Football Fitness with Essential Oils

Footballers are tough.  Busted shoulder? No problem, just let me back out there!

But as fit as they are, willpower alone won’t help recovery after each match, even if it’s just the usual post-match fatigue or niggles rather than something major.

For an enlightened footballer, using essential oils to help fortify their usual methods of bouncing back from the rigours of a rough and strenuous sport – no matter what the code – could be a great secret weapon.

They need to be genuinely pure (like those provided by Young Living) and the most appropriate ones for the job.  You don’t send an electrician to fix the plumbing. So invest in a reliable essential oils reference book which will help you to know when to send wintergreen in to take care of business versus lemon oil, for instance.  Many oils are effective for a whole bunch of things but for the quickest and best results, tap into the key strengths of the most suitable ones and your reference book will pay for itself over and over again.

Here’s an easy guide in the meantime.

Essential Oils for Football Warm-Ups and Wind-Downs

Great for warming up muscles and helping you limber up, a ready-mixed massage oil like Young Living OrthEase™ or Young Living OrthoSport™ is easy to use and absorbs quickly and easily.  These are great for coverage over large areas.  If you’re lucky enough to have a massage therapist on hand for the match, they’ll love using these, too.  (You can sign them up onto your Young Living team and start building towards a post-footy career.  Ask us how.)

For concentrated zones, Young Living Cool Azul™ is a gel that’s super-easy, quick to apply and great for concentrated zones. So is Young Living Deep Relief™ roll-on.  Both are must-haves for your sports bag or locker.

Essential Oils for Bumps and Niggles

For more concentrated application in niggly spots, these are popular single oils and blends:

• Peppermint (Mentha piperita) (you’ll find our top 9 tips for peppermint here) high in the constituents menthol and menthone and energising as well as cooling
• Copaiba (Copaifera reticulata, C.langsdorfii, C.multijuga) An essential oil from Brazil traditionally used for comforting tired spots, also included in Young Living Deep Relief™ roll-on
• Young Living PanAway includes a potent blend of wintergreen, helichrysum, clove and peppermint — all oils known for their benefits in comforting trouble areas; this blend is similar to Young Living Deep Relief™ roll-on but extra intense

Essential Oils for Scrapes

Cleansing oils for the skin like melaleuca alternifolia and lavender are excellent and combine well together.  To keep your footy match oils kit light, you could instead use Young Living Deep Relief™ roll-on, which includes lemon (cleansing), clove (used for decades in dentistry) and helichrysum (excellent for skin in general).

Essential Oils for Pre-Match Strategies and Pep Talks

They say sport is played 90% above the shoulders up.  We’ve all seen it time and time again – a team or individual who should by theory win but doesn’t.

Sports is a mental game, not just a physical one.  And in team sports, the synergy of everyone on the day and how they work together makes all the difference.  While we’ve all seen the magic and spark that one special player can bring to a side, causing them to lift and catalysing a seemingly impossible turnaround, the more players with their heads in the right places, the better a team will be.

And essential oils are awesome when it comes to your spirits and mind.  Here are just a few to inhale directly from the bottle.  Or apply a few drops to the palms of your hands and inhale deeply while cupping them over your nose pre-match and during breaks:

• Peppermint (Mentha piperita) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis CT Cineole) for gathering scattered thoughts and energising
• Young Living Gathering™ as the name suggests, highly effective for fending off chaotic frequencies and helping you feel centred
• Young Living Present Time™ to keep your engaged in the now and aware of the opportunities that are opening up around you

If you know any pro-footballers, be sure to share this page with them.  But remember that all these tips apply no matter what the level of proficiency, so they can be equally enjoyed for kids’ footy and your social touch footy match down at the local park.

And if you see someone getting heated on the sidelines, rub Young Living Peace & Calming™ between your palms and stand close (but not too close!)  If you’re within smelling range, you might be able to settle them down without saying a word.  Sneaky, hey!

Essential oils are potent, so as always, please follow directions on the bottle and the usual guidelines for safe use of authentic essential oils.

Not all oils are created equal.  Far from it.  Quality varies immensely, so please ensure you are choosing a brand with complete transparency from seed to seal, such as Young Living.  Discover why we love them so much in this short video.

Enjoy the good oil daily.

The information on this site does not constitute advice. Please consult with your health practitioner. When using any of the products mentioned throughout this site, please be sure to read the labels and follow their suggestions for safe use. We make commissions from sales via many of the products we recommend but we only suggest products we genuinely enjoy and want you to benefit from.