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The Truth About Recovery

ByDave

“I have time to stretch an hour a day, foam roll, ice bath, and hit the sauna. Can we double the training volume?”

Recovery tools like the sauna, cold plunges, and soft tissue work are great-they feel good and can play a role in your routine. But the idea that they allow you to do a lot more? In my view, that’s a complete farce.

The Reality of Recovery and Training Volume

Think of your training as liquid and your capacity for recovery as a 16oz glass:

  • Optimized Sleep and Nutrition: Your glass can hold the full 16oz.
  • Poor Sleep or Nutrition: The glass shrinks to 10-12oz.
  • Recovery Tools: Tools like ice baths or stretching might add an extra 1-2oz, but they’ll never replace a foundation of good sleep and nutrition.

The other side to this is training. If you’re trying to pour 30oz into a 16oz glass every day, you’ll constantly spill over. That “spillage” is residual fatigue, which isn’t fixed by recovery tools. If sleep and nutrition are dialed in, and fatigue is still spilling over to day-to-day, you need to reduce the amount of liquid – reduce your training volume.

The Bottom Line

So, I like recovery tools, but it’s important to recognize they’re not the main drivers of recovery – sleep and nutrition are.

Whether you’re training for selection, a student, a veteran, or just enjoying following my work – I challenge you to sleep 8 hours each night and dial in your nutrition this week.

You’ll be blown away by the results

I'm a coach with a passion for helping athletes dominate the toughest selection courses in the world. Over the years, I've trained well over 100 athletes for Special Operations selection courses, including SFAS, RASP, Air Force A&S, BORTAC, SWAT, and MARSOC A&S. My mission is to bridge the gap between traditional performance training and the unique demands of tactical and military athletes.

I got my start coaching hybrid athletes, blending strength, endurance, and hypertrophy training to achieve peak performance. As I worked with more tactical and military athletes, I realized there was a need for a specialized approach tailored to the grueling physical and mental challenges of SOF selections. This realization drove me to focus on prepping SOF candidates for success, combining cutting-edge research, proven training methodologies, and real-world experience.

Whether you're preparing for selection, seeking to level up your fitness, or simply curious about what it takes to thrive in these elite environments, I hope you'll find the information I share helpful.