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Welcome to the Carbon Newsletter!
This update keeps you informed about the latest happenings at the gym and provides insights to help you build a high-performing, healthy lifestyle.
Today at a Glance
- ORIGIN Program is now available — our first 12-week performance program from Carbon R&D!
- 2026 March Row Challenge: Online and in-gym challenge!
- Morning Light May Actually Clean Your Brain: How light affects your glymphatic system
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ORIGIN - 12 Week General Preparation Program |
Carbon Research and Development is a project dedicated to exploring and validating human performance concepts. ORIGIN is the first program from Carbon R&D - it’s designed to develop genuine, broad-spectrum physical performance across twelve weeks of training.
It systematically develops metabolic capacity, a deep aerobic base, explosive anaerobic power, maximal strength, muscular endurance, and more - it’s antithetical to the superficiality that is “fitness.” It’s not for everybody.
ORIGIN is for people who seek capability first - ranging from students of physical culture, to combat athletes, to people in high-risk professions, to adventurers and outdoorsmen, to everything in-between.
The program includes 50 pages of in-depth programming, original essays, detailed FAQs, and more - it’s thoughtfully presented in “magazine” format, designed to be read as a two-page spread.
It’s a tremendous resource for end-users and coaches alike.
If this is of interest to you, learn more here.
2nd Annual March Row Challenge
Last year, we tested ourselves on the erg for the first time as a community — this year, we go further.
The 2nd Annual March Row Challenge kicks off March 3rd and runs through the end of the month. Whether you competed last year or you're stepping on the rower for the first time, this is your chance to test yourself.
Here's how it works: Each Tuesday we'll release a new workout. You'll have until Saturday at midnight to complete it and submit your results along with a photo of your Concept2 monitor as proof. Workouts are scored and ranked weekly — lowest score wins.
The workouts will be tough. That's the point. Work capacity is one of the most important and most neglected qualities in fitness, and this challenge exists to fix that. Four weeks, four workouts, one leaderboard.
No shortcuts — just effort.
This challenge is available both in-gym and online [and it's free], so there's no excuse not to compete. If you're in, sign-up here.
Morning Light Might Actually Clean Your Brain
Your brain has its own waste-removal system — called the glymphatic system — that flushes out metabolic debris, including proteins linked to neurodegeneration and poor mood.
Think of it like a nightly rinse cycle. When it works well, you think more clearly and feel better. When it's impaired, waste builds up, inflammation rises, and depression risk increases.
A new randomized controlled trial published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity (February 2026) is the first human study to suggest that morning bright light therapy may directly boost this system.
What they did: 137 young adults with mild depressive symptoms were split into two groups. One used a 5,000-lux LED light box for 30 minutes each morning. The other used an identical-looking placebo device. Both groups continued for 8 weeks.
What they found: The bright light group showed measurable improvements in a key marker of glymphatic function (DTI-ALPS index), reduced depressive symptoms, increased activity in the prefrontal cortex — an area tied to mood regulation — and decreases in inflammatory markers in the blood.
The honest caveat: Several findings were within the light therapy group only and didn't reach full statistical significance against placebo. The sample was also limited to healthy young adults, so we can't assume the same results across all ages. This is early, but promising evidence — not a final answer.
The practical takeaway: Morning light exposure already has a strong track record for mood, sleep timing, and circadian health. This study adds a plausible new mechanism to that list. If you're not already getting bright light in the first hour or two after waking, it's one of the lowest-effort habits with a big upside.
The protocol is simple: get outside within the first hour of waking and spend 10–30 minutes in natural morning light. No sunglasses. You don't need to stare at the sun — just be outside. It costs nothing and takes no extra time if you build it around something you're already doing. Start tomorrow morning and give it eight weeks. Track your moods.
Lovely Meal Prep
This is a local, fresh, organic meal-prep service all of us coaches use. We can't stress how convenient and wonderful it is. If you haven't met Korynn yet, she is a Carbon client and the owner of Lovely Meal Prep. You can catch her lifting ALL the weights on Mondays and Wednesdays with either Mada or Madeline.
Korynn is offering 20% off your first order with code: carbon20.
Ordering happens weekly on Wednesdays HERE.
Pick-up is Monday or Tuesday inside the Carbon fridge.
Be well,
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