There is no doubt that receiving a massage makes you feel very good. Even having a deep tissue sports massage makes you feel wonderful afterward. Massage can relieve stress, help you recover from intense physical activity or injury, and even reduce anxiety, but can it help you achieve your weight loss goals?
Research shows that massage can have a positive effect on muscle-building ability and fitness levels, which in turn increases your ability to control or lose weight.
Strong, healthy muscles burn calories and give you the freedom to participate in all kinds of sports and activities that can help you burn excess calories and improve your overall fitness and well-being.
Massage has the following benefits that can directly influence your ability to control or lose weight:
1. Massage has been shown to improve circulation and the supply of nutrition to the muscles. Massage increases the exchange of vital substances between blood and tissue cells, which increases tissue metabolism. After exercising the muscles, they must be provided with vital nutrients so that they can recover and rebuild. Massage maximizes the supply of these nutrients and oxygen through increased blood flow, which helps muscles grow and, as a result, burn more calories.
2. Massage improves the range of motion of the muscles and their flexibility. This allows them to maintain maximum power and performance while active and burn the maximum number of calories in the process.
The improved range of motion and flexibility also reduces muscle soreness during periods of recovery and muscle repair.
Having a wide range of motion and maximum muscle flexibility also reduces the danger of injury during exercise, which can severely limit activity, exercise, and weight loss progress.
3. Massage helps shorten the recovery time needed between workouts. Waste products like lactic and carbonic acid build up in the muscles during and after exercise. Increased circulation to these muscles helps remove the buildup of toxic waste caused by these waste products, and in doing so shortens your recovery time.
The shorter recovery time means you can safely have more workouts over a given period of time, which in turn means you have the opportunity to burn more total calories in your effort to achieve your individual weight loss goals.
4. Massage can also help reduce the chance of you overtraining. Massage has a relaxing effect on the muscles and a sedative effect on the nervous system. By helping you rest, which is a very important element of any exercise program, massage can reduce the likelihood that you will experience overtraining syndrome, which is known to limit your ability to build strong, healthy muscles and therefore lose weight with maximum efficiency.
5. In addition to all of the above, massage can directly aid in fat loss. According to some research studies, it is believed that massage can break the fat capsule in the subcutaneous tissue so that the fat is exuded and absorbed. In this way, combined with proper nutrition and exercise, massage can help with weight loss.
6. As we have already mentioned, massage helps prevent and heal injuries. By stretching connective tissue, massage improves circulation to help prevent or break down adhesions and scar tissue that result from muscle tears and other common muscle injuries. Massage also influences the excretion of certain fluids (nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur) that help in tissue repair. Fast and effective recovery from injuries means you can start exercising before you sustain an injury and recapture your weight loss progress.
So there you have it. Massage has many benefits that can indirectly and possibly even directly help you achieve your weight loss goals.
Regular massage is just as important a component as regular workouts and the right nutrition in any comprehensive fitness and weight loss program, which is great news for those of us who thought working out and losing weight was work! Lasted! Remember, weight loss is about leading a balanced lifestyle and massage is an essential part of any balanced lifestyle.
If you haven’t had a massage lately, what are you waiting for? Call by phone and make your reservation. If you haven’t had a massage before, just remember to have a qualified massage therapist do it.
If you are unsure about a massage practitioner’s qualifications and experience, ask for references, professional training information, and make sure they are certified by an accredited agency or institution.
And remember, have fun!