I used to think progress = train harder, train more, repeat. If I felt tired, I just assumed I needed more discipline, not more rest.
A few months ago, I started paying more attention to recovery (sleep, stress, how I actually feel day to day), and it completely changed how I look at training. What surprised me the most is how often your body is basically telling you don’t push today but you ignore it because mentally you feel fine.
I’ve been experimenting with tracking tools lately, and one thing that stood out is how different the data can be from what you think is happening. Like, you wake up feeling okay, but your recovery is trash. Or the opposite - you feel lazy, but your body is actually ready to go hard.
I recently tried WHOOP, and the recovery/strain split made me realize I was overtraining way more than I thought. Not saying it’s necessary for everyone, but it did make me question how reliable feeling really is when it comes to training decisions.
Now I’m wondering how many people are stuck in that loop of pushing harder instead of training smarter. Do you guys actually track recovery seriously, or just go by feel?