Training and Recovery Regiment w/ Scott Kemp

We train hard to prepare ourselves for the events to come and the absolute worst thing you can do to yourself is over-train the week of and come in less than 100% for the event. I get asked a lot what I do as far as training and recovery the week of an event. I’ve covered this topic on things to help prepare but I’ve never fully documented my personal plan each day for you guys yet, so here it is!

Saturday/Sunday: (week prior to event): I had practice this weekend, as I’m sure everyone else does too. This is our last big weekend practice and I can assure you most people would be sore the following day or two. No extra training was performed these days as they were an all day event.

Monday: Afternoon consisted of foam rolling, two circuits with light leg work, foam rolling again and static stretching.

• Full body foam rolling: 15 min

• Circuit 1: (4 rounds)

1. Pull-ups 10-15
2. Dips 15-20
3. Walking lunges 30
4. Overhead dumbbell press 10-15
5. Hanging leg raises 15

• Circuit 2: (4 rounds)

1. Barbell curls 15-20
2. Pushups 30
3. Reverse fly’s with dumbbells 12-15
4. Squat jumps bodyweight 15-20
5. Machine crunches 15-20

• Full body foam rolling: 15 min

• Full body static stretch: 15 min

Tuesday: Morning cardio just to tighten things up a little more and break a sweat, nothing crazy. I did 30 min steady state (heart rate 120-140 on the stair stepper). Later that afternoon I did a cryotherapy session. This is a 3 minute session where you stand in a chamber up to your neck of negative 180 degrees. This is great for recovery and inflammation. You can find a cryotherapy studio in any big city these days. That night right before bed I also did 10 min of foam rolling followed by 10 min of static stretching. By now I’m feeling about 80% fully recovered from my prior practice and prior training.

Wednesday: This is the day I headed out to the event and I took this as a full rest day. No training at all. I did however do some foam rolling in my hotel room that night for about 15 min. Feeling about 90% by now.

Thursday: This was a long day. We started off with 3 hours of practice in the morning followed by 2 hours of game scouting and 2 more hours of field walking. After being on my feet all day I felt a little stiff so I foam rolled for 20 min in my hotel room and then took an ice bath. Ice baths are key at hotels since every hotel has an ice machine and a tub. Going to bed that night I felt pretty close to 100%.

Friday: First day of prelims and we played two morning matches. Headed back to the hotel later that afternoon and went for a short swim in the hotel pool just to stay limber.

Saturday: Two more early morning prelim matches followed by some static stretching after the last match. Unfortunately, this was the end of the event for us since we didn’t make it into the Sunday club. Had we of made it, I would most likely proceed to another ice bath and foam rolling session this night before we kick off our Sunday morning match.

As you can see, I take my recovery very serious as I get into the week of an event. This method has been working great for me. Some people might need even more rest time. As to skip out on Monday training and Tuesday cardio could be a better decision for you. Everyone is different and the deciding factor here is to just listen to your body.