What is a normal Body Charge score?

There is no single normal score because Body Charge is calibrated to your personal baseline. Most users see values between 50 and 80 on a typical day. What matters more than any single number is the trend: consistent scores above 60 suggest good recovery habits, while a multi-day slide below 50 usually means something needs attention.

Why is my Body Charge low even though I slept well?

Sleep is only one of four inputs. A low score can still appear if your recent training load was high, your HRV is suppressed from stress or illness, or your resting heart rate is elevated. Body Charge weighs all four signals together, so one strong input does not always override three weaker ones.

Can I train with a low Body Charge?

Yes, but adjust intensity. A score below 40 is a signal to favor low-intensity Zone 1 or Zone 2 work, mobility sessions, or complete rest rather than hard intervals or heavy lifting. Training through one low day is usually fine, but multiple consecutive low days warrant a genuine recovery block.

How quickly does Body Charge recover after a hard workout?

Most people see their score rebound within 24 to 48 hours after a single hard session, assuming adequate sleep and nutrition. After an especially demanding week or competition, full recovery to baseline may take 3 to 5 days. The speed of rebound depends on sleep quality, hydration, nutrition, and overall life stress.

Body Charge Explained: What Your Recovery Score Really Means

Body Charge is Cora's daily recovery score, rated 0 to 100, that tells you how ready your body is to train. It combines four key inputs: sleep quality, heart rate variability (HRV) trends, resting heart rate, and recent training load. A Body Charge above 70 means you are well-recovered and ready for intense training. A score between 40 and 70 suggests moderate effort is appropriate. Below 40, your body is signaling that recovery should be the priority. Understanding your body recovery score meaning helps you make smarter daily training decisions and avoid the guesswork that leads to overtraining or wasted easy days.

Every training decision comes down to one question: should I push hard today, go easy, or rest? Without objective data, most people answer based on motivation or habit, which leads to a predictable pattern. Hard days when they should recover. Easy days when they could have pushed. Over time, this mismatch stalls progress and increases injury risk. A body recovery score like Body Charge exists to replace that guesswork with a clear, data-driven answer each morning.

What is a Body Charge score?

Body Charge is Cora's proprietary readiness metric. Each morning, Cora pulls data from your wearable device and calculates a single number between 0 and 100 that represents how recovered your body is and how much training stress it can absorb that day.

The score is not just about how you slept last night. It reflects the cumulative state of your nervous system, cardiovascular recovery, and recent training demands. Think of it as a fuel gauge for your body: 100 means the tank is full and you are primed for a hard session, while a lower number means the tank is partially drained and you should train accordingly.

Body Charge updates daily, which means it captures both acute changes (a bad night of sleep) and longer-term trends (a week of heavy training). This daily cadence makes it practical for real training decisions rather than periodic check-ins that miss the day-to-day fluctuation of recovery.

How is Body Charge calculated?

Body Charge synthesizes four data streams from your wearable. Each input contributes a different piece of the recovery picture, and Cora weighs them relative to your personal baselines rather than population averages.

Sleep quality and duration: Total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and time spent in deep and REM stages. Poor sleep is one of the fastest ways to tank your score because it directly impairs hormone release, glycogen replenishment, and nervous system restoration. Learn more in our guide on sleep and workout performance.
Heart rate variability (HRV) trends: HRV reflects the balance between your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Cora tracks your rolling HRV baseline and flags when today's reading deviates significantly. A sustained HRV drop is one of the earliest signs of accumulated fatigue. For a deeper dive, see our HRV guide.
Resting heart rate (RHR): An elevated RHR relative to your baseline suggests your cardiovascular system is still working to recover. Even a 5 to 10 bpm increase over several days can indicate stress, illness, or training overload. You can evaluate your trend with the resting heart rate tool.
Recent training load: Cora factors in the volume and intensity of your recent sessions. A single hard workout might lower tomorrow's score slightly, while a full week of heavy training will have a more sustained effect. This prevents the common mistake of stacking hard sessions without enough recovery between them.

By combining these four inputs against your personal baselines, Body Charge avoids the trap of generic thresholds. Your score is calibrated to you, which means a 65 for a highly trained athlete and a 65 for a recreational exerciser both carry the same practical meaning: moderate readiness.

What is a good Body Charge score?

Body Charge uses a simple three-zone system that translates directly into training guidance. Here is how to read each range:

Score Range	Zone	What It Means	Training Guidance
70 - 100	Green	Well-recovered, high readiness	Push hard. Ideal for intervals, heavy lifting, race-pace efforts, or skill work requiring focus.
40 - 69	Yellow	Partially recovered, moderate readiness	Train at moderate intensity. Zone 2 cardio, technique-focused lifting at lighter loads, or steady-state sessions.
0 - 39	Red	Under-recovered, low readiness	Prioritize recovery. Light walking, mobility, stretching, or full rest. Address sleep, nutrition, and stress.

A common misconception is that you should always aim for 100. In reality, a well-designed training program will regularly push your Body Charge into the yellow zone as you accumulate productive training stress. The goal is to avoid staying in the red zone for multiple consecutive days, which is a hallmark of overtraining. Use the recovery calculator alongside your Body Charge to build a complete picture of your readiness.

How does Body Charge compare to Whoop Recovery or Garmin Body Battery?

If you have used Whoop's Recovery score or Garmin's Body Battery, Body Charge will feel conceptually familiar. All three aim to quantify readiness. The key differences are in how they work and what they require:

Whoop Recovery: Requires a Whoop strap. The recovery score (0 to 100 percent) is closely tied to HRV, RHR, and sleep performance. It lives inside the Whoop ecosystem, so your score is locked to one device.
Garmin Body Battery: Available on Garmin watches. Uses Firstbeat analytics to estimate energy reserves throughout the day. It is useful but limited to Garmin hardware.
Body Charge (Cora): Works across wearables. Cora integrates with Apple Watch, Garmin, Whoop, Oura, and other devices through Apple Health and direct integrations. This means you get a consistent recovery score regardless of which wearable you own, and you can switch devices without losing your baseline history.

The other major difference is context. Whoop and Garmin show you a recovery number, but the decision about what to do with it is up to you. Cora uses your Body Charge to automatically adjust your training recommendations for the day, closing the loop between data and action. For a full comparison, see our Whoop alternative breakdown.

How should you use your Body Charge to guide training?

The most effective approach is a simple daily check-in. Before you decide on today's workout, open Cora and look at your Body Charge. Then follow this framework:

Green zone (70-100): Execute your planned hard session. This is when your body can absorb high-intensity work and convert it into fitness gains.
Yellow zone (40-69): Train, but scale intensity down. Swap intervals for steady-state cardio. Reduce lifting load by 10 to 20 percent. Focus on volume and technique rather than peak output.
Red zone (0-39): Make it a recovery day. Light movement is fine, but hard training in this zone digs a deeper recovery hole. Prioritize the inputs that improve your score: sleep, nutrition, hydration, and stress management.
Multi-day red: If your Body Charge stays below 40 for 3 or more consecutive days, treat it as a mandatory recovery block. Reduce training volume by 40 to 50 percent for the remainder of the week and audit your sleep and nutrition habits.

Cora's coaching engine already applies this logic when generating your daily plan. But understanding the framework yourself helps you make better decisions on days when you are tempted to override the recommendation. Explore how Cora builds these adaptive plans on the recovery features page.

What improves your Body Charge score?

Since Body Charge reflects recovery across multiple systems, improving it requires attention to several areas. Here are the highest-leverage actions:

Sleep 7.5 to 9 hours consistently: This is the single biggest lever. Deep sleep is when growth hormone peaks, muscle repair accelerates, and your nervous system resets. Irregular sleep timing alone can suppress your score even if total hours look fine. Read our full guide on sleep and workout performance for evidence-backed strategies.
Space hard sessions properly: Avoid stacking high-intensity days back to back. Allow 48 hours between hard efforts when possible, and use easy Zone 2 work on recovery days to promote blood flow without adding significant stress.
Stay hydrated and well-fueled: Dehydration and undereating both elevate resting heart rate and suppress HRV. Adequate carbohydrate intake around training sessions supports glycogen replenishment and faster recovery.
Manage non-training stress: Work deadlines, travel, and emotional stress all show up in your HRV and resting heart rate. Body Charge does not know the source of the stress, only the physiological impact. On high-stress weeks, reduce training load proactively.
Monitor your heart rate recovery: How quickly your heart rate drops after exercise is a useful supplementary signal. Improving your heart rate recovery over time generally correlates with a higher average Body Charge.
Plan deload weeks: Every 3 to 4 weeks, reduce training volume by 20 to 30 percent. This prevents the gradual accumulation of fatigue that erodes your Body Charge over weeks of consistent hard training.

Key Takeaways

Body Charge is a 0 to 100 daily recovery score that combines sleep, HRV, resting heart rate, and training load into one actionable number.
Green (70-100) means push hard. Yellow (40-69) means train at moderate intensity. Red (0-39) means prioritize recovery.
Unlike device-locked scores from Whoop or Garmin, Body Charge works across wearables so your recovery data stays consistent regardless of hardware.
Cora uses your Body Charge to automatically adjust daily training recommendations, closing the gap between data and decisions.
The biggest levers for improving your score are consistent sleep, proper training spacing, adequate nutrition, and proactive stress management.