Weight Lifting Program and Massage

How your weight lifting program can benefit from regular massage

Week Two
First set: arm curls = 188 for 3 minutes. 10 minute rest but with massage to both arms for three minutes each arm.Second set, arm curls = 187 for 3 minutesFollowing day – no post-exercise muscle soreness in biceps at all. The first thing you will see from this is that Ray’s first set of the second week was fifty reps up on the previous. This could of course be put down to several factors: his strength has increased because of the set the time before or because he was in better physical shape on the second occasion, less tired etc. Maybe both but the striking factor is his second set which had almost doubled from the previous session and was almost equal to his first set 188 = 187.

Normally one might expect to be able to do less reps during the second session because the muscles had reached burn out stage during the first, which was the case with the week One but week Two after massage there was no loss of power.

Another factor was that on the following day of week Two, Ray experienced no muscle pain at all. Delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) or post-exercise muscle soreness (PEMS), which is a common yet peculiar type of pain sometimes experienced after muscles have been worked agressively.

Of course this is not a scientific survey but it does back up other research and is further proof that massage as part of a weight lifting program not only can increase the quantity of reps undertaken but can also prevent subsequent post-exercise soreness. The common goal of all weightlifters is to increase muscle tone by increasing muscle size and reducing body fat, and many people involved in weight lifting practice their regime under the maxim ‘No pain, no gain.’ The practice is to force the muscles to work harder and so make them stronger and bigger because as muscles work and exhaust themselves, they reenergize afterwards to become stronger. When muscle tissue breaks down after hard work, it rebuilds itself to be stronger next time providing it is given sufficient time to do so. After all, all life is created so that it has a good chance of survival and in the days of our ancient ancestors, survival of the fittest was the rule. Children would have to grow quickly to become strong adults and the body would have to constantly reenergize itself after physical activity. It had to get stronger and the harder the body was worked, the stronger it would become. In those days of course it didn't matter, how a person looked but how quick and strong they were in order to survive. Today however, it is more to do with feeling and looking good. Pure strength has little relevance in modern day society when it comes to surviving unless you do a labour intensive job or earn a living from being strong and fit, such as a professional athlete but generally absolute strength and great muscular physique is not a must for most daily activity and work today, a part from the satisfaction of feeling and looking good.

Your Weight Lifting Program and Muscle Growth

4 Muscle balance

1)Intensity:

Not all exercises strengthen muscles because even the simplest movements will exercise a set of muscles; so in order for muscles to grow, they have to be exercised beyond normal activity. It is of course a matter of intensity and in theory the harder muscles are worked, the greater will be the growth but this depends on the other three elements of nutrition, rest & recovery and muscle balance.

As a key part of intensive training, a sound well structured routine (weight lifting program) is of great importance and there are many good books and information available how to structure such routines. Knowledge about the subject is vitally important, if you are really keen to stick with your program and not give up; which many people do.

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2)Nutrition:

Good quality natural healthy food is essential for healthy bodies but for those who put their bodies through extremes of exercise, extra nutrition is important to help the body to cope with the demands placed on it and to increase muscle size. For weight training supplements and nutrition check out

3)Rest & recovery:

Maybe one of the most overlooked elements of a muscle building program is rest and recovery, especially when there has been tissue damage through over exercising. Most of the time, the body is capable of repairing itself but it can only do this with adequate rest. The problem however, is that often the healing process appears to be complete but internally there is still tissue damage and scar tissue. Massage can hasten the healing process and repair deep internal scar tissue, so lessening the chance of further injury. Massage will loosen tight muscles which form around damaged tissue to protect it but remain tight after the internal tissue has been repaired. It is common to experience stiffness after injury and this is due to muscle tightness. Massage will help speed recovery from this stiffness.

4)Muscle balance:

Muscle balance is another vital aspect of a weight lifting program as any experienced weight lifter knows. If you exercise particular muscle groups but neglect other areas, you will of course strengthen certain muscles more than others which will cause muscle imbalance. There are over 600 muscles in the body. Check out facts about muscles, and each one, matter how small has a specific purpose, so it is important to endeavour to exercise all muscles and not just a few major ones. The fact that some lifters overlook however is that they only concentrate on weight alone, which will bring into play only the larger muscles and large muscle groups, so neglecting the smaller muscles for specific and finer motor control. For the best tone and physique, it is important to work intensively even the smaller muscles and correct training is essential for this.

Undertaking a good weight lifting program

It is vitally important to have a good training programme and incorporate proper weight lifting techniques and correct weight lifting exercises. If you are a beginner you should seek expert help and maybe a personal coach, or at very least you should read a good training manual and use a blank weight lifting chart to fill in after every set of weight lifting reps. This will keep you in touch with your progress or lack of it. If in doubt, seek advice from professional fitness experts.

Essential reading to enhance your weight lifting program

Massage can decrease recovery time

It is a proven fact that massage can decrease recovery time, not only from physical exersion but from injury too. When muscles become exhausted they need to rebuild themselves and of course this takes time. The process of muscles rebuilding themselves is brought about by fresh supplies of blood coming to the muscle tissue bringing nutrients and oxygen to create new cells and replace the ones which have been used up in the process of exercise. If nature is left to itself, it can take several days or more for the muscles to recover but if massage is received, fresh blood is forced into the muscles by the process of directed pressure. You could liken the process of drying a wet cloth. If you hang a wet cloth to dry, it might take several days to thoroughly dry out but if wrung out it will dry quicker. Massage squeezes the muscles and forces out the redundant cells and brings in fresh nutrients and oxygen to create new ones; therefore rebuilding muscle tissue more quickly. Check out this article at www.bodybuilding.com

Massage decreases recovery time after injury

When muscle tissue becomes damaged, either through overuse; through lack of warm up or poor weight lifting program, the muscle tissue tears. Nature of course will repair the damage if the muscles are rested and not exerted. However, in the repair process scar tissue forms, just as scar tissue forms when you break the surface of the skin. This internal scar tissue effectively weakens the muscle because scar tissue is not flexible. It can be felt that the injury has fully recovered but internally there will be the weakness of scar tissue and may well lead to further injury later on. Deep tissue massage as carried out by a Sports massage therapist or knowledgable massage therapist can over the course of several sessions break down the internal scar tissue and it will be replaced by healthy muscle tissue.

Injuries can lay dorment for years A friend of mine had been receiving massage by a Chinese massage practitioner and discovered a pain in his ankle when it was massaged. At first he could not think why, then he remembered damaging his ankle when he was a child. After three or four sessions the pain disapated in his ankle. The internal injury had been there for nearly forty years and although not causing him any real problems was still hanging around nevertheless. A sportsperson cannot afford to carry injuries because of the strains they put on their muscles and joints. Old injuries often don't just go away as anyone with a recurring injury will tell you. If you have a recurring injury, seek the advice of a Sports therapist and get your body sorted; otherwise you may one day have to give up the activities you love. Massage helps you relax and releases tension. Life is difficult and yes a good workout can kick out many of the stresses of the day but we all accumulate stress just from daily life; work, home, relationships etc. All stress is ultimately emotional but is stored physically in the body, it makes our muscles tense up especially in our shoulders. Stress can make us irritated, angry and hot tempered. A good massage will help to release the trapped tension we have in our muscles, which can be felt as knots (fibrous tissue) and in doing so help us to feel less tense. Less tension will mean less anxiety, irritation and anger. All inner tension affects how well we perform, so another really good reason to have regular masage.

Learn to massage

If I have convinced you that regular massage benefits a sound weight lifting program, they why not learn to massage? or learn to self massage? If you learn to massage, you can at least massage some of your gym mates (not to mention your partner) and maybe earn some income in the process (not from your partner) and if you learn to self massage, you can easily massage your own arms, shoulders and legs after a hard session. You'll be surprised at the benefits.

Cross Training for all round fitness

Cross training is something which should be seriously considered by all who seriously train in a sport because it strengthens many more muscles and increases stamina. Cross training is to do differing training/exercise programmes and not just one. Swimming is generally considered the best all round exercise for developing overall muscle tone because the whole body has to work in unison to create momentum and what is more the water supports the weight and so no undue strains are put on particular muscle regions. Race horses have very expensive, specially designed pools made for them, so that they can exercise after injury. Swimming also builds up stamina and so is a good combination exercise for weight lifters. Running of course builds up the cardio vascular system and builds stamina. You might think that you will burn up valuable energy in taking part in another sporting activity but consider those who take part in triathlons or even decathlons? There can be no overall fitter sports people.