Recovery time

[hadmonster]

Hey all,

I am 30 years old and I play regularly. I am finding it to be very hard to play as frequently as I used to because my recovery time is much longer as I get older.

Does anyone have any secrets that they use to recover their body faster? Any food you should eat? Stretches? Anything???????

Thanks!

[loden]

the foam roll is great

[2ManyHeaders]

Yeah, the foam roller is the way to go. I wish I had found it earlier. I also warm up differently. I do more functional movement type stuff to get warm and stretch instead of static stretching. After a game, I'll do more static stretching and that seems to help.

[thegeneral]

Foam roll? Does it taste good? Anyone care to elaborate as to what you mean?

To the OP, ask your doc if it is ok to pop an Advil before you play.

[2ManyHeaders]

it tastes like chicken.

Foam roller is a 6" diameter tube of foam. It's used to get the kinks out of your muscles. You put it on the ground and lay on top of it and roll your muscles. It hurts like hell the first time but speeds up recovery. If you are a real tough guy, you can use a PVC tube which is less forgiving.

[Bronaldo]

foam roll and lots of protein after games. Make sure you get enough calories before hand as well, because your body starts to use your muscle for fuel and that can leave you really sore.

[Shrapnac]

Hydrate really well, get lots of protein afterward and stretch, every day. Even on days when you're not sore. Your flexibility decreases as you age so you're more prone to injury. Keeping yourself limber will allow you to play longer and avoid a lot of those little tweaks and strains and whatnot.

[thegeneral]

Thanks. That sort of makes sense now. To the OP, my usual routine is an advil before I play. My ortho says it will help with my shoulders being sore. Making sure to warm up before the game helps a ton and doing stretching after can help. You also might want to try working on your muscle conditioning and spend some time in the gym. This can prevent injuries. Of course, consult a physician before you try anything like that. The nutrition idea is very good as well. You wouldn't want to lose muscle mass in playing soccer.