Want To Improve Your Workouts? Try Massage Therapy

Introduction: A Massage Is Not Just A Luxury

What is the first thing you think of when you think of a massage? Typically it is a tranquil image of a darkened room with light music playing and scented oils burning in order to give you a relaxing experience. But did you know that massages are no longer just for those seeking an escape from the real world in order to help you relax? Massage therapy has received some great recognition lately for being a vital part in taking care of yourself much like how you do when you are working out at the gym.

How Exactly Is A Massage Supposed To Help Me Improve My Fitness?

The best part about taking advantage of the fact that massage therapy is helpful to your workout routine, is that there is not merely just one benefit to receiving massages as someone who exercises regularly. Here below are five different reasons that explain how massage therapy can improve your fitness routine.

First, recovery from an intense workout. Fitness aficionados know this all too well, there are some days when you work yourself to the bone and find yourself suffering from pain and fatigue when your workout is over. Some workouts even go as far as causing you to vomit due to the intensity of which you are putting your body through. Then there are the other days that are easy ones and you just sort of go through your routines without really breaking much of a sweat as you are taking it easy.

With massage therapy you are able to loosen up your muscles after an intense workout. By loosening your muscles you are also allowing your body to recover from the impacts that you had put your body through during your workout.

Second, since your muscles are in pain, sooth them with a great massage session. Muscles sure can hurt after a workout. Weather you’re a runner or a boxer or an athlete who lifts weights or is into martial arts, your muscles have likely gone through the rigorous routines of your workouts and are likely sore. By allowing yourself a chance for massage therapy, you are giving your muscles a great and very much so needed stretch to sort out those knots and to flush out the toxins that you may have accumulated. Your blood will be flowing better while decreasing your level of inflammation.

Third, your muscles will actually work better after receiving massage therapy. Working out obviously strains our muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints, but beyond that, working out also disrupts a person’s fascia, which are connective fibers that help our bodies work efficiently when we are in good shape. However, working out may cause our muscles to have a harder time moving among our other muscles as our fascia tends to get clotted and full making it difficult to move around after repeated exercise.

By receiving massage therapy, you are allowing your body the opportunity to loosen up your fibers which will in turn allow your muscles to operate the way they are supposed to, therefore giving your work out an added boost!

Fourth, massage therapy will actually make you more flexible! Because massage therapy loosens up the muscles it will also help restore flexibility in your body. Considering that flexibility in people starts decreasing at the very young age of 12 years old, it helps if you continue stretching your body in order to keep your muscles lubricated and prevent you from becoming stiffer as you grow older.

But massages, particularly those that offer a lot of stretching, such as the Thai massage, tend to reverse the process of aging in terms of flexibility by keeping you lubricated and with great blood flow.

Fifth is the fact that massage therapy helps you feel better physically and mentally. Hard core exercise buffs who beat themselves up everyday with high intensity workouts and weight training is not entirely beneficial to one’s health and wellness. Massage therapy offers balance with the endorphins received during a workout. More and more people agree that a properly planned work out includes combining your exercise regimen with a fair amount of self worth.

If the ways of the work out world used to be to push your body as far as it could go every single time, it has since changed into a more personal approach today where people find that giving yourself care is just as important. Many people believe that self worth and care involves receiving regular massages since it has been proven time and time again that massage therapy really does help the physical health and well being of a person.

Role Playing Between Massage Therapist and Customer

Massages are not cheap, in fact, some cost a pretty penny. And though massage therapists deserve every dollar that they make, it might not be so easy for us to see a therapist every single time we want to. But, that doesn’t mean that that is the end of your massage therapy. Many couples have started exploring being able to massage each other and you may find yourself surprised that a simple massage is actually quite easy to give, and feels great too!

Naturally, we don’t all have the skills that a therapist does, but we can certainly learn a thing or two on our own and before you know it, you’ll realize that you can do a great amount of good by simply keeping your communication lines open and learning what your partner likes and doesn’t like about the way you massage him or her.

Alternatively, for those who don’t have partners or who may not have a partner around all the time, there is also the option to massage yourself. That’s right, learning where you ache or have tight muscles can also teach you where you would need to apply pressure in order to help relieve yourself off of some of that strain and ache. You won’t quite have the relaxing experience that you receive from a spa treatment as you lay down on a table and have someone do all the work for you but you can certainly do something about any tightness that your body may have.

Beyond helping yourself with your hands, there are also other options such as massage chairs, tune up balls and countless other fitness accessories that can be purchased in the market.

Conclusion: A Work Out Is Not Complete Without A Proper Massage

Like Yin and Yang, black and white, up and down, left and right, a great workout is just not complete without its relatively recent counterpart discovery, the massage. Sure a great work out can make you feel pumped up and ready to take on the world, but without a massage you will find your muscles aching and possibly even in pain. What a massage will do for your body is priceless and will even advance your workouts by allowing your body to recover quicker and to lubricate all the muscles and joints that may have stiffened up during your workout.

So go ahead and book an appointment at your favorite spa, or speak to your partner about giving each other massages. Heck, you can even stop for a moment right now and put your hand on your shoulder and give it a little squeeze. You might find that massaging yourself is actually all you need in order to realize how incredible the benefits are by even doing it for yourself.