Why it’s important to think about massages as you try to get fit

We’ve all been there...whether recovering from the Thanksgiving feasts, Christmas family meals, or 4th of July drinks and BBQ, sometimes we’ve got to lace up the ol’ tennis shoes and buckle down to lose some weight.?

It’s okay!?

Our weight is a fluid number that can vary depending on many factors such as time of day (we often weigh more towards the end of the day, and weigh the least in the morning), what we ate over the two days prior (certain meats take longer to break down then say vegetables like broccoli).?

While there are many other contributing factors that can play a role in our weight from day to day, one of the biggest factors will often be our level of activity. How much we workout, and the type of exercise we get, will determine how much energy our body decides it needs, and thus, how much fat it needs to burn to provide that energy.?

As we exercise, there are two main categories our activities will fall into:

Aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise is any type of cardio (cardiovascular conditioning). During this time, your breathing and heart rate increase for a sustained period of time as the body maximizes how much oxygen it can get into the bloodstream and transported to the muscles being used. Examples of aerobic exercise are walking, jogging, cycling, and swimming.

Benefits include:?

• Gradual weight loss and weight maintenance
• Helping regulate blood pressure
• Strengthening the heart
• Improving mood
• Activating the immune system

Anaerobic exercise

Anaerobic exercises are those that involve short, intense bursts of activity. They push the muscles to perform beyond what they are comfortable with, and thus require the body to figure out how to keep up with supplying the muscles what they need to finish the exercise.?

Since these exercises do not involve an increase in the absorption or delivery of oxygen, the body breaks down glucose it has stored to replace the lack of sufficient oxygen.

Examples of anaerobic exercises are sprinting, weight lifting, and high intensity interval training (HIIT).?

Benefits include:

• Strengthening bones
• Burning fat
• Building muscle
• Increasing stamina for less intense activities

?How soft tissue work helps

There are a few ways in which massages can be greatly beneficial for you if you are starting to get in shape:

Prevents and treats injuries. As you begin to use your muscles more often, you will find that they are perhaps not yet used to being under stress. This means that they have a higher likelihood of being strained, or having knots or pulls developing. Deep tissue and trigger point massages can help relax the muscles so they do not carry as much tension (which leads to injuries), as well as working out the trigger points that can cause pain in muscles and put a strain on the surrounding muscles that then have to carry some of the load for the pinched muscle. Massage can keep the muscle fibers elongated and loose, while increasing flexibility and range of motion, thus avoiding injury.

Reduce soreness. With anaerobic exercises, the process of muscles converting glucose directly to energy instead of to pyruvate creates a byproduct called lactic acid. This rapid-energy process can create strong discomfort and soreness after the fact. The muscle breaks and inflammation your body uses for repairing those overworked muscles can stand in the way of you feeling like working out further. As you continue to build your endurance, you will see the level at which the lactic acid buildup happens go up allowing for more and more strenuous activity, however each time you reach that threshold, you will want to make sure your body is eliminating as much lactic acid as possible. To do this, you will want to drink lots of water and have a massage that can move that acid out of the muscles and over to the lymphatic system which can flush it out of your body.

Increase oxygen intake. When performing aerobic exercises, your body is taking in oxygen through the heavy breathing and increased heart rate. When the amount of oxygen it takes in can no longer satisfy the amount it needs to send those muscles, you transition into the anaerobic state and your muscles begin producing lactic acid, which means you will not be able to exercise as long.?

Inflammation. Researchers Dr. Mark Tarnopolky and Simon Melov had a 2012 study published in Science Translational Medicine in which they found that massages reduce NF-kB proteins which cause an inflammatory response. Sustained inflammation can cause a host of problems from putting stress on the immune system to making it harder to absorb nutrients.

If you are intent on shedding the pounds, and want to make sure you avoid injury and get the most out of your workouts, schedule an appointment with me at Relief Muscle Manipulation to begin your transformation the right way!