The Fighter's Guide to Immune System Recovery: Stay Healthy, Train Harder

If you're a fighter or a serious athlete, you’re no stranger to pushing your limits. But here’s the thing, every time you train hard, your immune system takes a hit. We’re talking about a temporary “open window” where your body is more vulnerable to illness. Also called an immunity curve. If you don’t recover properly, that window can stay open longer than it should, leaving you run down, sick, and unable to train at full intensity. This happens more often then we think. During this period, your body is far more susceptible to illness, where under normal conditions you’d fight off viruses and infections with ease, the immunity curve leaves you exposed and vulnerable.

Why Your Immune System Gets Wrecked After Intense Training

After a brutal training session, your body is in a heightened stress state. Your immune cells, especially lymphocytes (which help fight infections), drop below pre exercise levels. This means that while you’re feeling accomplished after a brutal sparring session or a hard conditioning workout, your body is actually more vulnerable to infection. Even more so over tournaments or comps where the stress is even more heightened. And it’s not just physical stress, mental and emotional stress from life, relationships, work, or financial pressures all contribute to immune suppression, making recovery even harder.

• Neutrophils (infection-fighting white blood cells) spike up but can be less effective post training.

• Lymphocytes (T-cells, natural killer cells) drop, making you more susceptible to illness for hours or even days.

• Cortisol (stress hormone) rises, which suppresses immune function if levels stay high for too long.

• If you train again while your immune system is still recovering, you push yourself into a deeper hole, increasing the chance of sickness or chronic fatigue.

For fighters who train multiple times a day or have high volume training weeks, this is a real issue. If you don’t manage recovery well, it could lead to overreaching, and in worst cases, full blown overtraining syndrome and possible sickness, leaving you out the game.

How to Keep Your Immune System Strong While Training Hard

1. Prioritize Carbohydrates Around Training

Fighters love to talk about low carb approaches, but when it comes to recovery and immune function, carbs are your ally. Carbohydrate intake during and post training helps:

• Reduce the spike in cortisol post exercise

• Maintain immune function by keeping white blood cells active

• Prevent excessive inflammation

✔ What you can do:

• Take in 30-60g of carbs per hour for training sessions longer than 90 minutes.

• Post-training, aim for 1-1.2g of carbs per kg of body weight within 30 minutes.

Best options: White rice, fruit, honey, potatoes, or even a little simple carbs.

2. Sleep Like It’s Your Job

If you’re training like a professional, you need to sleep like one too. Poor sleep disrupts immune function, increases inflammation, and prolongs recovery time. Most think they are sleeping well but in reality its not as good as it could or should be.

✔ What you can do:

• Aim for 7-9 hours per night (elite level fighters sometimes need 9+).

• Nap for 20-30 minutes if sleep is suboptimal the night before.

• Use magnesium glycinate, a dark room, and blue light blockers before bed (or just stay off your phone and electronics before bed.

3. Use Strategic Cold Exposure (But Not Too Much)

Cold therapy (ice baths, cold showers, cryotherapy) can be a double edged sword. While it reduces inflammation and speeds up recovery, too much can suppress immune function and blunt muscle adaptation.

✔ What you can do:

• Post competition: Ice baths or cold plunges can help with immune recovery.

• For stress reduction: Short (2-5 minute) cold showers can improve resilience without over suppressing the immune system.

4. Use Heat Therapy (Sauna & Hot Baths)

Sauna use and heat therapy have been shown to enhance immune function by increasing white blood cell production and promoting relaxation, reducing stress related immune suppression.

✔ What you can do:

• Use a sauna for 15-30 minutes post training to boost circulation and immune function (Not every single day though, 2-3 sessions a week, best done in the early evening)

• Take hot baths with Epsom salt to aid muscle relaxation and recovery.

5. Get Your Micronutrients Locked In

Fighters and athletes often focus on protein and carbs but micronutrients are just as important for immune recovery. Key players include:

• Vitamin D3: Enhances immune response and reduces infection risk.

• Zinc: Critical for immune function, especially post training.

• Magnesium: Supports sleep and stress regulation.

• Probiotics: Strengthens gut health, which directly impacts immune resilience.

• NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine): Powerful antioxidant that supports immune function and reduces oxidative stress.

• Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Reduce inflammation and support overall immune health.

Our food quality is not nearly what it used to be just 20-30 years ago while our stress goes up and environment quality is decreasing, and its getting worse, this is where supplementing plays a big role.

✔ What you can do:

• Supplement with 5,000 IU of Vitamin D (especially if you don’t get much sun).

• Take 15-30mg of Zinc after training.

• Use a high quality probiotic + digestive enzymes if digestion is off or if you’re training at high volume.

• Add 600-1200mg of NAC daily to boost immunity and respiratory health. (This is a massive hack)

• Consume 2-3g of high-quality omega 3s daily from fish oil or krill oil.

6. Be Smart About Training Volume & Recovery Weeks

Even the best recovery plan won’t work if your training load is too much for too long. Every high level fighter or athlete needs structured deloads to allow immune and nervous system recovery.

✔ What you can do:

• Every 4-6 weeks, take a deload where volume drops by 30-50%, this doesn’t mean you stop training, just reduce intensity and volume.

• If you’re training 2x a day, ensure at least one full rest day per week.

• Pay attention to early warning signs: persistent fatigue, poor sleep, frequent sickness.

The Bottom Line

Training hard is essential, Intensity truly is king when quality is locked in, but recovery is what keeps you in the game long term. Fighters who neglect immune recovery will find themselves injured, sick, or stuck in a performance plateau, struggling to get actual training time in.

The non negotiables: ✔ Eat enough carbs around training (30-60g/hr for long sessions) ✔ Sleep 7-9 hours and use naps strategically ✔ Be mindful of cold exposure timing ✔ Use heat therapy (sauna, hot baths) for immune support ✔ Get key micronutrients: Vitamin D, Zinc, Magnesium, Probiotics, NAC, Omega-3s ✔ Program deloads and recovery weeks to prevent burnout

If you train like a beast, recover like one. Smart fighters don’t just work hard; they work SMART. Because the toughest opponent you’ll ever face is your own body if you don’t take care of it.

Don't just fight - Fight by design

References

Peake, J. M., Neubauer, O., Walsh, N. P., & Simpson, R. J. (2017). Recovery of the immune system after exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology. DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00622.2016

Nieman, D. C. (2020). Exercise immunology: Future directions for aging athletes. Frontiers in Physiology.

Walsh, N. P. (2018). Recommendations to maintain immune health in athletes. Exercise Immunology Review.