Recovery

DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) is the muscle soreness and stiffness that appears 24–72 hours after unfamiliar or intense exercise.

Recovery is the process by which your body repairs and adapts between training sessions, turning the stress of exercise into actual progress.

Sleep is the body's primary recovery process, and its quality and quantity strongly affect training performance, muscle growth, fat loss, and health.

A rest day is a planned day off from training that lets your body recover, repair, and adapt so you can perform better in future sessions.

Overtraining is a state where training demands chronically exceed recovery, leading to declining performance, persistent fatigue, and other negative symptoms.

Mobility is the ability to move a joint actively through its full range of motion with control, combining flexibility with strength and stability.

Stretching is lengthening muscles to improve flexibility, and it comes in static (holding a stretch) and dynamic (moving through a range) forms.

Foam rolling is a form of self-massage using a foam roller to apply pressure to muscles, used to ease tightness and aid recovery.

Active recovery is low-intensity movement done on rest days or between hard efforts to promote recovery without adding significant fatigue.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is the variation in time between consecutive heartbeats, used as a marker of recovery, stress, and readiness to train.

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is the dream stage of sleep, important for brain function, memory, learning, and overall recovery.

The circadian rhythm is your body's internal 24-hour clock that regulates sleep, wakefulness, hormones, and energy levels across the day.

Cortisol is a stress hormone that helps regulate metabolism and energy, but chronically elevated levels can impair recovery and health.

Sauna and heat therapy involve exposing the body to high temperatures for recovery, relaxation, cardiovascular benefits, and well-being.

Contrast therapy alternates between hot and cold exposure, such as moving between a sauna and a cold plunge, to aid recovery and circulation.

Injury prevention is the set of training and recovery habits that reduce your risk of getting hurt, keeping you training consistently over the long term.