How to recover between two training sessions a day.
Fluid and sodium, then aminos, carbs and protein, then rest, then a different kind of session. The order, the numbers, whether to nap, and where supplements actually sit in the list.
Recovering between a morning session and an evening one comes down to four things done in order: get sodium and fluid back in, get aminos, carbohydrate and protein in within an hour, get off your feet and ideally asleep for a while, and do not add a third session because you felt fine at lunch. Supplements sit fourth on that list, not first. This is the routine most fighters in camp settle on, with the reasons.
- The window between sessions is 6 to 10 hours. Glycogen and fluid can be mostly restored in that time. Muscle damage cannot, so the second session should be different in kind, not just later.
- Order: fluid and sodium, then carbs and protein, then rest, then the second session.
- Sleep at night is the real recovery. Everything in the day is damage limitation.
- Recovery ingredients work over weeks, not between sessions. Take them daily and judge the camp, not the day.
What actually needs recovering between sessions?
| What ran down | How long to refill | What refills it |
|---|---|---|
| Fluid and sodium | 2 to 4 hours | 1.5 times the sweat loss, with salt. Not plain water. |
| Muscle glycogen | 6 to 24 hours | 1 to 1.2g of carbohydrate per kg bodyweight per hour for the first 4 hours after a hard session. |
| Nervous system | Hours to a day | Rest, food, and a second session that is technical rather than maximal. |
| Muscle damage and soreness | 24 to 72 hours | Sleep, protein, time. Botanicals help at the margin over weeks. |
The table is why the second session cannot just be the first session again. You can refill fluid and most of the glycogen. You cannot undo the damage from morning sparring by 6pm. Good camps pair a hard morning with a technical evening, or a conditioning morning with a sparring evening, and let the 24-hour cycle handle the rest.
What should you do in the first hour after the morning session?
500ml with electrolytes before you shower. You are replacing salt water, so the drink needs salt in it. Numbers here.
One scoop: 10g of essential aminos for the muscle straight away, collagen and vitamin C for the joints, tart cherry, curcumin and ginger for tomorrow's soreness, magnesium, zinc and vitamin D. The aminos need no digestion, so they are working before you have finished your shower.
Carbohydrate is the priority when the next session is the same day: rice, potatoes, oats, bread. Plus 30 to 40g of protein. This is the meal that decides how the evening session goes.
Another litre with food over the next few hours. Urine colour is a fair guide: pale, not clear.
of carbohydrate per hour for the first four hours, when the next session is under eight hours away. For an 80kg fighter that is around 80g an hour: a big bowl of rice, then a sandwich and fruit, then another meal. Under-eating carbs between two-a-days is the most common reason evening sessions are flat.
Should you nap between sessions?
If you can, yes. A 20 to 30 minute nap in the early afternoon restores alertness without leaving you groggy, and a 90-minute one completes a full sleep cycle if you have the time. What you should not do is a 45 to 60 minute nap, which tends to wake you mid-cycle and leave you worse. Set an alarm. Get off your feet either way: sitting is not resting, and a fighter who walks around town between sessions is spending the recovery.
What should the evening session look like?
Different from the morning. If the morning was sparring, the evening is pads, drilling, technique or mobility. If the morning was strength, the evening can be rounds. The nervous system and the damaged tissue do not care that you have eaten; they care that you did not do the same thing twice. Coaches who programme two hard sessions a day for eight weeks produce injured fighters.
Enough to top up, not enough to sit in your stomach during rounds.
The electrolytes and the calm focus matter more in the second session than the first. No stimulants, so it will not cost you sleep afterwards.
Magnesium bisglycinate and tart cherry do their best work overnight. The evening scoop is the one that decides tomorrow morning.
What about sleep?
Sleep is not one of the four things. It is the thing. Every process in the table above runs faster asleep than awake, and a fighter on six hours a night through camp is losing more than any supplement can give back. Evening sessions make this harder, which is the whole reason the Fight Series has no stimulants in it. Finish the session, eat, take Reset, and be in bed within two hours. Eight hours if you can get them. That is the routine.
Sleep, food, water, then supplements. Reset and Flow State make the good habits count for more. They do not replace a meal you skipped or a night you cut short.
The second session is decided in the hour after the first one.
Can I train twice a day every day?
For a few weeks in camp, with the sessions varied and sleep protected, yes. Year-round, no. The fighters who last are the ones who take the deload weeks.
Should I take Reset twice on a two-session day?
One scoop is the daily dose. If you train twice, take it after the evening session or before bed, when the magnesium and cherry do the most. A second scoop is not harmful but it is not needed.
Is an ice bath worth it between sessions?
For same-day recovery, a short cold immersion can reduce the feeling of soreness and help you go again. Over a long camp, using it after every strength session may blunt some adaptation. Use it between two-a-days and on fight week, not after every lift.
Flow State before. Reset after.
A stim-free pre and the martial arts recovery formula, built for people who train every day and get tested. Full doses, every one on the label, nothing from the WADA Prohibited List.
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