Guest Speaker: Justin Decker

Our Wolfpack comp team had the privilege of chatting with a guest speaker this week: Justin Decker, the owner of Athlecare Sports Recovery. We just finished the USATF State Championship meet last weekend, so this week's theme is all about Recovery. Justin talked about how important recovery is for athletes.

Justin did a Q&A with our comp team to discuss why we get sore muscles, why we get fatigued, and how we don't actually get stronger when training; we get stronger during recovery.

A handful of our athletes have already experienced the benefits that Athlecare offers. Justin went on to talk about how bodywork can help with recovery and injury prevention. He explained how everyone's training goes in cycles. Some days training is going amazing and we're making lots of progress. Some days feel sluggish and slow. Other days we feel more tired than usual or we see our performance hit a plateau. It's important to pay attention to these cycles and know when rest will help you get back on track.

Justin also shared that it's important to not ignore different parts of our bodies when training. Just because someone is a runner doesn't mean they shouldn't ever train with their arms. All of our muscles and its systems are interconnected and it's important to have balanced.

He reiterated these steps to help get the most out of training and recovery:

• Warm up! Loosen up your muscles.
• Adapt! Don't start your workout super tough, start slow or low mileage.
• Cool Down!
• Stretch!
• Rest!
• Pay attention to your body's cycles.

Thank you so much Justin for stopping by our training to talk to our comp team about the importance of recovery. A handful of our athletes are already members with Athlecare and take full advantage of the tools they offer to keep them healthy and prevent sports injuries.

Click here to read about all of the awesome guest speakers we've had.