If you want to train hard and often, you need to recover fully between sessions. Recovery can be left to “just happen” by resting or, if you are serious about recovery, there are several strategies that you can use to accelerate the recovery processes.

As you’ll see in the next section, two days per week have been put aside specially for recovery. While these are rest days from training, they are also days where you can enhance recovery by taking a more active role.

There are several strategies you can use to enhance recovery and it’s up to you to choose the ones that fit your lifestyle and circumstances best. On the designated recovery days, taking an active role in recovery will allow you to train harder and get more benefit from the workouts.

RECOVERY STRATEGIES INCLUDE:

1) Contrast temperature therapy – this method increases micro blood flow which speeds up the removal of waste products from your muscles while increasing blood flow. Contrast therapy can be done in several ways, alternating hot and cold showers and using hot and cold pads on specific areas of your body. Use cold for 1 min, then heat for 1 min and alternate three to five times. Always end on heat.

2) Cryotherapy – this describes a range of therapies designed to lower tissue temperature, often by using ice or cold water baths. Cryotherapy reduces inflammation, muscle soreness, and pain to increase recovery.

Cryotherapy is popular in rugby, however, it’s far from relaxing or enjoyable and is something many players dread! There are several different protocols available to use. It very much depends on what facilities you have available. Good options include:

Full body immersion in a bath full of cold water and ice

Lower body immersion in a trash can full of cold water and ice

A cryotherapy chamber

Massage using a block of ice

Immersion in a cold river, lake or the sea

Rolling in snow

Ice packs placed on specific areas of the body e.g. the thighs or lower back

3) Massage – massage increases blood flow and the removal of waste products from your muscles and can also help reduce muscle tension all of which facilitate recovery. There are different types of massage available including deep tissue-type sports massage to more superficial and relaxing Swedish massage. Massage is best done by a trained masseuse but you can also do it yourself although you will be limited to working on your legs.

4) Self-myofascial release – SMR is a sort of massage therapy that aims to break down adhesions within your muscles and fascia, often using tools such as foam rollers and lacrosse balls.

There are dozens of foam rolling exercises you can try, but the following provides an ideal starting point for post-training recovery. Start off with light pressure and increase as you warm up. Prepare your muscles for foam rolling with some light cardio and mobility exercises.

ITB – the iliotibial band, ITB for short, is a band of fibrous tissue that runs up the outside of your upper leg from your knee to your hip. If allowed to become tight, the ITB can cause a lot of pain and discomfort.

Lie on your side and place the roller under your lowermost leg. Bend your upper leg and place your foot on the floor to take some of your weight. Roll up and down the roller from the outside of your knee to the outside of your hip. If you experience any “hot spots” of localized pain or tension, stop and focus on them for a few seconds. Spend an equal amount of time on both legs. Once you are more comfortable with the pressure of the roller, place your legs together to increase the weight on your roller and the depth of your massage.

Hamstrings – sit up straight with your legs extended and your hands on the floor either side of your hips. Position the roller behind your knees. Using your arms to move you, roll up and down, so the roller goes from the back of your knees to just below your butt. Cross your legs and do one hamstring at a time for a deeper treatment.

Quadriceps – Lie on your front and rest on your elbows. Place the roller under your thighs. Using your arms to push you, roll up and down from your knees to your thighs. To go deeper, cross your legs and roll one leg at a time.

Glutes – sit on your roller with your legs bent and feet flat on the floor. Cross your right ankle over your left knee. Roll your butt back and forth under your butt and shift your weight from side to side. Once you’ve done one “cheek,” switch legs and repeat.

Upper back and thoracic spine – lie on your back with your legs bent. Place the roller under your shoulders, a few inches below your neck. Roll the roller slowly down your upper back to until it is roughly level with your lower ribs. Do not roll down to your lower back. Don’t worry about a feeling or hearing a few clicks; this is just your vertebrae moving back into the correct position. This should happen less often as you become used to the exercise. Roll back up to your shoulders and repeat.

Once you have made two or three passes up and down your thoracic spine, position the roller behind your shoulders, lie back, and let the weight of your upper body extend your thoracic spine. Hold this position for 30 to 60 seconds before gently rolling onto your side, getting onto your hands and knees, and carefully standing up. If you’ve done it right, you should now feel taller and more upright.

5) Light recovery gym/bodyweight workout – while the last thing you may feel like doing on a designated rest day is more training, a light workout can help enhance recovery if, for no other reason, it gets you up and moving which will increase blood flow and reduce delayed onset muscle soreness.

A brisk walk, an easy bodyweight circuit, or a 50/50 gym session (half the volume, half the weight) can all help facilitate recovery. However, make sure that you don’t turn an easy recovery workout into a more demanding training session that ends up taking more out of you than it puts back in.

6) Stretching – stretching should be part of your cool down but it can also help facilitate recovery when you do it on your rest days. While stretching sore, stiff muscles may be uncomfortable initially, doing so will speed up recovery, restore range of motion, and help reduce DOMs.

As rugby is a full body activity, you need to stretch all your major muscles. Prepare your muscles for stretching by performing a few minutes of light cardio, foam rolling, or doing it after a recovery workout.

When you stretch a muscle, you reach the natural end of your muscle’s elasticity – called the point of bind or POB for short. If you stay at the POB for 15 seconds or so, you will feel your muscles relax slightly, and you should then be able to move into a deeper stretch. This happens more readily if you a) relax mentally as well as physically and b) do not hold your breath.

Continue extending the POB as many times as you can until you reach your real end of range. Once you are there, hold for a further 15 to 30 seconds to maximize your flexibility training.

TO RECAP:

Move into POB and hold for 10-15 seconds

As you feel your muscles relax, move a little deeper to new POB

Keep your body relaxed and breath steadily

Repeat steps one to three a couple more times until you reach your true flexibility limit

Hold this final position for 15 to 30 seconds

Slowly ease out of the stretch

As with all types of stretching, do not force the stretch and if you feel any burning or shaking back off and use a less extreme POB.

7) Compression clothing – wearing compression clothing between workouts may enhance recovery by increasing tissue temperature which can help ease aches and pains and increase mobility and flexibility while reducing the onset of DOMS.

Compression clothing should be worn continuously for best results – during everyday activities and even during sleep. The best compression clothing is snug but not so tight it cuts off circulation and is also breathable. Needless to say, compression clothing may be impractical during hot weather but is perfect for wintertime.

With seven recovery strategies to choose form, you should be able to find one or two that you can use on rest days. Do not underestimate the value of taking a more active role in recovery; the faster and more completely you recover between workouts, the harder you’ll be able to train and the more effective your workouts will be.