So say you are training with a D-1 football team and you are starting some brutal conditioning a couple times a week at 6:30 in the morning. What would be the best way to help your body prepare and recover from this?

The best way to prepare for brutal physical work is to obviously train for it. Hopefully you have kept yourself in shape, especially over the holiday season, and are at least functional when it comes to actually doing these types of workouts. If not, there is nothing you can do to prepare your body. You will just have to suffer the consequences until your body gets into shape in a couple of weeks. Also, since 6:30 is pretty early you would be doing yourself a favor by getting to bed early so you get at least 8 hours of sleep. This can be tough to do if the other mornings you sleep in and then stay out late on the weekends. The human body thrives off of consistency so try to organize your study and social schedule to help in getting to bed a little earlier during these offseason workouts.

Nutritionally speaking, getting enough quality food in your system is paramount in order to recovery properly. You will need to be taking in at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Ideally this protein would be ingested in 20-30 gram intervals throughout the day instead of taking in half of it at dinner for example. Your body just can't utilize protein in this way. It has to be brought in throughout the day in smaller portions. From a supplement standpoint I would recommend taking creatine monohydrate. Here is an article I wrote on creatine that will help to give you a better understanding of what it is and how it works:

http://www.fitrex.com/newsletter/newsletter_3.html

Glutamine is also becoming very popular as a recovery supplement, and, for good reason. A recent study showed that 90% of the subjects who showed signs of overtraining were deficient in glutamine.

Also, make sure you are drinking at least of gallon of water per day. Most people don't do this and subsequently most people are never at their best physically. Look into taking a quality multivitamin and mineral supplement.

So, make sure you sleep well, eat enough protein, drink enough water, and take creatine, glutamine and a quality multivitamin supplement. You will definitely see and fell an improvement in your workouts!