Massage May Speed Up Weight Loss

If you are working hard to get healthy or stay healthy then you  understand that maintaining a regular exercise regime and a healthy diet low in sugar is extremely important to you. Do you warm up before you exercise? A light jog or bike ride for 5 minutes to warm up followed by proper stretch (a future post). Do you understand how your body recovers from exercise? Do you know that when you exercise you are actually breaking down muscle tissue? Your muscles are what give you strength and mobility and as we exercise we want to maintain both. Massage therapy can help you to maintain long and lean muscles while reducing fibrous adhesions that can form after exercise.

Massage Therapy for Weight/Fat Loss

Are you in the middle of a weight loss program and found yourself stuck at a plateau? Is trying to lose weight and stay on target “STRESSING YOU OUT” and causing you to second guess your goals? Well what you may not know is that our bodies have a built in mechanism to deal with stress, it is a hormone called cortisol. You see, when you are under stress your body has a built in reaction to try to store all available energy because it is afraid that there may be an energy shortage in the very near future. So our body releases cortisol as an emergency measure and cortisol will then help store more energy in the body. This can slow down your metabolism to a crawl.

Massage helps by reducing your stress levels. Thus reducing cortisol and in turn helping increase your metabolism. Your weight loss progress will resume at full speed and you will reach your weight/fat loss goals faster and with less plateaus.

Massage Therapy for the Exercise Fanatic

Serious athlete, weekend warrior, or just someone trying to maintain their health proper body movement and is crucial to reaching your goals. Proper warm-up and cool down is important as is proper stretching but even all of this cannot completely reduce the fibrous adhesions that occur as a result of exercise. These adhesions can restrict your range of motion, increase your risk of injury (pulling a hamstring), or hinder your overall performance.

A good massage therapist will be able to find these fibrous adhesion and restricted ranges of motion and by utilizing proper techniques will be able to eliminate these restriction and improve your range of motion. Not to mention reduce your fatigue and increase recovery. Professional athletes and Olympians are utilizing massage therapy for better performance and reduced injury risks.

Adding Massage to Your Health Journey

How often should you get a massage? That is a very common question and a complicated answer. It all depends on how fast you want your health goals and of course your budget. Most people cannot commit to adding massage on a daily basis but almost everyone can find the time for once a month or even once a week. The more demanding your physical activities are, the more often you will want to add massage to your fitness and weight loss plan. Athletes should try to find a massage therapist who has specialized training in sports and orthopedic massage as the massage therapist will have a better understanding of the demands and injuries associated with sports and exercise activities. Adding massage to your health and fitness regime can have unseen benefits that you may not have dreamed of.