Hi, a question for Charlie or any others who have experience of this. I am in the process of completing a massage qualification (enjoying it) and have learned from watching Charlie on sections of the Taper DVD and the Jane Project. I was wondering what is best time to massage between rounds or separate races at one meeting, as an example 2 hours apart. As well as light massage pre the first race, I have started giving light massage as part of the warm up for the 2nd race, is this the best time or immediately following the first race. ? I hope I’m making sense here. I would really welcome some guidance Charlie.
I did it briefly before all rounds. that way it only takes a few minutes but makes a big difference. (all the deep work has been done well before the meet)
What about the day before a meet, how much massage would you have done?
not much. certainly no deep tissue work…
Anyone care to comment on deep tissue work? What are the general feelings of a “Dr. Pain” type approach (very deep and not slow) vs. more strokes of gentler passes vs. slower less painful strokes?
Personally I don’t do massage between rounds usually because it’s too damn cold!
Thanks Charlie, I thought you would, do you do the massage straight after a round or after the athlete has had a jog at the start of the warm up for the next round.?
I only perform deeper massage on recovery days, if they are feeling tight. Just light efflurage on speed days and extremely light on race days.
well, for what its worth- I worked on the swim team of a major university for their national championships one year. I know about the recommended protocol of quick and lighter stokes and dont aggravate or make the athlete aware of any problems etc. But i just ended up doing a lot of heavy kneading, deep “stripping” and yes did some point and trigger point work on the athletes. this was included with some of the regular protocol. I knew the team was doing well, but i figured something was up when the team coach and trainer came to see what I was doing. Then I noticed that the athletes started to make a big point of needing the massage just before their rounds. Also, the other top three teams came over to watch me and chat it up if I got a minute. Turns out that everyone on the team was setting personal bests all through out the meet and ended up third in the contest up from something like 12th place the year before. It was unbelievable the gratitude i felt from everyone and was such a wonderful experience for me as a massage therapist. point is I went with my gut and gave the athletes what I felt they needed at that particular moment as opposed to going by the book. and it worked out that time. I was contacted by the same university and a couple others by the way afterward but my schedule wouldn’t allow me to work with them. I also noticed that the top three teams at the meet were the only teams with massage therapists. I thought that said something too. sorry if this was long winded.
Interesting take, not sure how it would work if you had to do that with track sprinters. You obviously were brought in just for the meet otherwise you would presumably have fixed those problems earlier.
This goes to show how much further Swimming has to come as a sport compared to Track.
Most really good track guys know the importance of massage, and getting Knotts etc worked out before the meet is upon you.
I would in-vision, that within a few yrs, swimming will be the same.
Have you seen Reaction times for swimming? Very slow when compared to track runners. More time will be made there.
Not that im knocking swimming as a sport, just that they have a few more yrs yet of Breaking records like crazy at every major international event like they have been doing. Crowds love it.
mortac8 - for deep work, i prefer the slow, controlled and less painful work. Rip into it too fast and things just get damaged. Sure its harder to do as a Massage therapist, but you get better results.
I believe swimming reactions times are measured differently which results in considerably higher times.
You can also see with your eyes for most of them. After watching Track guys Explode with the gun, swimmers seem to just Stand there for what seems like forever!
Thats what i noticed when watching the last World champs in swimming. You get the odd guy shooting out fast. Seemed few and far between.
Yup. I didnt understand how some of what was in those guys was there. It was in complete contrast to a guy I worked on for instance that had just retired from the NFL. His tissue was great and needed no real deep friction etc. He said that when in the NFL, the guys that worked on the athletes didnt care what you felt as long as they got everything out of your muscles for the game next sunday. The athlete had little to say because he got paid to much to not be able to perform next week. that was interesting to me.
Yes, I have found that with many coaches involved with team sports, a short sighted approach prevails, just win the next game at all costs.
PhilG - have you got charlies “Prioritizing Therapy Options” graph?
Hi Bold, if you mean the one in the Key Concepts e-book then yes I have, very helpful as ever from Charlie, the man was and always will be a legend. I am still interested in members views and experiences on this subject.