Dr. Allison Brager: Improve Sleep Efficiency & Resilience

In this episode, I explore testosterone and performance, building on my conversation with Dr. Ben House to take a closer look at how nutrition, metabolic health, and aging affect your hormones. I explain why excess body fat and underfueling can both suppress testosterone, how aggressive dieting differs from a modest calorie deficit, and what research suggests about hormone recovery after refeeding. I examine emerging findings on testosterone and aging, why metabolic health matters, and how total testosterone, free testosterone, and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) can tell different stories. I also discuss the Defense Health Agency’s new testosterone guidelines for male service members, the importance of repeat testing, and what to consider before starting testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), including fertility and ongoing monitoring. We then look at testosterone’s role in muscle growth, why normal hormone levels and brief post-exercise increases do not reliably predict training results, and what androgen receptors can and cannot explain. I also discuss practical considerations for protein intake, anabolic resistance, and strength training as you age. This episode is for anyone who wants to better understand their hormone health and make more informed decisions about nutrition, training, and testosterone.

In this episode, my guest is Dr. Ben House, a nutritional scientist who has spent nearly two decades working with elite athletes and professional sports teams. We take a detailed look at testosterone, what your lab results can and cannot tell you, and why a higher number does not automatically mean better health or more muscle. Ben explains total and free testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and how testing methods, sleep, hydration, meals, and the timing of your blood draw can affect the result. We examine research on testosterone and muscle growth, why population averages can obscure individual differences, and how metabolic health complicates the story of testosterone and aging. We also discuss obesity, low energy availability, dietary fat, carbohydrates, micronutrients, and recovering after a calorie deficit. Ben shares his approach to investigating low testosterone, the importance of informed consent before testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), and the distinction between restoring normal levels and using higher doses for performance or physique goals. We finish with lessons from professional sports on managing training loads, fueling, sleep, and recovery. This episode is for anyone who wants to better understand hormone testing, support long-term performance, and make more informed decisions about testosterone.

In this episode, my guest is Dr. John Rusin, a physical therapist and strength coach who bridges rehabilitation and human performance. We discuss his approach to persistent back, shoulder, and knee pain and how to build a body that can handle demanding training for the long term. John walks through his six-phase warm-up, a 10–12-minute sequence that combines foam rolling, stretching, corrective exercises, activation, movement practice, and explosive drills. He explains why breathing matters during soft tissue work, how mobility differs from flexibility, and why feeling tight doesn't necessarily mean you just need more stretching. We cover simple movement breaks for desk workers, detailed cues for hip and shoulder stability, face-pull technique, bracing, lifting belts, and how to adapt exercise form to your body and goals. We also discuss progressing back to heavier training, maintaining strength, muscle, and power as you age, and using loaded carries to build and assess full-body capacity. This episode is for anyone who wants to move more comfortably, train consistently, and keep getting stronger.

In this episode, my guest is Dan Garner, a renowned human performance coach behind UFC champions, Olympic medalists, and CEOs. We discuss how he bridges the gap between sports science and real-world coaching. Dan explains constraint theory — finding the single bottleneck holding someone back — and walks through the blood markers he uses to find it, including why a 20% testosterone swing can be pure noise, why vitamin D has no usable reference change value, and why the omega-3 index is the most honest marker he tracks. We cover his three-step approach to fat loss, diet breaks, low energy availability, hypertrophy clusters, deload strategy, and an evidence-first framework for evaluating peptides. This episode is for anyone who wants to measure what they're doing and adjust it intelligently rather than guessing.

In this episode, I answer your questions on nutrition, hydration, and recovery in our second audience Q&A. I start with what I call the 90%: the principles nearly every effective nutrition plan shares, from food quality and caloric balance to fiber targets, vegetable volume, color variety, and liquid calories. I then cover the four elements of fueling around training, glucose, amino acid availability, hydration, and GI distress, including the Galpin Equation for fluid intake during exercise. I walk through the three-step process I use to coach nutrition, which begins by adding nutrients rather than restricting them, and I explain when body recomposition is possible, what the protein data actually support, and why strength training is a bigger signal for muscle growth than protein. I close with what separates high performers from everyone else: energy management. This episode is for anyone who wants the fundamentals before the fine-tuning.