Maximizing Gym Performance: Exploring the Impact of Sports Massage
Maximizing Gym Performance: Exploring the Impact of Sports Massage
Have you gone to the gym, received a good beating, and are unsure how to recover? Far from the grandmother’s method of drinking sugar water, there are great professionals who can advise you on how you can recover to feel the desire to train again. You may not be an elite athlete, but like anyone who likes to take care of themselves, you know that optimal recovery is necessary. Sports massage for gym performance is a great help in this regard. The benefits of sports massage for athletes are numerous, including improved circulation, reduced muscle soreness, increased flexibility, and enhanced recovery. However, with the wide range of offers available, choosing the right sports massage becomes crucial. To shed light on this matter, we have spoken with two experts who have advised us on whether post-training massage really helps in recovery and how we can choose the one that will benefit us the most.
Sports massage and its effect on workout results
Mark John Quilala, a specialist in sports physiotherapy, tells us in the first place that “there is no scientific evidence that demonstrates the physiological benefits of post-effort massage”. On the other hand, he maintains that “the psychological benefit is evident.” For Mark, the massage after training “contributes to the reduction of pain.” However, he assures that “there is a problem between what the scientific evidence suggests and what empiricism reflects.”
The expert speaks of “contradiction” and “double standards” but affirms that “massage can activate the parasympathetic system and act at the level of the central nervous system, guaranteeing relaxation and a perception of greater recovery.” Despite this, he explains that all this is difficult to prove. “For the evidence to be pure, we would have to be able to accurately measure the amount of pressure we put on the skin,” he says. But not all are doubts. Mark tells us that although “the evidence is limited at this level,” the experience of professionals shows that massage “helps, for sure.”
The physiotherapist Dr. Ranen Rambrij agrees with Mark, who maintains that “there are different hypotheses that try to justify the effectiveness of sports massage objectively, although they are not 100% proven”. As she explains to us, among the benefits that are indicated are the elimination of waste products or the increase in vascularity. They both agree that massage generates in athletes a feeling of subjective recovery, of well-being.”
What are the specific benefits of sports massage?
There are numerous benefits for sports massage, such as:
Sports massage is a perfect ally for those people who frequently visit the gym or who practice sports regularly. And it is that sports massages are a specific treatment that focuses on enhancing the functionality of the muscles, increasing flexibility, avoiding injuries, helping recovery, and improving resistance. Discover everything that sports massage can do for you!
Helps increase your flexibility
Sports massages have the ability to increase muscle flexibility by reducing the tension that accumulates on a daily basis and, especially, during training. A warm-up beforehand and a stretching session after training help to decongest the muscles, but a sports massage manages to reach the innermost muscles of the body and promote their relaxation and flexibility.
And what is flexibility for? Many associate it with yoga and other techniques that have nothing to do with the traditional gym, but the truth is that flexibility is not only used to adopt a certain posture that seems almost impossible but is used unconsciously in each step that occurs, in each squat, in each stride. A correct posture and an adequate execution of the exercise depend on flexibility.Avoid injuries and speed up your recovery
In addition, massages for athletes help prevent injuries and, in the event that one occurs, speed up recovery.
Muscle tension is especially harmful when practicing physical activity, as the muscle gradually contracts, hardens, and loses flexibility, due to the effort and repeated load to which it is subjected during training. In many cases, it does not give warning symptoms, until suddenly a painful contracture occurs or a muscle injury is caused that takes the athlete away for days, weeks, or even months from the gym.For this reason, preventive massages for athletes are so important, as they help prevent injuries, keeping the muscles always relaxed and ready for sports practice.
And sports massages not only help to recover from an injury but also speed up the daily recovery of muscles, as they stimulate blood flow in the treated area. This translates into the arrival of more oxygen and nutrients to that area, so the muscles recover sooner and are better prepared for a new training session.Helps improve your stamina
Massages focused on the world of sports also have the ability of helping to improve muscular resistance, since by reducing tension, increasing blood flow, and enhancing flexibility, they allow the muscle to recover quickly and can withstand more load during training.
In this way, a runner will be able to run not only faster, but also for longer, if they face the race with unloaded, relaxed, and well-oxygenated legs. And the same happens with a person who goes to the gym: with sports massages, he will have the muscles better prepared to do a harder and more intense exercise plan.
If you want to become a sports massage professional, request information without obligation about our Sports Massage Therapy in Dubai. What are you waiting for? Set a course for your dreams right now!
What techniques are commonly used in sports massage for enhancing gym performance?
Sports massage is a fundamental part of an athlete’s routine. However, each stage of the physical exercise of the athlete requires a treatment adapted to the moment in which he is and his state of form. This explains the existence of different types of athletic massage therapy, but also different Sports massage techniques. Do you know what they are? It is possible that you have ever undergone one of these massages, either to activate the muscles or to reduce them after an intense workout.
What do these massages provide to athletes?
Before beginning to explain the techniques, you should know that specific massages for athletes have many benefits for them. Among many other things, these sports massages activate blood and lymphatic circulation, prepare the muscles for intense sporting activity, relax the muscles after a great physical effort, prevent injuries, soothe pain, reduce anxiety caused by competition, and provide a feeling of well-being.
Main techniques for sports massages
Next, we are going to explain what the main techniques used for sports massages consist of in our osteopathy and massage center in Dubai.
- Rubbing
Deep and uniform friction is performed with the entire palm of the hand and the fingers together on the patient’s skin. Through rapid sliding pressures, it is a question of reaching the muscle tissue without producing a sensation of pain to the patient. It seeks to activate blood flow and nerve endings.
- Digital Kneading
This message has a regenerative effect. It consists of placing the base of the hand on the patient’s skin and making circular movements in the opposite direction of clockwise with the fingertips. This seeks to form a skin fold between the thumb and the rest of the fingers over the area to be treated on the patient. Knuckles can also be used in place of the fingertips, which is a more invasive technique and is called knuckle kneading.
- Cryotherapy for Quadriceps
As one of the muscles that suffer the most in athletes, the quadriceps are relaxed by cryotherapy. This technique uses ice to calm the tension in the quadriceps, that is, it tries to unload the muscle through the use of cryotherapy.
- Vibration
This technique is intended to activate the muscles and is used at the end of the massage session. It consists of performing vibratory movements with the tips of the fingers through rapid oscillating movements on the area to be treated.
Which is the Most Effective Massaging Technique for Gym Performance?
Regardless of the technique used, the ultimate goal of sports massage is to guarantee the athlete’s best physical condition, seeking to prevent injuries instead of treating them. And of course, it does not seek to replace medicines or natural treatments, it is an aid for the athlete who only seeks his well-being before and after physical activity. If you are interested in learning more about this type of sports massage, you can contact Physiowell Now and discover our sports medicine services.
Looking to take your gym performance to the next level? Look no further than Physiowell! Our sports massage services are designed to help you maximize your athletic abilities and achieve peak physical performance. Whether you’re looking to reduce muscle soreness, improve flexibility, or enhance your overall endurance, our team of experienced professionals can provide customized treatments tailored to your unique needs. Don’t let muscle pain and tension hold you back from reaching your fitness goals – schedule a session with Physiowell today and experience the difference that expert sports massage can make!
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