Page 25 - Fully Equipped Playbook

RECOVERY
A company I highly recommend for electrolytes/hydration is Liquid I.V., which offers hydration multiplier single serve packets. They claim their products can hydrate you 2-3x faster than water alone. If you’re not a fan, adding himalayan salt to your water, can provide a similar effect.
In addition to hydration, overall nutrition is vital to performance and recovery. Nutrition has its own chapter, but for now, please understand that what you put in your body and when you put it in, is vital for recovery and high level performance.
SLEEP
Notice how big I made sleep? I’ve saved the most important recovery tool for last. Cooling down, stretching, nutrition, and hydration are all key elements of recovery. The absolute #1 thing you can do to recover is get great sleep. Studies show that more than 40% of Americans get less than ideal sleep. I was one of those people. I knew sleep was important, but I didn't know why or how it affected my body until the Rays brought in a sleep specialist. She showed us data on how sleep impacts recovery, and it blew my mind. Sleep is so important that every team I was on, as a big leaguer, offered sleep coaching not only for players, but for their families as well.
As a baseball player, especially at the professional level, you don’t have many days off, so sleep is more important than ever. I usually get to the field by 1:00pm for a 7pm game, and there’s not much time to sit around. I get dressed, get treatment (if needed), warm up my body, sometimes lift, cage work, quick snack, head out for early work and BP, eat, meditation/visualization, get dressed again, warm up again, play for 3-plus hours, then cool down and stretch, and hit the hot/cold tubs. I’m tired just writing all of that! When your body has to work that hard for that long, it needs optimal repair time, and that is only attained through a good night’s rest.
Many top level athletes, including LeBron James say they try and get 10-12 hours of sleep a night. If you want to perform like the best, then learn from the best. Sleep would be a great place to start.
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