Mitochondrial Powerhouse
When fatigue is not a training problem or a sleep problem, the next place to look is the machinery that makes the energy.
Two compounds, one organelle, two different angles.
- Duration
- 8 weeks
- Suits
- Experienced
The schedule
SS-31
0.5–1 mg- Frequency
- 3 times per week
- When
- Morning
Concentrates in the inner mitochondrial membrane and binds cardiolipin.
MOTS-c
0.5–1 mg- Frequency
- 3 times per week
- When
- Morning, ideally before training
Encoded by mitochondrial DNA rather than nuclear DNA — it signals from inside the organelle.
Order this protocol
Everything in the schedule, in one order. Options where the protocol offers a choice.
View the protocol set →Two angles on one problem
SS-31 works structurally. It concentrates in the inner mitochondrial membrane and binds cardiolipin, the lipid that keeps the electron transport chain correctly arranged. When cardiolipin is disordered, energy production leaks.
MOTS-c works by signalling. It is encoded by mitochondrial DNA rather than nuclear DNA, which is unusual, and research describes it as an exercise mimetic because it activates some of the same pathways training does.
Structure and signal. That is why they are paired.
Who this is for
This is the most speculative protocol in the library, and the one with the least human data. It exists because mitochondrial dysfunction is a real and under-recognised cause of fatigue, and because both compounds are genuinely interesting. It is not a first stack.
What the research supports
SS-31 has clinical trial history in specific conditions. MOTS-c is largely preclinical. Neither has meaningful published data on performance in healthy trained people — anyone claiming otherwise is ahead of the evidence.
Practical notes
Eight weeks. Morning dosing for both. If nothing changes, the problem was probably not mitochondrial.
Schedules describe how these compounds are used in the research literature. They are not medical advice, and nothing here is for human consumption.