Prioritizing Therapy

The chart in the Recovery chapter is a huge help.

Below are 2 soccer players I work with who have been getting massage. Here is their weekly schedule:

Monday: Speed/Wts
Tuesday: Practice
Wed: Tempo after school, practice at night
Thursday: Speed/Wts
Friday: 1 Game (50 min game)
Saturday: Off:Massage
Sunday: 2 games (50 min game)

Would they be better off with Massage on Wed instead of Sat?

I think the way you have it is fine but both days of course would be better. If they are paying for the current weekly massage session could you do an additional one yourself? I have met a ton of massage therapists who charge $50+ who probably don’t know any more about the body than you do.

I do the massage myself. Cost isn’t the issue. It’s more of time of day.

There are infinite solutions, you can buy two “the stick” for self-home-therapy work and do the massage session on wed, a central point between sunday game and weekly training.
On sunday night or monday a cheap bath with epsom or a contrast shower can be another solution.
Then do they have a deep tissue massage or light/flushing work?

You can do massage on friday too and/or a very light swimming session on saturday.

Stretching completes this basic program.

I never understood why everyone loves The Stick (or theracane, etc). I don’t find it very effective. I far prefer a foam roller device or even just a tennis ball.

Maybe a little effective for soft massage or flushing, but I do agree that for hardcore SMR I would rater use PVC-Baseball or hands(self massage)…

I have the stick and foam rollers too. How does the stick and roller impact recovery in the same way proper massage does? Any thoughts jamirok?

We do deep tissue mixed with a flush on Saturday usually (from techniques seen in Number Twos taper DVD and having spent time with Charlie last year). Training has been progressive and practices aren’t bad. By now there are not many problem areas. They are told to do contrasts at home after workouts on their own, since my facility doesn’t have showers.

Saturday’s session also uses low level laser therapy with the terraquant unit. I have used many others and this has had the best results by far, especially for the cost.

The Friday games are played at 8,9 or 10pm so Friday massage would have to be around 3pm if we did it that way.

I believe a lot to home self therapy, 5-10 minutes of the stick on lower body muscles as suggest on “the stick website”, 10-20 passages and after (facultative) light stretching.

Then you have the right skills (charlie’s massage deep tissue work) for massage not 1 but at least 2 times a week , 1 day flushing and the other day deep.

Terraquant is a good choice for manage some muscle problems!

You do contrast shower…

You JUST have a good recovery program :smiley: