Whether you participate in sports professionally or for fun, you'll want to maintain aspects of your health that can suffer from the repeated stresses put on the body during practice and competition. Using pre- and post-work training methods to help you prepare for and recover from physical activity will help you stay in top physical shape before, during and after workouts, practices and competitions.
Warm Up and Cool Down
Exercise physiologists and medical organizations such as the Mayo Clinic recommend that you warm up before activity with increasingly active movements to help coordinate your body's physical functions. Starting high-intensity physical activity cold can result in less efficient muscle contractions and cardiovascular work at the beginning of your activity. After you have finished an intense workout, practice or game, cool down with moderate muscle movements as you lower your heart rate and prepare for after-work stretching.
Eat and Drink Properly
It's important to replace not only water during activity, but also sodium and electrolytes. These nutrients help performance and help decrease the likelihood of cramping. Eat something while you are competing in long matches or games, eating small amounts throughout your event. Bananas and sports energy bars with complex carbohydrates are appropriate for this. After competition, eat within two hours to replace depleted glycogen stores. You also use liquids to help regulate your body temperature, which, if too high, can lead to serious medical problems caused by heat exhaustion. Hydrate before, during and after activity, according to Dr. Mark Jenkins and dietitian Caryn Honig of SportsMed Web. Before activity, check for proper hydration by looking for clear urine.
Stay Cool
If you exercise in the sun or in high temperatures, regulate your body temperature with liquids and proper clothing. Iced drinks may cause gastrointestinal distress, so keep liquids chilled by putting them on ice, rather than serving them with ice. Wear light-colored clothing, which reflects heat. Wear a hat made of a material that "breathes" to keep sun off your head. Protect yourself from melanoma, a serious skin condition, by applying a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15, 30 minutes before entering the sun so the lotion can absorb into your skin.
Stretch Correctly
Static and dynamic stretching not only help you improve sports performance, they can help you avoid stiffness and soreness after activity. Use dynamic stretching or moderately fast movements, such as high-knee skipping, before physical work to help loosen muscles. Use static stretching, which has you holding the stretch for 20 or 30 seconds, after work to help increase flexibility and prevent hamstring and other muscle tightness. Don't static stretch less than 30 minutes before activity. Research such as that done at Wichita State University has shown that static stretching before work does not improve performance or prevent injury, and decreases power and vertical leap.
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