massages after workout, good for recovery and bad for gains?

lincoln.prtg

lincoln.prtg

New member
I had a killer back workout this morning and in the afternoon I got a nice massage. I even asked her to focus more on the back since it was quite sore.
As she was doing it, I was thinking to myself: what if I'm actually wasting gains? it seems logical that It will help with recovery, but mitigating lactic acid so soon after the workout seems counter productive.
 
lincoln.prtg said:
I had a killer back workout this morning and in the afternoon I got a nice massage. I even asked her to focus more on the back since it was quite sore.
As she was doing it, I was thinking to myself: what if I'm actually wasting gains? it seems logical that It will help with recovery, but mitigating lactic acid so soon after the workout seems counter productive.
Click to expand...

Please only click the button once.
... Even if you don't realize it, it is posted
 
I can't see anything but benefits from a massage..One of the things I use in my Recovery Protocols..
Recovery is more than Sleep..!!
Z...
 
As far as your actual question it probably hasn’t been fully answered in the research yet. Determining if massage after training is worth it likely depends on why.

A couple studies:
Invalid Link Removed
Invalid Link Removed

It seems pretty clear that massage should improve recovery in the sense of decreasing soreness/DOMS.

While this is true it also doesn’t seem that this decrease in soreness leads to a measurable increase in performance or faster return to performance baseline.

Then the potential issue not answered yet is if this decreases long term progress or “gains”. We know that cold immersion/water immersion does also improve recovery metrics of soreness, but also decreases markers of MPS and potentially long term progress when done frequently. We can’t be entirely sure if that is true for massage at the moment (until we fully understand why cold water immersion leads to this and/or how massage may be the same or different in a mechanistic approach).

My hunch would be if it is infrequent and done more during times to help decrease soreness from particularly challenging or voluminous workouts it could have a place. I wouldn’t be particularly worried you ruined your back workout (anecdotally some people do well with massage so it may not have any deleterious effects). 🙂
 
My personal opinion based off what ive read, experienced and what A PT told me years ago....

After a workout, a light massage to get blood flowing to the areas will help recovery and i would agree that i have felt benifits from that in the past. But a deep tissue massage or anything where the person has to put some elbow grease in may actually cause more harm then good If they're doing it on the muscles you just worked. I dont get very sore after workouts normally, Many times no soreness. But i've had a deep tissue done on my back after back day and i was hurting for days, had to skip my next back day and **** didnt feel right for a while. The person i had gotton worked on by before so not really any variables.

Take it with a grain of salt. While I do know doing anything that can increase blood flow should help heal/recovery. I dont know the science on deep tissue the day of training the same muscles
 
I have found over the years that deep tissue massage is detrimental to strength as an immediate result, but necessary in order to make progress. As this exercise of removing scar tissue and adhesions pulls most of the tension (reliable, built and trusted tension that is necessary to move heavy weights) out of the muscle / tendon and the area needs to be re-learned and re-created overtime. The areas treated (if the patient can take it) can change radically and should change radically if they are riddled with the abuse that can come from years of weight training. However, the objective being to remove scar tissue and adhesions that are causing ROM and movement issues is necessary to progress. I plan these massages knowing that I am under a rebuild time. It's usually done while treating an injury, but most of the time area(s) that have gotten beat down. However, a relaxation massage won't change much as it literally does not get very far below the surface. Safe and feels good at the time, but useless imo from $ point of you (an old powerlifter).
 
Last edited:
I have had a few massages after a brutal workout and the problem is the places I go to were those generic asian places where they don't really speak english. Long story short, everytime I go I am a bit tight and pumped and they take that as a challenge and I end up bruised/injured or in pain haha. I think the day after is better, but that is just me.
 
Sparta12 said:
I have had a few massages after a brutal workout and the problem is the places I go to were those generic asian places where they don't really speak english. Long story short, everytime I go I am a bit tight and pumped and they take that as a challenge and I end up bruised/injured or in pain haha. I think the day after is better, but that is just me.
Click to expand...
I thought you were going somewhere else after ''generic asian places'', not going to lie.
 
As for massages, I've found them to be a mixed bag. On one hand, they're incredibly relaxing and can definitely help with soreness and muscle recovery. But like you mentioned, there's this nagging concern about potentially interfering with gains, especially when it comes to lactic acid removal. I did a bit of digging and found this site, Planet Massage, which seems to offer some interesting insights into the benefits of massage therapy Invalid Link Removed. They mention that massages can actually improve circulation, which could theoretically aid in nutrient delivery to muscles post-workout. That sounds promising!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top