The Recovery Pyramid

If you want to maximize your potential as an athlete, recovery needs to be your number one priority. A lot of people may think of ice baths, saunas, massage guns, dry needling, etc. as recovery, and while these are recovery tools and modalities, they are a very small percentage of the bigger picture and if these are what you think is going to provide adequate recovery you are heavily mistaken. Prioritizing these things over quality sleep and food, proper hydration, a sound strength and conditioning program, walking and stretching, you are stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.

I like to think of recovery as the base of a pyramid, because the peak is only going to be as tall as the base is wide, and is only going to be as strong as the foundation is solid. It needs to be of utmost importance on a daily basis. The three things that I prioritize the most are sleep, nutrition, and stress management. Sleep is where our bodies are doing the repair work from all of the damage we did throughout the day. While we can’t always control how well we might sleep, we can take certain measures like cutting off caffeine after a certain time, blackout curtains or a sleep mask, a fan or lowering the a/c to create a cooler environment, and limiting screen time prior to bed are things that can assist with a quality night of sleep. Fueling ourselves with the proper nutrients helps facilitate recovery. We need calories to fuel our performance, but the quality of the fuel matters as well. Macronutrients that also provide us with quality micronutrients can help with things like sleep, inflammation, energy levels, alertness and mental cognition amongst a host of other things, and all of these play a role in our performance. Managing stress is going to look different for everyone; not everyone is equipped to handle large amounts of stress, but if you want to perform at your highest levels this is something you have to get a handle on. What I do know is if you aren’t actively putting yourself in controlled stressful situations and rewiring your brain on how you respond to stressful things, then no real progress is going to be made.

If you are actively consuming negative information whether thats from your family and friends, your social media feed or the news, if you are actively improperly fueling yourself, surrounding yourself with negative individuals; all of these things will have a negative cumulative effect and I can assure you, you will not even come close to performing at your highest levels. You have to do everything in your power to create an environment around you that is conducive to your growth and well being, and having people in your corner that help you achieve your vision. Stress, when dealt with or responded to improperly, has an effect on our sleep, as well as how our bodies process and store the calories that we supply it. What we fuel ourselves with can effect our sleep if it doesn't settle well during the day or we overstuff right before bed, but it can also lead to things like inflammation or heartburn, which is also a type of stress on the body. 

The recovery pyramid is a constantly revolving thing that is all intertwined and codependent on each other that we need to be cognizant of. When one suffers, the other two have a tendency to suffer as well. You don’t sleep good, you don’t respond to stress as well. You don’t eat good, you don’t sleep as well. You struggle in response to stress and your nutrition or sleep suffers. All of it matters and it all plays an important role in facilitating your highest levels of performance. You can’t just take one serious, you can’t take only two serious, you have to take all three as serious as the others.