Watch out for this recovery trapdoor?
Monday; Yeh, my Whoop says I’m under-recovered. I’m going to take another rest day.
Tuesday; Whoop rest day.
Wednesday; Yeh, had a late night at work with a client and Whoop says my strain is too high to train. I need to recover.
Thursday; Whoop rest day.
Friday; Whoop says I’m good. I’m gonna smash a workout before we go out later.
Saturday; Woah! Whoop says I had max strain yesterday (gonna recover today, which is good since I can’t really walk.)
Sunday; Ok, Whoop says I’m a little recovered, so I’m going to take it easy today and just do a light walk or something.
I must be training too haaaarrrrdddd!
Wearable trackers are incredible bits of tech. Apple watch, Whoop, Polar monitors, Fitbit, etc. They are brill at providing relevant data. But they can’t make decisions for you, they can’t take actions either, and they don’t know the whole story.
Imagine the scenario;
You want to run your car efficiently, without constant and costly repair, and in a way that reliably and consistently gets you to your destination so you perform the following;
Daily you; check your petrol gauge, look for warning signs on the dash, and make sure the tires are inflated.
Weekly you; fill the petrol tank and usually empty out the passenger footwell of rubbish.
Monthly you; run it through the car wash, maybe vac out the inside, and top up the wiper fluid.
Quarterly you; get your oil changed, radiator fluid rinsed and topped off, and your wheel alignment checked.
Yearly you; take it for inspection where they do a full run down on all the essential components of the vehicle.
What you do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis affects how much work needs to be done quarterly and yearly.
You don’t need to take the car in for a detailed inspection every day. If you did, you’d be without your vehicle for long stretches of time, it would cost you loads of money, and it would fail to reliably and consistently get you to your destination because it’s in the garage all the bloody time.
What’s the lesson for you?
Same thing goes with your training. If you are smart about the things you do daily, weekly, and monthly you can better predict and plan for things you’ll need to do quarterly and yearly. If you are incurring so much stress each day that you need to perform an annual service, then you need to make some changes.
That said, very few people are training too hard each day. Instead, what is showing on their wearable tracker as under recovered/high strain is more likely poor sleep and high stress outside of training.
You don’t need to take more days off training to recover, you need to limit the extra stress from happening in the first place.
Focus on regular sleep routines
Limiting alcohol
Following a training plan that is specific, progressive, and accurate for your situation
Eating enough nourishing foods
Being active daily
Scheduling down time and relaxing
If you are ready to make a change then I want to help. I offer customized remote training programs and custom 1-on-1 nutrition coaching to help people take action in the highest impact areas of their health and fitness. To get started, click the button on the right to complete a short application form and book a free call with me.
