This is it. The end of the road for my perspective on recovery.

Chronic recovery is what we do every day to keep our bodies humming: good sleep, good food, good company.

Chronic recovery combined with patient, specific training progression is how we prevent chronic injuries. There is never a good reason for an overuse injury. It just means I got greedy and short-sighted, rushing toward my desired outcomes while dismissing the required process.

Patient training is how we build up capacity. It’s key that we have a little extra range of motion, a little extra armor, and a little extra brainpower when we go out to perform.

Specific training is how we build up conditioning. It’s essential that we prepare for the demands of sport, both within a single moment on the field and across a competitive season. How much, how hard, and how often we need to deliver should all be satisfied by training.

When all of that gets done correctly, acute recovery is about keeping the boat afloat. It’s more about mindset than behavior, though behaviors like deep breathing, smart nutrition choices, and starting early are critical to restoring our physiological baseline.

But I’ve mislead you with that statement, suggesting only acute recovery is about mindset. ALL recovery is about your mindset.

The Recovery Mindset

To restore and regenerate — to recover — is a choice I have to make as an athlete. I starts with my macro habits and it ends with my micro habits.

Managing attention, regulating breath, and releasing tension keep my brain on an even keel and relax my body.

Managing time, regulating nutrition, and releasing stress from performance allow my relaxed body to rebuild.

Managing sleep, regulating diet, and restoring functional symmetry support my body in delivering high performance.

Admittedly, this can feel like a lot to think about sometimes.

Thinking About Recovery

When I’m behind on a work project and my kids have activities that run late into the evening and I just want to veg out with hurdle technique videos on YouTube until I fall asleep, I wonder if all this effort to recover is even worth the time it costs.

But then I kick myself as I remember that if I *need* to think about recovery, it isn’t a habit yet. I rarely miss a training day because training is just what I do. Training is a habit now, not a thought. I have to think my way into new habits.

And that’s where this whole series started: “If you don’t think about recovery, you won’t.”

The hacks to produce 1% improvement don’t matter when the habits produce 90%.

Recovery is all about your habits. Your habits each day, your habits each session, and your habits each moment determine how well you recover from training and, thus, how well you can perform.

So think about recovery at every moment, until you don’t have to any more. Do the next right thing so often that you forget what else you could be doing. Build recovery habits that support your training habit, so you have every opportunity to perform to your potential.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

• Jump to [Part 1: A Series For Serious Athletes]
• Jump to [Part 2: It 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] (you’re here!)