Everyone typically smiles and enjoys the notion of a relaxing massage. While often times massage is thought of as a luxury that most of us can do without, you may be missing out on some serious benefits that could allow you to achieve new goals and gains in the weight room. Not only could you be hindering your path to becoming stronger and more fit, you could also be putting your body at risk of debilitating injuries that will keep you away from exercise down the road.
Below are a few areas massage therapy can assist in your fitness goals:
Improved Circulation – We all know for our muscles to increase in size and strength we must break them down through micro tears that occur during our intense workout sessions. We have to push our bodies and muscles to new heights causing micro traumas so that we can feed our muscles valuable nutrition to promote heathy growth. After these tears occur, our body sends nutrients via blood flow to rebuild those muscles. Adding massage therapy to your exercise routine will increase blood flow to those areas being repaired thus increasing our opportunity to strengthen those muscle fibers. The more nutrients we can provide those damage sites by manually enhancing our blood circulation will help us recover faster and more efficiently.
Injury Management and Prevention – Some of us may already have an area of our body that gives us trouble from time to time. Maybe you were an athlete prior to setting out on your fitness journey and have had previous injuries that can limit your time in the gym. Maybe you have a chronic pain that shows up and can keep you away from your exercises for long periods of time. Massage therapy can not only help manage these symptoms and help the healing process for injuries, it can also be used as an injury prevention. Massaging muscle groups and problem areas will allow the body to naturally heal the damaged areas through the same process as above. By increasing blood flow to direct sites of injury and loosening tense or strained muscles, you will be able to relieve pain and stay on course for fitness goals.
Maintain Quality Sleep – Whether you are a morning lifter that enjoys starting their day with a good intense workout or someone who lifts at night, your sleep patterns are vital to making muscle gains. Sleep allows our body to shut down and naturally heal itself which is a key component to adding muscle and bulking up. After intense lifting sessions, our bodies will become tight and stressed which in general can make it tough to get comfortable for a full nights rest. If we are constantly falling in and out of sleep, we interrupt the repair process and will wake tired and lack energy. By finding time to use massage therapy, you can reduce stress and tension on your body that will help you shut down and feel rejuvenated to power through whatever workout the next day holds. Better sleep will help your body as a whole, keep you healthy and set you on a path to achieving serious strides in the weight room.
