If you lift weights, do CrossFit or other regular strength training, you likely know that recovery after a workout is just as important as the workout itself. You might stretch, eat certain foods, and wait a certain amount of time before working out again. When mapping out your workout recovery plan, you should add a sports massage for strength as a priority treatment for your muscles.
Massage offers a number of specific and unique benefits to your muscles or called Sports massage for strength. As you use massage regularly, your performance and recovery can improve. Learn why massage therapy should be a part of your training plan.
Increased Circulation
Sports massage techniques focus on helping to improve blood flow to the muscles. Blood brings oxygen, which your muscles need for cell repair. Each time you lift a heavier weight or push yourself in a workout, your muscles develop tiny tears that need repair. The muscle repairs itself, and as a result, it is a little bit stronger than it was before.
One study compared the difference between men who received massage after a challenging resistance routine and ones who did not receive massage. The recovery rate was better in men who received massage, even though both groups had muscle soreness and restricted movement from DOMS.
The connective tissues (ligaments and tendons) that work in tandem with your muscles to provide fluid movement also experience strain during workouts. The increase in circulation during a massage can help restore and promote health in these tissues as well.
Improved Flexibility
Muscle tightness is a common side effect of frequent lifting. As your muscles get tighter, your range of motion decreases. Making it harder and harder to keep a good form during difficult lifts. You want your muscles to be both strong and flexible so that basic daily movements like bending over and going down the stairs are not challenging for you.
Massage encourages tight muscles to relax. Not only will your range of motion improve, but you can also enjoy better mobility and fluidity in your movement in and out of the gym.
Massage also helps to loosen tight or pinched fascia. Fascia is a relatively newly discovered part of the body that scientists are still working to understand, but it plays a key role in overall body movements and it can get stuck or tight, which causes pain as your muscles contract.
Reduced Injury Risk
With inflammation and tightness comes the risk of overworking your muscles or pushing them to the breaking point. If you get a massage regularly, you won’t have to worry as much about tearing a muscle because it has been worked to the point of inflexibility.
Your tendons, joints, and ligaments will also be safer because massage eases restrictive movements and tight muscle groups.
Improved Overall Muscle Health
Some lifters struggle with altering their body composition after using the poor form or unbalanced workout routines.
For example, a person who focuses too much on core work might actually have a protruding abdomen because the back muscles are not developed enough to balance the core. These imbalances can occur anywhere, and they affect the overall physique you want to create.
Unbalanced muscle groups are also under a great deal of strain. Massage can help relax ever-tight muscle groups to help improve posture and make it more possible for a weightlifter to correct unbalance using proper form. Over time, correcting these unbalanced areas with a combination of targeted workouts and massage will result in overall muscle health.
For more information, contact us at Qi Massage & Natural Healing Spa to schedule your appointment today.
