Zero To Alpha Wisdom #29
Eat, Sleep, Overtrain, Repeat
I recently read the Lethal Recovery Guide—probably the most comprehensive breakdown of athletic recovery I’ve seen. You should absolutely check it out.
But even with all that info available, people still burn out. Why?
Because most of them aren’t overtraining. They’re underrecovering.
Today, I want to break down what that really means—based on what I’ve seen over and over again with clients and training partners alike.
The issue? They burn out, recover just enough to survive—and then repeat the cycle. Something clearly isn’t working.
Recovery in a nutshell.
Let’s dive into what proper recovery looks like.
Image from The Lethal Recovery Guide by Jack Krucial, used with appreciation.
This should be pretty straightforward. You can do everything right, but you’ll still burn out if you go balls to the wall every session. Everyone goes through this, but even after they figure it out, they still overtrain. Why is that? It’s because they have their recovery priorities upside down. For most, this is because of ignorance. Most people follow the inverse of this recovery scheme, and it looks like this.
Can you spot the difference? It’s the complete opposite of what it should be. I’ve had people say, “I do ice baths daily and still feel wrecked.” Meanwhile, they’ll drop hundreds on massages but won’t spend a cent on nutrition. Not to mention the people with zero sleep schedule. But let’s break it really down now.
Note: I won’t cover the S+ tier since it’s common sense.
The S tier: sleep, nutrition, and low stress.
These 3 are the pillars of a well-recovered athlete in my opinion, and also where a lot of people completely miss the boat.
Sleep
Once I had a coaching call with a nutrition client who complained about being burned out. We were already working on his nutrition, so I knew that couldn’t be the issue. So I asked when he went to bed and woke up. He couldn’t even give me a straight bedtime—just a vague “it depends.” He was averaging 5 hours of sleep a night because he was prioritizing scrolling on social media over proper sleep/recovery. This obviously added stress to his system on top of training, and he burned out.
When training twice a day and potentially working, 8 hours of sleep is the bare minimum. Taking the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” approach will just put you in an early grave. So fix your sleep schedule first before you talk about overtraining.
This isn’t overtraining—it’s poor sleep hygiene.
Nutrition
I already covered in detail how people tank their performance in Thailand by eating out all the time. But even people not eating out all the time have no clue how much they need.
Let us break it down and see how much you actually need when training twice a day.
Protein: 2g per kg
Fat: 1g per kg
Carbs: 4–10g per kg (depending on goal)
As you can see, protein and fats are fixed numbers. But carbs fluctuate. Why is that? Well, it depends on what your goal is. People who aim for performance will obviously eat more carbs. People that try to lose weight will eat fewer carbs. But 4 times your BW in kg is the absolute minimum when training twice a day.
Now, in reality, the majority of people don’t know how much they eat. They are more likely to hit 3 times their body weight in kilograms.
How can you expect to recover and perform if you don’t even hit the minimum amount of carbs? Combat sports are highly glycolytic; this means they’re using carbs as fuel. But you’re not giving your body the required fuel. You expect your body to perform like a race car with 10% fuel in the tank. You might get around the block but not much further.
As for protein and fats. Based on my experience, I noticed most people eat too much protein and definitely way too much fat. They do this to overcompensate for the lack of carbs. This obviously results in under-recovery and burnout.
What you’re calling overtraining is actually chronic underfueling.
Low-stress
Training twice a day puts a lot of stress on your body. The last thing you want is putting extra UNNECESSARY stress on top of that. We obviously have things that are out of our control, but a lot of people think certain sources of stress are out of their control, while in reality they aren’t.
This victim mentality is what adds a lot of unnecessary stress to people’s lives. It’s easy to blame that toxic girlfriend and her crazy behavior, but aren’t you the one staying even after she acts like that? So who is to blame exactly?
There are obviously multiple examples of this, but you get the point. Look at the situations that stress you and deal with them. It’s better to do the right thing and be uncomfortable for a bit than to postpone it and be overstressed all the time.
You’re not overtrained. You’re overstressed and not doing anything about it.
Supporting Recovery Tools (But Not the Foundation)
Tier A and tier C influence each other
In tier A we can see that hydration is very important when it comes to recovery. This is something plenty of athletes mess up, especially if they’re in Thailand. And they screw it up even more by throwing in a sauna without a plan.
Over the years, the sauna has become very popular. The health sphere has been all over saunas for a while now. Sauna is amazing because it helps your body detox through sweating. BUT it also dehydrates you when done wrong. Being dehydrated will obviously impair performance.
Another thing we have to add is that most have no clue what they’re doing when it comes to saunas. They take the “the hotter, the better” approach without an actual plan. This potentially leads to heat exhaustion, which’ll lead to … impaired performance.
What most won’t tell you is that the sauna is a form of stress and that it should be used with caution. When feeling worn out, a scorching hot sauna might not be the best idea. You’ll add more stress on top of an already stressed-out system.
I assume I don’t have to explain how that’ll end.
Luckily for you, my heat acclimation guide is almost finished. Keep on the lookout for it. Once finished, you'll be able to learn how to use the sauna without adding more stress to your system.
You're hot then you're cold
The same goes for cold plunges, by the way. The science of cold plunges being good for recovery is very limited. What it does, though, is increase your stress hormone. Do you really need that? Why add more stress? That’s about as counterproductive as it gets
The reason you feel good from an ice bath is the adrenaline and dopamine spike. Or you’re just relieved you finally got out. Those guys pushing you to have daily dopamine spikes also have a dopamine detox course.
The jokes write themselves. Use code ‘ice bath’ at checkout. You probably won’t get a discount, but God loves a tryer, so they might as well.
But what about?
What about massage, foam rolling, or compression gear? Take care of the first 2 tiers, and those things will be the last thing on your mind. A good massage can be relaxing, but you don’t need it as much as people claim. As for massage guns and those compression things. It's better to invest your money in other things. Things that actually improve your recovery.
Like working with a nutritionist.
Nutrition Coaching
Over the years, I’ve helped fighters heal their metabolism, lose weight effectively, and fuel their bodies for peak performance. If you’re struggling with weight loss, underperforming due to poor nutrition, or dealing with a damaged metabolism, DM me “nutrition” on Instagram to get started.
In my 3-month coaching program, I’ll guide you through:
Healing your metabolism.
Losing weight sustainably without burnout.
Cutting weight safely for a fight.
And much more.
Spots are limited—I only take on 3 clients every 3 months to provide focused, personalized support. Don’t wait; claim your spot today!
Training and Fighting in Thailand
Dreaming of training or fighting in Thailand? One of the biggest mistakes fighters make is not understanding Thai culture before they arrive.
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Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram.
Until next time.
Alex