“If you don’t think about recovery, you won’t.”

That quote resonates with me. I originally read it in Dan John’s work, but can’t identify the source.

Stated briefly, there are many contexts for recovery and many methods to select from based on that context. If you don’t *choose* to recover from your work, you won’t recover. If you don’t recover, you won’t get better.

Those contexts and those methods are extensive, making it difficult to summarize recovery in a few lines. I feel a little series coming on because there’s so much to cover:
* the recovery you need within a training session
* the recovery you need between training sessions
* the recovery you need within a training period
* the recovery you need between training periods
* the recovery you need between seasons
* the recovery you need immediately after competition
* the recovery you need while rehabilitating an injury

I’m not going to talk in Eastern periodization language, because I don’t believe in it. I’m not going to talk in exercise science language, either, because it’s too reductionist.

Unfortunately, I am going to need a few terms though: “immediate”, “acute”, and “chronic”; “rest”.

Immediate recovery is right after you do something – whether a single set of an exercise or an individual competition day.

Acute recovery is between two like things – whether between training sessions in the same week or between competitive days at a tournament or even between training periods. This happens to be where injury management exists.

Chronic recovery is your daily recovery habits and how they relate to your career. This happens to be where injury *prevention* exists.

Rest is doing nothing…except for chronic recovery. Even something as simple as rest is complicated by athletic performance.

***

Now, the most words deserve to be written about chronic recovery because it is the center of athletic development – and the words exist! – but it is little more than the simple stuff that we’re all neglecting.

Don’t major in minors. Think about recovery, then you will recover. The most basic, basic, basic things are your 90% in terms of longevity, high-performance, and regular improvement.

Sleep.
Drink water.
Eat real food.
Take naps or meditate.
Relax in pleasant company.
Spend time in nature.

And that’s where this series will begin – with the basics.

• Jump to [Part 2: Recovery Starts With Your Habits]
• Jump to [Part 3: Some Injuries Are Dumb, Then There Are Dumb Injuries]
• Jump to [Part 4: Make The Moments Count]
• Jump to [Part 5: It’s All About Your Habits]