It’s well known that physical rest is important for athletic training but mental rest/relaxation, is also a very important factor. An excellent article1 and primer2 on this topic was recently published and the major take away was: “muscle memory”/motor-control is set during rest through a “mental replaying” of the training-activity. In other words, if you want your final kick in a 5k or marathon to feel natural, make sure you get plenty of sleep after workouts!

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