I recently finished the book “Good to Go” by Christie Aschwanden. My son-in-law, who is a Major League Baseball strength and conditioning coach, gave it to me for Christmas. The book is an in-depth look at recovery methods after physical exertion and exercise and which ones are documented to work and which ones are essentially snake oil.

The author is a long distance athlete (semi-professional for a few years) doing things like ultra marathons, and has a firsthand desire to look at recovery methods. Part of her work in the book are accounts of her actually going through some of these methods and what she felt before, during, and after. Keep in mind that an anecdote is in no way a definitive result, but it does provide an interesting addition to what otherwise could have been too dry and scholarly.

She covers pretty much anything and everything that may conceivably be in use by athletes today, from supplements to cryotherapy. She goes out of her way to find places that are experienced in whatever methodology she is looking at, as well as looking deep into all the authentic research.

What I found most fascinating was how much bullshit and poorly designed tests are accepted as “scientific research” in so many cases. She makes a very good case that most of what is used to “prove” the efficacy of a given method is completely antithetical to true scientific study. In some instances – mostly and not surprisingly on the supplement side – it is out and out snake oil.

As an aside – the only verifiable recovery method that worked equally well for everyone is getting enough sleep.

I do find a bit of fault in that she focused mostly on extreme cardio sports like marathons and cycling. While she checks in on a couple of other sports like basketball, she ignores other categories of activities. She almost completely fails to mention any of the power or strength based pursuits, and she completely leaves out combat sports or martial arts. So while her findings are a good start, I don’t think they are 100% universal at this point and there are still some things to research in this regard.

I did find it a good read with a lot of good stuff to think about. I recommend it with some minor reservations.