How do you recover?

Darrenon91

Hey all,

Just looking for a few tips on recovery. Im finding that in the last year or so (even though Im still pretty young) that after a big session or especially after a game (I play Gaelic Football) that my legs generally in pain for about 24 hours after and sometimes struggle to sleep after a game due to this. I feel my fitness is as good as its ever been so I don't think its conditioning.

I don't have access to an ice bath so just wondering what other advice people may have on this?

Thanks in advance.

Alf Veedersane

There's not been a huge amount of data to suggest that ice baths will have a big impact on fatigue anyway.

The main ones are sleep, getting enough food and particularly carbs around your training and enjoying down time.


Good article here.

MightyMandarin

Food and Sleep are massively important for recovery. Cutting back on either makes it very hard to recover adequately.

I personally find rolling 1-2x a day really helps my muscles to relax, especially before bed.

You can't beat a ton of calories and at least 8hrs sleep though imo.

Alf Veedersane

I usually roll and do a light bit of stretching as well. I'm not getting enough sleep anyway but I try to get some more carbs on board around training and the rolling/stretching helps.

Darrenon91

Ya I actually foam roll a good bit but probably not enough. I am going to start doing this more and see how I feel.

The sleep is the one that annoys me. Because of the pain I find it tough to get to sleep even though I know I badly need it. Calories is prob something I can up aswel after a game.

Hopefully these changes will help. Im only 24 ffs. :pac:

Thanks for the link Alf will get reading now.

Alf Veedersane

Make sure you're getting enough water on board as well.

Darrenon91

Cool article Alf. Lots of tips there.

One thing that stuck out is the carb recommendation for heavy training days. I would consider a match as heavy as it gets for me so 3g of carbs/pound is a lot more than I would get without doubt. I defo need to increase my carbs which is doable.

The light walk section is interesting aswel. Im a big fan of a cool down at the end of a session/game but maybe an extra walk will help me out here too. Thanks again.

Mellor

Food, sleep, hydration, and active recovery will have the biggest impact I'd imagine.



Ice-baths, contrast showers, foam rolling, stretching etc is a lot more vague as a recovery method.

BKWDR

If you live near the sea, and it is available to you post session , wading into the sea is as good as any ice bath.

We recently started using ice baths after training and matches and i swear the difference is unreal.

Kerryite

I had similar problems after long hikes - the main annoyance being that it was difficult to sleep due to tension in my leg muscles. The following have helped a lot:

1. Building leg strength with squats & lunges in the gym.
2. Having a protein bar immediatly after the hike.
3. Lots of foam rolling.

While more strength obviously helped in that my musches weren't as tired, I definitely think the protein bar and roller have also helped a huge amount.