Massage in the New Season
by
Bob McAtee, NCTMB, CSCS

The new year is traditionally a time of taking stock of the year just passed and making plans to do better in the year ahead. The beginning of a new season of trail running is like that. Are you happy with your performance in 2003? Did you accomplish the goals you set for yourself? How can you improve your performance for 2004?

As you begin your transition from winter activities, to focus more on trails, I'd like to suggest the systematic use of sports massage as part of your training regime this season. I've seen firsthand the benefits for many runners over the last 16 years.

The primary and most noticeable effect of consistent massage is the ability to recover more quickly and fully from exercise. The recovery period between workouts is a critical part of the training cycle. Your body adapts to the stress of exercise by getting stronger, faster, leaner, more agile, and more efficient. This adaptation occurs during the rest between workouts. Without rest, your body has no time to improve: the demands you place on it are too great. This results in overtraining and your performance plateaus or gets worse. So recovery days are critical; the more completely and quickly you recover, the greater your adaptation to exercise will be.

Sports massage helps enhance your recovery in several ways. The mechanical action of kneading and squeezing your muscles helps to relax the fibers and remove excess tension. Massage helps to improve circulation by pushing blood towards the heart. This means that metabolic wastes are more efficiently flushed from the muscles and post-exercise soreness and stiffness are minimized. Improved circulation also means that nutrient-rich blood is getting to all the tissues more efficiently, which promotes their optimum health and healing after the stress of exercise.

Enhanced recovery means you'll be ready and able to train harder during your next workout. Maximal recovery promotes quality workouts. This cycle, repeated consistently throughout the season, should add up to improved performance overall.

Ideally, you would be able to receive professional massage whenever you needed it to achieve these goals. Unfortunately, many runners cannot afford the cost of weekly massage.

But in between your professional massages, you can do daily self massage. Self massage techniques are easy to learn and use and they will contribute greatly to your ability to relax and recover from workouts. They also help you get the most out of your regular massage sessions, because your therapist can work more specifically on the problem areas you've discovered during self massage.

A good rule of thumb for doing self massage is to start with large, vigorous strokes that involve the entire muscle and work your way into smaller, more specific techniques that target areas of tightness or pain. For instance, large strokes include rolling, kneading, or long, gliding strokes that cover the length of the muscle. Follow these with smaller strokes, especially ones that work across the grain of the muscle. These cross-fiber strokes help separate and relax the muscle fibers. If you notice tender spots or muscle knots, moderate thumb pressure will help to relieve them. These techniques shouldn't hurt, though they may cause some slight discomfort. When you've worked out some of these tight spots, finish up with the same large, vigorous techniques that got you started. Then move on to another area and start again.

If you begin a daily routine of self massage and mix in professional massage as often as you can afford it, you'll discover that you recover more completely on your rest days, that you have fewer sore, tight and tender muscles, and that you perform better during competition.

Stay healthy out there.

About the Author

Bob McAtee operates Pro-Active Massage Therapy in Colorado Springs. His clientele includes Olympic and professional athletes, dancers, performers and recreational athletes.

He was a member of the Medical Services Team for the 1996 Summer Olympics, and has been teaching and writing about massage therapy since 1987. His book, Facilitated Stretching, a "how-to" book about PNF stretching techniques, was published by Human Kinetics in 1993. Feel free to contact him at (719) 475-1172 or stretchman@stretchman.com

©2003 by Robert E. McAtee
A slightly different version of this article was originally published in Trail Times

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