Here are 4 ways sports massage will boost your workout

21/04/2018 / Don't try this at home

Whether you’ve pulled a muscle or you’re determined to flip into a backbend as effortlessly as your eight-year-old niece, a sports massage can help you limber up. Using techniques from Swedish and shiatsu massages to rub away aches and pains, it’s adaptable, versatile and feels great afterwards.

1. It can make you more flexible

Sports massage uses strong pressure to get right into problem areas deep within your muscles. By giving them a really good stretch, it helps lengthen the fibres. This will help your muscles relax, giving you better range of movement and improved flexibility. If you want to be the yoga teacher's pet, start here.

2. It shortens your recovery

We're all for an excuse to lie around on the sofa for a few days after pulling a muscle, but the guilt slowly creeps in. A sports massage can get you back in the gym more quickly. When your therapist works your muscles, it opens up pores in deep tissue membranes. This helps get rid of built-up lactic acid and lets fresh oxygen and nutrients in, which speeds up recovery.

3. It stops injury in its tracks

Sports massage increases the elasticity of your muscles and can heal damaged tissue. When you're relaxed, you have a better range of motion, which reduces the chance of getting injured. A lesson we love to preach (even if we've not quite learned it yet): prevention is better than cure.

4. It can improve your endurance

If your workout has left you scared to sit down, we feel your pain. Getting a massage a day or two before a fitness class increases blood flow across your whole body. Extra oxygen flow can stop you getting out of breath so quickly. Just know when to stop in the spin class next time.

Image Credits: @veggiekins, @360athletics, @frankivsk_half_marathon

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