Metabolic Health
A coach-facing framework. Three capacities. One Radar.
Metabolic health is the capacity to regulate energy, recover from stress, and preserve functionality across time, effort, and environment. It must be observable, measurable, and repeatable.
It is not aesthetics, workout output, or the absence of diagnosis. The framework uses three capacities and a practical marker set organized into coach-level targets.
A note on the numbers below. These are coach-level targets, and on the Metabolic Radar they are the Fit line. At forty, HbA1c 5.4%, insulin 6 µIU/mL, ApoB 80 mg/dL and a T-score of 0 each score 85 — the exact floor of the Fit band. hs-CRP 1.0 sits one point under it. TG:HDL, grip and ALMI land a little lower, inside Well. The bands shift with age and sex; see the Signals library for the full set.
Macronutrient tolerance and hormonal response.
Can the person handle food inputs, including protein, carbohydrate, fat, and timing, with an appropriate insulin and glucose response? Fuel comes in, fuel is used, and the system returns to baseline rather than living in chronic exposure.
TG:HDL <1.5
HbA1c <5.4%
ApoB <80 mg/dL
Intensity tolerance (P = F × d/t) and recovery capacity.
Can the person absorb training inputs, including force, distance, time, and power, and rebound to baseline as adaptation, not debt? Recovery is also a tissue story, since lean mass is the substrate that absorbs stress and rebuilds between doses.
Resting HR 40–59 bpm
hs-CRP <1.0 mg/L
ALMI: men ≥8.0 kg/m² · women ≥6.0 kg/m²
Structural tolerance and reserve.
Can the person preserve structural assets, including bone, strength, body composition, and visceral fat distribution, under load and across time? Or is reserve quietly eroding even when today’s output still looks good?
Grip: men ≥40 kg · women ≥26 kg
Body fat %: men 8–18 · women 18–28
VAT: men ≤1.0 lb · women ≤0.5 lb
Look at the shape across the three capacities. Which capacity sits cleanly inside its coach targets? Which capacity is strained?
The most dented capacity is the constraint. That is the place to coach first. The Radar is not a diagnosis, not a single score, and not a replacement for judgment.
Change the inputs (food, training intensity, recovery, sleep). Retest. If the shape moves, the work is working. If it does not, revise the plan or the model.
The capacity is the priority. The marker is a proxy. The Radar makes the pattern visible.