After the final whistle is blown, one of the first things we all want to do is scrub away the mud, sweat and missed opportunities.

That’s right, it’s time for a bath. But which tap are you turning? Hot or cold? 

There are many arguments for and against both ice and heat therapies. All degrees of the temperature spectrum have their own benefits for your body and, in this article, we explore both ends to determine which is better for footballers seeking effective recovery. 

Don’t forget your rubber duck!

While many athletes rightly focus on training, nutrition and supplementation, sleep is one of the greatest recovery tools we have as footballers.

As weird as it might sound, sleep is an important skill that requires some practice, but a good 7 to 9 hours is achievable for everybody. Start prioritising sleep and you will see tangible benefits on the pitch!  

Overtraining is a very serious condition which affects those that have continued to stress themselves, through training and matches, to a point of exhaustion.

Stress is both our friend and enemy in the performance enhancement process, use it to your advantage and it is a fundamental part of your improvement. However, fail to give your body the time, space and energy to manifest these improvements and pay the penalty! Here are some key points to help nurse your body back from an overtrained state! 

For many amateur players, football recovery is an afterthought at best; completely ignored at worst. A few stretches and a couple of pints may feel like job done after a tough match, but it’s not ideal if you take the game seriously. 

In fact, what happens after the final whistle blows is as important as what happens in the build up to the match. Considering many footballers can run up to 12km pr game, including plenty of turns, sprints, sudden stops and hard tackles, injury and soreness seems inevitable. 

But it doesn’t have to be. Read our blog to find out more.

Striking the ball too hard too often, trying to bring a high ball down out of the air, or too many tight direction changes — these are all common contributors to groin problems. With groin injuries, as with most, there are different types and severities, from minimal (grade 1) pulls to serious (grade 3) tears. 

Whilst you can’t eliminate the risk entirely the good news is that, again like with most types of injury, there are things that we can be doing to reduce the risk. Read our top five tips that you can implement into your routine to reduce your risk of a groin injury.

While you may put your heart and soul into playing football, you are doing your potential a huge disservice if you don’t put as much thought into your nutrition.

Here are five reasons why nutrition should be something you care about as a footballer:

Soft tissue injuries such as muscle strains have unfortunately grown in prevalence over the past year, perhaps owing to fixture congestion and minimal recovery and preparation due to the COVID pandemic. Ankle and knee injuries are also common, and you can’t overlook the debilitating effects of the common cold.

Whilst there is no way to prevent all injuries in a contact sport such as football, below we cover five key points to help you reduce your risk of injury and improve your recovery process in the event that you are injured.