Next question is from Dylan James Russell. I'm curious about whether or not a massage helps promote muscle growth. Also, do massage guns actually work or are they a marketing gimmick?
You know, you have the most experience with this, Adam, because Katrina is a very good massage therapist. And I know when you guys first got together and you were competing, she massaged you all the time. Yeah, that's why I married her.
I mean, that was the only reason. That's how she got me, I'm for sure. For the skills.
Truth to be told, though, before her, I actually wasn't a big believer in massage therapy. I didn't have any great experiences up until that point. By the way, too, at this point in my life, I don't even know the difference, really, of like a Thai massage, a Swiss massage, a deep tissue sports massage, like all these different types of massages that they do. I have no clue about any of this and my experience up at that point was you know I just felt weird I lay down there and someone kind of rubs all over me I don't really feel this relaxed feeling everyone talks about it wasn't until I met her and she was able to like she knew without me telling her like all these problem areas that I was having from training it was amazing and then she would go in and it would be rough like it was deep like she'd go in deep on me but the release and the feeling I would get afterwards was game-changing for me and she did this all through uh the years that i was competing and i swear that this has a lot to do with what allowed me to recover as fast as i did and continue to scale the volume at the rate that i did during those three years compared to where i'm at now like now obviously we have a kid now she works all the time so i don't get massages like that and i feel how different my body feels today than i did then it's amazing when you come across a good therapist like that like just you don't have to tell them anything And they already know exactly what's going on with your body, like what kind of patterns you have throughout the day. And, you know, they can identify these muscles and things that need the most attention and work.
So that's something that I took on with my clients as well. I used to trade out with one of my massage therapist clients. And so it was game changing.
I knew for me, like I would get a massage and I would work on very specific areas of my body, which then would allow me to. regain some range of motion so I could work on that with mobility drills and things like that. I think that's the area where we got this wrong. I think the way we explained it for so many years was off.
That community, I remember even when I first met her, they still use chi and they talk about energy moving in the body. And when you're a guy like me, that's like, no, I don't. No, you're training the central nervous system through proper massage. When you're applying pressure on a muscle, the central nervous system reacts and responds.
And one of the main reasons, because does massage help you build muscle? If done properly, yes. The main mechanism is through improved ranges of motion and better connection to your movements.
I had a massage therapist that worked in my personal training studio that was excellent at this. And when I worked with clients and she worked with the same clients. Their progress was absolutely, it was so much faster, it was accelerated.
So the same way mobility or foam rolling can help you squat better, deadlift better, press better, and that kind of stuff, which then will result in more muscle, that's what massage can do. Now a good massage therapist is even better because it's very individualized and they can read your body and work specifically on your body. There is a small muscle building effect for massage itself though. Just the pressure on muscle, same thing with stretching.
If you deep stretch a muscle or you apply a lot of pressure on muscle, it does send a muscle-building signal. Now, it's very small, and it doesn't come close to lifting weight. So you can't just go get massages and expect to get results like if you worked out.
But it does build a little bit of muscle by itself. So it does have that effect. What about the benefits of improved blood flow and circulation and oxygen to a muscle? I mean, think of it that way, too. If you're getting a massage in that area and if you get improved blood flow.
and oxygen, which means more nutrients gets the muscle, I would also assume that that would help speed up. Those are the main drivers for recovery. Well, think about it this way. When you have a tight muscle, and the way that therapists will communicate is they'll say you have a knot. Like, oh, you've got to get that knot out.
And then they'll press on it and do the thing, and then you'll feel it release. Really what's happening is that muscle is partially tensed. So it's just tight and tense. Overactive.
And it's probably protecting a joint or protecting some movement pattern. You've got some bad mobility or whatever, so that muscle's a little tight. But when a muscle's tight, When a muscle contracts it squeezes blood and fluid out when it relaxes it allows blood and flow and fluid in So if you have tight muscles all the time you have restricted blood flow Which means you're not going to be able to get as many nutrients to those muscles Inflammatory markers to the muscles you're not gonna be able to build Muscle as effectively when they press on the muscles and work through the muscles and get them to relax Blood flow increases in fact this blew me away the first time I really ever had a good deep tissue massage. I got off the table and I was pumped like I had finished working out, which tripped me out. Pumped and loose and mobile.
That's the biggest thing I noticed. I notice now, like today, we're not massaging like we were back then. If I overreach, which happens a lot when I'm training, especially training legs after a heavy squat or deadlift day, I'm so locked up the next day, it's hard for me even to get into my mobility or do my stretching.
Where if I got a deep tissue massage, like I was back in the days of competing, I would be ready to go the next day. Sure, I'd still be a little sore, but I would not be nowhere near as tight as I was, which would not limit me in my workout that day. So we agree that's probably the most ideal way to do it.
The other part of the question was about the massage guns. And so for them, I look at it as, you know, it's a tool. It's something else that I can kind of pull from, just like a foam roller or something like that, where I'm looking at a very tight, very restricted part of my body. that I want to sort of regain some mobility there and some range of motion in my workout. And so I'll actually self-apply and I'll use those every now and then.
And it does help to get me into that place, but it's definitely a temporary effect. Yeah, and massage guns, like you said, they're a tool. They're only as effective as the person administering them, right? So like any tool, you can get a hammer or an ax or whatever.
It's not going to do anything unless somebody who knows how to operate it effectively uses it. can maximize its effect. Same thing with a massage gun. So just buying a massage gun and hammering yourself with it, well, you'll get some benefit.
It feels good, but it's not going to last. If you really know how to apply it, that's when you get it. So trainers and coaches probably are better. Massage therapists are the best. There's nothing that replaces that.