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The Sports Massage Team
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For the Riders

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Did you know you can  preschedule your sessions for during your event?  

You can use  the contact form on our site, or:
peter@thesportsmassageteam.com

Peter will be happy to assist you.  You’ll just need to confirm your appointment times at registration day









BENEFITS OF SPORTS MASSAGE:

~ Increased blood circulation - bring nutrients and oxygen rich blood to muscles and organs.
~ Reduce lymphatic congestion - removal of metabolic by-products from intense physical activity.
~ Muscular relaxation - return muscles to normal tone.
~ Separation of muscle and connective tissue - break up adhesions that can restrict range of movement.
~ Enhance multi-day events - make events fun and motivating.
~ Connective tissue normalization improves speed, power and grace in movement. 
~ General relaxation, improved quality of sleep, lowered blood pressure, heart rate and respiration.
~ Anxiety reduction - increases concentration and focus, reduced stress and releases endorphins (natural   mood elevators).
~ Increased alertness and mental clarity, increased mental alertness and clarity of mind.

How Much Sports Massage Will You Need During The Event?

Have you trained enough for the tour?  Do you have any chronic injuries which may interfere with your full enjoyment of the daily rides?  These are a couple of the basic questions you may want to ask yourself in deciding how much massage you may want to receive during a bike tour.  Each event usually provides some general training guidelines that riders try to meet or exceed.  Even with the best of intentions, busy work and family schedules, and the variable nature of the elements can interfere with meeting your training goals.  

In the course of providing sports massage for events for 26 years I have found the following formulas to be helpful in assisting riders determine how often they may want and/or need to get sports massage sessions during a tour.

If you are riding at...
25% of training goals: You may want to receive a session every day                                Plan A

50% of training goals: You may want to receive a session every other day                   Plan B

75% of training goals: You may want to receive a session every  third day                   Plan C



Another way to think about it would be:  In the 5 Weeks leading up to the tour, if you have been averaging mileage in these ranges, you may want to consider this frequency of sports massage  for a week long tour.


200+ miles/week=1 massage

100-200 miles/week=1-2 massages


75-100 miles/week:  2-3 massages

0-75 miles/week: 3-6 massages



If you have any knee, hip, back or neck issues, these can often become aggravated during the course of riding many miles over a multi-day event. This may increase your needs for massage during a bike tour.  The Sports Massage Team is here to help you feel better so you can enhance the enjoyment of the ride.   Remember that the event is a VACATION!  Feel Good, Enjoy Yourself, Have Fun.

The following training tips are courtesy of Ken Brecheisen, veteran cyclist and massage therapist

Training is the body’s adaptation to increased physical stress. A basic rule of thumb is not to increase distance or intensity more than 10-15% per week.  This allows the body to adapt to the processing of metabolic waste products (byproducts of muscle contractions), lactate acid, pyruvic acid, and CO2.

If a person exceeds these parameters, therapy is needed (Massage or Hydro Ice Bath) or cell necroses occurs.  You experience this as muscle soreness.

Receiving  massage session increases the blood flow up to seven times normal, flushes metabolic wastes out of the cells into the blood stream where it is processed in the kidneys and expelled through the urine.  A massage is equivalent to getting eight hours of sleep regarding this process.  It also feels great, allowing a relaxation and deeper sleep, which releases growth hormones.  

RIDE RECOVERY TIPS

Cool Down-    10 minutes of easy spinning while drinking your last bottle of water

Stretch-          Let your heart rate return to resting before stretching. Quads, Hams,Calfs, Gluts, Back

Nutrition-        Within 90 minutes, Carbs with some Protein (10-20%) Low Fat Chocolate Milk is  perfect!

Therapy-         Massage, Hydro (Ice Bath)   Best if done within 3 hours of riding

Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate  Hydrate 


Kevin Nugent, CMT shares:

   So you want to do a week long bike tour. The camaraderie, the mountain passes and descents, the sense of accomplishment, the health benefits. The 450 miles in a week????  Unless you get paid to ride your bike, very few people log that kind of mileage on a regular basis. The ability to cover that distance without cracking and being able to thrive requires large doses of mental, as well as physical, strength.  Both can be built up through diligence and training, but for the purpose of this article I will be focusing on the physical side of the equation, specifically how massage therapy can heighten your recovery and thereby the enjoyment of your tour.  Most people have heard how massage feels good, helps you relax and makes you feel better. But have you ever wondered why? What is going on inside? What the heck is happening under the hood during a sports massage? And how can sports massage help me recover faster, train harder, ride longer and have more fun?
   The main components that sports specific massage addresses are musculoskeletal stress, improvement in micro-circulation and stimulation of mechanoreceptors.  The musculoskeletal system is the union of the muscles and the skeleton. How you move, and yes, how you sit on and propel a bicycle. When this system is over exerted the result is physical stress. Sports massage helps to reduce stress on joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles. This is accomplished in part by lengthening the muscles through physical intervention which returns the tissue to a more relaxed and pliable state. This in turn has a cascading effect which relieves the pressure on the connective tissue. This results in “feeling more comfortable in your body”, you will feel more at home on your bike, not like you are fighting it, due to increased flexibility. 
   Micro-circulation is used to describe the small vessels embedded in the tissue that deliver nutrients to working and recovering muscles. The lymphatic system is also a component of microcirculation which is a key component of the bodies immune system.  Sports massage directly influences micro-circulation, increasing the bodies ability to deliver nutrients and flush metabolic waste for the muscles. This will result in quicker recovery which will lead to enhanced performance.
   Mechanoreceptors are tiny sensors in your muscles that respond to changes in tissue length and pressure. During sports massage heat, increased blood circulation and stretching trigger a reflex relaxation response from these receptors. In other words, it relaxes your muscles, which aids in recovery and strengthening.
   While there are many other benefits to receiving sports massage during both training for your goal and while realizing your objective, these are among the most compelling.

Make sure to schedule some “table time” for those muscles, take care of those muscles and they will take care of you.

Have a great tour!





  

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