Skol & Hati

Recovery

Soreness, rest days, and the things sold as recovery that mostly aren't. What helps, what's neutral, what's theatre.

7 BREAKDOWNS

Large-number graphic on acute sleep loss across 69 studies: about a 7.6 percent average performance dip, with roughly 0.4 percent more per hour awake before the session
Hati · Recovery5 MIN
Training around a bad night: what sleep loss changes about today's session
The barbell doesn't know you were up at 3 a.m. Your effort meter does. What one short night actually changes about today — by the numbers.
2026-10-12
A wooden bucket and long ladle on the darkened cedar bench of a small home sauna, water pooled on the slatted floor, blue light in the high window and one warm bulb on the wall
Hati · Recovery6 MIN
Sauna and cold, ranked by evidence — not by podcast
Heat has a `21`-year Finnish cohort behind it. Cold has small soreness trials and a documented bill after lifting. Here's what the literature actually supports, and in what order to care.
2026-09-03
A kitchen table at dusk under a low pendant lamp, a plain grey laptop pushed aside among scattered post and folded newspaper, a chair left pulled out
Hati · Recovery5 MIN
Stress is a training load
A brutal work week slows the same recovery your squats depend on — measurably. One ledger, one column, and the arithmetic for adjusting a program around a loud life.
2026-09-01
A plain watch with a dark unlit dial lying on a scratched wooden nightstand beside a slack fabric strap, a worn paperback and a stained coaster
Hati · Recovery5 MIN
HRV: what your watch is actually measuring
The gaps between your heartbeats, the math your watch runs on them, and why the number only means something compared with your own baseline.
2026-08-26
An open doorway at dawn, warm light spilling across the floor
Hati · Recovery5 MIN
Rest days: how many you need, and what counts as rest
Recovery is per-muscle, not per-body — how to space hard sessions, and why a rest day doesn't mean the couch.
2026-08-15
A white enamel bowl of frozen peas with frost haze on a folded kitchen towel in cool evening light
Hati · Recovery5 MIN
Sore or hurt? What DOMS is, and when pain means stop
The soreness schedule, why the first session back bites hardest, and the plain difference between sore and hurt.
2026-08-15
A kettle, steaming mug, and paperback on a side table at dusk, warm lamp against blue window light
Hati · Recovery5 MIN
The recovery hierarchy, ranked
Where sleep, food, massage, and the cold plunge actually land — ranked by evidence, not by feed.
2026-08-08

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