After working with hundreds of Wasatch Front runners, lifters, and skiers, the recovery protocol that compounds best across years has six things in it.

Recovery science gets reduced to gimmicks too easily — ice baths, infrared, supplements no one needed. After years of working with serious athletes at our Sandy clinic, the stack that holds up across thousands of sessions is boring on purpose. Boring works.

**Sleep**, before anything else. Eight hours minimum on training days, more if you can get it. Every other recovery intervention is a fraction of what one extra hour of sleep gives you.

Recovery isn't one thing. It's six things stacked, and the order matters.

**Protein** at 1.6–2.2 g/kg bodyweight, spread across the day. Doesn't matter if it's from food or shakes. Muscle protein synthesis isn't saturated until you give it the substrate.

**Carbohydrates** post-session, sized to the workout. Glycogen replenishment is a thing. So is "the next workout starts from how recovered you are right now."

**Electrolytes**, especially in Utah summers. Sodium gets unfairly maligned. Most active people undershoot it. Salt your food. Sports-drink the long runs.

**Magnesium and amino acids** via an IV drip every 2–3 weeks during heavy training blocks. This is where Prime IV fits the picture for athletes. The Athletic Recovery Drip — magnesium, BCAAs, B-complex, Vitamin C, glutathione, saline — closes nutrient gaps that food alone can't close on a tight timeline.

**NAD+** quarterly. Especially for athletes over 35. The cellular energy substrate that keeps you adapting instead of just enduring.

Everything else — ice, sauna, compression, massage, foam roller — is fine and possibly useful. None of it substitutes for the six above.