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The High Performance Journal - June 24th, 2025

The day I turned 40, it felt like things slowed down.

I felt more sore and needed more time to recover between workouts.

Once I hit mid-age, I needed to take my recovery seriously and get tactical about it.

Now, at 45, I feel like I'm recovering as quickly as I did in my 20s and 30s.

I attribute this to the use of evidence-based tools and an emphasis on being more effective with my training.

In today's newsletter, I'd like to share the protocol I've been using with you, so you can speed up your recovery and achieve greater gains.

You ready? Let's go 🔥

How To Recover Faster In Your 40s Than You Did In Your 20s

Soreness Is A Feature, Not A Bug

When you work out, you're creating tiny tears in your muscle fibers. Your body perceives this as damage and sends inflammation to repair the area.

This isn't a bad thing. It's your body saying that we need to rebuild stronger.

The goal isn't to eliminate soreness (or always to feel sore), it's to help your body recover faster so you can get back in the gym to do it again.

Your Hormones Play A BIG Part

One of the big light bulb moments for me was the idea that your hormones control how fast you recover.

For guys, testosterone is doing most of the heavy lifting. It goes up after training, which helps you build and repair muscle. But if you're chronically stressed, not sleeping, or overtraining, your testosterone can tank, and your recovery slows to a crawl.

For women, it's a bit more complex. Estrogen is the primary player, and its levels fluctuate throughout the month. As women age, their testosterone (yes, testosterone) also declines, reducing energy, muscle strength, and recovery.

Women also have to go through menopause, which slows recovery by lowering estrogen.

The best way for women and men to get their hormone function checked is through a functional health test like ​Siphox​ or ​Superpower​.

The Stuff That Actually Matters (S-Tier)

Food and Nutrition

Your muscles need fuel to rebuild, and if you're not providing them with the right materials, they can't perform their job.

The main focus is getting enough protein. That means anywhere between 0.8 to 1 gram per pound of body weight split over two to four meals a day.

Your muscles need amino acids to repair themselves, while also getting enough carbohydrates to replenish their energy stores.

You can also take steps to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress by adding more antioxidant-rich foods, such as berries, to your diet.

High Performance Sleep

Sleep is the lead domino where all good things come from. Your body releases growth hormone during deep sleep, and it's during this time that most of the actual recovery occurs.

When you take your sleep routine seriously, recovery accelerates.

If you suffer from poor sleep, I created a free report on how to improve it that ​you can access for free here​.

Being Smart With Training And Schedule

My entire week is set up so that my workouts have at least one day of rest between.

Here's what it looks like:

1. Monday - Lift
2. Tuesday - Active recovery
3. Wednesday - Lift
4. Thursday - Active recovery
5. Friday - Lift
6. Saturday - Rest
7. Sunday - Sprint (never after a leg day)

When I do something high-intensity, like sprinting, I won't do a leg workout the day after, and vice versa.

Setting up your training schedule intelligently is about balancing your work-to-rest ratio.

Choosing the right workout volume is crucial because too much can delay recovery and cause fatigue. You want the optimal volume to balance muscle growth and repair without overwhelming your body's ability to recover.

A good coach of mine once told me that volume is like getting a suntan - you want enough but not too much.

The Really Good Stuff (A-Tier)

Active Recovery

I used to think the rest days were about sitting on the couch and doing nothing. Big mistake. Your muscles recover faster when you keep blood flowing through them.

One of the best ways to do this is to go for a walk or do some light stretching or just move around a little bit more on your off days.

You don't want this to be intense. You just want to keep things loose and get your blood flow moving. This helps clear out the waste products from training and brings in fresh nutrients.

Drinking Water With Electrolytes

If you are chronically dehydrated, you are slowing down your recovery to a snail's pace.

Hydration isn't just about drinking water - it's about making sure you are absorbing the water that you're drinking.

This is why I pay attention to my electrolyte intake, especially sodium.

I've been personally using LMNT for the past 2 years. You can also use a pinch of high-quality sea salt.

Your body needs proper fluid balance to function and recover meaning making hydration a key for recovery.

Deloading My Workouts

This was a game-changer for me. Every 8-12 weeks, I intentionally dial back my training for a week. I don't take the week off, I just do about half the volume or half the intensity.

This gives my body a chance to fully recover, my hormones to reset, and I always come back stronger. It's almost like hitting a reset button for your workouts.

If you've been training hard for a prolonged period of time, and suddenly feel unmotivated or weaker, you probably need a deload week.

These Are Helpful But Not Necessary (B-Tier)

Post-Workout Box Breathing Or Breathing While Light Stretching

How To Do Box Breathing:

1. Breathe in for four seconds through your nose
2. Hold for four seconds
3. Breathe out through your mouth for four seconds
4. Hold for another four seconds.
5. You do this for 3 to 5 minutes.

When you work out, your body is in a sympathetic state, which you can call fight or flight mode.

You want to send it into parasympathetic, aka rest and digest mode, and the first step is through your breathing.

When you box-breathe, your heart rate comes down, your stress hormones drop, and you feel more relaxed.

You don't increase recovery when you're stressed, you increase recovery when you're chilled, hence the reason why we box breathe.

Heat Therapy (Jacuzzi or Sauna)

The biggest myth about recovery is that you need to jump into a cold plunge when what you really need is heat.

The heat helps you relax your muscles, increases blood flow, and it just makes you feel better.

Now, if you insist on doing cold therapy, you want to do it at least 24 hours or longer after you've worked out. It's been shown to have a negative effect on muscle building if you do it right after your workout.

The Stuff That Might Help (C and D Tier)

Compression Gear

If I'm feeling particularly sore after a hard training session, like yesterday when I did sprints, I put on compression clothing or boots (lower body).

The science is mixed, but they seem to help with swelling and also increase blood flow to the areas that you want to heal.

Supplements

It's anecdotal, but when I increased my creatine intake from 5 to 15 grams, I felt a demonstrable difference in my recovery.

Other supplements that have been shown to improve recovery are tart cherry juice and beetroot extract.

That said, most recovery supplements are expensive ways to avoid doing the basics. These are highly optional.

I Wish I Knew This Earlier

Recovery isn't about doing more stuff, it's about doing the right stuff consistently.

Look, you don't need ice baths, fancy supplements, or expensive recovery tools. If you focus on the S and A tiers, that is 80% of the recovery.

Also, being metabolically healthy and optimizing your hormones matter more than you think. They are the foundation for your body working as it should.

If you want to recover faster, start with the basics and then work your way down the list.

Here's to your best, most optimized body.

Onward and upward. 🚀

- Dan

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References

1. Kraemer, W. J., & Ratamess, N. A. (2005). Hormonal responses and adaptations to resistance exercise and training. Sports Medicine.
2. Tiidus, P. M. (2000). Estrogen and gender effects on muscle damage, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology.
3. Morton, R. W., et al. (2018). A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 
4. Dattilo, M., et al. (2011). Sleep and muscle recovery: Endocrinological and molecular basis for a new and promising hypothesis. Medical Hypotheses. 
5. Dupuy, O., et al. (2018). Recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage: A systematic review. Journal of Sports Sciences. 
6. Sawka, M. N., et al. (2007). American College of Sports Medicine position stand: Exercise and fluid replacement. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
7. Jerath, R., et al. (2006). Physiology of long pranayamic breathing: Neural respiratory elements may provide a mechanism that explains how slow deep breathing shifts the autonomic nervous system. Medical Hypotheses. 
8. Ihsan, M., et al. (2016). Post-exercise muscle cooling enhances gene expression of PGC-1α. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.  
9. Bleakley, C. M., et al. (2012). The use of ice in the treatment of acute soft-tissue injury: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials. American Journal of Sports Medicine.
10. Hill, J. A., et al. (2014). Compression garments and recovery from exercise: A meta-analysis. Sports Medicine. 
11. Kreider, R. B., et al. (2017). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
12. Clifford, T., et al. (2017). The potential benefits of red beetroot supplementation in health and disease. Nutrients.
13. Bell, P. G., et al. (2014). Montmorency cherries reduce the oxidative stress and inflammatory responses to repeated days of high-intensity stochastic cycling. Nutrients.

Disclaimer: This email is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician.