Build and Repair

One of the most fascinating balancing acts in health and longevity is between growth and repair — between building and cleaning up.

In science speak, it’s the dance between mTOR (think muscle building, strength, growth) and AMPK (think fasting, repair, fat burning, and cellular cleanup).

We need both.

If you’re always stimulating mTOR (high-protein diets, heavy lifting, no breaks), you grow—but may miss out on longevity-promoting repair.

If you’re always activating AMPK (fasting, under-eating, lots of cardio), you clean up—but risk losing strength, muscle, and metabolic resilience.

The real magic happens when we cycle between them intentionally:

Strength train? Eat enough, recover, and let mTOR do its thing.

Rest day? Use fasting, walking, and maybe AMPK activators to encourage cellular cleanup.

This isn’t about extremes—it’s about rhythm.

Feed, fast.

Train, recover.

Build, repair.

Longevity and performance aren’t in conflict when you understand how to time the signals.