In-Season Recovery
The level of hockey you’re at will determine how many games you play in a week. Whether you are playing 4 games a week or only 2 on the weekend, your recovery between games is extremely important. The best players in the world are the most consistent. These are players that are able to play each game at a high level. They never seem to get tired. This is directly related to their hard work in off-season training and the steps they take to recover between games. Hopefully, you also worked hard during your off-season! Now that you are in-season simply follow these recovery steps and you’ll be able to maximize your recovery process and get yourself back to 100% for your next game.
I believe there are 6 parts to a quick recovery.
Strength – The stronger we are the faster we can recover, period!
Aerobic Capacity – The better our aerobic capacity the better job our body does at removing waste in our muscles after high intense bouts of exercise.
Nutrition – Eating a clean diet of fruits and vegetables and wholesome proteins like fish, chicken, and beef will aid in recovery while foods that are processed like chips, cookies, and anything packaged will hinder our recovery.
Exercise – Biking increases heart rate which in turn increases the circulation of blood throughout our bodies. As blood circulates through our working muscles it removes waste and this helps our recovery.
Rest – When we sleep our body repairs muscles, tendons, ligaments, and every other cell in our bodies. Sleeping before midnight (12 am) is proven to be more beneficial for our recovery because the hormones that aid in recovery are the highest in the first third of our sleep (this happens before midnight).
Hydration – 2% drop in bodily fluids will decrease our strength. At 4%, our core temperature will rise and our heart rate will increase and fatigue will set in faster.
Now I’ll explain how to put these 6 parts together to map out your recovery strategy.
If you play on back to back days it’s crucial that you get the proper nutrition after the game. Right after the game, you should consume a post-game shake. This will help replenish your muscle glycogen (muscles stored energy). For the fastest absorption of the nutrients, the post game shake should have a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio. Using an 80kg male hockey player, for example, his post game shake should be about 20g of protein and 80g of carbs (this is the 4:1 ratio). The easiest way to achieve this is by mixing your protein powder with some type of sugary juice. As soon as you can eat a real meal try and consume a meal with this breakdown; 55-60% Carbohydrates, 20-25% Proteins, and 15-20% fat. Hopefully, you’ve read my post on sweat rate because you’ll want to weigh yourself after your game to know how much fluid to replenish. Remember you want to drink 1L of water for every 1kg of body weight loss during your game (or practice).
As hard as it may be to fall asleep after games because adrenaline is still running through your body, it’s extremely important for your recovery to fall asleep as quickly as you can. If you find you don’t have a great sleep or your sleep was too short, make sure you take naps during the day. Don’t nap longer than 90mins at a time (especially on game days) because each sleep cycle lasts approximately 90mins. If you happen to nap longer you will find yourself more tired when you wake up because you’ll be waking up in the middle of a new sleep cycle.
If you have a day off between games you’ll want to take advantage of this time. This is the perfect day for light exercise. If you don’t have practice then I suggest making your way down to the gym and hopping on a bike for an easy 10-minute spin. After the 10-minute bike ride grab your foam roller and spend about 15-minutes rolling out your legs. Foam rolling increases blood flow to the targeted muscles which will help bring nutrients to aid in recovery. Foam rolling also helps reduce muscle soreness when performed immediately after the game and again the following day. Once you’ve finished foam rolling, spend about 5-10minutes working on your mobility.
As I mentioned above, aerobic capacity and strength are key parts to your recovery, however, these recovery tools are hard to improve on during the season. Although you can work on both of them during the season, it’s during the off-season where you’ll make the most gains.