Achieving Your Goals With Sports Massage  That
extra mile. Ten more sit-ups. An additional five pounds on the bench
press. Twenty seconds knocked off your last time. Half an inch over
the past month. Two extra laps today.
Fitness is all about meeting
new challenges as you work to improve your physical and mental
well-being. Whether you’re a professional
athlete in training, a housewife enrolled in a weekly aerobics class,
a dancer in the local ballet company, a business executive working
out during your lunch hour, or a senior who has entered the city
marathon to keep active, you want to do everything can to reach your
fitness goals.
As part of a balanced fitness program, sports
massage therapy can help you to get where you want to be. Healthy Choices
The positive impact of a healthy, balanced
lifestyle has been consistently demonstrated. Studies have proven
that part of that balance can be achieved with a regular program
of exercise. Exercise is linked to such positive results as improved
endurance, lower body fat, stress reduction, renewed vigor, and
an increased sense of well-being.
Remember that exercise will
make special demands on your body. As you work to increase
your stamina, reduce fat, and build muscle, certain changes will
occur in your body. A regular program of massage therapy can
help your body to recover from the stresses of exercise, facilitate
conditioning, and help you to avoid injury.
How Sports Massage Can Help You
Receiving a massage prior to athletic activity
will loosen your muscles. Used in combination with stretching,
it can help insure that your muscles will be warmed up and ready
for intensive activity, thus improving your performance and endurance.
Post-event massage can help to relive your pain, prevent any stiffness,
and return your muscles to their normal state more rapidly.
Sports massage is usually briefer in duration
and more vigorous than a general full-body massage, focusing as it
does on the particular muscles relevant to your athletic activity.
Additionally, your sports massage therapist may concentrate on reducing
or eliminating factors that interfere with your performance potential,
such as muscle spasms, tendonitis, and muscle fatigue. By increasing
the circulation of blood and lymph, sports massage helps to provide
your muscles and soft tissues with the optimum amount of nutrition.
The therapy will also help you to reduce the restricted or tight
feeling that can develop during exercise. This will create an improved
tone in your muscles, promoting flexibility, relaxation, and overall
muscle balance. Improving Your Performance You’ll find that sports massage enables you
to recover more rapidly from injury. It also can reduce the likelihood
or further injury by increasing flexibility to tight muscles or tendons
that might otherwise tend to tear or pull. This can help you to avoid
developing chronic problems that cam hamper your performance. As you exercise, you’ll discover that sports
massage can help to reduce the soreness in your muscles. Reducing
this pain and any attendant chronic strain patterns can help you
to maintain a more consistent, higher level of training and performance.
You’ll
be able to exercise more frequently and get the most out of each
session. The cross-fiber massage employed by many sports
massage therapists effectively reduces adhesions and some degrees
of scar tissue formation in your soft tissues. This allows for restoration
of your muscle integrity and full range of motion. There is an invaluable
psychological boost provided by a professional massage. The overall
relaxation you’ll experience not only
feels terrific-it it may also help you to really get in touch
with the workings of your body. This enhanced awareness is another
way to maximize your performance, helping you to find the full
range of expression and strength for each movement you make. You’ve
been working hard. Reward yourself the healthy way with sports
massage. About AMTA and Sports Massage AMTA has helped pioneer the growth and development
of sports massage. In 1985, it created standards and certification
for a National Sports Massage Team. This team has provided pre- and
post-event sports massage at several major athletic events throughout
the United States and Canada. AMTA National Sports Massage Team members
have participated in Worldwide Olympic Games, the Pan American
Games, the Chicago, Los Angle, and Boston Marathons, the NCAA
Swimming and Diving Championships, and the USTS Bud Lite Triathlon
Series, as well as athletic programs for the handicapped. Sports
massage, through AMTA sponsorship, has come of age. Relax and experience the art
and science of massage.
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