What is a recovery score, and how is it calculated?
A recovery score is a daily 0–100% readiness metric that estimates how prepared your body is to take on strain, based mainly on overnight heart-rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate and sleep. A high score means your nervous system has recovered and can handle hard training; a low score is a signal to back off. It's a way to train by how your body actually feels, not by a fixed schedule.
What goes into a recovery score
The biggest driver is HRV relative to your own baseline, alongside resting heart rate and how much quality sleep you got. Higher HRV and lower resting heart rate push the score up; a rough night, alcohol, stress or illness push it down. Because it's baselined to you, the score is personal — your 70% isn't the same physiology as someone else's.
How Vita computes your Recovery score
Vita reads HRV, resting heart rate and sleep from your WHOOP and/or Apple Watch and turns them into a daily Recovery read with a plain-language action. With a WHOOP it uses WHOOP + Apple Health; without one, it computes recovery from Apple Watch alone — so Apple-only users get a readiness score too.
FAQ
What's a good recovery score?
Roughly: 67–100% is 'green' (ready to push), 34–66% is moderate, and under 34% signals your body needs recovery. Compare to your own recent trend rather than fixating on one day.
Can I get a recovery score without a WHOOP?
Yes. Vita computes Recovery from your Apple Watch HRV and resting heart rate, so an Apple Watch + iPhone is enough — a WHOOP just adds a second source.
Why is my recovery low after a good night's sleep?
Recovery reflects more than sleep — alcohol, late meals, stress, travel or oncoming illness can suppress HRV even after enough hours in bed.