Following a match or intensive training session, small ruptures to connective tissues and fibers may cause muscle soreness and stiffness throughout the body. In addition, the body’s ability to replenish glycogen is limited and performance is reduced.

This is the main reason why a good diet is necessary, a diet based on carbohydrates to replenish glycogen stores, and also proteins in order to repair and rebuild muscle fibers.

To assist the body to recover and reduce muscle soreness, players usually perform light physical activities, such as stretching, jogging and low intensity games or activities. In addition, recovery training also assists the player psychologically, as the need to recover physically is often accompanied with the need to relax mentally.

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During recovery training, the intensity should be such that a player’s heart rate is:  Approximately 65% of maximum heart rate (MHR) Range: 40% - 80% of MHR

 

This training can take the form of either continuous or intermittent exercise. The heart rate should not exceed the recommended upper limits for more than a short period of time. A recovery training session is approximately 60 minutes in total duration. Exceeding this time may diminish the positive effects of the recovery training and impair the player’s ability to regenerate.

 

The intensity during recovery training should be around 60% of Vo2 max. This running pace has been proven to be high enough to optimize byproducts (lactate) removal rate, but also slow enough to prevent the creation of any more toxins. Recovery training may be done with and without the ball. It should also be noted that the need for recovery training will vary from player to player depending upon their level of fitness and the intensity of work from the previous game or training session.

Lately, the efficiency of old recovery techniques has been challenged by many studies. It appears that selected treatments such as anti-inflammatory drugs and antioxidants supplementation appear to have a better potential in the treatment of soreness than massage, ultrasound, and static stretching.