Archive
Every article, newest first
12 pieces across three sections. Nothing sponsored, nothing paid to be here. What you see is what exists.
Recovery Gear
Section →How to read a massage gun spec sheet
Two numbers decide whether a percussion device works, and most listings publish neither. What amplitude and stall force mean, what the evidence supports, and where not to point the thing.
Red light therapy comes down to two numbers
Wavelength and dose decide whether a panel does anything. How to read a listing, what the research supports, and why a $60 mask and a $1,200 panel are not the same product.
The foam roller is the one piece of gear worth owning
It costs $25, the evidence is better than most of this category, and the instruction card explains it wrong. A protocol, three places not to roll, and why density doesn't matter.
A very expensive way to feel better about your legs
The recovery category with the best marketing and the thinnest evidence. What intermittent pneumatic compression does, who must not use it, and what $700 actually buys.
Fix the Pain
Section →Where knee pain shows up when you squat, and what it suggests
The spot that hurts during a squat narrows the possibilities. Front, inside, outside and behind the knee, plus which part of your setup to change first.
Neck pain from desk work, and the fifteen minutes I'd spend on it
Most desk-neck advice aims at posture. The evidence points somewhere less photogenic. What to do at 3pm, and the three setup changes worth making.
The first three days of a bad back
Bed rest is the wrong instinct and it has been for thirty years. What the guidelines recommend for acute low back pain, and the symptoms that mean you stop reading.
A morning routine for plantar heel pain that starts before you stand up
The sharp stab on your first step out of bed usually settles with loading rather than rest. What to change in the first hour, and how long it tends to take.
Why your tight hip flexors survive three years of stretching
The front of your hip can feel tight without being short. What the sensation is measuring, and what to train instead of stretching it again.
Routines
Section →The 10-minute desk-day reset
Ten minutes beside your desk, in work clothes and without a mat. A routine for the mid-afternoon slump that assumes you will not change clothes for it.
The evening after your hardest session
A twenty-minute wind-down, and the forty minutes earlier in the day that matter more. What the recovery hierarchy looks like when you rank it by return.
What sleep does that no device does
Sleep is free and outperforms every recovery product on this site by a wide margin. The mechanisms, the three habits that quietly ruin it, and when to stop reading and ask about apnea.