Protocol / Markers
Marker Library
Every experiment gets a measurement plan. The point is to make daily observations useful: not just "did I do it," but what moved, what might be noise, and what should show up in the weekly graphs. The lab stays non-invasive: no deliberate injury, no impact tests, and no pretending home tools are medical diagnostics.
Core Rule Measure adherence before interpretation.
The first graph is always whether the protocol actually happened.
Instrument Use home tests when the question deserves them.
BP, grip, reaction time, balance, breathing, and controlled photos turn a weird protocol into data.
Safety Stress the system, do not damage it.
A serious protocol has stop criteria before it has a result.
Core Daily Markers
Collected every week so different experiments can be compared against the same body-state baseline.
| Marker | Cadence | Capture | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adherence | daily | Hit, partial, miss, or skipped with a one-line reason. | 7-day status grid |
| Sleep | daily | Sleep window, actual sleep, wake time, sleep quality 1-10. | sleep bars |
| Recovery | daily | Resting HR, HRV if available, soreness 1-10, readiness 1-10. | trend sparkline |
| Home vitals / grip / peak flow | daily | SpO2/pulse, seated blood pressure/pulse, grip strength, peak flow, sleep HR range, and sleep respiration range when measured. | vitals strip |
| Mood / energy / anxiety | daily | Three 1-10 scores plus one sentence of context. | small multiples |
| Training context | daily | Workout type, intensity, duration, and whether it was unusual. | training-load strip |
| Confounders | daily | Travel, illness, work stress, caffeine, alcohol, late meals, injury, bad data. | confounder tags |
Supplement / Compound Tests
Tracks dose, timing, intended effect, side effects, and visible/body signals without pretending subjective changes prove causality.
| Marker | Cadence | Capture | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dose and timing | per-event | Product, ingredient, dose, time, with food or fasted, and missed doses. | dose timeline |
| Target endpoint | daily | The one thing the supplement is supposed to move: sleep, pump, anxiety, soreness, focus, digestion, etc. | target score line |
| Side effects | daily | GI issues, headache, jitteriness, fatigue, skin changes, sleep disruption, appetite changes. | adverse-effect tags |
| Skin / appearance | before-after | Consistent face/skin notes: acne, redness, dryness, puffiness, under-eye look, rash/flush. | private photo pair or public score |
| Performance spillover | daily | Any workout quality change, new rep max, endurance feel, or unusual fatigue. | performance callouts |
| Stop criteria | daily | Pre-declared symptoms that end the experiment or force a dose change. | safety flag |
Home Measurement Lab
Non-invasive home tests and scan-like captures that make ambitious experiments measurable without pretending they are clinical diagnostics.
| Marker | Cadence | Capture | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blood pressure / pulse | daily | Upper-arm cuff, seated, rested, same time window; record systolic, diastolic, pulse, caffeine/exercise context. | BP + pulse trend |
| Orthostatic response | before-after | Resting HR seated/supine, then standing HR at 1 and 3 minutes; symptoms if any. | stand-test delta |
| Grip strength | before-after | Hand dynamometer, 3 attempts per hand, best and average, same warmup. | left/right force bars |
| Reaction time | daily | Same device/app, same time window, median reaction time and lapse count. | reaction-time strip |
| Balance / vestibular | before-after | Single-leg stance or balance-board time, eyes open/closed when safe, no testing near hard edges. | balance time bars |
| Breathing function | before-after | Peak-flow or simple spirometry if owned; best of 3, symptoms, training context. | peak-flow trend |
| Controlled image scan | before-after | Same light/distance/angle for face, posture, skin, jaw, waist, or ROM; private unless intentionally shared. | photo-delta panel |
| Thermal / skin surface | before-after | Optional thermal camera or skin temperature reading after heat/cold/mobility protocols; note room temperature. | surface-temp map |
Strength / Hypertrophy Tests
Captures whether a training experiment changes output, effort, soreness, and recovery instead of subjective impressions alone.
| Marker | Cadence | Capture | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exercise log | per-event | Exercise, sets, reps, load, rest time, tempo if relevant. | volume table |
| Intensity | per-event | RPE, reps in reserve, failure yes/no, form breakdown yes/no. | RPE heatmap |
| Maxes and rep PRs | per-event | New 1RM, estimated 1RM, rep max, or best set at a given load. | PR badges |
| Pump / soreness | daily | Pump 1-10 post-workout, soreness 1-10 next morning and 48 hours later. | DOMS curve |
| Joint and tendon signal | daily | Pain location, pain 1-10, stiffness, range limitation, anything sharp. | joint flag list |
| Recovery cost | daily | Sleep quality, HRV/RHR, motivation to train, next-session performance. | recovery overlay |
Sleep / Recovery Tests
Separates sleep opportunity from actual sleep and watches next-day performance rather than one wearable score.
| Marker | Cadence | Capture | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep opportunity | daily | Target window, lights-out, wake time, and whether the window was protected. | window bars |
| Actual sleep | daily | Estimated sleep duration, wake count, subjective sleep quality 1-10. | actual-vs-target bars |
| Morning body state | daily | Energy, mood, anxiety, soreness, resting HR, HRV if available. | morning score grid |
| Evening setup | daily | Caffeine cutoff, last meal, screens, alcohol, room temperature, magnesium or other routine items. | setup checklist |
| Training response | daily | Workout quality, perceived exertion, and whether recovery felt different. | workout annotation |
| Debt / rebound | weekly | Did one long night compensate for earlier misses or just move fatigue around? | weekly verdict panel |
Nutrition / Meal-Timing Tests
Tracks intake patterns, satiety, digestion, training output, and sleep without turning the log into a diet narrative.
| Marker | Cadence | Capture | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meal timing | per-event | Meal time, last meal time, fasting window if relevant. | meal timeline |
| Macro anchors | daily | Protein target hit/miss, approximate calories if tracked, hydration/electrolytes. | macro checklist |
| Hunger and cravings | daily | Hunger 1-10, cravings 1-10, energy dips, binge risk. | hunger curve |
| Digestion | daily | Bloating, reflux, stool quality, GI discomfort, appetite changes. | GI tags |
| Training impact | daily | Workout energy, pump, endurance, perceived fueling quality. | training annotation |
| Sleep impact | daily | Late meal effect, overnight wakeups, morning weight/water retention if tracked. | sleep overlay |
Mobility / Pain / Posture Tests
Makes stretching, neck work, mobility drills, and pain experiments measurable enough to keep or discard.
| Marker | Cadence | Capture | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drill adherence | per-event | Drill name, duration, side, sets, and perceived quality. | session checklist |
| Range of motion | before-after | Simple repeatable test: toe touch, neck rotation, shoulder flexion, squat depth, etc. | before-after score |
| Pain / tension | daily | Location, intensity 1-10, character, and trigger. | body-map list |
| Function | daily | Did it change lifting, running, sitting, playing music, or sleep comfort? | function tags |
| Acute response | before-after | How it felt immediately before and after the session. | delta card |
| Next-day response | daily | Better, same, or worse the next morning. | next-day strip |
Skin / Appearance Markers
Keeps visible changes trackable without turning the project into progress-photo theater.
| Marker | Cadence | Capture | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Face / skin score | daily | Acne, redness, dryness, oiliness, puffiness, under-eye darkness, irritation 0-3 each. | skin score grid |
| Controlled photos | before-after | Same light, same angle, same time-of-day; private by default unless intentionally shared. | private comparison set |
| Body composition look | weekly | Waist, weight trend, visible leanness note, pump/water-retention caveat. | weekly body-state card |
| Hair / nails | weekly | Shedding, dryness, breakage, nail changes if relevant to the experiment. | weekly notes |
| Hydration / sodium look | daily | Puffiness, dry mouth, thirst, morning weight swing, electrolyte intake. | hydration tags |
| Irritation flags | daily | Rash, flushing, itching, unusual breakout, or sensitivity. | safety callout |
Looks / Structure Experiments
Handles bounded appearance experiments such as hard gum, jaw/neck work, posture, or face/appearance routines while watching for overuse.
| Marker | Cadence | Capture | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protocol dose | per-event | Gum type/hardness, chewing minutes, side, sets, posture drill, or routine details. | dose timeline |
| Symmetry / photos | before-after | Same light, angle, distance, expression; private by default unless intentionally shared. | controlled comparison |
| Jaw / neck feel | daily | Jaw soreness, TMJ clicking, headache, tooth sensitivity, neck tension 0-3. | overuse flags |
| Visible signal | weekly | Jawline sharpness, puffiness, posture, neck position, subjective appearance score with caveats. | weekly appearance card |
| Function | daily | Chewing comfort, bite discomfort, speech issues, sleep impact, headaches. | function tags |
| Stop criteria | daily | Pain, clicking, headache, tooth pain, or worsening tension that ends the experiment. | safety flag |
Endurance / Cardio Tests
Tracks aerobic output, fatigue cost, and recovery around running or conditioning experiments.
| Marker | Cadence | Capture | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Session structure | per-event | Distance, duration, pace, route/terrain, intervals, zone target. | session summary |
| Heart-rate response | per-event | Average HR, max HR, zone distribution if available. | zone chart |
| Perceived exertion | per-event | RPE, breathing, legs, motivation, and any unusual limiter. | RPE line |
| Performance markers | weekly | Mile time, threshold pace, long-run feel, new route PRs, or negative split quality. | benchmark cards |
| Recovery cost | daily | Next-day soreness, HRV/RHR, appetite, sleep, mood, and lifting impact. | recovery overlay |
| Injury flags | daily | Foot, knee, hip, Achilles, shin, back pain or gait changes. | injury flags |
Cognition / Mood / Output Tests
Measures whether an experiment changes work output, focus, emotional tone, and decision quality.
| Marker | Cadence | Capture | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus blocks | daily | Number and length of deep-work blocks; perceived focus 1-10. | focus block chart |
| Output | daily | Meaningful shipped work: commits, writing words, music sessions, tasks closed. | output strip |
| Mood / anxiety | daily | Mood, anxiety, irritability, calm, motivation 1-10. | mood lines |
| Stimulants | per-event | Caffeine dose/timing, pre-workout, nicotine if applicable, and crashes. | stimulant timeline |
| Decision quality | daily | Any impulsive choices, avoidance, overconfidence, or unusual risk-taking. | decision note |
| Social signal | daily | Withdrawal, confidence, patience, conversational energy if relevant. | social tags |