Recovery in fitness is starting to get more attention, but it is still not stressed enough. I listened to a podcast this month about the company Whoop, which produces sophisticated wearable technology used by Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, amongst many other athletes. Founder and CEO Will Ahmed said in the interview that one of it’s greatest impacts has been turning coaches’ and athletes’ attention to the importance of recovery.
Without Good Recovery, You Can’t Have Good Training
The fitness industry focuses mainly on the workouts, especially when it comes to marketing and other media. Everyone wants the best workout. But the real gains happen after the workout, when the body recovers from the physiological damage of exercise and builds back stronger – just in case it has to do those squats again some time! This means that if you don’t recover well, you don’t train well.
This is what the Whoop wearable helps to overcome. It tracks how much stress is put on the body during the day and makes recovery recommendations, such as how many hours you should sleep. If you don’t, it will let you know that you should adjust your training for the next day to account for the lack of recovery. During the podcast Ahmed explained that this information not only helps to improve performance but also to mitigate the risks fo overtraining and injury. The result is new heights of performance over longer and longer careers.
How Do You Get Good Recovery?
1: Sleep – The body does most of it’s repairing during sleep. If you cut that process short, you reduce the body’s ability to make those positive adaptations.
2: Nutrition – If you want repairs, you’ve got to have raw materials. Quality food brings building blocks, junk food brings body fat.
3: Less Alcohol – Boozing gives your body extra work to do flushing the toxic alcohol out of your system, which makes the hours you sleep less restful and reparatory. Not to mention that too much drinking is often associated with being out too late.