RECOVERY
Recovery is likely the most overlooked aspect of well-planned training -- especially in the military. Unit culture and optempo play a large role in this, but there is also a critical knowledge gap when it comes to understanding recovery. If you’ve looked at the General Adaptation Syndrome already, you know that your body reacts to physical training much like it does to any other stressor -- an initial performance decrement. What we consider an increase in performance is simply an increase in your body’s resistance to the stimulus that caused the initial stress. This increased resistance to stress occurs optimally when we give the body a genuine opportunity to recover. If you continue to stress the system (poor sleep, poor nutrition, more exercise, other external stressors), you will handicap your body’s efforts to improve.
Finding the right balance between training hard and recovering well can be a challenge; however, if your priority is improving your physical performance, and you simply choose to train harder without taking a look at improving other stressful habits (e.g. sleeping less than 7 hours per night, drinking alcohol excessively), you’ve chosen... poorly.
WHY RECOVERY MATTERS
"As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. One who grasps principles can successfully select their own methods."
Scroll left or right to check out the next principle.
Training Principles