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How to recover after football training

Basic Info
Generally speaking, players’ post-game recovery can be roughly divided into:
1. Ice compress & ice water bath
2. Supplement carbohydrates & proteins & trace elements & water
3. Soft tissue massage (personally think the most important)
4. Physical and mental relaxation & adequate sleep
5. Active recovery
6. Cryotherapy

Scientifically developing post-match or post-training recovery strategies for youth football players is key to optimizing football performance. The effectiveness of recovery strategies may vary from person to person, and what works for adults may not necessarily work for teenagers.
Therefore, researchers conducted a study titled "Post-Sport Recovery Methods for Youth Football Players: A Systematic Review" (Julio Calleja-González et al., 2021), which aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of recovery strategies for teenage male football players under the age of 18. (as age group standard).


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LDK Football Stadium

Types of recovery strategies after soccer

In this systematic revision, different post-exercise recovery methods were evaluated:
Static Stretching (SS)
Active recovery (AR), including jogging or submaximal exercise
Different Cold Water Immersion Strategies (CWI)
Contrast Water Therapy (CWT) or Thermal Neutral Immersion (TWI)
Whole Body Vibration (WBV)
Comprehensive modalities including CWI and AR and hydrotherapy, hydrotherapy based on alternating heat and cryotherapy, sauna, CWI and Jacuzzi.

The effectiveness of recovery strategies after football

Researchers evaluated the effects of different recovery strategies on youth soccer players across different performance variables.


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Panna Cage Football

Effects of recovery strategies on neuromuscular performance

Neuromuscular performance includes all aspects related to the nervous system controlling muscle activation and factors that contribute to the performance of applied motor tasks. Different conclusions have been drawn in this regard:
Neuromuscular performance includes all aspects related to the nervous system control of muscle activation and factors that contribute to the performance of applied motor tasks. Different conclusions have been drawn in this regard:
Static stretches appear to be ineffective in restoring neuromuscular function because they exacerbate muscle damage.
Both AR and CWI may improve neuromuscular performance to a greater extent than SS.
Neuromuscular performance is better preserved using CWT, CWI or combined recovery modalities (CWI and AR).
The benefit of AR intervention 48 hours after a single game is that it can restore knee flexor force production to a higher level than football-specific training, reducing the risk of post-match injury.
In summary, hydrotherapy regimens may not have significant benefits on the performance of young football players during the recovery period, although it has not been established whether there is a better recovery model. WVB may also be a valid option, SS is not recommended if the primary goal of the recovery strategy is neuromuscular performance.

The impact of post-football recovery strategies on game performance

Only players after PHV (Peak High Velocity) experienced game-induced fatigue within 48 hours, as evidenced by players’ poor performance in subsequent games, and therefore required recovery intervention, while post-game recovery strategies before PHV were still To be discussed.
In this case, hydrotherapy (sauna, Jacuzzi/hydromassage, and CWI) given to players post-PHV the day after the game may have a significant impact on low-intensity running, sprint distance, peak race velocity, total sprint count, and performance during the second game. The number of sprint repetitions has a beneficial effect.
In this case, the hydrotherapy sequence (sauna, Jacuzzi/hydromassage, and CWI) applied to the post-PHV player the day after the game may have an impact on low-intensity running, sprint distance, peak race speed, total number of sprints, and The number of repetitions of the sprint sequence in the second game had a beneficial effect.
In addition, CWI is more suitable than TWI for the recovery of youth football players because it helps to better maintain total game distance in subsequent games.


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Impact of post-football recovery strategies on soccer-specific performance

Although the precise effects of different recovery strategies on soccer-specific performance are not well understood, the use of PR is advisable during periods of repetitive high-intensity training.

Effects of recovery strategies on physiological responses after football exercise

To reduce exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) and inflammatory response in adolescent football players, researchers studied different hydrotherapy strategies, AR and SS.
CK III (an isoenzyme used to diagnose and track muscle damage) can increase after several consecutive days of training, but the increase in CWI or CWT is significantly lower compared to PR, and has a greater impact on uric acid, white blood cells, hemoglobin, and reticular tissue. No significant effect on red blood cells
CWI and AR have been shown to attenuate CK responses within 48 hours compared with conventional SS.
CWI or TWI cannot effectively reduce the inflammatory response within 24 hours after high-intensity exercise, and neither CWI, AR, nor SS can effectively reduce muscle edema in young athletes.
In summary, EIMD responses may be attenuated when hydrotherapy and AR strategies are used for recovery, but SS appears to be ineffective. For inflammatory processes, more research is needed to determine which strategies show positive effects, as no strategy has been identified as the best option for modulating this response.



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LDK Football Training Mini Football Goal

Effects of post-football rehabilitation strategies on psychological responses

Several methods have been used to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and fatigue in youth football players.
Regarding the reduction of DOMS, WBV combined with a traditional cooling regimen (SS) was observed to reduce football-specific exercise-induced muscle pain in high-level adolescent athletes compared to SS.
When comparing the effects of recovery interventions on delayed-onset muscle soreness, AR and CWI showed significantly greater effects than SS, but no differences were found between AR and CWI.
After training or during games, players who performed CWI generally reported lower fatigue compared to PR, CWT, and TWI.
The combined mode (CWI+AR) may also induce moderately higher perceptual recovery immediately after the recovery session compared with CWT and SS, while SS is considered the worst method for improving perceptual recovery.
Considering the above results, WBV, CWI, and AR may reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness, but SS does not, whereas CWI may reduce fatigue because there are no positive results from AR or SS.

Practical applications and conclusions in football

More scientific evidence is needed to support consistent conclusions about the prevalence of one or another rehabilitation approach among young football players. However, depending on the needs of each participant and the main goals of the recovery strategy, it is possible to choose the methods whose advantages we have summarized and thus develop a personalized approach:

Neuromuscular performance can be restored with WVB but not with SS. Hydrotherapy regimens may also be useful, but their positive effects are modest and the optimal hydrotherapy approach cannot be determined. Hydrotherapy regimens can be used to maintain performance, but other recovery methods have not been studied. Hydrotherapy and AR can have a positive effect on EIMD and inflammatory response, SS seems to be ineffective. The perceptual response of CWI and WVB also seems to be better, but the results when AR is applied are opposite, and SS has no positive impact.


How to recover after football training



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