The clock’s calculation of recovery time

Question: Hello! I have a Garmin 945 watch. If I practice rowing indoors, it ends with a recovery time of 31 hours. I then switch to strength training. Now, the watch gives me a recovery time of 38 hours. My question is: Will the recovery time then be a total of 38 hours or 31 + 38 hours?

Answer: Hi! When you do two such sessions in succession, the watch will calculate the total load and suggest 38 hours of recovery combined. When it comes to the restitution time, it seems that Garmin is very good at this assessment. It can result in a surprisingly long recovery time for many, compared to what they have previously assumed. This is probably due to the fact that the strain placed on the muscles (including the heart) and tendons is greater than one might think. Many cells are damaged to one degree or another and need to be repaired. When it heals, the cells will grow stronger. But if you apply a new load before this repair process has taken place optimally, you will break down the cells again before they have repaired themselves. Then you miss out of much of the reward for the effort. For people who have a stress balance that is not completely balanced, I would not recommend a session that gives more than a day’s recovery time. At least that is my assessment after observing quite a large number of my own and other people’s training sessions.

Regards, Dr. Torkil