Football Stars Reveal Secrets to Swift Post-Match Recovery

11/08/2024 11:49 AM

It is no surprise that football puts a lot of pressure and demands on the footballers. They have to run approximately 12 miles every match at a very high intensity and energy levels to ensure they perform well for their team.

Due to this, the majority of footballers suffer from knee injuries, muscle strains, and ankle sprains, which can be mainly due to the lack of taking the necessary measures and nutrients that are required to ensure the body stays fit for the matches. High-quality supplements, like those offered at https://biaxol.co.uk/, can play a vital role in helping footballers stay at their best, supporting recovery and overall fitness.

This article will discuss how footballers help their bodies to relax and keep themselves match-ready.

Promote Cooldown First

As there are some rules to work out that you warm up your body followed by stretching, you need to cooldown your body post-match as well.

A proper cooldown aids your body in calming down its heart rate so that it is close to the resting state rate. According to experts, it helps your body to shift to the recovery state. Typically, coaches advise players to take a rest and focus on breathing through their nose, holding it for four seconds, and releasing it; this is a very effective technique to promote cooldown.

Encourage Active Recovery Sessions

After the cooldown sessions, you can promote an active recovery session post-match of the next day after the match. This session should include light aerobic exercises, aquatic exercises, regenerative yoga, and other similar low-impact exercises to improve your body’s blood circulation and reduce muscle soreness.

Stay Hydrated

The next most important step is to keep your body hydrated. Footballers need an adequate amount of fluids and electrolytes to ensure they don’t feel dehydrated or lethargic during the match.

However, the amount of liquid required for every individual varies from player to player, depending on their position during the match. It is a very crucial step to re-hydrate to their baseline levels following the matches and training sessions.

Schedule Meals and Snacks

Along with conducting the cooldown and active recovery sessions, it is also very important to ensure that your body is getting the desired nutrients to help a player get back to maintain the glycogen levels.

Some beneficial food sources are high-quality carbohydrates such as blueberries, bananas, oranges, and apples, along with foods with a combination of protein and carbohydrates such as peanut butter sandwiches and turkey or ham and cheese.

Usually, pro footballers opt for a snack or a small meal for high-effort matches - meals that are easy and quick to digest, such as smoothies, yogurt, and fruit.

Foam Rolling

Foam rolling is a technique through which players improve their body’s flexibility, reduce tissue stiffness, and promote the exit of metabolic wastes from the body. This allows their body to recover faster from the workout sessions. However, the benefits of the foam rolling are short-term and players need to take other measures as well to ensure long-term recovery.

Take a Good Sleep

Although it is very difficult for the players to unwind after the match or even before the match, the pressure and anxiety might not make them able to get a good sleep. Still, it is very important for them to ensure muscle regeneration and rebuilding.

In a Nutshell

While all the above-mentioned techniques and tricks are important for the players to recover post-match, it is very important for the other team staff to comprehend that every player is different and their body reacts differently.

Thus, players, coaching staff, and medical staff must work together to ensure players recover well and return to their optimal energy levels.