Hi, i’m Troy McClure…You may have remember me in such threads as Lactic Threshold, and Asafa for Oz.
Now I know a lot about sprinting, but I won’t pretend to act like I know a lot about therapy. Well lets say that I don’t know how to give it(massage, deep tissue, etc)
I have an athlete who is almost “there”, but not quite. Since we haven’t made it completely over the hump just yet, there are still some resources lacking. One of the main ones being a decent reliable therapy situation.
So my question to those of you who have had regular therapy, is how long do you expect an athlete to last without it. And how much will it affect his overall performance now, and later? Whats more likely to happen, an injury:( or a drop or plateau in performance?:o
How can I find ways to obtain therapy for my athlete?
Because I know Charlie has talked about this. Find a massage school in the area, get them to let the interns work on your athlete. It’ll either be free or super cheap. It may not be top notch but some > none.
Approach someone locally (chiro, physio, massage therapist), explain the situation, see about trading sponsorship (if he’s eligible) in trade for therapy. They provide therapy (discount or free), they get a patch on the racing suit.
I’m sure others will have other excellent suggestions, all of which are better in mind than asking “How long before the athlete breaks?”
I’ll admit you’re right. However, I(we) have already done those things, and have done so for years. I don’t in any way plan on just “making it” through the season. So forgive me for coming off that way. We actually have “a guy”(chiro), and we know how to get therapy elsewhere. But it’s not nearly of the frequency that would produce any longterm aid. The issue here is $$ AND access. He’s never actually gone through a whole season without some form of therapy, the problem is the frequency, and timing.
I’ve talked to a lot of people about this. One of the top therapists out there (works with arguably the best group around right now), said that he has noticed some people do as well without therapy as with therapy, performance wise. He gave this info btw to a paying client, so I’ll just say that for setting your mind at ease about how much it may be affecting performance. I tend to disagree with him to an extent, finding I had overall better training performance (and hence meet and overall performances) when getting consistent therapy, but it was interesting to note and he cited a number of examples of people who went from receiving no therapy to “great” therapy and vice versa with little change in overall performance (main change was in injury rates).
On the other hand, a lack of therapy can often lead to injuries if training becomes too intense from a volume and/or intensity perspective or too many meets are run. There is a fine line I think and if people start running meets fatigued or tight, bad things can happen. Some of this it mitigated with good coaching, athletes doing all of the little things (foam rolling and other self-therapies, good diet and supplementation, etc.), and more, but good therapy is always going to trump 0 therapy.
What does your guy do on his own? If he does all of the little things, that will go a long way in helping. Regular foam rolling, self-stretching, saunas, whirlpool, etc. can go a long way, though they are still not manual therapy.
Also, why not try posting an ad or something on Craigslist and ask for massage students interested in working on one of the fastest athletes in the world this year? I’m not nearly as fast as your guy and worked out a good deal with a woman just out of massage school (in Chicago as well) and I get a great rate from her and had better deals from others, but they were too far away to make it work.
I get it for $35/hr, but the deal is in reality much better than that. Sessions are usually close to 90mins long, she is flexible for when I get there (sometimes I get there late, sometimes early depending on what I have going on), and the overall schedule is highly flexible around what I need (sometimes I’m there on Monday, sometimes Sunday, etc.). It is a pretty good deal for both of us.
Lucky you, I have a lady I see here for maintenance work and she charge $30 per hour. For more serious issues I prefer to see more experience hands, I saw a guy this morning for $85; I was suppose to pay $135 but he gave me a discount
I see a chick that charges 55/hr. I give her 60. I was thinking of using her for serious work and finding a rookie fresh out of school for matinence work. I am just scared that the rookie could screw me up. Any chance of that happening?
Doubtful. This is basically what I do. Just make sure they don’t use elbows and such too often and are willing to work with their thumbs a lot (most are too lazy to). You don’t need really deep work if you’re getting consistent therapy anyway.
Yea, I agree. I found a massage place here in PA at a high end mall the gives a full body massage for 20/30 bucks.
And when I was living in California I would drive to the Asian neighborhoods and they would have many places that offered a foot massage for about 30 min followed by full body massage for another 30 all for about 20 bucks plus a tip. Hell they even gave me this tea to drink while they were working on me.
Now, I know you may say, “wow that’s really cheap” but the results were great and it looked to me that the business owners were using people who came from China that were looking for some solid work; so as a result, they had good work ethic and worked for every doller they charged. Sometimes I felt guilty for only having to give them 25 bucks.
lol!..na these were legit spots. You can tell by the location.
Massage places that offer a real massage will be open for business in residental areas. Places that offer “the other stuff” will be in industrial areas or simi industrial areas; and usualy they are also next to strip clubs/topless bars.
