I know it’s a tough ask exercising the day after a tough session in the gym or an intense game. But doing a light session the day after is one of the best ways to speed up your recovery. Muscle soreness the most common complaint the day after a tough game causes stiffness which often reduces the body’s ability to replace glycogen which is the body’s main fuel in high intensity exercise. The sooner glycogen levels are restored the sooner the body is ready to cope with further training. Getting back to training is particularly important in sports that have weekly games or competitions. If you are too sore to train between games then your fitness will quickly decline as one high intensity session a week isn’t going to be enough to maintain a good level of fitness. If you can ease the muscle soreness nice and early then the quality of your training will also be much improved.
An active recovery session should be low intensity (heart rate range of 100-150BPM) with a relatively short duration of 20-40 minutes. Choose activities that work tied muscles, but avoid sport specific activities. Cycling, aqua jogging and swimming are the common options but if you’d prefer something a bit more mentally stimulating and enjoyable then golf or surfing are just as effective.
NB: If you have a soft tissue strain or sprain it is best to rest the injured area, until the inflammation has ceased.
Having a Strategy for a sports game
It is to go into each match with a strategy. Every player brings different strengths and weaknesses to the court. It is really useful to watch your opponent play beforehand and make a few mental notes on what you think might be the way to approach them. Here are a few tips to try on different types of players.
Lefties
play them on their backhand. They always seem to be more deceptive on their forehand.
Youngies
make sure that you get really good length first before you take them
foreward
otherwise if you are perhaps not as quick at the front as you once were it will become obvious quickly!
Harriers
guys who just love to run-run-run- try changing the pace on them and holding your shots to mess up their rhythm.
Shotmakers
you have got to make sure that you get them behind you so as not to open the court up to their array of shots.
Unfit players
try and make the first half of the match last a long time if you think it is going to be close. It doesn’t really matter if you don’t take them forward a lot- this will still tire them out.
