Massage for Crossfitters

Crossfit is a popular form of exercise that really tests your mental and physical strength. It can really push you to your limits in a wonderful way. However when we put such high demands on ourselves mentally/physically, we need to use some TLC in our self care. Yes foam rolling, ice packs and epsom salt baths are all great for recovery. There are times when that just isn’t enough. A massage therapist who understands the demands that you as a crossfitter needs your body to function at can really bring your training to the next level.

How can massage help?

Many adult athletes really push themselves to their physical limit and sometimes through an injury. And that can turn into a big problem. As a runner I get it. You don’t want to effect your training. But we need to train smart. Many injuries that happen during crossfit are soft tissue related. Massage can help to loosen up the tight area. Release those active trigger points and get some blood flow to the effective area.

If you find yourself working through an injury, you will need to adjust your training. It’s important to do exercises that don’t stress the injured area. As an example neck injuries are common in women who are crossfitters. Why? Because many women naturally don’t have good upper body strength and they “cheat” by using their neck muscles instead learning how to turn on their upper back and shoulder muscles. This cheating can happen doing deadlifting, push ups, inverted rows etc….. When you have this type of injury bearing weight on your arms can cause more neck pain. Exercise like planks and even bike riding could make it worse. To work through this I suggest that your neck/upper back are supported. Doing free weights on your back with a workout bench or a Swiss Ball.

Regular massage is going to help the area to stop having a spasm along with preventing scar tissue from forming, depending on how severe the injury is. I also like to suggest chiropractic to my crossfitters as well because there is almost always an alignment issue as well.

What type of massage?

Honestly, anytime of massage can be helpful. Just really depends on what you like and has helped you in the past. Here are a few suggestions to help you on your massage journey

• Cupping
• Myofascial Release
• Active Release Technique (ART)
• Rolfing
• Hellerwork
• Rossiter  
• Neural Reset Therapy (NRT)

This is just a short list of suggestions. I love when people are working out, but we need to be kind to our bodies. And massage therapy is such a great tool to help your body recover and perform better in crossfit.