How To Enhance Your Athleticism With Sports Massage – Even As You Age

, Friday, 29 January 2016

Sports massage therapy and regular physical fitness are essential for maintaining good health. Health experts have long encouraged everyone to incorporate physical activity into their routines; whether you take walks with your dog daily, hit the gym, play sports with a team, or push yourself to excel in extreme athletic events, exercise makes your body a world of good.

When people begin to age

The body is said to begin deteriorating once one reaches the age of 30. Health professionals have shared how tissues become less elastic and lose muscle mass yearly.

The body’s organs also lose 1 per cent of their function each year, and the heart slows down when pumping large quantities of blood.

Wear and tear from physical activity.

Whether you are a weekend warrior or regularly power through weight training or triathlons, the fact remains the same: Working out puts the body under considerable strain. After all, you are utilising your muscles, joints and bones to perform varied or repetitive movements at different speeds, which can take their toll.

This is especially true when the Athlete is advancing in age; the body cannot take as much abuse as it used to and is no longer as quick to bounce back from fatigue or injury as before. As a person ages, specific aspects of his sports performance can begin exhibiting signs of slowing down.

Mobility and flexibility

Long years of consistent training can slowly cause the body to lose its ability to absorb constant pounding from various movements effectively. Exercises can become increasingly complex, and stride and range of motion can be reduced.

Maintaining core stability and strength also becomes challenging during more advanced years. It won’t be as easy to engage in bodyweight exercises and all other kinds of weight training.

As such, keeping the body optimally fit to continue engaging in athletic pursuits requires additional care.

Sports massage therapy for the Athlete

Aside from training and conditioning the body to perform these athletic activities, it’s also essential to look after the body by nourishing it and encouraging proper and sufficient recovery.

One of the best things you can do to accomplish these is to approach an experienced specialist for regular sports massage therapy sessions.

Sports massage therapy is designed for everyone who engages in routine physical activity, from weekend joggers to professional athletes.

There is no description of sports massage therapy since the techniques are always specific to a particular patient’s sport. In general, however, sports massage is focused on the areas of the body that have become consistently overused and stressed due to high-powered and often repetitive movements.

What can sports massage therapy do?

As part of a balanced training regimen, sports massage can:

  • Serve as a crucial element in preparing for a sports event
  • Promote maximum performance during the event
  • Help reduce recovery time from the rigorous of the sport
  • Enhance endurance
  • Help prevent injury
  • Reduce fatigue and soreness in muscles
  • Improve healing in connective tissues
  • Promote flexibility
  • Restore gait and posture
  • Increase or restore range of motion
  • Improve pulmonary function and the red blood cells’ oxygen-carrying capacity
  • Prepare both body and mind for the activity
  • Reduce high tonicity in muscles
  • Promote circulation and the proper removal of metabolic waste products

What kind of sports massage therapy can be expected?

Sports massage typically involves stretching and fast-paced movements that can help the muscles warm up, get primed for activity, or prepare for relaxation post-workout.

This kind of massage can be incorporated into pre-workout stretching regimens, intermediate massage (or massage therapy administered during the event), and post-workout routines.

There’s also deep tissue massage, which can address specific muscle issues. This kind uses heavier pressure on tissues and muscles to get at tension and knots.

Sports massage therapy sessions are recommended for regular inclusion in sports training programs so that athletes can be guided in releasing habits that could affect their performance, balance can be restored, and the body can be kept in alignment and free of pain and other issues associated with ageing.

Sports remedial massage therapy, fitness and athleticism for life

You may be training to compete professionally or teaching your body to grow accustomed to regularly swimming, cycling, running, or tackling weights at the gym. Whatever your workout regimen, it helps to have a licensed and fully qualified sports massage therapist working to help you achieve your sports performance goals.

The right sports therapist, entirely in tune with your body’s needs and personal health objectives, can help you optimise your muscular function and continue engaging in athletic pursuits over the long term.

Being an athlete doesn’t have to end when you grow older—massage helps you discover how far your body and mind can go.

Ben has been a practical pain management trainer and a celebrated massage therapist. He believes human well-being is deeply connected to the health of mind and body both, including deep tissues. He holds numerous certifications for best of breeds massage techniques helping him on a mission for healthy London and then rest of the world. He has been an active contributor in massage technique research and on Massaggi blog.