Caveat

This is predominantly a training self coaching guide.

This is because I firmly believe training dictates recovery, and having this mindset will be helpful in achieving results.

The second reason is simply I’m more familiar with the training side of the fence. There’ll be more places here where we express uncertainty, and refer more to additional reading and resources. You’ll want to hear what dieticians, sleep specialists and psychologists have to say, for instance.

Having said all that, this section wouldn’t exist if I didn’t believe it provided some value. The aim has been to present a practical lens of looking at things, to dispel myths, get a fresh perspective and have directly actionable advice.

Overview

To recap, we have to understand that at a macro level everything we’re talking about comes back down to stimulus and recovery.

Without an effective stimulus, i.e. consistent training with a reasonably high degree of effort and execution, all the recovery in the world won’t lead to progress.

You’ve probably seen recovery divided into three factors:

• Diet
• Sleep
• Stress

And at a theoretical level that’s absolutely correct of course.

In practice however, I suggest a slightly amended lens of looking at things.

• The dieting strategy
• Things you maintain continuously
• Things you add in on occasion

Let’s take a look in brief.

Dieting strategy

This is where you conceptually want a plan of attack with calories and macros.

By definition you have to be either bulking (eating at a caloric surplus), cutting (eating at a caloric deficit), or at maintenance.

The tricky bit is how much, and how long.

Continual recovery

As opposed to strictly calories and macros, here this is about improving food quality. Think upping your veggie count, more chicken and salmon and less protein powder, that sort of thing.

In this same category is increasing the duration of quality of your sleep.

As well as decreasing the number and severity of your stressors.

I posit that in your mental model of ‘what to do’, these three things should be thought of together.

It all shares similarities:

• It is on-going indefinitely
• It requires continual upkeep
• You can convert wins into autonomous habits
• There’s no fixed end point – you have to find your individual ‘good enough’

‘Fluff’ relaxation work

For want of a better word this is all things ‘fluff’ to assist with recovery.

Massage ball rolling, foam rolling, and light stretching fall in this category. For example, holding a lunge for 10-20 seconds, or pulsing in an out of a butterfly stretch.

Shorter duration, less intense stuff than the often 2 minute, max effort PNF style stretching covered in the training section. Though you might be holding the same lunge position in both, I suggest mentally you want to group them under these different buckets.

Though not my first choice, running a YouTube follow along mobility routine or light yoga (not ashtanga or vinyasa power, for instance) routine might be another option.

Going to get a massage sits here as well.

Calling all these fluff work is perhaps a bit uncharitable – there’s nothing wrong with any of these modalities.

If you have the time and energy, throw them in. Hence, the category ‘add in on occasion.

The call out is to dispel any myths surrounding these.

• This is not training. A light stretching or yoga session is not going to create a training stimulus akin to resistance training, locomotion, cardio, or PNF stretching.
• This is not the priority for recovery. In a hierarchy of importance, any unit of mental effort you expend on ‘fluff’ relaxation work may be better spent directly on improving your diet, sleep or stress.