“Come on, get one more! You can eat and sleep the rest of the day.”

This is what I would often hear coming from my training partners a few years back when I was very heavy into the strongman world.

I would be able to go to the gym on the weekends and absolutely crush my body. Saturday and Sunday early afternoons were almost always nap time and if not by body was just exhausted. Even with the naps my body was strong, but not really running efficiently. I had joint pains and would get colds easily. On top of this I just felt run down at the end of the day of work and just wanted to crash. My body was just not able to handle the training load that I was putting on it. Sure this was fine for a young kid fresh out of physical therapy school who lived at home, but it doesn’t really work for the busy professional in me now.

There are a lot more bills to pay, a job to go to and a small business to run, as well as a beautiful wife with a little one on the way. My priorities have changed and so the time that I can allocate to certain things has significantly changed. This all may be true and I am busier, but this does not mean that I have to train my body differently. I can still do what I used to, but in a much more calculated manor. Now I know how to help my body recover and in doing so I have not only boosted physical performance, but have also sharpened mental acuity and increased my energy as well.

What to do for Recovery?

Over the next few blogs I want to share with you the different types of recovery that are available to each of you. Each one is appropriate at some time, but only you can figure out what is the best fit for you. I would love to be able to train as hard as I want and then eat, sleep, get a massage and go for some acupuncture every day, but that is just not in the cards for me. I am not a super high level athlete that has those resources, so instead I make the most of my time and use the three types of recovery that I have found to give me the most bang for my buck.

Active Recovery:

This is still doing a training session of your particular activity, but at either a reduced volume, reduced intensity or both.

Passive Recovery:

If you happen to be a runner, then this could be swimming, biking, yoga, going for a walk or doing some tai chi. It is just something that your body’s normal activity.

Manual Recovery:

Here is having somebody else work on your body to help you recover or learning how to do tissue or energy work on yourself.

Total Recovery:

This really just comes down to taking time off from your endeavor. This can be in the form of not doing any exercise for a day or more and just making sure to sleep, or it can be a vacation. When on vacation though it would be not checking your phone or computer everyday (or every few minutes for some of you). Check out here to see my blogs on sleep to really boost your recovery abilities.

No matter if you are a high level athlete or high level executive you must participate in recovery. Not doing so will affect your performance in either arena, which is something that you cannot afford to do. Keep an eye out over the next three weeks to take a more in depth look at each form of recovery and see how putting some into your routine will give you an amazing uptick in performance.

Have a Great Day!

Nick Horowski