Recovery Tips for Baseball & Softball Players

The season is long, the weather is hot, and sometimes your body just doesn’t feel 100%. Don’t worry; this is normal for all baseball and softball players. However, we’re going to provide you with a few tips to enable your body to recover in a quicker, healthier fashion. These recovery tips will include both proactive and reactive measures to ensure you maximize your time on the field. 

[Note: These tips will not prevent baseball or softball-related injuries. They are purely intended to help players recover from fatigue or minor ailments. If you are injured, you should visit a doctor for professional medical advice.]

6 Tips for Recovery

1. Prevention is Protection

The easiest way to continue playing at the top of your game is to prevent injury altogether. This includes proper season/game preparation like daily stretching, long-distance running, building up your arm strength, and eating a healthy diet. If you can adequately take care of your body before and during the season, you will have a better chance of remaining healthy throughout your entire slate of practices and games.

2. Stay Hydrated

Our bodies do strange things when we deplete them of fluids. Without water, our muscles cannot complete the thermal regulation process, which can ultimately cause more injuries. To combat this, we want to help keep the muscles relaxed. Do so by making sure you are maintaining a steady source of fluid intake both during and after games. The more water you can bring in, the better.

3. Listen to Your Body

It’s easy to have a hard-headed mindset about fatigue or naggy injuries during the middle of the season. But tread carefully. Our bodies have alarms that we need to pay close attention to. There is likely a reason you have to push through pain, and if you do so too intensely or too often, you can cause more harm than good.

4. Build Your Core

Your core is the central hub for all of your body. Strengthen your abdominal muscles and back to help support your arms, legs, and neck on the diamond. Exercises such as planks, leg lifts, and situps are great options for players during the offseason. And stretches like an upward-facing dog and side twists will help loosen your core during the season.

5. Engage All of Your Muscles

Players often fall into the trap of using only the same muscles every day. This can lead to fatigue-related injuries or injuries in the other muscles of their body. Avoid this by occasionally engaging all of the muscles in your body. This can be as simple as playing a pickup basketball game with some friends or going for a swim at the pool. The more active you are off the field, the better suited you’ll be every time you step on the field.

6. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

Give your body a rest. Sleep is the most essential element to recovery for baseball and softball players. It allows our bodies to be completely relaxed. Sleep also enables our muscles to restore the tiny tears that can occur during high-intensity workouts. If you are in the process of recovery, make sure that sleep is given the highest priority. The more you can sleep, the faster you will be able to fully recover.

---

In summation, take care of your body. Listen to the pain and don’t push beyond it. Take the time to prepare for the season, and be sure to continue working on your body during the season. The more time and energy you put into the process, the healthier you will be. 

And if you find yourself injured and in need of recovery, build up your other muscles, stay hydrated, and get lots of sleep. It’s no fun missing out on the action, so let’s do everything in our power to keep playing the game we love.

We hope you enjoyed our tips for baseball and softball recovery. If you have any questions or need help finding a new glove, be sure to contact our team of experts at JustGloves today. We love nothing more than helping players take the field (every game) with the glove of their dreams. It’s all part of our promise to be with you from Click to Catch.