Performance Guides
Recover · Between Games
Tournaments · win the turnaround
Refuel, flush the legs, and come down before the next whistle.
The turnaround between games decides your second and third game. You have maybe one to three hours to refuel, rehydrate, calm down, and get your legs back, and how you spend it matters more than any warm-up. Passive recovery, active recovery, and refueling all stacked into a short window.
Refuel and rehydrate immediately, do not wait (see the Tournament Fuel guide). The sooner you start, the more your body recovers before the next whistle.
Get off your feet, but do not go fully cold. Elevate your legs for a bit to help flush the heaviness, but also do a little easy movement, a short walk, a gentle roll or stretch, so you do not stiffen up and have to warm up from scratch. Cool down and out of the sun if it is hot, heat drains you fast.
And reset your head. Between games is not the time to relive the last one with your teammates for an hour. Make a quick note, one thing that worked, one thing to adjust, then downshift. A few minutes of slow breathing between games brings your nervous system back down so you are not running on adrenaline all day, which is what leaves you flat by the final.
Between-bout recovery, active-recovery, and nervous-system regulation research. Educational, not medical advice.
The Science
The turnaround is a compressed recovery window. Getting carbohydrate in early restarts glycogen resynthesis, elevating your legs helps clear the heaviness, and light movement keeps blood flowing without adding fatigue. A few minutes of slow breathing pulls your nervous system back down out of fight-or-flight, so you are not burning adrenaline all day, which is exactly what leaves athletes flat by the final.
The Practice
Recovery is a skill you can win at. The team that rests well plays the last game like it is the first.
Try It Today
Between games, run this order: fuel and fluid first, legs up, easy movement, a few slow breaths, then a light re-warm before kickoff.
How to Use Them
- 1First 20 min: refuel plus rehydrate, get out of the heat.
- 2Legs up for a bit to flush the heaviness.
- 3Easy movement: short walk, light roll or stretch, stay loose.
- 43 to 5 min of slow breathing to come down.
- 5One note on the last game, then let it go and re-warm before the next.
Educational content for healthy athletes and active people, not medical advice. It does not diagnose, treat, or replace care from your own doctor. Check with a qualified provider before starting anything new, especially if you are pregnant, managing a condition, or taking medication.