WHOOP For Athletes: Getting Started with WHOOP
Why WHOOP?
- You’ll get 24/7 feedback on your body’s physiological data in real time.
- Compared to most fitness trackers, it provides a more accurate analysis of your body’s performance levels so you learn how to optimize.
- Using coaching features, you can learn how to balance your recovery and sleep with training so you can be at your best and avoid burnout.
- It takes the guesswork out of your training by providing actionable sleep, recovery, and fitness insights and tracking trends in your data based on lifestyle choices.
WHOOP helps quantify how particular behaviors impact performance; which ones lead to peak shape, reduce burnout, or increase chance of injury or overtraining.
The WHOOP Journal and Monthly Performance Assessments (MPA)
Use the WHOOP Journal to track how specific behaviors can add to or detract from your overall performance. At the end of the month, your data trends will be compiled into a Monthly Performance Assessment so that over time, you’ll be able to better identify what aids in your recovery, what detracts from your sleep, and more.
Monthly Performance Assessment
Privacy
Your WHOOP data should empower you. Therefore, your personal data will be kept protected and private at all times until you opt into your team’s dashboard. When you do so, your coaches and staff will have visibility to overall Strain, Recovery, Sleep scores and your total hours of sleep. Bed and wake times, WHOOP Journal entries, and more personal data will never be viewable to anyone but you.
Calibration
Your baselines are constantly evolving, so give your WHOOP time to get to know you. Initial calibration will take 4 days while full calibration will take 30. Wear your WHOOP 24/7 to get the most accurate depiction of your data and trends.
WHOOP In Your Day-To-Day As an Athlete
WHOOP collects your physiological data 24/7 to provide the most accurate and granular understanding of your body—however the scores are not a prescription. Allow the data to help you make smarter decisions and better understand your body’s readiness to perform. For example, a low Recovery or Sleep score doesn’t mean your day is destined for failure. Instead, it should encourage you to focus on recovering faster with better hydration or nutrition, potentially prioritizing a nap, or planning for an earlier bedtime.
WHOOP With Your Team
Comparing Strain, Recovery, and Sleep Performance scores among teammates can be a great way to motivate one another, encourage healthy competition, and create a better culture. But keep in mind, your WHOOP data is still personal to you, and individualized metrics like HRV (heart rate variability) can vary greatly from person to person. Instead of comparing, have conversations around what you are learning about yourself as an athlete—like a behavior that positively influences your recovery or a routine that improves the quality of your sleep. It could similarly help a teammate.