The athlete's guide to recovery Rest, relax, and restore for peak performance

Rountree--yoga teacher, spa owner, triathlete, and coach--offers good, common-sense advice for athletes who want to perform at a high level. A key tip: Don't overdo it. As Hippocrates said, "To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy." Rountree nicely compares the ideal ratio of work to rest to the fine line between perfectly roasting a marshmallow and incinerating it. Rountree includes charts, including one on how to distinguish between normal soreness and a problem. Heat can loosen stiff muscles and increase circulation, whereas cold can combat training-induced inflammation. Rountree offers low-tech, low-price fixes. To make an ice pack that conforms to knobby body parts like knees, put water in a Ziploc bag and mix it with rubbing alcohol; that keeps it liquid. Use a rolling pin for a massage. Be prepared for some alphabet soup terms like RHR (for resting heart rate) and TRIMP (for a "training impulse system") and words like mesocycle (a block of training). Rountree, who has worked with all kinds of college athletes and many NBA and NFL players, shares practical and valuable tips.

Runner/athlete/yogi Roundtree's (Racing Wisely) interest in recovery as a modality of performance-boosting self-care began long before it became a wellness trend. This updated edition of her 2011 book integrates her historical knowledge, personal and professional practice, and recent research into an accessible, approachable guide designed to convince high-performance exercisers that recovery shouldn't be an afterthought; Rountree believes it must be incorporated into the training cycle with intentionality. Her charts will appeal to readers familiar with the periodization-style approach to training, and her examples of how recovery benefits elite athletes will inspire everyday fitness enthusiasts to think about how they might be able to expand their limits by viewing yoga, foam rolling, stretching, and sleep as integral to their training. VERDICT Perfect for athletes in need of a reminder that being quick with their recovery efforts isn't a quick fix. This impressive book shows how slowing down speeds up results in the gym, on the road, and beyond.--Emily Bowles