Sports massage is an effective method of after exercise recovery. If you are challenging yourself on a regular basis in your workouts, you are very likely experiencing soreness and fatigue from time to time. This is a natural part of building strength, increasing flexibility and improving cardiovascular endurance. Getting massages on a regular basis will not only reduce your soreness, but will also relax you and help you to look forward to the next exercise session.
Physical Benefits of Sports Massage
If you've had a good massage, you know that you often feel better afterward. You feel less tension in your muscles. Soreness from injuries or a tough workout tends to decrease. There is a good physiological reason for this. When you overwork or injure your muscles, the muscle tissues become deprived of blood. A qualified massage therapist is able to massage the muscle in such a way to increase the flow of blood throughout muscle tissues. This is very important for proper blood circulation and carrying the necessary nutrients to the tissues. When you get a massage, you are supplying the muscles with the nutrients they need to heal and become energized.
When you get a deep muscle massage, your muscles are able to rid themselves of lactic acid. During a deep muscle massage, the pores of your tissue membranes open up, pushing out wastes and allowing nutrients to enter the muscle.
It is difficult to properly stretch all of the muscles in your body. A massage therapist can make this necessary stretching happen by lengthening your muscles with the touch of a hand. The end result is often reduced tension and a relief of pressure from sore areas.
Psychological Benefits of Sports Massage
After exercise recovery often requires more than just physical repair. Working out can be exhausting. If you are struggling to lose weight, you might be under self-inflicted pressure to lose the weight faster or to exercise more. If you're competing in a sports event or training for a marathon, pressures can mount that are beyond just physical soreness and pain. Not achieving goals or suffering from injuries can be psychologically challenging. Massage has profound psychological benefits.
Regular massage has been known to decrease depression, elevate the mood, reduce anxiety, calm the mind and improve sleep. Some or all of these factors may play a role in after exercise recovery. Depression can cut into motivation and make it difficult to stay on top of a workout regimen. High levels of stress sometimes lead to overeating and avoidance of exercise. The inability to get a good night's sleep causes some people to skip their workouts altogether. The relaxation effects of massage are a good remedy for all of these problems.
Getting a weekly massage, or increasing the frequency of massage during times of extreme soreness, will deliver vital nutrients to your muscle tissues and assist with muscle stretching. Massage will also help to elevate your mood so that you're ready and motivated to return to your workout regimen.