It always surprises me when I talk with training clients of mine – folks that live active lifestyles and train hard on a consistent basis – and they tell me they’ve never had a massage!
Why am I surprised? It’s because massage therapy provides so many benefits, especially if you’re working out hard to reach your fitness goals. Here are three ways massage therapy can help you:
1. Stress reduction
Stress can accumulate in our bodies in various ways, including neck, shoulder and back pain. Massage therapy identifies those areas and helps reduce muscle tension, as well as the overall level of stress and tension in the body.
2. Pain relief
People with temporary and chronic pain alike can benefit from massage. Different massage styles can help to relieve different kinds of pain experienced. Massage can even benefit those suffering from anxiety and depression.
3. Improved flexibility + mobility
This is the #1 reason I recommend folks work with a massage therapist – and here’s why:
Repetitive movement patterns – whether resulting from sitting frozen in a chair all day or doing the same movement over and over again in a specific sport, like swinging a golf club or tennis racket – can result in muscle inflammation. This inflamation can lead to muscle spasms, which can cause adhesions to form in certain muscle groups. These adhesions result in altered neuromusclular control and muscle imbalances, which equals pain, injury, and all kinds of bad stuff …
Massage is a great way to help you get out those adhesions, improve flexiblity and mobility, and start moving and feeling better right away!
Stress reduction, pain relief, and improved flexibility/mobility are three big benefits of regular massage. If you’re one of those folks who’s never gotten a massage, you’re missing out!
Thanks for reading and talk soon –
Forest
P.S. Local massage therapist and owner of Greenhaven-Pocket area Massage Flow Alvin Kinser will be offering FREE chair massage Tuesday and Thursday nights over the next two weeks at the Land Park training studio! He’ll be available immediately after normally scheduled boot camp classes, from 7:15 to about 7:45 pm. I know there’s a lot of initial interest in this offer, so space is limited – make sure to show up early and/or drop us a note to let us know you’d like to reserve a spot!
