Recovering From Training

by James Hoffmann

This book is for athletes, coaches, recreational fitness hobbyists, and sport scientists alike. It leans heavily on peer-reviewed science and explains the physiology of fatigue and recovery in great intellectual depth. While based on scientific data, it is written to be easily digested by intelligent people not formally trained in sport science. Attention is also paid to outlining practical application that readers can easily incorporate into recovery strategies for themselves or their athletes.

Recovering From Training will allow the dedicated athlete and coach to plan out training, diet, and recovery strategies for optimal results from training. If you can recover better, you can train more, train harder, and make better gains over time. Peaking and tapering strategies are included so that competitive athletes can make sure to recover on time for competitions. Even if you’re just interested in the theoretical underpinnings of recovery processes, this book is very unlikely to disappoint. Lastly, because peer-reviewed journal articles are referenced, you can use this book as a starting point to further your exploration of any of the recovery concepts discussed within.

Genres: Fitness, Health, Nonfiction, Audiobook

143 pages, ebook

Published December 22, 2017

About the author

Dr. James Hoffmann holds a Ph.D. in Sport Physiology and is a coach for Renaissance Periodization.

Reviews

[Viv JM · Rating 4 out of 5]

As you'd expect from Renaissance Periodization, this is a very in-depth and science-focused look at the subject of optimising your recovery from training.

The take home message can be summed up as:
Follow a structured training plan, get enough sleep, eat enough food (especially carbs) and chill the f**k out.

[Tiago Faleiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recovery is a very loaded term. While most would agree that rest is important, when the conversation gets on how to aid recovery beyond that, it's often a chaos of different opinions and a blurry line between science and marketing.

New gimmicks are constantly being presented to us, promising to take our recovery to the next level, but unfortunately, most lack evidence behind their claims, and some are also heavily funded by other variables that make the method misleading and ineffective.

The book lays down the foundations of what recovery actually entails. They're neatly divided into 3 categories, explaining what they are, how it works, what they do and how to apply it.

The first section is what they call pre-planned strategies: training workload related to MRV, planned rest, light sessions, deloading, periodization and tapering. The second is concurrent strategies, things like sleep, naps, relaxation, stress management, nutrition, therapeutic strategies and autoregulated active recovery. Lastly, there are supplemental strategies, including cold therapy, contrast therapy, static/dynamic compression.

A very complete and useful resource for any coach or curious athlete, sure to improve your understanding of processes behind recovery and boost your performance.

[Danielle O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent information on recovery for the modern athlete. I learned a great deal of information on what to look for as indicator of over training and once fatigued, how to manage the recovery process. There was very interesting information there about that trendy, often expensive recovery methods don’t work and often times hinder progress. I recommend this book for the person looking to optimize their recovery from whatever sport they partake in.

[Rory Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book. Dr Israetel strikes a great balance between science and application, as well as reinforcing both the importance of recovering well but that recovery strategies are only effective is training is both hard and smart too.

I will be taking some of the practical suggestions offered by the author and implementing them with the athletes I coach over the coming weeks.

[Alexander Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative books on what the main focus points should be on recovering from training. Also gives color on what recovery methods are very important and which are not as important. One more thing this book covers well is optimizing training cycles in order to maximize gains and recovery.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another essential text from Renaissance Periodization, this time providing analyses of various recovery modalities and prescriptions for proper utilization across strength, physique, and endurance sports.

[Henry Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and fact-filled book. Definitely worth reading and was helpful to understand what aspects of recovery are worth prior using and what are best left alone. A few sections were somewhat redundant with earlier parts, but overall the book was short enough that it didn’t really bother me.

[Darwin Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful. I've started to take action on this already

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read. One of the first books I'd recommend for anyone doing physical training. Strongly rooted in empirical evidence.

Four stars only because the writing could be improved in spots, and the ebook is a PDF rather than a Kindle version, so highlighting is a pain.

[Will G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda old and basic information.

Maybe a bro science PHD doesn't mean you keep up with current trends.