Massage for CrossFit - if you aren’t incorporating sports massage, you’re training wrong!
Foam rollers, lacrosse balls, electric massagers, and the tried and true ice pack can help with recovery, but regular sports massage can take your fitness to a whole new level by addressing pain and dysfunction with a professional approach and methods that can’t be replicated by inanimate objects.
Sports massage is used for a number of different reasons, but it is especially effective in aiding recovery, improving mobility, and treating and preventing injury. This makes it a perfect tool within professional sports to help improve individual performance, however you by no means have to be a professional athlete to enjoy the benefits of sports massage.
CrossFit is a sport that demands a variety and varying intensity of functional movements. When you become injured, your body’s balance becomes compromised and compensates for that injured area. This diminishes your ability to react and carry out movements to your optimum potential. To ensure you perform at your best, you must recover quickly and efficiently after competitions or training. This enables you to gain the full benefit from the WOD or strength training session. If you don’t recover efficiently, then fatigue can set in and eventually your performance will succumb to the effects of overtraining. Sports massage helps relieve pain and promote the growth of new muscle cells while repairing the damaged ones. Even if you are not in pain, sports massage will improve muscle function, thus making you more efficient while recovering or competing.
Reducing tension and adhesions in the muscle and surrounding connective tissues helps improve your range of motion, perfect for the mobility required for the functional movements in CrossFit. I often address hip, shoulder/chest/upper back, ankle, or low back mobility issues in my CrossFit clients sports massage sessions so that they can improve their performance and achieve that next PR. The massage also dilates your blood vessels and has a positive effect on your cardiovascular system. The dilation of blood vessels improves the delivery of oxygen and nutrients throughout the body while removing waste products and toxins at a much faster rate. As a result, muscle and soft tissue repair times are faster, ultimately reducing the risk of DOMS.
Techniques such as myofascial release, deep tissue, gua sha, Chinese “fire” cupping/myofascial cupping, bamboo fusion tools, and assisted stretching will help reduce and release adhesions and knots, ensuring your muscles return to their optimum state a lot quicker.
In summary, Sports Massage can help:
Promote healthy muscle tissue healing following an acute trauma
Reduce excessive adhesion and scar tissue formation following chronic trauma
Reduce excessive fascial thickening or imbalance
Reduce spasm or secondary pain
Reduce excessive post-exercise muscle tone and soreness
Increase muscle and joint range of motion
Increase circulation and nutrition to fatigued or damaged tissue
Identify soft tissue abnormalities and address them to help proactively prevent injury
ZenLife Concierge Massage provides mobile massage therapy to Pensacola, Pace, Milton, Navarre, Gulf Breeze, and surrounding areas in beautiful Florida. Hannah Listle, LMT (MA93925) has been practicing massage since 2010 and takes great pride in her professionalism, integrity, and quality massage services that are customized to each individual client’s needs.