Does anyone actually ever really need a reason to get a massage? We would have to say no, but just in case you need an excuse to book some time on the table, your muscles need the help! That’s right, getting a massage may do more good than just offer you a way to relax for an hour and treat yourself to some pampering- experts agree that rubbing the muscles can help speed up the healing process. Now, when we say healing process that is not limited to muscle injury caused by over exertion or an accident- we are also talking about the natural tearing and stretching of the muscles that happens while you are trying to build muscle and bulk up. Healing is a very important part of building muscle, and the faster your muscles heal, the better. So, check out this information on massaging to speed up the healing time of your muscles.

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Offering a modern take on an age-old remedy, scientists report that the satisfaction one gets from rubbing sore muscles seems to have tangible roots. Massages might lessen pain-inducing inflammation in muscles and boost healing in the process.

Researchers from Ontario and California have found clear molecular signs that overworked muscle cells respond to being manipulated by massage. They also found measurable decreases in inflammatory compounds in massaged muscle tissue and indications that muscle cells rev up their energy processors for the inevitable repairs that follow hard exercise. The findings appear in the Feb. 1 Science Translational Medicine.

“This is the best data I’ve ever seen addressing possible mechanisms by which this therapy works,” says Thomas Best, a sports medicine physician at the Ohio State University School of Medicine. “This is very compelling.”

Justin Crane, a kinesiologist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and his colleagues recruited 11 active men to participate in an exhaustive workout that taxed their quadriceps, the muscles at the front of the thigh. Shortly afterward, one thigh on each volunteer received a 10-minute massage and the other didn’t. The researchers then took a muscle biopsy from both legs of each volunteer right after the massage and again 2.5 hours later.

Strenuous exercise damages muscle tissue, followed by rebuilding or disposal of damaged muscle cells, Crane says. While inflammation routinely shows up immediately after such hard exercise, lingering inflammation hinders the repair process.

The biopsies taken immediately after massage showed that the muscles of the massaged legs, but not the untreated legs, had reduced levels of an inflammatory protein called tumor necrosis factor-alpha. The biopsies also revealed activation of two kinds of enzymes called kinases right after the massage, an indicator that the muscle cells responded to being manually manipulated, Crane says.

The massaged-leg biopsies taken 2.5 hours later showed reduced levels interleukin-6, a different inflammatory protein, and elevated concentrations of a multipurpose compound called PGC1-alpha. PGC1-alpha plays roles in muscle fiber maintenance and cell metabolism.

The analysis also hinted that muscle cells in the massaged legs were setting the stage for growth of mitochondria, the energy factories in cells. Such growth would facilitate muscle refurbishment, Crane says.

Although massage and other alternative medicines are used by millions of people, the therapies have doubters, in part because studies of these techniques often measure benefits subjectively or lack biological evidence of an effect, the authors note. “I’m more convinced now that massage is effective,” Crane says. “We see inflammation going down and, conversely, other cell signaling going up — two facets of rehab going the right directions.”

Whether these biological changes account for all of massage’s pain relief remains unclear. Lowering inflammation can reduce pain. But Crane says massaging sore muscles might also involve the release of pain-alleviating endorphins and other neurotransmitters. “We really have no idea,” he says.

The study casts doubt on one other theory: Lactic acid builds up in hard-worked muscles, and some people believe massage moves it out of the muscle. But the massaged legs showed no difference in lactic acid from the untreated legs.

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So come to find out, the connotation of ‘massage therapy’ actually has some truth!

Rubbing muscles for the sake of healing isn’t exactly a new discovery in modern medicine- it’s a good tip we can take from our ancestors that didn’t have advil to take every time their muscles were sore! Getting a massage can help to reduce inflammation and pain in order to boost the healing time. Researchers have found that the muscle cells respond well to massage and when done right, can reduce inflammation compounds.

There is also speculation that when the pain is relieved, the body is much more able to heal itself. It might be an effect of the pain-alleviating endorphins and other neurotransmitters at work, but the jury is clearly still out on that one.

Here’s a video about relieving pain from a pulled muscle…

Knowing that massaging helps sore muscles and the healing process, are you ready to book your appointment to experience massage therapy?

Everyone has heard them- the clichés and myths associated with exercising. For the most part, these myths are a result of our drive to find an easier way to do something- or fitness shortcuts. We want to believe that there is some secret to it, or trick that will minimize our effort while maximizing the results we see. What makes someone truly successful is the ability to sort through the fake misconceptions to find the truths about training and fitness. Knowing what is right and what is wrong will make a world of difference when you are designing your exercise and health improvement program. Check out this list of some of the most common, and hated amongst trainers and weight loss experts, myths out there.

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10) Your cardio machine is counting the calories you’re burning.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” said Mark Macdonald, personal trainer and author of “Body Confidence” about the calorie numbers spit out by the cardio machine.

Some machines don’t even ask for your weight or sex.

“It’s not asking your body composition,” he said. “If you’re at 18% body fat, you’re going to burn a lot more than if you’re female at 35% body fat.”

And how many people know their body fat percentage?

The number calculated by your machine is likely not accurate.

9) Women shouldn’t lift weights because it’ll make them bulky.

This one drives Alice Burron, a former female bodybuilder, crazy. She would spend four to five hours a day when she competed, trying to build muscles.

“You really have to overload those muscles to create bulk,” said Burron. “It’s very, very difficult.”

Women have too much estrogen to build large amounts of bulk. Guys build muscles faster because they have testosterone.

So ladies, don’t fear the barbells. Strength training helps decrease body fat, increase lean muscle mass and burn calories more efficiently.

The government’s 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommended muscle-strengthening physical activity on at least three days of the week for kids and two or more for adults.

8) Heart rate monitors will let you know how hard you’re working.

Heart rate monitoring is a flawed science.

The better detector of how hard you’re working is not the newest, gee-whiz tech device, but your own body.
“The perceived exertion, your own sense of how hard you’re working is a much more reliable of exercise intensity,” said Matt Fitzgerald, senior editor of Competitor group.

Perceived exertion means it’s your estimation of how hard you are working out and surprisingly, it’s very accurate, he said.

“Your perception of your limit can change over time. So yeah, even your own perception isn’t perfect. It’s still better than heart rate monitor,” Fitzgerald said.

Heart rates could falter depending on what kind of exercise you’re doing.

The talk test can measure how intensely you’re working out depending on whether you can talk in full sentences, short phrases or if you’re barely able to muster a few words.

“It’s best to learn to recognize your body’s signals and get a better control of your effort,” said Alex Hutchinson, author of “Which Comes First: Cardio or Weights.”

7) Your weight is the end all, be all.

Newbies hit the gym, and then weigh themselves every day on the scale.

Week-after-week, they see nodownward trend on the scale and get impatient.

People starting saying, “I haven’t lost any weight. This is pointless, I’m not accomplishing anything,” said Hutchinson.

After a few months of increased exercise, they are healthier because they’ve reduced risk factors such as blood sugar levels. Even though a person may not be losing weight, his health has improved in ways that might not be measured.

6) Low-intensity exercise burns more fat.

In general, low intensity exercise has its place — it’s less stressful on joints.

The myth is that if you exercise too intensely, you end up burning carbohydrates instead of fat.

It’s the most dangerous type of myth because there’s a kernel of truth in it, Hutchinson said.

The more intensely you exercise, the higher proportion of carbs you burn. You may burn less fat, but the total amount of calories burned is higher and that is the bigger picture.

When your body has burned up all the carbs, it starts burning fat.

“You can ignore zones and pay attention to how many calories you burn, which ultimately determines how much body fat you’re going to lose,” Fitzgerald said.

5) Chug a protein shake after workout.

“It’s eating another meal,” said Macdonald, a personal trainer who helped TV host Chelsea Handler get in shape.
Protein shakes, powders and bars are good for emergencies, but “they’re the lowest quality food.”

“You’re better off eating real food,” he said.

The products are more processed. The best way to get protein is through foods such as a turkey sandwich, Greek yogurt with nuts and fruit.

Martin Gibala, chairman of the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, agrees.

“Protein sources in real food are Number 1. Cheaper and real food may provide other benefits, vitamins and minerals.

And some of the components in food may act synergistically in ways we don’t understand.”

“When we isolate the compound we think works, it’s not as good as the real foods.”

4) You can spot reduce for tight abs or toned arms.

You may have crunched in vain.

You won’t see muscle definition or a nice six-pack despite how many crunches you do, because of the layer of fat resting on top of your muscles.

“Don’t focus on a body part. Try to get them all,” said Burron, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise.

“You might have beautiful triceps — it may not be flopping all over the place. Until the fat is gone, most people wouldn’t know it’s there.”

3) As long as I go to the gym 30-45 minutes, that gives me a pass to do what I want for rest of the day.
The gym doesn’t negate a bad diet.

Also, emerging research suggests that if you’re sedentary most of the day, it may not matter how hard or often you exercise.

People who spend more time sitting during their leisure time have an increased risk of death, regardless of daily exercise.

Sitting for hours can shave years off life

In a study of more than 123,000 healthy people, the American Cancer Society found that women who spent more than six hours a day sitting were 40 percent more likely to die sooner than women who sat less. Men who sat more had 20 percent increased risk of death.

Essentially, those who sit less, live a longer life than those who don’t.

2) No pain, no gain.

“The ongoing perception is that people need to feel pain through the entirety of their workout or they’re not getting the benefit — that one’s very frustrating to me,” said Burron, a personal trainer. “You shouldn’t be exercising at a level of pain ever.”

Feeling discomfort during a workout is OK.

“If it’s so intense you’re thinking of passing out, you can’t continue this session for longer, then it’s too difficult and you’re at increased risk for injuries or burnout,” Burron said.

“You want to exercise smarter, not harder,” she added. “That’s the premise. You don’t have to kill yourself. You just have to be smart about it.”

1) Stretching will help prevent injuries.

A growing number of studies challenge the entrenched assumption that stretching helps prevent injuries.
“The way we were taught to stretch, to try to touch your toes — there’s little evidence it prevents injuries,” Hutchinson said.

A review published in 2007 of 10 randomized studies about stretching after or before physical activity found that “muscle stretching does not reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness in young healthy adults.”

Static stretching is when you stay in place, bend over to touch your toes, or try to pull your ankles towards your hips.

A study presented this year at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons found that such static stretching before a run neither prevents nor causes injury.

Then a study published this month in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that static stretches that last longer than a minute could be detrimental to performance.

Athletes often swing their arms and warm up before a game. That type of dynamic stretching such as high knee jogs, walking lunges can help move your muscles through different ranges of motions.

This type of dynamic stretching is different from clutching your limbs, because it focuses on movement.

A study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research found professional soccer players who practiced dynamic stretching had higher range of motion than when they practiced only static stretches.

While toe-touches and extra flexibility might be required in gymnastics or figure skating, it’s irrelevant for more everyday activities like basketball or weightlifting.

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There’s a lot of information out there about fitness, weight lifting, and strength training- unfortunately, a lot of it is untrue, or at least has false elements. Only making matters much worse, the internet helps these rumors to spread like wild fire. So, here’s the quick break down of what to put on your ignore list when it comes to exercise.

Cardio equipment measures the calories you burn- your treadmill is just guessing, so don’t its word for it. Your calories burned number is going to vary based on your gender, body composition, and even your posture.

Women get bulky if they lift weights- estrogen actually makes it very difficult for a women to bulk up, so unless you were planning on lifting weights for 4-5 hours every day, bulking up probably won’t happen.

Heart rate monitors can gauge effort- it’s a flawed science, trust your perception instead.

Your weight is what counts- this is so untrue that many of the best looking and strongest people have no idea what their number is. One pound of fat takes up a lot more space than one pound of muscle, so a skinny person can be out of shape, and a heavy person might be the picture of physical fitness.

Low intensity burns the most fat- no way, no how! While low intensity workouts have their use, mainly because they’re good for starters and people with health problems, the harder you work, the most fat you burn.

Use protein shakes after a workout- that’s pretty much like eating an extra meal! Try getting your protein from food instead, it’s a lot more satisfying. Use protein shakes and bars for emergencies only.

You can do spot reduction for certain areas- there’s no way to control which areas lose weight, only which areas gain muscle. So, work on overall weight loss and use weight training to tone areas.

Going to the gym means you can do whatever you want and still be fit- not hardly! Exercise is a part of it; actually, it’s a small part of it. Health starts with our diet, and the gym helps us to look good and maintain cardiovascular and muscle health.

No pain, no gain- you don’t have to kill yourself to see result! Discomfort and tightness can be expected, but if you hurt during or after a workout, something is wrong or you’re not doing it right.

Stretching prevents injuries- simply put, there’s virtually no evidence to back this up. Being more limber and flexible might help with balance, and it might be a good tool to get you in the right state of mind, but as far as preventing injuries- don’t count on it!

Watch this video for more information about exercise myths…

How many of these are you guilty of falling for?

Sounds like the lyrics to a popular song to me, but how can forgetting the little things in the gym come back to haunt you later?

Being a man, I love training chest, I want bigger arms and think traps are a great “showoff muscle”. However being a trainer, and experienced in the iron game I know there has to be more to it then that. Like chest training, when most people think of training the chest they think of the bench press. In fact; go to any given gym across the country on a Monday and see what most people are doing, bench press of course! I used to be the same way; getting 300 bench press was cool for a while, and always impressed my friends when they asked

“How much ya bench?”

Then when I got over 300lbs and closer to 350lbs , I noticed lasting shoulder pain The pain would come and go, keep me up at night and always hurt after a heavy bench session. Nevertheless, what was the problem? I forgot a little thing of course … in fact a very little thing…my rotator cuff.

Compared to the large muscles around it, the rotator cuff is very susceptible to injury and especially weakened if untrained. The bench press itself puts the shoulder and rotator cuff in a dangerous position, especially during liftoff from the rack with heavy weights. Your shoulder blades themselves cannot move freely either, which further complicates the problem. However bench press addicts are not the only ones susceptible to rotator cuff injuries, anyone who bases a lot of weight training on their chest or Lat work can also cause the muscle imbalance which leads to the danger. Alternatively, athletes like swimmers and baseball players will also experience the imbalance because of the high repetitions used in their sport.

However, how can you combat this muscle imbalance? Being NASM trained one thing pounded into my head is to correct muscle imbalances strengthen the weaker muscles around the issue. You see most shoulder pain is simply a muscle imbalance caused by tight internal rotators and weak external rotators. Because overworking the internal rotators with all the chest movements still leaves the external rotators weak.

But you may be thinking ” I don’t have shoulder pain NOW so who cares?” well there are many other benefits to improving your muscular balance and training the rotator cuff.

The rotator cuff is a powerful stabilizer muscle and it is very common that once someone trains his or hers, the athlete’s bench press will immediately rise as much as 20-30 pounds. Do not expect to handle a huge amount on any movement easily if you have weak stabilizer muscles. As the famous quote goes, “You can’t shoot a cannon from a canoe.”

Luckily for us strengthening your rotator cuff is relatively easy , you will not need crazy equipment, risk further injury or even have to go far out of the way. Just be sure you do not work your rotator cuff prior to an upper body workout, as pre fatiguing such an important muscle is never a good idea.

ROTATOR CUFF STRENGHTENING EXERCISES

Barbell Cuban Press or Cuban Rotation

The Cuban Press is one of the best exercises for the rotator cuff if performed correctly. Performing a fuller variation then shown in the video always seems to help more in my experience however. Starting with the weight hanging relaxed in front of you, first pull it to the starting position as in the video, then do the rotation upwards as shown and finally press the weight. Next lower the weight back down and rotate it before allowing your arms to straighten out again.

Perform 3-5 sets of these with higher repetitions (8-12) and lightweight.

Cable or Dumbbell External Rotation

Another great choice, which may be performed with a lot of variety based on the equipment available to you.. You can do it with a mid pulley, low pulley or even seated as shown. The important part is the external rotation of the upper arm. You could even do it with a dumbbell like this.

Charges Poliquin , a world famous strength coach recommends you rotator cuff strength be at least t 9.8% as strong as your bench for optimal performance . For example when I was having pain myself, I benched around 340, therefore I aimed for a 35lb dumbbell on the above external rotation movement. Increasing my strength over a short period of time and slowly adding weight until I used a 35lb dumbbell 8 reps with each arm. After following those guideline my pain went away, plus I immediately increased my bench 10 pounds with no specific bench training (I switched to dumbbells to avoid the locked in position of bench.)

Doing the same with many clients and training partners, they always ended up with about the same results. The rotator cuff work explained above directly helped their barbell bench press and relieved shoulder pain if it existed.

Conclusion

Take this as a reminder to pay attention to the little things in your training. Building a lean muscular physique is not just about moving heavy iron, but moving it as effectively and safely as possible to eventually create the body of your dreams.

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Brad Kelly writes a weekly article every Tuesday. He is a National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer, Performance Enhancement Specialist, and Corrective Exercise Specialist out of Panama City, Florida. Driven by a passion to help others he not only trains locals, but also performs online personal training and writes fitness articles to reach as many fellow fitness enthusiasts as possible.

It’s a fairly simple and basic concept, muscles grow as a result of us working them- a notion that many are guilt of taking for granted. The real mystery to most of us is what makes this unique and how muscle growth and bulking up actually happens. A new study has lead researchers to identify the key ingredient to promote growth of the muscles. Working muscle fibers play a major factor as they send signals to the surrounding muscle stem cells that they need to multiply and bunch together. Scientifically speaking, the serum response factor or Srd translate the mechanical signals of working muscles into a chemical reaction. Learn more about what the researchers found during their studies on the muscles at work.

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“This signal from the muscle fiber controls stem cell behavior and participation in muscle growth,” says Athanassia Sotiropoulos of Inserm in France. “It is unexpected and quite interesting.” It might also lead to new ways to combat muscle atrophy.

Sotiropoulos’ team became interested in Srf’s role in muscle in part because their earlier studies in mice and humans showed that Srf concentrations decline with age. That led them to think Srf might be a culprit in the muscle atrophy so common in aging.

The new findings support that view, but Srf doesn’t work in the way the researchers had anticipated. Srf was known to control many other genes within muscle fibers. That Srf also influences the activities of the satellite stem cells came as a surprise.

Mice with muscle fibers lacking Srf are no longer able to grow when they are experimentally overloaded, the new research shows. That’s because satellite cells don’t get the message to proliferate and fuse with those pre-existing myofibers.

Srf works through a network of genes, including one known as Cox2. That raises the intriguing possibility that commonly used Cox2 inhibitors — think ibuprofen — might work against muscle growth or recovery, Sotiropoulos notes.
Treatments designed to tweak this network of factors might be used to wake muscle stem cells up and enhance muscle growth in circumstances such as aging or following long periods of bed rest, she says. Most likely, such therapies would be more successfully directed not at Srf itself, which has varied roles, but at its targets.

“It may be difficult to find a beneficial amount of Srf,” she says. “Its targets, interleukins and prostaglandins, may be easier to manipulate.”

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Previous to this study, the serum response factor (Srf) was known to control the actions of the other genes within the muscle fibers. In addition to this knowledge, the Srf influences activities of the satellite stem cells. The amount of Srfs we have declines with age and researchers decided to conducted this research to determine if this was the actual cause of muscle atrophy common with the aging process.

Another interesting part of this study shows that Srf works through a network of genes, including the one called Cox2. The reason this is interesting is, common OTC pain relievers such as ibuprofen are used as Cox2 inhibitors. This means that the OTC pain killers with this effect may actually be working against your muscle growth and recovery- a fact we touched on in prior posts.

Watch this video about what to eat to gain muscle, burn fat and build lean muscle mass…

Treatments have been made to help the performance of the Srfs and process in order to spark the muscle stem cell growth in order to promote muscle growth.

Have you heard of the serum response factor? Do you think research about the process will help to develop treatment for muscle atrophy?