Body massage!

I've been planning on writing on this subject for some time now, but Robb Wolf just mentioned it on his podcast and I figured I should strike while the iron is still hot.

So, massage. Body work. Whatever you want to call it. Is it a good idea? Should you do it? 

Short answer: YES.

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Before that, a tangent based on the question in Robb's podcast. Is massage paleo?

A) Who cares.

B) Let me answer your question with a question: Is Batman paleo?

Hah hah - of course Batman isn't paleo... right?

I dunno. Batman is a deeply archetypal character who's identity is deeply animistic and elemental. That sounds like an evolution of some ancient hero mythology to me. Do you really think our caveman ancestors didn't figure out that rubbing a tight/sore muscle made it feel better? I bet it didn't take too long afterwards for one of those caveman to perform the very first "shoulder rub" maneuver on his favorite cavegirl. And, once that proved successful, I bet it took about .03 seconds for somecaveone to decide that making a close study of massage might be a good idea.

And now, many many years later, we get to reap the benefits of all that progress. Lucky us. 

***

Okay, so massage feels great, I think we all know that. But are there real benefits? Opinions vary, but I'm a big believer. This is based on the fact that I've been getting regular body work now for a couple of months and it's made me feel much much better.

I am not an expert on massage therapy, so I'm not the best authority to speak on all the stuff that happens, but here's the short simple version: Something happens to gum up the optimal workings of your muscular system. A muscle tightens up in response. And then, because your muscles/fascia are basically a big system of rubber bands and pulleys, lots of other things can get thrown out of wack as well. Getting someone who knows what they're doing to release the tension in the right spot can trigger a systemic resetting. In short, it feels nice and helps you move better with less pain/tightness/tension, etc.

It also helps flush out your body. This is often oversimplified as "removing toxins," which I think is a bit of a misnomer. What's happening is massage helps flush interstitial fluid into the lymphatic system. This fluid contains the intracellular waste that is produced by normal cellular functions. If things are tight and tense, this flushing process might not be working super well and a good deep tissue massage acts like wringing out an old moldy washcloth.

Which leads me to a word of caution. If you haven't had body work before and decide to go get a massage, drink lots of water afterwards. Your lymphatic system is going to be processing more waste than usual and the extra water will help. I thought I drank enough after my first massage but the next day my lymph nodes were all swollen and I felt pretty bad. It went away in a few hours (after I drank a lot more water) and the subsequent massages have been fine.

So, massages are great and do great things. But don't expect them to be a silver bullet. You should probably seek to identify the underlying cause of your issues. Maybe it's physical - poor posture, poor gait, etc. Maybe it's lifestyle - job stress, too much sitting, etc. Fixing these issues might prove to be really difficult, but make the effort - it's the only viable long term solution.

If you're looking to get some body work done what kind is best? Of course, it depends. I'm a fan of any kind of deep tissue work. Lots of people love Rolfing. The important thing is to find a person you like working with who you can see regularly.

If you're in the Triangle area of North Carolina, I highly recommend Matthew Steere, the guy I've been seeing for a few months now. You can get ahold of him via email [msteere09 (at) gmail (dot) com] 

Update on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at 10:13AM by Colin Pistell

Sean just sent me this article that presents some interesting counter-arguments to the whole "toxins" and water drinking advice. Check it out here. 

Get better. Not destroyed.

Clif Harski just linked to this great article by these folks, who I have never met but think I would like. It's a great message that we all need to take to heart.

I've had a few people come out for our free trial classes, vanish for two weeks, then come back excitedly telling me about how they couldn't walk for three days afterwards and were sore for another week. They tell me this with enormous smiles on their faces and are then genuinely confused when I express concern.

Make no mistake, when it comes to physical activity pushing yourself in new ways will usually make you exhausted and sore at first. But being exhausted and sore shouldn't be your goal for every single training session. This is doubly important for any type of skill based discipline, like martial arts, parkour, etc. In grappling, this is the "time on the mat" principle: consistency is key for improvement. The more regular and frequent your training, the better you get. Far better to train moderately for 5 days than to go all out on one day and spend the next 4 days in bed recovering. I know because I've tried both.

As the article points out, we've been conditioned by the fitness industry to measure the worth of a program by how much we hurt during/after. I think this is the same phenomenon that makes us prefer body soaps that tingle because we can "feel them working." Let's say it plainly: grinding yourself into the dirt for every single workout does not make you tough. It makes you vulnerable. To injury, illness, indoctrination, etc. You don't want that.

Sometimes it's good to train really hard and be wrecked for a day. Overreaching will drive adaptation. But most days you should finish your training feeling good, not bad. The next day you should still feel good. Listen to your body and act accordingly. By means of for instance, today my right knee is bothering me a little - I'm not sure why and I'm not worried about it. But guess who is not going to be doing any jumping today.

You don't want the hardest, most extreme fitness program. You want the one that fits your goals. I don't market Fifth Ape as a belly buster/fat loss system because it's not. I also don't market it as the world's most intense workout, because that's relative. I'm much more interested in feedback like "That was fascinating!" or "I didn't know I could do that!" That's cool. That's people getting curious about how their bodies move.

Office Hours #15

I may have forgotten to post Office Hours #14 until just now, but you're getting Office Hours #15 hot off the press! In this episode we discuss the extremely useful turn vault in detail. 

We had some issues with the stream during the show, so make sure you check out the HD footage of the segment. And, try to join us on Tuesdays at 7PM EDT when we stream live! The show is much more enjoyable for me to do when I receive questions and get to interact with all of you!

Pro tip: If you tune in a little early on Tuesdays you can usually join in on some pre-show hijinks. Just sayin' ;)