When I know I am going to have a hectic week of training or I know the next day I will be really sore, I go to a sports facility which also has a place for athletes to recover and a sports medicine center. Some things that the sports facility offers for recovery includes ice baths, Cryotherapy, Normatec Compression, and many more. I have personally tried all of these and have benefit a lot from them.
Ice baths work wonders if you played a tournament and have to go back to intense practicing or after any intense training. It reduces inflammation and speeds up recovery from injuries and muscle soreness. It is something you can easily recreate at home. Just 10 minutes in it will definitely make any sore muscles you may have had feel so refreshed.
Normatec Compression can seriously reduce next day soreness. It reduces lactic acid and promotes circulation for faster muscle recovery. It will enable you to continue working out everyday without being sore and it revives your legs and you can continue to perform in sports without hurting. I had a hectic week of training and this got me through it all.
Cryotherapy is a chamber for your whole body that uses gas from nitrogen that lowers the skins temperature to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The whole chamber drops to -260 degrees Fahrenheit for only three minutes. The reasoning behind it is that the extreme cold causes the brain to stimulate the body’s organ regulatory functions and it results in increased energy, immune system boost, cell rejuvenation, pain relief, decreases inflammation, and system self-healing. It naturally stimulates blood circulation as the body’s hormone, immune, and nervous systems are activated. It in all offers better health and a faster recovery from injury. I personally know many athletes who have benefit from this. These can also be found in the training facilities of the NBA, MLB, NFL, and US Olympic teams.
The importance for recovering from an intense workout is to decrease fatigue in the muscles so the athlete can continue training. For the life of an athlete, their lives revolve around training and most of the times intensely. In order for them to continue to train, they need a faster recovery time and these have really helped athletes to continue to perform and reduced risk of injury. It reduces risk of injury because if an athlete were to train fatigued, they are more likely to be putting too much pressure on a certain part of their body and hurt themselves.
Sources:
Sports Academy
Prevention for Athletes 