). The underappreciated role of muscle in health and disease. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. PubMed 16960159

06Before you start

Running this protocol

Questions people ask first

45+ and active. Anabolic resistance, recovery slowing — adjust the system. If that sentence describes the last year or two of your life more accurately than it describes anyone else's, you are in the right protocol.

Archetypes overlap on purpose — most people recognise themselves in two or three. The assessment resolves that by weighing the whole combination of your answers rather than one keyword, and tells you which pattern to work on first.

Check with the free assessment

Adults 45+ have anabolic resistance — need higher protein per meal to trigger muscle protein synthesis. Recovery is slower; adjust accordingly.

Timelines shown are the typical order in which markers move, not promises. Individual response varies with starting point, adherence, medication, age and sex.

Free · 2 minutes

Not sure this is your profile?

The Metabolic Assessment maps your specific answers to the right protocol — including the cases where two patterns overlap.

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Educational only, not medical advice. This protocol does not diagnose, treat or cure any condition. Consult your physician before major dietary changes or altering prescribed medication. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Individual results vary; no outcome is guaranteed.