Three Easy Recovery Tips That Few Do to Improve Performance

Recovery. Something that everyone knows is beneficial yet most people completely ignore, or at best, have at the bottom of their priority list. I get it. Life is stressful, there’s so much going on. We all have social lives and other responsibilities outside of athletics. With the hectic nature of daily life in mind, I wanted to give you three easy tips to increase your recovery with the end goal of improving your performance.

First, a super brief overview. I look at recovery as the process of maximizing adaptation (physiological development), and returning the body to an appropriate level to perform or train again. Recovery methods, therefore, are any focused, intentional, or deliberate implement we use to increase adaptation or speed up the time it takes to reach that level where we can train/perform optimally again. With this definition in mind, there are a ton of recovery methods we utilize to reach this appropriate level, however, I want to give you three incredibly simple ones that you can do on your own that are habitual in nature and can become a part of your daily routine.

1. Drink more water. Obvious, of course, but something that few do. We all know that hydrating properly will improve performance on the field. What many fail to realize is that proper hydration will also increase recovery post game/workout. Here’s my recommendation to build the habit: track your water intake and shoot for a gallon a day. Simply tracking the amount of water consumed will force you to become aware and deliberately focus on the goal. To make it even easier on yourself, invest in a 1 gallon or 1/2 gallon bottle and set the goal of drinking it (2 in the case of the 1/2 gallon) by the end of the day. Start early and sip frequently. By the end of your first week, it will become habitual and you won’t even be thinking about water intake anymore, simply reaping the recovery/performance benefits.

2. SLEEP. The achilleas heel of most high school or college athletes, sleeping is the almost always the best investment they can make. There is no greater habit change these athletes could make that will reap more benefits than improving the duration and quality of sleep. I get it. I’ve been there. With the obligation of life, sleep is very often pushed to the bottom of the priority list, and we almost celebrate those who function on less sleep. We paint an unrealistic picture that we must sacrifice sleep in order to achieve our goals. This is pretty silly and idiotic since sleep enhances pretty much every physiological and neurological function, allowing us greater opportunity to achieve our goals. Adequate sleep allow us to function optimally and enhance our recovery and performance more than just about anything else. Here’s my tip: PUT THE PHONE AWAY. Set an alarm for 30-45 minutes before you want to go to sleep, and when that timer goes off, put your phone on a charger outside your bedroom and leave it. I promise you, your social life will be fine, and your quality of life, recovery, and performance will increase exponentially. This little strategy will not only force you to close your eyes and go to sleep, it will also start the habit of a nighttime routine, which is a great way to fall asleep faster and increase the quality of sleep.

3. MOVE. At the end of the day, all our deliberate recovery methods come down to one main goal: push blood through the body. Blood is what carries the fresh oxygen and amino acids we need to recover throughout the body, as well as carrying away the waste products that leave us unable to perform. The best way to speed that process up is to move. Cal Dietz, who is known as one of the greatest strength and conditioning coaches of all time uses one method: 2-5 hours post game, go for a 30 minute walk at a brisk pace. That’s it. That’s his main method of recovery for his athletes, and it makes perfect sense. Think about what most of us do post-game. We crash. Completely. We left it all on the field and are totally spent. However, doing this does not push the blood throughout the body and slows down the recovery process. Here’s my tip: build the habit of walking into your post-game routine. The trick with this one is it has to come at least 2 hours after the game so that your body is already in a recovery state and you can just enhance it. Sooner than that, and your body thinks you’re still performing. Bonus tip for this one: build an actual post-game routine. One that truly sets you up to recover. Here’s what I would do if I were in your shoes: I’d drive home, shower, rollout, drink a protein shake, eat a nutritious post-game meal, relax or nap, depending on the time, then go for a brisk 30 minute walk and reflect on the game while I do so (walking is great time for focused thinking, the psychology is over my head but essentially your brain is optimized to think and reflect while you walk).

There you have it. Three simple habits that you can implement right away to increase your recovery and as a result, your performance on the field.

Happy recovering!

-Jer

What Drives Winning (At the NCAA Division III Level)

In my last few blogs, I explored the concept of consistent effort and how our practice design can and should be influenced by it. Continuing to expand on these ideas, I’d like to address what I believe actually drives winning at the NCAA Division III (DIII) level and how we can use this information to consistently invest effort into areas that actually impact the results on the field.

Before I start, I want to clarify that these are just my beliefs and are subject to change as I grow and learn, however, they are grounded in sound logic and experience and I believe are the core components that drive winning at the NCAA DIII level. I also want to clarify why I’m choosing to differentiate DIII soccer from other settings such as club, professional, and even other divisions. There are certainly aspects that translate to these other realms, however, collegiate coaching is extremely niche with each division having very strict rules and regulations that greatly impact what drives winning. For example, at the DIII level coaches only get access to their players 18 weeks/year, can’t mandate off-season activities, and have unlimited substitutions on gameday. Obviously, rules like this greatly influence the processes that drive winning in this setting, and just don’t apply in other settings. Lastly, throughout my writing, I’m sure the reader has come to realize that I’m pretty results-oriented. I’m obsessed with transferability, and making sure to focus effort into the areas that actually lead to results on gameday. I say this to paint a picture for the audience about the amount of time and energy I’ve invested into these areas, even analyzing how I coach to ensure it’s done in a way that translates to better results on the field. Let’s dive in.

Across every sport at every level of NCAA athletics, recruiting is far and away the most important aspect that drives winning. Recruiting is the lifeblood of any strong program. Pretty much every aspect of a program begins with recruiting. The ability/talent level of the team, the team’s culture, player’s character, style of play, even down to academic achievement, it all starts with recruiting. I plan to dedicate an entire blog in the near future to my recruiting approach and philosophy, so keep an eye out for that coming shortly.

Next is player development/team culture. I put these together due to the rules I mentioned earlier at the DIII level. With the inability to mandate off-season activity, a team’s culture must hold the players accountable to working hard in the off-season, which is where development actually occurs. I relay this message to my players constantly, that true development happens BETWEEN seasons, and that the fall is simply the opportunity to showcase the amount of work that was put in since the previous year. In order to drive player development, as well as winning, I develop a competitive and professional culture that fosters growth. I want my players to compete relentlessly in everything they do, while simultaneously exemplifying professionalism, so that I can provide them with the best possible playing experience. Not the belabor my previous point, but to help me set this culture, it’s something I consider/introduce during the recruitment process. I make a point to show up early and watch the warmups so I can see how professionally they take the sport, I watch to see how they react when they (or one of their teammates) makes a mistake or loses the ball, and I really dive into these concepts during the recruitment process while communicating with athletes and their families. I’m brutally honest with who we are, what we stand for, and what we are looking for. Players who resonate with this professional/competitive culture really gravitate towards it and fit in immediately when they arrive.

Next is character development of the players. It’s imperative at this level that players grow and mature. Most players arrive at college in transitional phases of their lives, and it is the coaching staff’s role to help guide them through that transition. I want to develop skills that will help them succeed in every aspect of their lives, not just on the soccer field, however, developing these character skills certainly helps drive winning. The big ones for me are: self-confidence, competitive drive/spirit, internal motivation, selflessness, perseverance, consistency, resiliency, effort, passion, and discipline. I believe that by developing these character skills, I will develop well-rounded student athletes who will succeed in all aspects of their college career, and be set up to excel immediately as they transition into young-adulthood and move on to either the work force or graduate/professional school.

Next is practice design. I really dove into this concept in my previous post, so check that out for more details, however, in short, coaches should consistently invest effort into areas that lead to better results on the field, and do so in a way that actually transfers to game. It is during practice that coaches truly put their players in the best position to succeed and set them up to have success on gameday.

So far, we’ve touched on recruiting, player development/team culture, character development, and practice design. I would say that together, this makes up about 97% of what drives winning at the DIII level. If a coach recruits strong players, creates a culture that fosters growth/development, and puts them in the best position to succeed, they are going to win a lot of games and have a ton of success. To me, the last 3% are the details. Attention to detail is what separates the good coaches from the truly great ones. These are the coaches who have every detail accounted for and every aspect of their program dialed in. These include but are not limited to:

• Coaching Style/Philosophy

• Gameday Management/Tactics

• Player Management

• Off-season Training Programs

• Schedule Building

• Opponent Scouting

• Game Planning

• Film Breakdown

• Relationship Building

• Budget Management

• Networking

As the reader can see, there are so many aspects/facets that go into building a successful program at the DIII level. As a starting point, recruit strong players, create an environment that fosters growth/development, and put them in the best position to succeed. After that, start to chip away at the details and the results will skyrocket.

Thanks for reading,

-JL