7 Point Checklist for Better Recovery–
This is an aspect of recovery that is often overlooked since the consequences of not completely refreshing from week to week are not felt after a few days or weeks. It can take months to show up as accumulated fatigue. Fatigue from one week, caused by work stress, training load, sleep issues, nutrition issues etc, gets carried over to next week and the next. Every week adding a small bit to overall fatigue. In a few months time this results in niggles and a few months later in injury. At which point it’s a little hard to pin down the cause since it’s been adding up for a long time.
I use the following checklist as a guide to avoid such slow creeping fatigue related niggles/injuries- My “7 Key Points”-
- Water intake– pee should be light coloured
- Sleep– should be atleast 50 hours a week, more the better
- Protein intake– should be close to 1 gm per Kg weight per day. Not necessary from supplements.
- Vitamin D– should be within normal limits
- Vitamin B12– should be within normal limits
- Stretching– should be part of regular warm up and cool down. Ideally should have a dedicated 20-30 min stretching session every week
- Strengthening– should have a conditioning plan in place.
These 7 points are in their order of importance. In my experience with elite athletes, protein intake and vitamin levels have been the main issues. In amateur athletes, sleep deprivation is the biggest issue. You might notice that strengthening is last on my list. That is because good strength helps your body take more load without getting injured but it doesn’t really avoid fatigue and helps only a little in recovery.
