Improve Recovery

Proof required

Submit your 7-day M1 recovery baseline: daily sleep hours and quality (1–5), daily soreness or fatigue score (1–5), and daily morning energy score (1–5), recorded each morning for 7 consecutive days. Include 7-day averages for each metric and note which metric shows the largest gap from its target (sleep quality ≥3.5, soreness ≤2, morning energy ≥3.5).

What gets checked

• All three metrics are recorded each morning for 7 consecutive days in real time — retrospective recall of soreness and energy levels is unreliable after even a few hours; the diary must be completed within 30 minutes of waking
• The soreness or fatigue score reflects the current morning state, not the prior workout difficulty — a very hard session may produce low soreness the next morning if recovery is good; the metric measures outcome (body state) not input (workout intensity)
• The morning energy score is recorded before coffee, food, or phone use — stimulant use and digital engagement alter subjective energy perception within minutes; the score reflects the body's true recovery state before any stimulation

Common mistakes

• Recording the scores in the evening or retrospectively — evening energy scores reflect afternoon mood and daily events rather than morning recovery state; the three metrics must be recorded within 30 minutes of waking
• Treating soreness as a fixed score based on training schedule — some people assume that training hard means high soreness and record high scores automatically; the score should reflect the actual felt state that morning
• Inconsistently defining the energy scale across the 7 days — an energy score of 3 means different things on different days unless the anchor is fixed; write a brief personal definition at Day 1 (e.g. '3 = functional but not energised; would not spontaneously exercise') and apply it consistently

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• All three metrics must be present for all 7 days. If any metric is missing for more than 2 days, ask whether those days were not logged or just not submitted
• The personal scale definition should be present or describable on request — without an anchor for what 1 and 5 mean to this person, the 7-day average is difficult to interpret
• The primary gap identification should match the averages submitted. If the person identifies sleep as the primary gap but the sleep quality average is 4.2 (above the 3.5 target), ask them to clarify

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Proof required

Submit (1) daily logs of all three metrics for all 8 weeks; (2) weekly averages for all three at Weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8; (3) a description at Weeks 4 and 8 of the specific change made for the primary gap and whether it was maintained.

What gets checked

• Daily logs cover all 8 weeks with all three metrics — recovery is a cumulative process; weekly averages drawn from partial daily data do not represent the week's recovery state
• The specific change made for the primary gap is named at Weeks 4 and 8 — 'I moved my consistent bedtime to 10:30 pm and kept screens off from 10 pm' is specific; 'I tried to sleep earlier' is not
• Weekly averages show a trend across the 8 weeks — a single good week followed by reversion is not sustained improvement; the goal is a stable upward trend in the primary metric average

Common mistakes

• Trying to improve all three metrics simultaneously from Week 1 — multi-target recovery improvement without prioritisation is difficult to sustain and makes it impossible to attribute change to a specific intervention; focus on the primary gap first
• Recording only the good days and omitting days when recovery was poor — a recovery log that shows all days rated 4–5 when M1 averaged 2–3 is not credible; honest logging, including poor days, is the evidence
• Changing the intervention at Week 4 because improvement is slow — recovery adaptations to sleep hygiene or training volume adjustments typically take 4–6 weeks to fully manifest; switching strategy at Week 4 means neither intervention gets a full test

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• The daily log must cover all 8 weeks with all three metrics. If weeks are missing, ask whether those weeks were not logged or just not submitted
• The specific change described at Weeks 4 and 8 should match the primary gap from M1. If the person reports changing something different from their stated primary gap, ask what happened to the original intervention
• Weekly averages should show a trend. If all averages are identical across 8 weeks, ask whether the daily logs actually cover the full period — stable averages across 8 weeks despite a targeted intervention are unusual

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Proof required

Submit (1) M3 7-day daily log covering all three metrics recorded within 30 minutes of waking; (2) a side-by-side comparison table of M1 and M3 7-day averages for all three metrics; (3) an attestation from a named person who observed the 8-week recovery improvement programme.

What gets checked

• M3 uses 7 full days recorded in real time using the same morning protocol as M1 — same three metrics, same timing window (within 30 minutes of waking), same scale anchors
• The comparison table shows all three metrics at M1 and M3 — even if only the primary metric was targeted, all three should be compared to show whether the focused change had secondary effects
• The primary metric shows improvement in the M3 average compared to M1 — this is the direct evidence of the 8-week intervention's effectiveness

Common mistakes

• Selecting the best week of the programme as the M3 week rather than the final week — the M3 should be the last 7 days of the programme, not the best performance window
• Using only 3 days for the M3 diary rather than 7 days — the M1 baseline was 7 days; a 3-day M3 uses a shorter averaging window that inflates variability and makes the before/after comparison unreliable
• Providing an attestation from someone who only started observing the person in the final week — the attesting person must have been present across the programme period to describe what changed

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• The M3 diary must cover 7 full days logged each morning within 30 minutes of waking. If the submission appears retrospective or covers fewer than 7 days, ask for the full diary
• The comparison table must show all three metrics. If only the primary metric is compared, ask for the full three-metric table
• The attestation should describe observed change in recovery behaviour — 'they were in bed before 10:30 every night and rarely complained about being tired in the mornings anymore' is observation; 'they said they recovered better' is not

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