CrossFit Athletic Group

For the last few weeks the usual spring Goose Patrol has changed from the nostalgic tandem of Stuart and Gill to a gaggle of 6 geese who seem intent on using their legs to travel from place to place despite having, you know, wings. As I was heading out for a 400m run earlier today, I noticed one of them was not walking like the rest...

Of course, my first thoughts went to which mobility drills would be best for this poor goose: a little voodoo band, maybe some mashing of the quads? Do geese have quads?

Then I starting thinking about all the different mobility techniques we do and how they align with what nature provides for us, and they seem to line up: When we roll an ankle, we immediately grap it and start holding it tight with our hands, acting as our personal voodoo band; dogs and cats stretch out, lenghtening their muscles and fascia; massaging practices have been around for centuries, and rollers and lacrosse balls just aid in those techniques. I realized we have it all covered here at the Champions Club... all except for one thing: sleep.

Sleep is the single, universal way animals (all animals? at least most animals) recover. Especially humans. When we're sick we sleep. When we're tired we sleep. When we're sad we sleep. When we need to grow, we sleep. When we're hurt we sleep. Or, at least we're supposed to.

I'm curious about how many of the aches and pains we're experiencing would be either much less prevalent or gone completely if we were to treat sleeping with the same importance we treat the rest of our mobility. On the hierarchy of recovery, sleep would be at the top, no question. Nature is the standard as always; go to sleep when the sun goes down and wake up without an alarm. The closer we can get to that the more recovered we'll be. You'll know you've had enough sleep if you feel like it 10-20 minutes after you wake up (without the help of caffeine). Otherwise, look for opportunities during the day to drop in a short nap.

Are you a goose with a limp? Try making sleep the priority for two straight weeks before thinking your limiting factor is lack of mashing.