Fitness-related Benefits of Massage
Ask someone their reason for getting a massage and you're likely to hear "because it feels good". We all know that a massage can relieve stress, help to make sore muscles feel better and even reduce anxiety, but can it help us achieve our fitness goals? Research shows that the massage you get to relieve stress can also have a positive effect on your muscle-building capabilities and fitness level. 1. Massage improves circulation and general nutrition of muscles. This appears to be the most valuable fitness-related benefit. Massage is accompanied or followed by an increase interchange of substances between the blood the tissue cells, which increases tissue metabolism. After a muscle is exercised, vital nutrients must be supplied in order for it to increase in size. Massage maximizes the supply of nutrients and oxygen though increased blood flow, which helps the body rebuild itself. 2. Massage improves the range of motion and muscle flexibility. This results in increased power and performance, which helps you work efficiently and with proper intensity to facilitate the body's muscle-building response. 3. Massage helps to shorten recovery time between workouts. Waste products such as lactic and carbonic acid build up in muscles after exercise. Increased circulation to these muscles help to eliminate toxic debris and shorten recovery time. 4. Massage can help prevent over-training. Massage has a relaxing effect on the muscles, as well as a sedative effect on the nervous system. This can prevent over-training syndrome which has limiting effect on muscle building. 5. Massage may aid in fat loss. According to some research, massage may burst the fat capsule in subcutaneous tissue so that the fat exudes and becomes absorbed. In this way, combined with proper nutrition, massage may help in weight loss. 6. Massage helps prevent and even heal injuries. By stretching connective tissue, massage improves circulation to help prevent or break down adhesions. Massage also influences the excretion of certain fluids (nitrogen, phosphorous, sulfur) necessary for tissue repair. While a massage won't build muscle directly, it helps to facilitate the body's rebuilding phase following a workout and influences muscular growth. Getting a massage is just as important as regular workouts and supportive nutrition for a comprehensive fitness program. Great news for those of us who thought building a great body was all hard work! Before making an appointment with the first massage therapist you encounter, however, be sure they are a qualified bodywork practitioner. Ask for referrals, professional training information, and certification credentials from a reputable agency, such as the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB). About The Author Jon Gestl, CSCS, is a Chicago personal trainer and fitness instructor who specializes in helping people get in shape in the privacy and convenience of their home or office. He is a United States National Aerobic Champion silver and bronze medalist and world-ranked sportaerobic competitor and editor of the fitness ezine "Inspired Informed and Inshape." He can be contacted through his website at http://www.jongestl.com. jongestl@jongestl.com
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Eucalyptus: The Way to Smoother Breathing
The eucalyptus is a popular Australian remedy that was first introduced to the world by the aborigines as a treatment for many kinds of ailments. Its uses range from treating wounds, suppressing colds, relaxing the mind to repelling insects.
How the Subconscious Reasons When It Communicates With You About Pain Relief
The subconscious is a strange creature. It doesn't know what day it is, and can't add two and two. But it seems to know what may be causing your pain.
Teas From Plants Around You and Their Benefits
All teas unless specified are brewed with 1 teaspoon dry material or 2 teaspoons fresh material to 1 cup of water. Always steep. This means pouring hot water over material and letting set for 5 - 15
minutes. Always dry leaves and roots out of the sun, in dark airy places. Then store in airtight containers.
Remedies for Asthma or Allergies
Remedies for Asthma or Allergies
How to Beat the Winter Blues
Those who revel in the winter season delight in visions of family-filled holidays, ice skating and snowball fights as soon as the weather starts to turn cold. But for those who suffer from the winter blues, the winter season brings with it a promise of long, dark weeks, dreary skies and weather that keeps you indoors.
Health Benefits of Green Tea
For over 3000 years, the Chinese have been using green tea to treat all sorts of ailments, such as headaches and gastronomic problems. With a growing number of scientific data, there is no doubt that green tea is as essential for maintaining good health.
Bath Time For Your Alzheimer?s Patient
Caring for an Alzheimer's patient is one of the most difficult things you can do. It involves a lot of energy, time and patience. It can be very frustrating. People with Alzheimer's may refuse help from caregivers. This is a sign that they are actually trying to communicate with you. Refusal to accept care is a sign that something is missing or not right. It's up to the caregiver to assess the situation.
Green Apple: Refreshing Taste, Uplifting Fragrance
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away"
Ethical Guidelines For Hypnotherapy
The study of ethics concerns moral choices, generally in the areas of relationships, agreements between parties, intentions, and possible outcomes. In practice this starts as the observation of the moral choices people make and the reasons given for these choices. Ethical thinking is then responsible for producing theories about what is, or should be, the basis for moral choice. In the case of a practicing hypno-psychotherapist the main place for ethical consideration concerns questions of what expectations clients can have ? basically the laws which govern the therapist, and the rights of the client.
New Hope for Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Sufferers
There are numerous theories with regard to the causes of chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, many of which may be indeed touching on the truth or at least touching on an aggravator or contributor to these afflictions. Diseases in general have been growing in epidemic proportion over at least the past 20 years, especially in the United States, where our increasingly toxic environment and lifestyles have drifted further and further away from what is natural in the name of progress, technology, and profit. Chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia are no exception, the two often being experienced together, and possibly symptoms of the same disease. Many agree that having one or both of these conditions reflects a compromised immune system, but whether this has resulted from viruses or chemicals or heredity or DNA mutations or other causes is much debated. As in the question of the chicken or the egg, I think the answer lies in what came first, at least in terms of triggering the disease.
As The Primary Caregiver, Should I Journal My Feelings About Alzheimer?s Disease?
Being a caregiver is stressful and difficult. It involves contradictory feelings, thoughts and frustrations. When you have to care for a loved one who has Alzheimer's, you have to be patient, talk with a calm voice and never "talk down" to your loved one.
Warning! It Is Possible That You May Die Before Your Time!
Do you ever think about just how important good health really is? The decisions we make now may determine whether we have choices later.
Test Your Indoor Air Quality!
How safe is your Indoor Air?
How to Get Rid of Smoking, Drinking, Drugs and Other Bad Habits
These are practices that I do whenever I am trying to release a pattern that no longer serves my highest good. I am using smoking as an example but you can fill in any other habit instead of smoking like drinking, drugs and other addictive behaviours. Sometimes addictive patterns emerge from emotional charges. You get stressed at work for example and you take a smoke. Whenever emotional charges occur, they need to be cleared.
Preventing Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy Through Ayurveda
Definition:
Benign prostatic hypertrophy is swelling of Prostate gland. The prostate is a walnut sized gland that is only present in men. It is located just below the bladder and top of the penis. This gland surrounds the urethra ( the tube through which urine flows from the bladder and out through the penis ).
It is a very astonishing fact to know that the condition BPH has been explained in ayurveda long back. The anatomical position of prostate gland, symptoms of BPH and its remedies are explained by Acharya Sushruta.
Super Bee Nutrition
Bee's and Bee Nutrition
Improve Your Eating Habits To Save Money On Prescriptions!
Do you like the arthritis pain relief you get from over-the-counter anti-inflammatory pills (like ibuprofen)? But do they "bother your stomach"? Take an honest assessment of your eating habits. Think about your diet before you declare the cheaper NSAIDs off-limits and switch to the more expensive coxibs like Celebrex® or Bextra®. (Each costs about $100 per month!) If you tend to skip meals or eat poorly, any anti-inflammatory will cause indigestion, heartburn or a bleeding ulcer!
Pa-Kua Feng Shui Basics
FENG SHUI BASICS
What is Hypnosis?
"Hypnosis" refers to the power that words and ideas have when we surround these words and ideas with our complete attention. A hypnotist or an operator delivers words and ideas.
About Candida, Its Symptoms & Treatment
Candida is a fungal infection affecting the moist external area of the body like mouth, nostril, in side folded skin and vagina basically of a parasitic fungus. There are many types of Candida fungus like Candida Parapsilosis, Candida Tropicalies, Candida vini and sub-types named after the infected areas like Cutaneous Candidasis, Thrush, Vaginal Candidiasis, Penile Candidiasis, Pulmonary Candidiasis, Esophagus Candidiasis, Invasive Candidiasis and the treatments for respective infections are identified.
|
