Karen's Top Tip: Body Maintenance
Following a weekend of heavy competition, your body spends around a week recovering. My top tip this month will provide handy hints to help your body recover better. Hydration Because you have been in a very hot and humid environment all weekend, it is possible that you may be more prone to cramp than usual. This risk can be reduced by drinking lots of fluids throughout the week, especially in training. This applies not just to swimmers, but also to officials, team managers and coaches. Muscle repair As you have pushed your body to the maximum, your muscles will have also have been stretched to their limits. This will cause soreness and reduced flexibility. Top athletes combat this with sports massage, but this can be very expensive. For swimmers, regular warm baths and a good stretching regime should help to reduce the problem. For specific problem areas a wheat bag or hot water bottle can warm the area before stretching. Diet In pushing your body its limits you will also have used many of your food stores up. Your body will need to recoup these stores and so eating well and enough is essential. One way of ensuring this happens is to make sure that you always have breakfast. Any breakfast is better than no breakfast!!
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