The Hidden Weapon: Recovery Days

In the worlds of CrossFit, Hyrox, and functional fitness training, athletes wear intensity like a badge of honor. Grind harder, sweat more, stack double days, repeat. But here’s the truth no one wants to hear: you don’t get more fit during the workout—you get fitter when you recover from it.

The Science Side

Every hard session breaks the body down. Muscles get micro-tears, your nervous system gets fried, you test the limits of your apparel’s ability to wick sweat, and fuel tanks empty out. Recovery is where the rebuilding happens—stronger fibers, sharper coordination, better aerobic efficiency. If you skip recovery, you’re not training harder, you’re just training tired.

Think of it like banking: training is the withdrawal, recovery is the deposit. If you never put money back in, eventually the account runs dry.

What do you usually hear me say as you exit the gym?

(“GO EAT!”)

The Athlete Side

You know that sluggish feeling when the bar feels heavier than it should? Or when wall balls feel like they’re being thrown through molasses? That’s not always weakness— sometimes that’s under-recovery. Push long enough without breaks and your body will force one on you, usually in the form of injury or burnout.

Why It’s Critical

• Mixed Demands = Mixed Stress. You’re hitting muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, and coordination skills all at once. That taxes muscles, lungs, and nervous system more broadly than a single-sport athlete.

• Recovery Protects Consistency. A missed day from tendonitis costs more fitness than a smart recovery day ever will.

• Performance Demands Freshness. Whether it’s a heavy clean, a long run, or burpees in round six—speed and sharpness come from being recovered, not wrecked.

What Recovery Should Look Like

It’s not just “Netflix and chill” (though sometimes, yes, exactly that). Smart recovery includes:

• Active recovery: easy Zone 2 cardio, walking, swimming, mobility work. Do this for at least 30 minutes. An hour is awesome but ensure it’s not anything more than a light sweat or your body “getting warm”.

• Skill refinement: drilling technique at low intensity—CNS-friendly, joint-friendly, and you make better gains in understanding what the fck you’re trying to do.

• Lifestyle recovery: sleep like it’s your job, eat like you want tomorrow’s PR, hydrate like you mean it. Whole, fresh foods are best.

The Bottom Line

Training breaks you down. Recovery builds you back stronger. Skipping recovery isn’t hardcore—it’s short-sighted. The athletes who stay in the game, stay healthy, and peak when it matters are the ones who know when to hit the gas and when to tap the brakes. I’ve- *knocks on wood*- have been fortunate to do this stuff for nearly two decades pain and injury free because I use recovery to my advantage.

So if you want to perform like a machine? Treat recovery like training. It’s not a day off—it’s part of the plan.