The
Daily
Fix
15-minute AMRAP
Halloumi and Avocado Salad with Chicken Thighs
Why Trainers Should Care About ROS
Completes as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
5 deadlifts
5 strict knees-to-elbows
30-second plank hold
Seared halloumi and creamy avocado pair with juicy chicken thighs and fresh greens.
The link between oxidative stress, adaptation, and performance
Use 1.5X bodyweight for the deadlifts.
Post number of rounds completed to comments.
Ingredients
2 boneless, skin-on chicken thighs (about 6 oz each)
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp ghee or butter (for searing)
½ avocado, sliced
2 oz halloumi cheese, sliced into ¼-inch slabs
2 cups mixed greens or arugula
¼ cup cucumber, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp red onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste
Macronutrients
(Makes 2 servings)
Protein: 30g
Fat: 22g
Carbs: 3g
Preparation
Season chicken with paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Heat ghee or butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook chicken skin-side down for 6–7 minutes, flip, and cook another 4–5 minutes until cooked through and crispy. Rest, then slice.
In the same pan, sear halloumi slices for 1–2 minutes per side until golden brown. Remove from heat.
On a plate or bowl, layer greens, cucumber, red onion, avocado, sliced chicken, and seared halloumi.
Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Drizzle over salad.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are often blamed for cellular damage, but as Hollis Molloy explains, they’re also essential signals for adaptation. Drawing on discussions with researchers from Dr. Thomas Seyfried’s lab and MetFix’s Bob Kaplan, the article reframes ROS as the “fingerprint of intensity”—the molecular signal that drives growth when properly balanced, or destruction when uncontrolled. Exercise and fasting both increase ROS in ways that trigger beneficial adaptations such as mitochondrial biogenesis, while chronic oxidative stress contributes to diseases like atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. Over-suppressing ROS with antioxidants, Molloy warns, can blunt these training benefits. The takeaway for coaches: scaling and intensity aren’t just programming tools—they’re cellular safeguards that determine whether stress becomes growth or breakdown.
8 rounds and 5 knee to elbows @ 120kg