By PureClean Performance • Updated for 2026
The Rise and Fall of Biohacking
For more than a decade, biohacking promised shortcuts to performance, longevity, and metabolic superiority. Influencers framed extreme interventions as evolutionary upgrades or cutting-edge science, often detached from physiological context.
But when trends persist long enough to be studied properly, a different pattern emerges. Many of the most celebrated biohacks fail to deliver durable benefits. Some actively impair adaptation.
This is not because experimentation is foolish. It is because biology does not reward shortcuts.
Cold Exposure: A Stressor Mistaken for a SolutionAcute cold exposure increases alertness and catecholamines. That part is real. What is often ignored is what happens when cold becomes chronic.
Repeated cold-water immersion after training has been shown to reduce muscle hypertrophy and strength gains. Cold exposure blunts mTOR signaling and satellite cell activity, and in many individuals increases sympathetic tone rather than recovery capacity.
Cold is a stressor. Stressors are tools, not upgrades. Used indiscriminately, they reduce resilience rather than build it.
Ketosis as a Permanent StateIn practice, long-term carbohydrate restriction often reduces glycolytic capacity, impairs thyroid signaling, and decreases exercise economy. In some populations it suppresses hormonal output and recovery.
Ketosis can be therapeutic in specific contexts. Humans did not evolve permanent ketosis. They evolved metabolic flexibility.
Loss of flexibility is not an upgrade.
NAD+ Precursors and Mitochondrial “Boosters”While blood NAD+ levels may increase, this does not reliably translate to tissue-level or mitochondrial improvements. Chronic supplementation can downregulate endogenous synthesis pathways, and benefits outside deficiency or disease models remain inconsistent.
Mitochondria are regulated systems. They respond to redox balance, substrate flow, and signaling environment — not isolated cofactors.
You do not fix mitochondria downstream. You restore the terrain they operate in.
The Antioxidant MisinterpretationThe problem is that reactive oxygen species are not merely damage. They are signals. Multiple human trials show that chronic antioxidant supplementation blunts training adaptations, reduces mitochondrial biogenesis, and impairs endurance improvements.
Oxidative stress is not the enemy. Dysregulated oxidative signaling is.
Eliminating stress signals prevents adaptation. The body requires redox signaling to improve.
Quantification Without ContextChasing metrics increases psychological stress, degrades recovery, and shifts focus away from embodied signals. Health becomes fragile rather than resilient.
Measurement without interpretation does not guide adaptation. It fragments it.
It does not.
These approaches treat stress as nutrition, signals as upgrades, and novelty as progress. They are hacks.
None of these interventions were inherently foolish. They failed because they shared the same assumption:
Why Foundational Physiology EnduresEfficient circulation. Balanced redox signaling. Mineral sufficiency. Nervous system stability. Gentle, reliable fuel availability.
These inputs support work. They do not replace it.
Why We Don’t Build HacksWe design foundational support. Circulatory support without overstimulation. Polyphenols without ethanol. Minerals without dehydration. Fuel without metabolic rigidity.
Our formulations are intentionally boring to trends and intentionally durable to physiology.
Join us at PureClean PerformancePhysiology does not change and nor does your body.
A hundred years from now, humans will still require circulation, redox signaling, minerals, real fuel, and nervous system coherence.
They will still require everything that PureClean Performance provides.
The biohacks that failed were shortcuts. Foundations persist.
PureClean Performance is Forever. Join us!
Research References
Peer-reviewed studies supporting the claims discussed above
Cold Exposure and Training Adaptation
- Roberts LA et al. (2015). Post-exercise cold water immersion attenuates anabolic signaling and satellite cell response – Journal of Physiology
- Fyfe JJ et al. (2019). Cold water immersion reduces muscle hypertrophy following resistance training – Journal of Applied Physiology
- Peake JM et al. (2020). Repeated cold water immersion compromises adaptation to strength training – Sports Medicine
Ketogenic Diets and Metabolic Flexibility
- Burke LM et al. (2017). Low carbohydrate, high fat diet impairs exercise economy and performance – Journal of Physiology
- Burke LM et al. (2020). Ketogenic diets increase fat oxidation but reduce performance economy – PLOS One
- Iacovides S et al. (2022). Thyroid hormone changes during ketogenic diets – Nutrients
- Vranjić M et al. (2025). Long-term carbohydrate restriction and endocrine adaptation – Frontiers in Endocrinology
NAD+ Precursors and Mitochondrial Function
- Martens CR et al. (2018). Chronic nicotinamide riboside supplementation increases blood NAD+ in humans – Nature Communications
- Orr ME et al. (2024). Nicotinamide riboside raises NAD+ but does not improve cognition in older adults – Journal of Clinical Investigation
- Freeberg KA et al. (2023). Human trials of NAD+ precursors: efficacy and limitations – Aging Cell
High-Dose Antioxidants and Exercise Adaptation
- Paulsen G et al. (2014). Vitamin C and E supplementation blunts endurance training adaptations – Journal of Physiology
Wearables, Metrics, and Psychological Stress
- Baron KG et al. (2017). Orthosomnia: fixation on sleep metrics as a cause of insomnia – Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2017). Clinical perspectives on consumer sleep technology