Hi, welcome to Trained. At Nike we believe that greatness isn't born, it's trained.

And that means more than just a workout. Each episode will bring you conversations with

leading experts in what we call the five facets of fitness. Training, recovery, nutrition,

mindset, and sleep. I'm Ryan Flaherty, Senior Director of Performance at Nike.

I train some of the world's best athletes like Sequan Barkley, Russell Wilson, and Marcus Marioda.

Today we're focusing on the importance of recovery and how incorporating it into your

training can push you forward in unexpected ways. You're listening to Trained, presented by Nike.

We can't train 24 hours a day for a reason. You know if you train four hours a day,

the other 20 hours are really important. Just focusing all on the training and not on the recovery

can be a big escape. We want to not scare people off. You know we want people to be exercising

for life. You know, exercise is medicine. It's the best thing you can do for your body for

prevention of pretty much every disease. So we want people to exercise for a lifetime.

That's Dr. Shona Halson, Associate Professor in the School of Behavior on Health Sciences at the

Australian Catholic University. She was formerly the Senior Recovery Physiologist at the Australian

Institute of Sport. And she was the Director of the Australian Olympic Committee Recovery Center

for the 2008, 2012, and 2016 game. Shona's also a member of the Nike Training Performance

Council. I got to sit down with Shona when she was in town for a meeting with the Nike Sports

Research Lab and get into the science of recovery, sleep, and nutrition. Shona has expertise in

all three areas and many of her studies look at how one facet impacts the other. Shona began her

career studying overtraining and cyclists and has gone on to work with some of the world's highest

performing athletes on their recovery routines and methods.

I was excited to talk to someone immersed in exercise science. Shona has worked with athletes

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