Improve Your Exercise Progam & Recovery Time with MASSAGE THERAPY!

Improve Your Exercise Program & Recovery Time with

Massage Therapy

Improve Your Workout with Massage therapy

Next time you finish one of those “I’m going to be sore for days” endurance workouts, try a quick massage. Massage can do wonders for the fitness enthusiast, helping to improve performance, decrease recovery time, improve circulation and increase flexibility.

What Happens When You Exercise

Regular exercise promotes a general sense of well-being, helps relieve the effects of stress, increases muscle strength and endurance and makes your heart and breathing more efficient. But as you push your physical limits, you may experience stiffness, tightness and soreness. Delayed muscle soreness (24-48 hours after exercise) may be caused by minor muscle or connective tissue damage and predisposes you to injuries, especially muscle pulls and tears. Tight muscles also impede blood flow, which causes pain. 

How Massage Can Help

Massage therapy helps your body recover from the stresses of strenuous exercise by decreasing post-workout muscle soreness. Massage relaxes muscles, increasing range of motion and flexibility which increases power, performance and efficiency.

Massage breaks up scar tissue and adhesions (stuck-together soft tissue) by stretching and improving circulation in connective tissue. Scar tissue and adhesions reduce movement potential and increases the possibility of injury.

Massage therapy increases circulation to muscles helping to eliminate waste products such as lactic acid. Eliminating such toxic debris can shorten the recovery time between workouts.

Massage keeps trouble spots from becoming a problem. You may have your own unique trouble spots, perhaps from past injuries or repetitive activities such as hours at a computer. Massage can give special attention to these areas, monitoring them for developing problems, and help keep them in good condition.

Massage and Exercise

Massage improves blood and lymph circulation and relaxes muscles. These in turn lead to removal of waste products and better cell nutrition, greater elasticity of tissues, and faster healing of injuries. It all adds up to relief from soreness and stiffness, better flexibility, and less potential for future injury.

Massage can be an important addition to your exercise program, helping you achieve your performance goals with minimum injury and pain. After training, a massage will help improve flexibility and range of motion, relieving tired and sore muscles, and speeding recovery from strenuous physical exertion. 

Feel free to schedule a massage with Jamie post-workout next time you are in at Catalyst! 

Jamie Silk, RMT
Catalyst Health