Eight actives. Every amount printed individually.
There is no proprietary blend on this label. Each of the eight actives is listed with its own milligram or microgram amount, its plant part, and its standardization where one exists. That is a deliberate choice, and it is the first thing worth checking on any formula that calls itself comprehensive.
Three of the eight actives carry a standardization percentage on the panel, and one is a named branded extract. The rest are single, identifiable compounds — not blends. You can read this label and know exactly what you are taking, which is more than most formulas in this category will let you do.
What it is
An eight-active daily foundation formula built around five systems at once: inflammatory balance, antioxidant and detoxification capacity, cellular energy, stress adaptation, and gut and immune terrain.
What it does
Supports the underlying systems that regulate how you feel across a whole day rather than pushing hard on one pathway and leaving the other four unattended.
Who it's for
Adults carrying real load — work, training, travel, poor sleep — who want broad daily coverage in one bottle instead of managing six.
How to take it
4 vegetarian capsules daily with a meal that contains some fat. Curcuminoids and selenomethionine are both better absorbed with food present.
A comprehensive formula and a kitchen sink are not the same thing.
The difference is whether the ingredient list was chosen or accumulated. A kitchen sink adds whatever tested well in a focus group and hides the amounts inside a blend. A comprehensive formula picks a small number of compounds that each cover distinct ground, and prints what is in it.
The industry standard
- Twenty-plus ingredients inside one proprietary blend, so no single amount is knowable
- Plain curcumin powder with no delivery strategy, most of which never gets past the gut wall
- "Inositol" with no isomer stated, when myo- and D-chiro- behave differently
- Selenium as sodium selenite, the cheap inorganic form
- Mushroom listed by name only, with no standardization marker at all
- Magnesium stearate, silica, titanium dioxide and colorants alongside the actives
- Language that implies a drug effect while the panel quietly delivers dust
The IOH standard
- Eight actives, each printed with its own individual amount. No blend to hide behind
- Meriva® curcumin phytosome, curcuminoids bound to phosphatidylcholine for absorption
- Myo-inositol specifically, named as the isomer on the panel
- Selenium as selenomethionine, the organic amino-acid-bound form
- Cordyceps standardized to 50% polysaccharides, with the marker stated
- Hypromellose capsule and rice flour. That is the entire other-ingredients line
- Support language only, and an honest account of what these amounts do and don't do
Four places daily load shows up first
These are the areas the compounds in this formula have been studied for. Where you start from determines what you notice, and everyone starts somewhere different.
Redox and antioxidant balance
NAC is a direct cysteine donor for glutathione synthesis, and selenium is required for the glutathione peroxidase enzymes that use it. The two work the same system from opposite ends.
Cellular energy and output
Cordyceps has been studied in the context of oxygen utilization and exercise tolerance, and inositol is a second-messenger involved in how cells respond to metabolic signals.
Stress adaptation
Ashwagandha is the most studied adaptogen in the Western literature for stress resilience and perceived stress load in adults under pressure.
Gut and immune terrain
Aloe gum has traditional and modern use in digestive comfort, and both selenium and cordyceps have been studied for their role in normal immune signaling.
Five systems, eight actives, and the places they overlap
Here is the actual architecture of this formula. Read down the left for the system, across for what feeds it. Notice that several actives appear in more than one lane — that overlap is the reason this is eight ingredients instead of twenty.
Inflammatory balance
Supports the body's normal regulation of inflammatory signaling. Curcuminoids have been studied in relation to NF-κB and COX-2 signaling; black cumin acts on a different set of immune-signaling targets from an entirely separate plant family.
Antioxidant and detoxification capacity
The glutathione system needs two things: raw material and the enzymes that use it. NAC supplies the rate-limiting cysteine. Selenium is structurally required by the glutathione peroxidase family. Supplying one without the other is a common formulation gap.
Cellular energy and output
Supports how efficiently cells respond to metabolic demand. Cordyceps has been studied for oxygen utilization and exercise tolerance; myo-inositol sits in the signaling layer that governs how cells read metabolic messages in the first place.
Stress and nervous system resilience
Supports the body's adaptation to physical and mental load. Ashwagandha is the anchor here. Inositol appears in this lane as well, because the same second-messenger pathways it participates in are involved in mood and nervous system signaling.
Gut and immune terrain
Supports digestive comfort and normal immune signaling. This is the lane most "cellular" formulas skip entirely, which is odd, because the gut is where every other ingredient in the bottle has to be absorbed before it can do anything at all.
Mechanism described here reflects published research on these compounds and describes how the ingredients are understood to work in the body. It is not a claim that this product treats, prevents or cures any condition.
Eight actives. Every amount disclosed.
Amounts below are per 4-capsule serving, exactly as printed on the panel. Where a compound is standardized, the marker is stated. Where it isn't, we say so rather than implying one.
Black Cumin Seed
667 mgBlack cumin, also called black seed, has one of the longer traditional-use records of any botanical still in commercial supply, and a modern research literature that has grown quickly over the past two decades. Its interest to formulators is that it is not a member of the same plant families as the usual botanical actives, which means it engages immune and inflammatory signaling from a different direction than curcumin or boswellia do.
This is organic whole seed, and it is the largest single active in the formula by weight. We are not going to tell you it is standardized to thymoquinone, because this material is not sold that way. If we move to a standardized extract in a future run, the panel will say so.
- Supports healthy inflammatory signaling
- Supports immune balance
- Supports antioxidant defense
Cordyceps
500 mgCordyceps is the mushroom with the most direct connection to physical output. The research that made its reputation looked at oxygen utilization and exercise tolerance, and it is one of the few fungal actives with human work behind it in that specific context rather than only in vitro.
One honest note on the standardization: a polysaccharide percentage is a compositional specification, not a beta-glucan assay. It tells you the material was concentrated and tested to a spec, which is more than an unstandardized mushroom powder gives you. It does not tell you the same thing a beta-glucan number would. We would rather explain that than let a number do work it hasn't earned.
- Supports oxygen utilization and physical stamina
- Supports adaptation to physical and metabolic stress
- Supports normal immune function
Myo-Inositol
400 mgInositol is a second-messenger nutrient. It sits inside cell membranes as part of the phosphoinositide system, which is how a signal arriving at the outside of a cell gets translated into something happening on the inside. Insulin signaling, neurotransmitter signaling and several hormonal pathways all route through it.
The isomer matters and most labels don't state it. Myo-inositol and D-chiro-inositol are not interchangeable, and the human research is dominated by myo-. This panel names the isomer.
- Supports cellular signaling and membrane integrity
- Supports healthy metabolic function
- Supports nervous system balance
NAC
334 mgGlutathione is the body's primary intracellular antioxidant, and cysteine is the rate-limiting amino acid in building it. Oral glutathione is poorly absorbed. NAC is the practical route: an acetylated cysteine that survives the gut and gives the cell the raw material it was short of.
NAC is paired deliberately with the selenium in this formula. Cysteine supplies the substrate; selenium is structurally required by the enzymes that put glutathione to work. Formulas that include one without the other are doing half the job.
- Supports glutathione production
- Supports the body's detoxification pathways
- Supports respiratory and liver function
Curcumin Phytosome
334 mgCurcumin has a well-known problem: swallowed on its own it is poorly absorbed and rapidly cleared, so the milligrams on a label and the milligrams in your bloodstream are very different numbers. There are two ways to address that. One is to add a piperine-type absorption enhancer. The other is to change the delivery vehicle.
Meriva® is the second approach. The curcuminoids are complexed with phosphatidylcholine into a phytosome, so the compound travels with a lipid carrier rather than trying to cross the gut wall unassisted. It is a more expensive raw material than plain 95% curcumin extract, and we chose it because a delivery form is what makes a smaller amount of curcuminoid worth including at all.
- Supports a healthy inflammatory response
- Supports joint and cardiovascular comfort
- Supports antioxidant activity at the cellular level
Ashwagandha Root
200 mgAshwagandha is here as a supporting adaptogen, not as the centerpiece. It is root extract standardized to 5% withanolides, which is the marker compound class the research is built on, and it is included at a supportive amount inside a broad formula rather than at the amount a single-ingredient stress product would carry.
That distinction matters and we would rather draw it ourselves than have you find it. If stress load is the specific thing you are working on, a dedicated ashwagandha product at a higher amount is the right tool and we will tell you that.
- Supports stress resilience
- Supports nervous system regulation
- Supports cognitive performance under load
Aloe Vera Gum
167 mgAloe is in this formula for the gut, and the gut is in this formula because absorption happens there. A cellular support product that ignores the digestive environment is asking every other ingredient in the bottle to work through a bottleneck it declined to address.
This is a 100:1 concentrate of the leaf gum, so 167 milligrams represents a considerably larger amount of starting material. Aloe is also the one ingredient here where dose and form genuinely matter for tolerance — see the safety questions below before you start.
- Supports digestive comfort
- Supports normal gut barrier function
- Supports immune balance at the gut interface
Selenium
133 mcgSelenium is the quiet one and arguably the best-executed line on this panel. It is an essential trace mineral, it is structurally required by the glutathione peroxidase and thioredoxin reductase enzyme families, and 133 micrograms is a meaningful nutritional amount rather than a token gesture — 242% of the Daily Value.
The form is selenomethionine, an amino-acid-bound organic selenium, rather than sodium selenite or selenate. It is better absorbed and better retained than the inorganic salts, and it costs more, which is why the cheap end of the category doesn't use it.
Because this is a real amount, read the selenium question in the FAQ below if you also take a multivitamin, a greens powder, or Brazil nuts regularly. Selenium is one of the few nutrients where stacking sources deserves a moment of arithmetic.
- Supports antioxidant enzyme activity
- Supports normal immune defense
- Supports healthy thyroid hormone metabolism
Read the panel
| Serving Size: 4 Vegetarian Capsules | ||
| Servings Per Container: 30 | ||
| Amount Per Serving | Amount | % DV |
|---|---|---|
| Selenium (as Selenomethionine) | 133 mcg | 242% |
| Black Cumin (seed) (Organic Nigella sativa) | 667 mg | * |
| Cordyceps sinensis (mycelium) (50% Polysaccharides) | 500 mg | * |
| Inositol (as Myo-Inositol) | 400 mg | * |
| NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine) | 334 mg | * |
| Curcumin Phytosome (rhizome) (Curcuma longa) extract and Phosphatidylcholine (derived from sunflower) (Meriva®) | 334 mg | * |
| Ashwagandha (root) (Withania somnifera) (5% withanolides) | 200 mg | * |
| Aloe Vera (gum from whole leaf) (Aloe barbadensis) (100:1 Extract) | 167 mg | * |
* Daily Value (DV) not established.
Other Ingredients: Vegetarian Capsule (Hypromellose, Purified Water), Rice Flour.
Meriva® is a registered trademark of Indena S.p.A., Italy.
120 vegetarian capsules per bottle. 30 servings.
The full printed label is also shown in the product images at the top of this page
The first 90 days
This is a foundation formula. It does not have a switch, and nothing in it works in an afternoon. It shifts the environment your cells are operating in, and that operates on the scale of weeks — which is exactly why most people abandon this category at week three and conclude it does nothing.
Get the habit and the food right
Four capsules with a meal that has fat in it, same time each day. Before you start, write down three things: your energy at 3pm, how you handle a stressful hour, and how your gut feels. You will not trust your memory in eight weeks. Write it down.
Watch the recovery window
This is where people most often report something: not a dramatic change, but the day after a hard session or a bad night costing them less than it used to. Broad formulas tend to show up in what didn't happen rather than in what did.
Judge it against your day-one notes
Ninety days is a fair trial and one bottle is thirty of them, so plan for three. Compare against what you wrote, not what you remember. If you track markers with your physician, this is a reasonable interval to look again.
Seven questions to ask any cellular support formula
Use these on us first, then use them on the next bottle you pick up anywhere. A label that cannot answer them is asking you to take its word for it.
| The question | CellCore ELITE | Typical off-the-shelf cellular formula |
|---|---|---|
| Is every amount individually disclosed? | All eight actives, each with its own printed amount. No proprietary blend anywhere on the panel | Most or all actives buried inside one or more proprietary blends |
| Is the curcumin in a delivery form? | Meriva® phytosome, curcuminoids complexed with sunflower phosphatidylcholine | Plain turmeric powder or 95% extract with no absorption strategy at all |
| Is the inositol isomer named? | Myo-inositol, stated on the panel | Listed only as "inositol," so the isomer is unknowable |
| Which selenium form is used? | Selenomethionine, amino-acid-bound organic selenium | Sodium selenite or selenate, the cheaper inorganic salts |
| Is the mushroom standardized to anything? | Cordyceps mycelium standardized to 50% polysaccharides, marker printed | Mushroom powder with no marker compound or percentage given |
| What else is in the capsule? | Hypromellose capsule and rice flour. That is the complete list | Magnesium stearate, silica, titanium dioxide, artificial colorants |
| Where was it made? | US FDA-registered, cGMP-compliant facility with testing at multiple production stages | Often unstated, or offshore with no testing detail offered |
Comparisons describe general patterns in the retail supplement category and are not directed at any specific brand or product.
What we will and won't say about this bottle
- We'll say the compounds are studied. Curcumin, ashwagandha, NAC, selenium, cordyceps, inositol and black cumin all have real published human literature behind them. You can go read it.
- We'll tell you what this is. This is broad daily coverage across five systems at supportive amounts in one bottle. That is a real and useful thing to own.
- We won't call these clinical doses. Several actives here sit below the amounts used in the trials that made them interesting. If you want one pathway pushed hard at a research-level amount, a single-ingredient formula is the right tool — and we make those. This bottle is the foundation underneath them, not a replacement for them.
- We won't say it's a drug. It does not treat, prevent or cure anything, and it is not a substitute for something your physician prescribed.
- We won't promise a timeline. Ninety days is the honest window. Anyone offering you two weeks is selling something else.
- We'll tell you when to call your doctor. This formula has real interactions — thyroid medication, blood thinners, blood sugar medication, and cumulative selenium. The questions below name them specifically.
Dr. Andreas Boettcher, B.S., D.C., C.F.M.P.
Founder, It's Only Halftime
Ironman Triathlete/Master's Men's Physique Competitor/Medication-Free at 56/33 Years of Clinical Practice
Foundations first. Every time.
In thirty-three years of practice I have watched more people fail at supplementation for one reason than every other reason combined: they went hunting for the exotic thing before they had the ordinary things covered.
Somebody comes in having read about a compound on a podcast, ready to spend real money on it, and their glutathione substrate is empty, their selenium status is unknown, their gut is irritated and they have been running on four hours of sleep for a year. The exotic compound is not going to fix that. It cannot. A signal does not do much in a body that is not set up to answer it.
So we built this one the way I would build a base layer for a patient. Not one pathway hammered, but five systems supported at once, with pairings that actually make sense: cysteine and selenium together because glutathione needs both the substrate and the enzyme. Curcumin in a phytosome rather than plain powder, because an ingredient you do not absorb is an ingredient you did not buy. A gut ingredient in a formula about cells, because the gut is where the cells get fed.
I will also be straight with you about what it is not. This is not eight clinical doses in one bottle. It cannot be — you cannot put a research-level amount of eight compounds into four capsules and no honest formulator will tell you otherwise. What it is, is broad coverage at supportive amounts, which is exactly what a foundation is supposed to be. When a patient needs one lane pushed hard, I add the single-ingredient formula on top. That sequence works. Reversing it almost never does.
This is what I reach for as a base. Then I build on it.
What CellCore ELITE stacks with
CellCore ELITE is the base layer. These two are the formulas I add on top of it most often, and both of them do something it cannot do on its own.
Omega-3 TS — Triple Strength
This is the pairing I would make first, and it is not close. Every cell membrane in your body is built out of the fatty acids you have been eating, and those membrane fatty acids are the raw material your body converts into inflammatory signaling molecules. A membrane pool skewed heavily toward omega-6 — which describes most modern diets — biases that conversion before any capsule gets a vote.
Why the pair worksCellCore ELITE supports how the signals are regulated. Omega-3 changes what the signals are being built from. EPA and DHA are also the direct precursors to resolvins and protectins, the compounds involved in actively resolving an inflammatory response rather than only quieting it. One works the pathway, the other works the substrate.
Triple strength matters here for a plain reason: meaningful EPA and DHA intake is measured in grams, and a standard fish oil softgel delivers a few hundred milligrams. This one delivers 1,580 mg in two.
View Omega-3 TS →InflaMend — Natural Inflammatory Support
If inflammatory balance is the specific system you are working on, this is where the depth lives. CellCore ELITE covers that lane as one of five. InflaMend covers it as the entire product: 900 mg of standardized curcuminoids, boswellia on the 5-LOX arm that curcumin does not reach, bromelain working the enzyme angle, and piperine included specifically for absorption.
Why the pair worksThis is the base-plus-depth pattern, and it is how I would actually sequence it for a patient rather than trying to make one bottle do everything. CellCore ELITE holds the other four systems steady — redox, energy, stress, gut — while InflaMend does the heavy work on the one that needs it. Black cumin, cordyceps, NAC and selenium are all doing things InflaMend does not address at all.
Both formulas contain curcuminoids, in two different delivery forms. That is worth knowing rather than glossing over: if you run them together and you take a blood thinner, a blood sugar medication, or you have a procedure scheduled, tell your prescriber you are taking curcumin from two sources. It is a two-minute conversation and it is the right one to have.
View InflaMend →The way I'd sequence it: start with CellCore ELITE alone for the first thirty days so you know what the base layer does by itself. Add Omega-3 TS next, because it has the widest reach of anything in the line and it changes the substrate everything else is working with. Add InflaMend third, and only if inflammatory balance is genuinely the system you need depth on. Three changes at once teaches you nothing about which one earned its place.
Before you start
Eight active compounds means eight sets of real interactions. Ashwagandha can influence thyroid hormone levels and immune activity. Curcumin and NAC can both influence platelet function. Selenium at 242% of the Daily Value is a real nutritional amount that adds to whatever else you are taking. Whole-leaf aloe can have a laxative effect and can affect how other oral medications are absorbed. None of that makes this formula unsafe — it makes it active. If you take prescription medication, have a thyroid or autoimmune condition, are pregnant or nursing, or have surgery scheduled, read the questions below and talk to your prescribing physician or pharmacist before you start.
I take thyroid medication, or I have an autoimmune thyroid condition. Can I take this?
Talk to your prescriber before you start, and mention two ingredients specifically: the ashwagandha and the selenium. Ashwagandha has been reported to raise thyroid hormone levels in some people, which matters a great deal if your levothyroxine dose is already titrated. Selenium is also directly involved in thyroid hormone metabolism, and 133 micrograms is a meaningful amount rather than a trace.
This is not a reason nobody with a thyroid condition can ever take a formula like this. It is a reason the person managing your labs should know you started it, so that if your numbers move they know why and are not chasing a ghost. Ashwagandha may also stimulate immune activity, which is a separate conversation worth having if you have Hashimoto's, Graves' or another autoimmune condition, or if you take an immunosuppressant.
I take a blood thinner or a daily aspirin.
Check with your prescriber first and do not start without that conversation. Curcuminoids and NAC have both been reported to influence platelet function, which means they can add to the effect of warfarin, clopidogrel, apixaban, rivaroxaban, aspirin or other antiplatelet and anticoagulant medication. NAC also interacts with nitroglycerin and can amplify its blood-pressure-lowering effect.
Your prescriber knows your INR and your history. That call is theirs, not ours and not a website's.
I already take a multivitamin and a greens powder. Is the selenium a problem?
This is the arithmetic question worth actually doing, and almost nobody does it. The 133 micrograms here is 242% of the Daily Value. Most multivitamins carry 55 to 70 micrograms. Many greens and antioxidant blends carry some. Brazil nuts carry a startling amount — a single nut can run 70 to 90 micrograms depending on where it was grown.
Selenium has a defined tolerable upper intake level for adults, and unlike most nutrients it is genuinely possible to stack your way past it across three or four products without noticing. Add up every source, including food, and if the total is climbing toward that ceiling, talk to your physician about which product to drop. Long-term excess selenium intake is not benign. We would rather tell you that plainly than let a good ingredient become a problem through inattention.
Who should not take CellCore ELITE?
Do not use it if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant. Both ashwagandha and whole-leaf aloe are contraindicated in pregnancy, and aloe should also be avoided while nursing.
Do not use it if you have gallstones or a bile duct obstruction, because curcumin stimulates gallbladder contraction. Do not use it if you have an active inflammatory bowel condition, an intestinal obstruction, or undiagnosed abdominal pain, because of the aloe. Do not use it in anyone under 18.
Use it only with your physician's sign-off if you take thyroid medication, an immunosuppressant, a blood thinner or antiplatelet drug, blood pressure or blood sugar medication, digoxin, a diuretic, or a sedative. Black cumin has been studied for effects on blood sugar and blood pressure and could be additive with medication for either. Ashwagandha can have a sedative effect that adds to sleep and anxiety medication.
I have surgery or a dental procedure scheduled.
Stop taking it at least two weeks beforehand and tell your surgeon and anesthesiologist that you were on it. That is standard practice with curcumin and NAC for the platelet reason above, and with ashwagandha because of its sedative interaction with anesthesia. Put it in your phone on the day you book the procedure, not the week before.
Four capsules a day feels like a lot. Can I split them or take fewer?
Splitting them across two meals is fine and some people tolerate it better that way — two with breakfast and two with dinner. What you cannot do is take two and expect the panel to describe what you are getting, because every amount on it is stated per four capsules. Half a serving is half of everything.
The four-capsule serving is a consequence of honest formulating rather than a marketing decision. Eight actives at amounts worth printing add up to more powder than fits in one or two capsules. A single-capsule version of this formula would have to be a fraction of the material, and we would rather show you the real amounts and ask you to swallow four.
Why aren't the doses higher, if these compounds are so well studied?
Fair question and it deserves a straight answer. Several of these compounds have human trials behind them run at amounts above what a four-capsule serving of an eight-ingredient formula can carry. Myo-inositol research in particular typically uses grams, not hundreds of milligrams. Ashwagandha stress research typically uses more than 200 milligrams of a 5% extract.
The trade is breadth against depth, and it is a real trade rather than one we can talk our way out of. This formula is built for breadth: five systems supported at once in one bottle, with delivery forms and standardizations chosen so that what is there counts for as much as it can. If depth on one specific system is what you need, that is what our single-ingredient formulas are for, and stacking one on this base is the sequence we recommend. Anyone selling you eight clinical doses in four capsules is doing arithmetic they hope you will not check.
Will it upset my stomach?
Most people tolerate it well taken with food. Two ingredients account for nearly all of the reports that come back: NAC can cause mild nausea in sensitive people, particularly on an empty stomach, and whole-leaf aloe can have a loosening effect on the bowel. If you notice either, split the serving across two meals rather than stopping. Take it on an empty stomach and you will absorb less of the curcuminoids anyway.
Can I take it every day, long term?
It is designed as a daily foundation, so yes for most people. Two caveats worth holding onto. First, the selenium arithmetic above does not go away with time — it compounds, so re-do the addition any time you add another supplement. Second, if you are on it long term with prescription medications in the mix, a periodic review with your physician and a look at relevant labs is the honest way to know whether it is still earning its place on your shelf.
Can I take this with InflaMend or Omega-3 TS?
Yes, and those are the two we most often pair it with. One thing to be aware of when stacking InflaMend: both formulas contain curcuminoids in different delivery forms, and Omega-3 at meaningful doses also has a mild effect on platelet function. If you take an anticoagulant or antiplatelet medication, or have a procedure coming up, tell your prescriber you are running all three rather than assuming supplements do not count. They do.
Is this a replacement for something my doctor prescribed?
No, and please do not treat it as one. This is a dietary supplement formulated to support normal physiological processes. It is not a drug, it is not a substitute for prescribed medication, and nobody here is suggesting you stop anything. If your goal is to reduce your reliance on a medication, that is a conversation to have with the physician who prescribed it, with labs and a plan — not a decision to make from a product page.
Nobody decides to feel this way. It just accumulates while you are busy.
It does not arrive as a diagnosis. It arrives as a 3pm that used to be fine. A stressful hour that costs you the evening. A recovery window that used to be one day and is now three. A gut that has opinions it did not used to have. None of it is urgent on any given Tuesday, and that is precisely how it takes a decade off how you feel.
You cannot outrun that with one exotic compound, and the people still moving well at seventy almost never got there by finding one. They got there by covering the ordinary things — redox capacity, cellular energy, stress load, gut integrity, inflammatory balance — and then staying consistent long enough for it to matter.
That is what this bottle is for. Eight actives, every amount printed, five systems covered at once, in a delivery form and a facility we will describe to you in detail because we have nothing to hide behind. Take four capsules with a meal, give it ninety days, and compare against where you actually are today instead of where you remember being.
Waiting is also a decision. It is the only one in this whole equation that guarantees the trend continues.
Defend the cell · Support the system · Reclaim the edge