Why is Recovery Important?
The body and brain need time to rest and recover. If you’re challenging yourself appropriately and allowing sufficient rest, you’ll become a stronger, smarter, and more resilient version of yourself.
In recent years, a variety of recovery techniques such as cryotherapy, air compression boots, infrared saunas, and more have gained popularity. However, in my opinion, most of your recovery can be managed by focusing on the “Big 4”: proper training, getting 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night, maintaining good eating and drinking habits, and taking care of your emotional health.
This is good news since many people struggle to consistently fit workouts into their schedules. You likely don’t need more things to do!
That said, there are times when the Big 4 may not be enough—especially when life and training are more intense, or when sleep and nutrition quality are compromised. In these situations, techniques like massage, acupuncture, hot/cold therapy, and others can be beneficial.
However, be cautious not to rely on these therapies to compensate for poor training programs, eating habits, sleep, or emotional health. These therapies are meant to enhance your recovery, not replace the fundamentals.
Are Your Workouts Too Hard to Recover From?
If you’re struggling to recover from your training, you may not need more recovery techniques. Instead, it might be time to take a closer look at how you’re training.
In my opinion, a quality strength and conditioning program should be regenerative in nature. It should help you improve mobility, balance, coordination, and resilience—not leave you drained, overly fatigued, or in pain (beyond tolerable muscle soreness).
If you’re having a hard time recovering from your training you might be working too hard or not in tune with what your body really needs from your training.
Sleep and Diet Hygiene Are Just as Important
For sleep, I recommend starting with the book Sleep Smarter to get a general idea of what to focus on.
When it comes to diet, prioritize protein and fiber, and aim to eat as clean as possible (whole foods prepared by you). Don’t forget to drink plenty of water. If you’re interested in a complimentary nutrition consultation, click here.
Emotional Health Matters Too
Emotional health is another area that deserves more attention. Planning some downtime, taking walks, meditating, and speaking with a therapist are great places to start.
Should You Have a Recovery Routine?
Everyone’s recovery routine should begin with sleep, diet, emotional health, and how you exercise or train. Once you’ve got those bases covered, if you have more time and money to invest, feel free to explore additional therapies and techniques. I think a good manual therapist gives the most bang for your buck but I’ve also found benefits from acupuncture and meditation.
I encourage you to do a little exploring yourself and find out what works best for you.
How to Workout to Minimize the Need for Recovery Techniques
It’s about having an appreciation for the finer details of training and a keen understanding of the human body. Form is very important but what’s even more important is that each persons form might need to be a little different from the next persons. You want to make sure you’re choosing the right exercises and that they’re done with integrity. Choose foprm and function over performance most of the time and don’t let your ego get you injured.
I take pride in helping people build the integrity they need to to train hard without hurting themselves but it’s much easier to show you than explain. If you’re interested in learning more about how to improve your training program to be more regenerative and less degenerative, book a free in-person consultation here.
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