You already did the hard part. Recovery is the part everybody skips.

A board-certified neurologist built a two-minute routine for the muscles that worked all day. No pills. No burning gel. No smell that follows you into the office.

★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,600+ verified reviews · Formulated by Dr. Doug Strobel, MD, board-certified neurologist and adventure athlete · Made in Indiana

The workout was an hour. The next sixteen decide how tomorrow feels.

You trained. You lifted, or you ran, or you spent nine hours on a job site that counts as both. Then you showered, ate, sat down, and did nothing else about it.

That is the honest gap. Most people have a training plan and no recovery plan at all. The stretching happens when there is time, which is never. The foam roller lives under the bed.

Recovery is not a supplement you remember to take. It is two minutes, at the same point in your evening, done to the muscles that actually worked.

Built by a neurologist who trains like you do

Dr. Doug Strobel is a board-certified neurologist and an adventure athlete. He spends his days on nerves and muscles clinically, and his weekends putting his own through it. Recovery Balm exists because nothing on the shelf did what he wanted: real magnesium chloride and organic arnica together, in a base clean enough to use every single night.

He is not a spokesperson for this. He formulated it, in Indiana, in small batches.

"Oral magnesium must pass through the gut and liver. Only a fraction gets to the exact spot that worked hardest. Applied to skin, magnesium can be absorbed into the tissues underneath, right where you need it."
Dr. Doug Strobel, MD

Two balms, two jobs. Here is which one you want.

Plenty of people keep both: Recovery in the gym bag, Magnesium on the nightstand.

The routine is the method. Two minutes, done right.

Step 1. Less than you think.

Twist up the stick and lay down one light pass, about five inches, over the muscle that worked. That is it. The balm is concentrated on purpose, and caking it on does nothing but waste it.

Step 2. The massage is the active ingredient.

Work it in for about a minute per area, firm and slow, moving toward the heart. The warmth of your hands softens the balm and the pressure is part of how it gets where it is going. This is the step people skip. It is the step that matters most.

Step 3. Anchor it to something you already do.

After the post-workout shower. Before you get into bed. Pick one and never decide again. A recovery routine you have to remember is one you will stop doing by March.

Why a balm and not the gel in your gym bag

The menthol gels work by making skin feel cold. That is a distraction, and it is a good one for about twenty minutes. It is also why the whole locker room knows you used it.

This is a different approach. Magnesium chloride buffered in organic olive oil, coconut oil, beeswax, and shea butter, worked into the muscle by hand:

• No burn. The oils carry the mineral onto skin gently. Nothing stings, including after a shave or on wind-chapped skin.
• No announcement. Peppermint and lavender essential oils, quiet and clean. You can put it on and go back to your life.
• Nothing to spill. It is a solid twist-up stick. It lives in a gym bag, a glove box, or a suitcase without leaking on anything.

Does magnesium actually absorb through skin? Yes.

In a 2017 human pilot study published in PLoS ONE, Kass and colleagues measured an 8.5 percent rise in serum magnesium after two weeks of daily transdermal magnesium cream. Research by Grober and colleagues in Nutrients (2017) maps the route: magnesium enters through hair follicles and sweat glands. University of Queensland imaging (2016) showed magnesium ions penetrating the outer skin layer, with roughly 40 percent of the pathway running through hair follicles.

Which is exactly why we keep telling you to massage it in rather than dab it on.

2,600+ reviews. Mostly from people who tried everything else first.

Build your recovery routine

Free shipping on orders over $75.

Made in small batches in Indiana, poured and labeled by real people. When a batch sells through, the next one takes time. If your size is in stock, that is the batch to buy from.

Questions, answered straight

Recovery Balm or Magnesium Balm — which one do I need?

Recovery Balm has organic arnica montana alongside the magnesium chloride, and it is the one for joints and the muscles that took the session: knees, shoulders, elbows, ankles. Magnesium Balm has no arnica and is built for the evening wind-down, calves and feet, legs that will not settle. If you train hard and sleep badly, both earn their place.

When should I put it on?

After the session, ideally after a shower when skin is warm and clean, and again before bed if it was a hard day. Massage it in for about a minute per area. The massage is not optional; it is how the method works.

Will it burn or smell like a locker room?

Neither. There is no menthol heat and no cooling sting. Peppermint and lavender essential oils leave a quiet, clean aroma that comes from the oils themselves rather than added fragrance.

Is it greasy? I have to get dressed after.

Not when you use the right amount. One light swipe, massaged all the way in, absorbs. If it feels greasy, that is a sign you used too much rather than a problem with the balm.

What is actually in it?

Recovery Balm: organic olive oil, organic coconut oil, organic beeswax, organic arnica montana, organic shea butter, magnesium chloride, vitamin E, and organic peppermint and lavender essential oils. That is the whole label.

How long does one stick last?

Longer than you expect. One short swipe per area is enough when you massage it in, so most people get a month or more of daily use from a single 2.5oz stick.

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