Train, rest, repeat. This is a common mantra seen on t-shirts everywhere, with ‘train’ often replaced with the sport of choice. It sums up the training and adaptation process nicely. Athletes often post videos of themselves training, but what about their recovery?

How we recover affects how we train next time. Unfortunately, much of the recovery process is linked to expensive supplements, with even water being monetized.

The good news is that some of the most effective recovery methods are free (yes, free) and simple to do. This article will explain how you can recover from training for free and when.

When to recover

There are three main times when we recover from exercise:

1. Between repetitions: pausing with the bar on your chest or after sprinting for a ball.

2. Between work sets: either in the gym, in a match when the opposition has the ball, or in scheduled rest breaks such as half-time.

3. Between training sessions/ matches: the day-to-day recovery that allows your body to adapt and return.

We shall concentrate on the third part of recovery for this article.

What is the best sports recovery method?

The number one recovery method that allows your body and mind to repair and rest is sleep. Everything else is secondary to that. Yes, food and water are necessary for survival, but without sleep, you will not only lose the motivation to train, but you will also increase the risk of injury and illness.

Sleep is free. You won’t see adverts in magazines selling you sleep bars or nap shakes. It is hard to make money from getting people to sleep well (unless you are a bed manufacturer), so maybe that is one reason it is unreported.

The other reason might be that sleep is often taken for granted: until it is taken away. Any parent of young children will realize the value of this free commodity. High School athletes might suffer from chronic sleep deprivation due to their conflicting social, study, and sporting lives, as well as heavy dependence on screens. They might have to supplement their nighttime sleep with naps to catch up.

A good night’s sleep will allow your body to repair: growth hormone release, tissue repair, protein synthesis, and muscle growth either only happen during sleep or are their most productive during sleep.

It also allows your mind to unwind and switch off. It allows all the thoughts, problems, and ideas to get organized and our memories to be stored. Without sleep, learning new tasks and recalling information becomes very difficult.

Hydration

Water is essential for us to live, and athletes require more of it due to excessive respiration and sweating. It is also free in most countries (or nearly free, we pay water rates and bills) and is easily accessible out of the tap.

The rule of thumb for how much to drink is 2 liters a day and a liter for every hour of exercise. This can be adjusted depending on your body weight, the type of exercise, and the environment. A 300lb lineman training in pads in August in Jacksonville will need more liquid than a 120lb high school archer in Wyoming in March.

Unfortunately, unlike sleep, water has been monetized. This can be seen by the billions of pounds of discarded plastic bottles that litter our seas and landfill sites. Reusable and refillable water bottles require a one-off investment, and the tap water will be as adequate as most commercial sports drinks (with some exceptions in events that last over an hour or in extreme heat). There is no evidence that these types of water help athletes more than standard water:

· Carbonated

· Lemon (no, it doesn’t help you metabolize fat).

· Protein (!)

· Spring

· Mountain (or any other type of geographical feature).

· Fiji (or any other country of origin).

The only reason to drink any of these types of water is if you like the taste, and they help you drink more. But, there is a cost to your wallet and to the environment for this habit.

Stretch and relax

Static stretching has had a bad press over the last twenty years, mainly due to research showing it is ineffective at preventing injuries (when used instead of a warm-up). However, as anyone who has attended a yoga class knows, the act of stretching slowly and safely in a warm-comfortable environment helps both body and mind relax.

If your mind and body are relaxed, then you are more likely to be able to sleep well (if all other things are equal). Anything that helps you sleep better is good.

I have attempted to conduct static stretching during ruby and soccer cool-downs, but that was hardly relaxing on dark, rainy Tuesday nights in January. A warm shower and hot food were more appropriate recovery methods in those circumstances.

However, even a five-minute stretching sequence, such as this one, done in the evening after your training session, can help ease the aches and pains suffered during training and competing. I find this, and drinking water helps prevent the ‘twitchy-leg’ syndrome suffered at night when you wake up with tight legs.

The stretching is best done in a quiet environment or with relaxing music, rather than trying to multi-task whilst watching your phone. Sequences and routines help familiarity, and you don’t have to waste valuable mental energy ‘thinking’ about what to do.

Instead, breathe, relax and unwind. It will help you recover and train better the next day.