Recovery – A quick Intro

As you will have heard us touch on at different times, and have no doubt heard talked about elsewhere, actual physical improvement doesn’t actually occur while training. Of course you need to train to physically improve, this much is obvious. However, training of whatever sort, merely provides the stimulus – or in other words the potential. The actual improvement (the physiological and biological processes that lead to it) actually occur after the training. In other words, what you do in between training sessions is critical to ensuring the maximum possible physical response. Not only that, what you do between sessions will also be vital in ensuring the best possible recovery to get as much as possible out of the next session or match as well. So covering some of the ‘between training’ essentials will start to become a little more regular here, as this is something that often gets forgotten, if not completely neglected by players out there – even those who are doing the work.

This ‘recovery’ or ‘outside training’ has many components that fall under this very broad banner;

Nutrition – Despite all the talk, so many people out there – including local level athletes and people who train regularly, don’t give this the enormous emphasis it deserves. It is literally more important than the training – it is the platform below the pyramid.

(Yes we know we are certainly opening 'Pandora's Box' by daring to discuss this always hotly debated, and emotive topic. However there are key principles that apply across the board, regardless of the specific details.)

Supplementation – Over-done by the majority of young players out there – and of course gym goers alike. Although it still does have an important role to play. We will cover this in the coming weeks.

Hydration – proper hydration.

Sleep – up there alongside nutrition as at least as important as – if not even more important than – the actual training itself. Without doubt the most underrated training and recovery-related variable.

Stretching – and the various types of it.

Massage as well as self-myofascial release (or foam rolling.)

Cold water immersion, heat-cold contrast, and cryotherapy.

Compression garments.

Heart rate monitoring.

Active recovery.

The list goes on. And there is so much information out there about a lot of this stuff, so we will distill it down to be simple, usable and relevant.

So stay tuned for more of these, together with the training information itself, in the coming weeks and months.

Strength Coach