Ep. 29: Todd Anderson - Optimizing Sleep for Maximum Recovery
In Pursuit
MeatEater
4.9 • 6.8K Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of In Pursuit with Rich Froning, Rich sits down with Todd Anderson and Scott Vandersloot to talk recovery the way it actually works in real life—sauna, cold plunge, sleep, and being intentional with all of it. They get into why cold is one of the most misused tools (and why it’s more of a “when” than a “yes or no”), why heat before bed can be a game-changer for sleep, and how temperature, consistency, and stress management play a bigger role than most people want to admit. The conversation bounces from hunting trips and terrible sleep in cold tents to nasal breathing, snoring, and the simple truth: you can’t out-tough bad sleep when decision-making, recovery, and performance are on the line.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.3 | Hey, if you're in or around Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and you live for hunting season, |
| 0:09.2 | you need to swing by the meat eater store in Milwaukee. |
| 0:13.0 | We're stocked wall to wall with the gear we actually use in the field. |
| 0:17.2 | First Light, FHF gear, Phelps game calls, and more. You'll find us at the corners of |
| 0:23.8 | Brookfield. Whether you're gearing up for the season, dialing in a setup, or just want to talk |
| 0:28.5 | shop with people who love to hunt, this is your place. That's the meat eater store, Milwaukee, |
| 0:35.1 | at the corners of Brookfield. Stop get dialed and get after it so I |
| 0:41.3 | usually like if I'm going straight for performance stuff I do sauna usually by itself at night |
| 0:46.9 | okay and then if I do contrast yeah I'll pair it up okay but the cold I think the the |
| 0:53.6 | cold is probably the most misused thing. |
| 0:57.3 | Yeah. |
| 0:57.6 | And there's also like all this, it's funny, the, you know, the studies about lifting |
| 1:01.3 | and not doing cold plunge right after. |
| 1:02.9 | I mean, that originally came out in 2009. |
| 1:05.5 | Really? |
| 1:05.7 | That's like not new science. |
| 1:07.6 | And it makes sense. |
| 1:08.4 | It's like, you know, you, you applied the stimulus to your body your body reacts creates inflammation and that's how you get stronger yeah like it's it's not this like crazy thought and so you know it's one of those tools i think people just they don't they're not intentional with it right it's not like a yes or no thing it's a more of a when thing thing. Same with a sauna. But I just think people just kind of just do whenever. |
| 1:32.5 | Out here, the stakes are real. |
| 1:35.7 | Effective preparation starts with fitness, but it requires so much more. |
... |
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