Benefits of Massage While Training for an Endurance Event

Marathoners and other endurance athletes know that the key to success involves more than running as much as they can, as hard as they can. Training at different speeds, cross training, scheduling rest days, and generally caring for your body are all important parts of a training program. Massage therapy offers benefits for endurance athletes both during the training phase and after completing their event.

Building the muscles that help keep endurance athletes going involves breaking the muscles down and letting them rebuild over and over as the training schedule pushes them farther and harder. In that process, the body takes a beating. Massage therapy can increase the athlete’s performance in several ways.

Circulation

The circulatory system delivers oxygen and nutrients to muscles and helps carry waste out of the body. Along with cardiovascular exercise, massage therapy improves and strengthens the circulatory system. Consistent massage therapy can actually increase the size of blood vessels and decrease blood pressure.

Improved circulation and an efficient circulatory system will impact the quality of endurance training. With the body able to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the muscles that need it, running, biking, or swimming will be easier and faster.

Flexibility

We talk a lot about the benefits of massage for flexibility. But how does massage increase flexibility? After repeated training sessions, the muscles that have been contracting over and over become tight. Some athletes may not even recognize just how tight they have become. When that happens, it is hard for the body to relax and lengthen the muscles. Both aspects are important for endurance athletes — a strong muscle that can react quickly and a flexible muscle that can withstand long repetition.

Massage manually stretches muscles and loosens them, which provides resilience. The manipulation of muscles also removes adhesions and small amounts of scar tissue, which can restrict the range of motion. Combined, these outcomes contribute to a more flexible athlete whose body can go farther and harder with lower risk of injury.

Pain

In many ways, endurance sports are about learning to move past and train through the pain. Thankfully, massage can also decrease pain. Improved circulation and flexibility both contribute to faster recovery from injury, which often means less pain. Less pain can translate to increased performance for the athlete.

Additional benefits

In addition to the primary benefits of improved flexibility, circulation, and reduced pain, massage has been shown to improve sleep and lessen anxiety. Restful sleep provides the body with the opportunity to rejuvenate and repair itself, which is an important component of maintaining athletic performance.

Training for an endurance event can cause some anxiety, especially if something unexpected occurs in the training schedule. The relaxation that occurs during a massage therapy session can reduce the mental stress of preparing for the race day.

If you are training or considering training for an endurance event, talk to us about how massage therapy can fit into your training schedule.