How to recover from exercise, stress, and life

You hear about "recovery" a lot, but what does it mean, and how do you do it?

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“Recovery” is one of WHOOP’s most prominent scores. It’s the big number you see at the top of your app each morning, coded Green, Yellow, or Red. According to WHOOP, your recovery score measures how your body is adapting to stress, and indicates how much capacity you have to take on strain through physical activity, stress, illness, and other sources. The higher your score, the more capacity you have to take on strain. The lower your score, the less capacity you have.

We’d all love to wake up every morning at 100% capacity—to feel like we’re well-rested, healthy, energized, and strong. So how do we effectively “recover” from our day, whether that’s a hard workout, a stressful workday, a lack of sleep, or a chronic illness flare?

I bet you can think of two forms of recovery: sleep and rest days from the gym. Those are both hugely important—but they’re not the only forms of recovery. In fact, if this is all you’re doing, you’re missing out on some hugely effective tools for boosting your capacity. Here’s your first lesson:

Rest and recovery are not the same

Resting is the absence of exercise, sport, stress, or activity—think sleep, spending the afternoon on the couch, lying by the pool, or taking naps. Rest can be part of recovery, but isn’t the full picture.

As counterintuitive as it sounds, recovery also includes active practices designed to reduce stress, muscle fatigue and tension, and rebuild your energy, emotional capacity, nervous system balance, and mental health. Yes, recovery is effort! It doesn’t just happen overnight—although it certainly starts with a good night’s sleep.

Recovery is also where the real magic happens. You don’t get fitter during exercise, you get fitter when you recover from that exercise and your body adapts to the strain. It’s the same principle when it comes to stress; you’re not improving your tolerance in the middle of the stressful event, you improve it when you successfully recover from that event.

Here are some of my favorite recovery practices. Build at least a few into your week and see how your tolerance for strain and stress improves.

Physical recovery practices

With all of these practices, your experience, fitness, and activity levels will dictate what is considered “recovery” for you. I can go for a 5-mile hike at a chill pace in the mountains and that’s a recovery day for me, whereas someone not used to hiking at elevation may choose a walk through their neighborhood. Conversely, a “jog” is not recovery for me (I’m still a beginner runner), but if you run regularly, you may find an easy short run is a good recovery day for you.

Walking: Walking is my favorite form of active recovery, particularly if you do it outside. This isn’t a power-walk or a ruck; it’s just a nice, easy walk. An easy hike (for your ability level) may also work well here.

Foam rolling, stretching, and mobility: These are low-impact practices you can do on a rest day or between workouts to help your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints recover. A slow, unheated yoga or Tai Chi class could also fit the bill!

Massage or acupuncture: These forms of body therapy can be relaxing and beneficial for sore, tight muscles. Self-massage in the form of a Theragun or some other compressive tool works nicely here too.

Ice baths and cold showers: While the science suggests an ice bath immediately post-workout may not be the best for your “gains,” cold therapy can provide an energy, mood, and circulation boost between workouts. (And if the only time you have to cold plunge is after your workout, that’s fine—no one is paying you to make “gains,” right?)

Sauna (conventional or infrared): Saunas can be relaxing environment. Studies also show time in a sauna can boost recovery, relieve muscle soreness, and even provide benefits for your heart.

Hydration: This isn’t quite as “active” a practice as stretching or walking, but hydration plays a huge role in recovery—and it does require a conscientious effort! Hydrating reduces inflammation and brings increased blood flow and delivery of nutrients to your muscles. WHOOP found that when members report drinking 12 glasses of water, next-day recovery improves 3% on average.

Sports and hobbies: Paddle boarding, pickleball, gardening, throwing the football, or going for a bike ride or easy swim can all be forms of active recovery. The key is not going so hard or long that you accumulate additional stress, strain, or muscle fatigue on a day you’re supposed to be “recovering.”

Mental recovery

Most of the advice you’ll find in fitness magazines focuses on physical recovery. But if you want to get your WHOOP recovery score up (or just buy yourself capacity for tomorrow’s plans, activities, and stressors) you also want to focus on mental recovery too. All of these practices below are part of my daily WHOOP journal, so I can track the impact they’re having on my recovery and stress levels.

Meditation: Your meditation practice doesn’t have to be sitting cross-legged in a silent room getting to “zen.” Walking or moving meditation, a post-workout meditation, or a guided meditation through an app can all help you process the day’s stressors, find perspective or gratitude, and center yourself to start your day (or close out a tough one).

Breath work: You can use breath work to energize and prepare yourself for physical activity, but you can also use to it relax and unwind during or after stress. Breathwork like cyclic sighing or box breathing can improve your mood, reduce feelings of stress, and activate your parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) nervous system.

Therapy: Talking about your anxiety, stress, and other life challenges can help you realize that you’re not alone and get the support you need to tackle whatever you’re navigating. Therapy can also be found in a support group, guided medical practice (like ketamine therapy), somatic therapy (like dancing or shaking), and other practices.

Sex: Physical intimacy or any nature (with a partner or yourself) can boost your sense of connection, improve your sleep quality, and help you relax in the face of stress. Sex can also release endorphins and oxytocin, and reduce cortisol levels.

Other mental health recovery practices include spending time outdoors, socializing, coloring, doodling, journaling, singing, playing an instrument, dancing, and reading. Basically, anything that makes you feel more relaxed, capable, supported, or grounded is “recovery.” (Some of these also cross categories; dancing, gardening, or hiking might benefit your physical and mental. recovery)

Unlock your best recovery

I’ve said it a million times, but you don’t have to be an athlete to benefit from WHOOP! It’s for anyone who wants to sleep better, handle stress better, gain accountability for the healthy habits you’re trying to groove, or be better prepared for your exercise routine, hobby, or sport.

Let WHOOP give you the data you need to know which behaviors are serving you, which are hurting, and how you can unlock more energy, vitality, and strength to support whatever you’re passionate about.

XO, MU

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