Our Top 6 Sports and Gym Recovery Tips
As avid gym and sports participants, we have also asked the question... what is the best way for me to recover before and after my session or game... so we came up with 5 of our favorite ways to recover post sport and post gym
1. Post game/workout Carbs
Research suggests consuming 30-50g of carbs within 30 minutes post activity helps boost recovery and aid in repeated performance when backed up the next day.
2. Active Recovery
Most commonly, 16-24 hours post-game or on a strategically placed rest day, 40 minutes of purposeful movement such as a walk, activity on a piece of cardio equipment at a steady state to keep the heart rate at Zone 2, foam rolling and trigger point release, and banded stretching. This approach has been proven to help improve muscle recovery and aid in healthy inflammatory processes that occur post-activity.
3. Use of cold water immersion therapy or Ice Baths
There is a lot, and I mean, A LOT of mixed advice in this area. The main thing is if you are going to exercise or play a game the next day, you probably don't want a heap of inflammation in the area, in this case we would say an Ice Bath is of advantage at a minimum 12-16 hours before that next game and a max of 4-8 hours after activity, 2-4mins of this is plenty of time for use in this instance. If you are looking for recovery straight after a session and don't have another session the next day, maybe its an active recovery day instead, encouraging the inflammatory process that needs to occur for protein synthesis and muscle fibre recovery is important. We advise opting for 8- 12 minutes of cold water therapy over the Ice bath. Temperature differences in CWI at 20-11 degrees vs 0-10 degrees can impact how your body responds.
4. Sleep!
Many research papers are suggesting that sleep is the GOAT of all recovery, a minimum of 7-8h sleep is sufficient to ensure recovery is occurring and anything less at the 4-5 hour mark sustained over time will increase the risk of injury incidence.
5. Massage guns
Pre-workout or sport massage gun use for 5 minutes on tight and sore areas has been shown to help with re-regulating pain receptors, improving mobility and aiding in performance. Use of the massage gun post-session is advice to be used just like foam rollers and trigger point balls 1-2 hours post activity once the body has cooled down.
6. Adressing Niggles and Sports Treatments
Getting on top of niggles, getting regular treatment to ensure your body is feeling tip top is that extra 1% that can help improve overall self efficacy and performance, sticking with a regular practitioner that is active in prescribing exercises and stretches, gives you the edge, they know your body and are working with you in improve every session you have.
If you are interested in knowing more or wondering how we can help with your recovery approach and get on top of those 1%, book an appointment and get started!