When you're training consistently, or coming back from an injury, it's important to understand your body and to build in a recovery program that allows your body time to recover. Head Athletic Training Stacey Hardin discusses how recovery can play a crucial role in coming back from injury or just building muscle to prevent injury. Whether you're an elite athlete, or a casual exerciser, understanding your ability and getting a good plan in place can help you achieve your fitness goals.
One, Two, Three, With Stacey Hardin
Q: How do you keep the MNUFC players fit throughout the season?
A: It's a very long season so recovery is very important. We have a number of modalities that can help in recovery but the biggest thing we know is just getting them in and getting them moving again to make sure that they're prepared for the next day of training and the next game.
Q: Why is recovery important?
A: Recovery becomes really important in building new muscle because if you're not having a muscle start in a positive place to begin with you can't build on top of that. It's kind of like building a house with a poor foundation, eventually that house will crumble without a good foundation, so we do the same thing with muscle structure to make sure that it's recovered and strong enough to build new muscle on top of.
Q: How would your work with the pros at MNUFC compare to a more casual exerciser?
A: I don't think it matters if you're a professional athlete or a casual exerciser, everybody wants to feel their best and to perform their best, so you can certainly do all of the same things that the professional athletes do as a casual exerciser. Just make sure you have a good plan in place, then you can follow that plan to the best of your ability. I think where people get in trouble is when they start going a little bit haphazard and maybe start exercising a lot when they haven't done very much or they don't do a good job of taking care of their body afterwards, so just have a general idea of where you're going.
