How To Recover Between WODs

You showed up, did the things, you pushed yourself, felt the sweet post-workout endorphins, and headed home.. and now you’re sore as heck!
When you’re first starting CrossFit, it can be tempting to just kick your feet up and do nothing during the time in between workouts. But this is a mistake! It turns out that the lymphatic system -- which helps clear waste out of the system -- needs to be stimulated in order for you to remove the byproducts of intense workouts, AKA soreness. And it is only stimulated through muscle contraction, or massage. This means that you need to move!
Walking, stretching, and generally any restorative aerobic activities are going to help you feel better and get you back in a ready state sooner. The key is to keep the intensity level low, and to focus on “unsticking” your essential ranges of motion (squat, overhead, etc.).
In the Training Mindset (versus the Exercise Mindset), we focus on Recovery Days -- days where you are proactively helping your body recover -- instead of Rest Days -- where you essentially do very little physically. It’s ok to have a pure Rest Day maybe 1-2x/month, to just take a mental break. But almost every other OFF day from intense workouts should be a Recovery Day. Check in!