Some people have the opinion that you shouldn’t do massage after intense workouts incase you would remove the induced muscle stress thus preventing your body from adapting to it.
Here is a quote from " a system of mult-year training in weightlifting"
“plan fewer restoration measures on the large loading days, than on the rest days; because some specialists are of the opinion that higher doses of restoration procedures, “block” the maximum influence of the training on the organism”
I normally self massage and foam roll a couple of hours after speed and weights sessions. however now I am concerned that with massage the fatigue is being “removed” rather than “making my body adapt”.
I would like some other opinions on this topic.
A lot will depend on how often you massage and how deep. Foam roller and self done probably won’t be an issue as that is generally quite different to what you get from a massage specialist which is a lot more intense. In those cases do after a tempo session as that eases the muscle up (quite different to speed ) and if not that regular have a rest day the next day to allow full recovery before next speed session.
It should be done only to the extent that it wont unless there is an injury or other limiting factor that requires a modification of the next speed/power day.
I don’t agree that every massage sessions should hurt like hell. As a massage therapist myself (as well as a strength coach, etc…), I don’t take pride in making my clients squirm with pain every time I work on them.
As a given rule, if a tissue is relatively unhealthy (i.e. ischemic, fibrotic, etc…), it won’t take much pressure to elicit some discomfort. Conversely, healthy tissue should be able to take around 5-10 pounds of pressure with only mild discomfort or a feeling of “pressure” instead of pain.
The goal with soft-tissue work is to use the “right” amount of pressure for the area being worked on; kind of a Goldilocks “just right” approach. Also, there is no substitute for precision and specificity with massage release techniques. If you know where you are at, you don’t need a ton of pressure. The client however, may percieive that a lot of pressure is being used when in fact, very light pressure is being applied.
Hah, well actually for once I’m being serious. Deep work is less painful if the therapist applies force and waits for the muscle to release vs plowing through the tissue at a set speed. It takes a lot longer but can be more effective. I am talking rolfing type myofascial work here (minimal lubricant, etc).
Yea but it took me a while to get accustomed to bodywork in general. With you, I had no work done previously. I started up with a therapist locally afterward and it still took me a while to get used to or “accept” the work.