- Wellness
How to recover after sport
But what are the right methods to adopt? Are there effective and natural ways to recover?
This phase is essential to feel fit again for the next training sessions. And the sooner the body regenerates, the sooner it will be possible to start training again. This is why athletes put in place a series of processes to regain the integrity of their physical means as quickly as possible.
In addition, a body that is given enough recovery time will be less prone to injury and achieve better performance.
Discover in this article all the advices that Noémie Kolly, professional skier, gives us about sports recovery.
This downhill skier from Fribourg trains intensively to reach her sporting goals. Recovery is therefore an integral part of her life as a high-level athlete and is necessary for her performance.
Noémie explains that she adopts a specific routine according to her training period. When she is on skis, she spends time every morning and evening doing stretching, mobilization and yoga exercises. “It helps me wake up my muscles in the morning as well as relax them at night before sleeping after a day on the skis.”
When the skier is in physical preparation, she stretches at the end of each endurance or interval training session, i.e. two to three times a week.
Noémie sometimes uses a massage roller as part of her stretching routine to relax her muscles when they are tight.
Indeed, some accessories allow you to perform your own massages after your sports session. Among them, we find the massage gun, the massage roller or the massage balls. These accessories are ideal for relaxing local tensions. Simply roll them over the painful areas using back and forth movements and body weight. This way the blood circulation is drained and the muscles are stretched. Practical and space-saving, these accessories can be taken everywhere easily so as to relieve you in competition or training.
Do not hesitate to consult our range of accessories for sports recovery:
Diet also plays a key role in the recovery process. To recover well, proteins are a must: they help strengthen muscles and repair body tissues. That’s why Noémie takes a protein shake after her strength training.
After endurance training, the skier mentions needing sugar. Indeed, in order to provide the energy necessary for this type of training, the muscles used by the effort draw on their stocks of glycogen. It is therefore advisable to consume foods rich in glucose and fructose in order to quickly “re-sugarize” the body and promote the replenishment of energy reserves of muscles and liver. Noémie often opts for energy bars.
Also, it is essential to hydrate sufficiently to help the body reduce excess lactic acid and toxins after exercise.
Another key to recovery is sleep! Indeed, it is during the phases of deep slow wave sleep that the body regenerates and that the muscular tissues are rebuilt thanks to the growth hormones.
Noémie reveals that during training camps, athletes even take naps in the afternoons between workouts in order to recover more!
Hot and cold can be two great allies for a better recovery. The skier from Fribourg explains that she uses hot or cold depending on the type of pain she feels. “When I feel after big workouts that my legs are heavy and tired and there are still days to go, I often take cold baths. When I have aches and pains in my muscles, I use heat. That can be baths or it can be heat patches.”
To conclude, Noémie advises to focus on the simplest things. That is to say: diet and sleep. The sportswoman adds that after an intensive session, a little “cool down” never hurts!
In short, a good recovery is :
- Establish a routine
- Relaxing and stretching
- Eat well and stay hydrated
- Get enough sleep
- Relieve pain with cold or heat
