At the last MUV Festival, Thomas Mullis from BLACKROLL® explained why genuine performance improvement is only possible with proper recovery – read more below.

Those who train hard want to perform well. But real progress doesn’t happen during training – it happens afterwards. Quality recovery is the key to staying fit over the long term and unlocking full performance potential. Muscles and body parts that are constantly in use – like the legs, active with every hit, sprint and session – need targeted downtime.

BLACKROLL® puts it clearly: recovery should be planned just as deliberately as training. This includes active and passive methods such as sleep, cold exposure (e.g., ice baths), heat (sauna), balanced nutrition, massage, compression and mindful breathing.

Many people can train hard – but those who truly want to improve must allow their body time to regenerate. Only then can training stimuli be fully processed.Both subjective factors (such as personal feeling or motivation) and objective data – for example resting heart rate or heart rate variability (HRV) – offer insight into how recovered the body really is.

Important: Recovery should happen preventively, like brushing your teeth – not only once something starts to hurt. Because most of us have never truly learned how to rest, establishing a recovery routine is essential. And if something feels good: go for it!

1. Make recovery a priority

2. Use sleep consistently

3. Try different recovery strategies – and stick with them