There is no question that having a massage makes you feel great.
Even having a deep-tissue, sports massage makes you feel wonderful
afterwards. Massage can relieve stress, help you recover from hard
physical activity or injury and even reduce anxiety, but can it help
you to achieve your
weight loss goals?
Research shows that
massage can have a positive effect on your muscle-building capabilities
and fitness levels, which in turn increases your capacity to control or
loose weight.
Healthy strong muscles burn calories and give you
the freedom to participate in all sorts of sports and activities that
can help you burn excess calories and improve your overall fitness and
wellbeing.
Massage has the following benefits that can directly influence your ability to control or loose weight:
How can Massage help you to loose weight?
1.
Massage has been shown to improve circulation and the supply of
nutrition to the muscles. Massage increases the interchange of vital
substances between the blood and tissue cells, which increases tissue
metabolism. After muscles are exercised, vital nutrients must be
supplied to them so that they can recover and rebuild themselves.
Massage maximizes the supply of these nutrients and oxygen though
increased blood flow, which helps the muscles to grow and burn more
calories as a result.
2. Massage improves your muscles’ range of
motion and their flexibility. This allows them to maintain maximum
power and performance while active, and burn the maximum number of
calories in the process.
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 experiencing injuries during exercise which can severely
limit activity, exercise and weight loss progress.
3. Massage
helps to shorten the recovery time needed between your workouts. Waste
products such as lactic and carbonic acid build up in muscles during
and after exercise. Increased circulation to these muscles helps to
eliminate toxic debris buildup caused by these waste products and in
doing so shorten recovery time.
Shortened recovery time means you
can safely have more workouts over a given period of time, which in
turn means that 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 over-training. Massage
has a relaxing effect on the muscles and a sedative effect on the
nervous system. By helping you to rest, which is a very important
element of any exercise program, massage can reduce the likelihood of
you experiencing over-training syndrome, which is known to limit your
ability to build strong healthy muscles and therefore loose weight with
maximum efficiency.
5. In addition to all of the above, massage
may directly aid in fat loss. According to some research studies,
massage is thought to be able to burst the fat capsule in subcutaneous
tissue so that the fat exudes and becomes absorbed. In this way,
combined with proper nutrition and exercise, massage may actually help
in weight loss.
6. As we have already touched upon, 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,
phosphorous, sulfur) that aid in tissue repair. Fast and effective
recovery from injuries means that you can begin exercising sooner after
suffering an injury and getting your weight loss progress back on track.
So
there you have it. Massage has a lot of benefits that can indirectly
and possibly even directly aid you in achieving your weight loss goals.
Regular
massage is just as important a component as regular workouts and
correct nutrition in any comprehensive fitness and weight loss program,
which is great news for those of us who thought that exercising and
loosing weight was all hard work! Remember, weight loss is all 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?
Get on the phone and make yourself a booking.