Arète Sciences

The science

The full methodology
behind Arete Sciences.

Personal-optimum modelling, signal reliability, evidence grading, intervention logic, and the PM and AM deep dives.

The contradiction

Precision training.
Guesswork supplementation.

Serious athletes manage pace, power, zones, workload, nutrition, sleep and competition planning to the decimal. Supplements are the one input still selected from a shelf, with no knowledge of any of it.

  1. 01

    Precision side

    You train to the watt, to the zone, to the gram of carbohydrate.

    Guesswork side

    You supplement from a label written for the general population.

  2. 02

    Precision side

    Your iron, vitamin D, B12 and magnesium status are specific to you, and they move.

    Guesswork side

    A multivitamin has never seen your blood, and never will.

  3. 03

    Precision side

    Your training is periodized, base, build, peak, taper, race.

    Guesswork side

    Your stack does not know which week you are in.

  4. 04

    Precision side

    Effective doses are narrow. Timing relative to training, food and sleep matters.

    Guesswork side

    Self-built stacks are often underdosed, overdosed, redundant or mistimed.

  5. 05

    Precision side

    Performance has a date, a race, a peak, a season opener.

    Guesswork side

    Generic supplementation does not prepare you for any particular day.

Why generic supplementation fails

Eleven ways an off-the-shelf stack quietly misses.

  • 01
    No bloodwork
    Doses chosen without knowing your iron, vitamin D, B12, magnesium or hormones.
  • 02
    Population assumptions
    Reference ranges describe everyone. Athletes are not everyone.
  • 03
    Static dosage
    The same capsule in week one of base and the day before your A-race.
  • 04
    No training phase
    Built without knowing whether you are at 8 h or 18 h this week.
  • 05
    No recovery context
    Blind to a suppressed HRV trend or a sustained drop in readiness.
  • 06
    No sleep context
    Indifferent to sleep onset, regularity and overnight recovery patterns.
  • 07
    No competition date
    Nothing converges on the day that matters.
  • 08
    Underdosing
    Below the effective window, visible on the label, absent in the body.
  • 09
    Overdosing
    Above the useful window, exposure and duplication, no additional benefit.
  • 10
    Redundancy
    Adding what your diet already covers. Cost, not performance.
  • 11
    Poor timing
    Magnesium late, caffeine wrong-side-of-training, iron with dairy.

02. Night Protocol

Your longest recovery window
happens while you sleep.

A generic sleep supplement gives everyone the same compounds. Arete Sciences builds the Night Protocol around your actual sleep pattern, your recovery response and your training schedule.

21:3023:0002:0005:0007:00
Last session 20:45Onset 23:18Deep · REM cyclesHRV trendReadiness · 07:10
Night Protocol
Downshift · Sleep · Recover

A single evening ritual, built around persistent overnight patterns, not one disrupted night.

Considers

  • 01Sleep duration
  • 02Sleep-onset latency
  • 03Sleep regularity
  • 04Deep and REM patterns
  • 05Nighttime interruptions
  • 06Late training sessions
  • 07HRV and resting heart rate
  • 08Persistent recovery patterns

We don't promise a guaranteed change in sleep duration, hormones or wearable scores. We change the inputs that the data supports changing, and re-examine on cycles.

AM Protocol · Coming SoonJoin the AM waitlist →

01. Day Protocol

Built for the day
you are asking your body to perform.

The Day Protocol supports the work your body is being asked to do, its current capacity, its current demand, and the direction it is moving in.

Day Protocol
Train · Perform · Adapt

A single morning ritual. Tuned to the training block you are in, not the one you were in twelve weeks ago.

Considers

  • 01Biological deficiencies relevant to performance
  • 02Training volume and intensity
  • 03Current training block
  • 04Energy and metabolic demand
  • 05Muscular demand
  • 06Hydration and electrolyte requirements
  • 07Timing around training
  • 08Progress toward the target event

Race day. 19 weeks

The day
that matters.

The protocol follows you through baseline, base, build, peak, taper, competition and recovery, reweighted as the phase, and what your body needs from it, changes.

Race day
Baseline
Base
Build
Peak
Taper
Race
Recovery

Iron, magnesium, electrolytes, antioxidants and recovery cofactors are reweighted so the relevant markers and support systems are in the strongest appropriate condition by the day that matters. Arete Sciences does not guarantee outcomes.

The performance window

Normal is not
performance-ready.

And more is not always better.

We interpret your bloodwork against your biology, workload, recovery, season and target event, using a framework informed by more than 10,000 elite-athlete panels. Then we formulate to move you into the right window, and keep you there.

Marker status · effect on performance

BELOW TARGETINDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE WINDOWABOVE THE USEFUL RANGEPerformance constrainedAppropriate for this athlete, this workload, this phaseNo further benefit · increasing downside

A clinical reference range may tell you that nothing is obviously wrong. It does not tell you whether your current status supports the workload you are carrying, or the performance you are preparing for.

Too little

Deficiency or suboptimal status constrains oxygen transport, ATP production, muscle function, bone resilience, tissue repair, immune defence, recovery and training consistency.

The window shrinks before the athlete feels it on the road.

Too much

Excess does not add a safety margin. Depending on the compound it can cause GI disruption, neuromuscular impairment, induced deficiencies, oxidative stress and suppressed adaptation, moving the athlete away from the intended outcome.

More is not a safety margin. More can be the mistake.

Eight markers · population range vs athlete window

"Within normal range" is not the same as ready to perform.

Healthy population range
Elite athlete window · sport-specific
Iron stores
Ferritin
15ng/mL300
Below window

Oxygen transport falls before the athlete feels it.

Above window

No endurance upside when replete; overload risk rises.

Serum status
Vitamin D, 25(OH)
10ng/mL100
Below window

Muscle, bone and immune resilience constrained under load.

Above window

Megadosing is not optimization; calcium-related risks rise.

Intracellular status
Magnesium (RBC)
4.0mg/dL7.0
Below window

ATP production and neuromuscular recovery suffer.

Above window

GI disruption; no performance gain past the window.

Mineral balance
Zinc, serum
50µg/dL150
Below window

Immunity and recovery degrade; training consistency drops.

Above window

Suppresses copper, induces new deficiencies.

Systemic inflammation
Hs-CRP
0mg/L5
Below window

—

Above window

Signals incomplete recovery or rising training debt.

Anabolic signal (male)
Testosterone, total
200ng/dL1100
Below window

Recovery, strength adaptation and drive blunted.

Above window

Outside the natural athlete window, flag, do not supplement.

Stress / recovery axis
Cortisol, AM
3µg/dL25
Below window

Under-recovery, HPA suppression, blunted training response.

Above window

Cumulative stress load, adaptation curve flattens.

Membrane EPA + DHA
Omega-3 Index
2%12
Below window

Inflammatory tone elevated; recovery between sessions slower.

Above window

Plateau above the window, additional dose is exposure, not gain.

Eight markers shown for orientation. The full intake screens 80+ compounds across iron and oxygen transport, mineral and electrolyte status, vitamins, hormonal axis, inflammation, lipid and metabolic markers. Athlete windows are sport-specific. Thresholds and assays on the Science page.

Reference framework

N =10,000+

elite-athlete blood panels. Olympians, Ironman finishers, UFC fighters, World Tour cyclists, Tier-1 team-sport athletes.

The database is not a credibility badge. It tells us how iron, vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, inflammation, hormonal and recovery markers actually present in working athletes, across endurance, strength, team and combat sports, through base, build, peak and taper. The athlete windows on this page come from that cohort, not a textbook range.

  • Sport-specific bands
    Endurance, strength, team and combat athletes hold different windows for the same marker.
  • Olympians, Ironman, UFC, World Tour
    The reference cohort, not a marketing line.
  • Your own longitudinal trend
    Read against your previous panels, not a single snapshot.
  • No universal 'elite' value
    The framework informs; the window is set for you.

Sample panel · interpreted in context

We add, hold, reduce and remove, with the same rigour.

MarkerCurrentPreviousRef. rangeAthlete windowTrendPhaseDecisionRe-test
Ferritin72 ng/mL58 ng/mL30 – 400100 – 150↑Build wk 06Increase+6 wk
Vitamin D, 25(OH)44 ng/mL31 ng/mL30 – 10040 – 60↑Build wk 06Maintain+12 wk
Magnesium (RBC)6.1 mg/dL6.0 mg/dL4.2 – 6.85.8 – 6.5→Build wk 06Reduce+8 wk
Zinc, serum118 µg/dL126 µg/dL60 – 13090 – 120↓Build wk 06Remove+12 wk
B-complex stackRepleteReplete—Diet-covered→Build wk 06Remove—
Hs-CRP2.4 mg/L1.1 mg/L< 3.0< 1.0↑Build wk 06Escalate+2 wk

A fixed dose cannot know whether you are deficient, adequately supplied or already beyond the useful range. Measure · target · re-test. Reductions and removals are decisions too.

Arete Sciences does not maximize your supplements.
It calibrates your status for the demand ahead.

Correct the deficiency.
Stop at the target.
Protect the performance window.
Measure · target · re-test.
Every milligram needs a reason.
Maximum relevance, not maximum dose.

A worked example

Signals → Interpretation → Decisions.

One athlete, one cycle. Every decision traceable back to a combination of inputs, never to a single one.

Discipline
Triathlon. 70.3
Weekly volume
11.4 h
Phase
Build · wk 06
Wearables
Garmin · Oura
Bloodwork
Updated 12 d ago

A · Signals

  • Ferritin 72 ng/mL, below endurance-relevant range
  • Z4–Z5 volume +38% vs prior block
  • Sleep regularity −0.18, late sessions
  • Evening HRV suppressed
  • 10 weeks to A-race

B · Interpretation

  • Iron strategy informed by ferritin trend, endurance workload, time to event, current intake and follow-up schedule, clinician-reviewed.
  • Night Protocol shaped by late sessions, sleep-onset latency, HRV trend and recovery pattern, not a sleep supplement.

C · Decisions

Day
  • Iron bisglycinateAdded · 40 mg
    Ferritin 72 ng/mL · paired with vit C, away from training
  • Magnesium glycinateDose held
    Maintained at performance baseline
  • Beta-alanineRe-timed
    Build phase, moved to pre-key sessions only
  • Generic B-complexRemoved
    Redundant against existing whole-food intake
Night
  • Magnesium · glycineRe-timed
    Moved to 60 min pre-sleep, onset latency 28 min
  • L-theanineAdded
    Late sessions disrupting downshift
  • Zinc picolinateAdded · 15 mg
    Immune load through build phase
  • Re-test ferritin+6 weeks
    Linked to follow-up testing checkpoint

What you receive

A panel, a plan, a protocol, reissued, not refilled.

  • 01
    Performance blood panel
    Periodic, at-home or partner-clinic draw.
  • 02
    Wearable & training-plan link
    Garmin, Oura, Whoop, Apple Health, TrainingPeaks.
  • 03
    Day Protocol
    A single morning ritual, formulated for your training.
  • 04
    Night Protocol
    A single evening ritual, built around your sleep and recovery.
  • 05
    Protocol document
    Each decision, traceable to the signals that informed it.
  • 06
    Clinician review
    On a defined cadence, and when the data warrants it.

Safety, testing and oversight

Clinician designed. Third-party tested.

  • Clinician oversightEvery formulation reviewed by clinicians familiar with sport-specific physiology.
  • Third-party testedIndependent laboratory verification of identity, purity and potency.
  • Anti-doping awarenessFormulated with WADA-prohibited substances in mind; banned-substance screened.
  • Traceable batchEach batch carries a documented record from raw material to finished protocol.