First Professional Massage Advice - Swedish or Deep

Brian Lawyer · 02-10-2009, 02:02 PM

For Recovery and flexibility what should I go for, Swedish or deep tissue?

I booked V-Day massages for my wife and I this Saturday. Apparently, I have the choice of Swedish or deep tissue or some combination of the two. This is my first professional massage ever so I have no idea what I would like.

Basically I am trying to blow up my back this week in a good way. This week will be the last week of my strength phase followed by a massage to cap things off and a light week of O'lifting next week. What I mean by blow up my back in a good way is I plan to do Heavy Back Squats and Heavy Deadlifts both today and on Friday. Trying to break 5 rep PR's on both days.

So I should be pretty well needing a massage by Saturday morning...

Steven Low · 02-10-2009, 05:09 PM

Swedish is by far the more "gentler" of the two.

If you're blasting your back I would go for deep.

And I hope you like your massages painful if you're blasting your back.

It feels good afterwards... just not during, haha.

Garrett Smith · 02-10-2009, 09:16 PM

Thai massage is my favorite.

Swedish is just fluffery, and I personally don't think deep tissue is as beneficial as many others do.

Steven Low · 02-11-2009, 08:07 AM

Hah, well, I tend to subscribe to the "someone step on my back for 10 minutes" massage. When they put all their weight on one heel of one foot... gets pretty deep but feels good afterwards. Works fairly well, and I don't have to pay my brother/sister.

Brian Lawyer · 02-11-2009, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven Low

Swedish is by far the more "gentler" of the two.

If you're blasting your back I would go for deep.

And I hope you like your massages painful if you're blasting your back.

It feels good afterwards... just not during, haha.

I am not actually trying to blast my back with the massage. My plan was to blast my back in the days prior to massage, via heavy squats and deadlifts, then use the massage as a recovery tool....In other words, I don't want to wake up Sunday morning and be sorer from the massage then I was the day before from my workout.

Garrett Smith · 02-11-2009, 08:47 AM

If you get the deep tissue, you just might get more sore. FWIW.

Think of massage as "passive exercise" for your soft tissue. Think of deep tissue, particularly if you don't get it regularly, as an intense form of "passive exercise".

If I were you, I'd go with the deep tissue and make sure to vocalize how much pressure you want/need to the therapist. If you are scrunching up your face and trying to pull away from their pressure, then it is too much.

Brian Lawyer · 02-11-2009, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garrett Smith

If I were you, I'd go with the deep tissue and make sure to vocalize how much pressure you want/need to the therapist. If you are scrunching up your face and trying to pull away from their pressure, then it is too much.

Garrett, Good advice as usual. Your response above wins!! I will take that approach.

Thanks,

Steven Low · 02-11-2009, 09:39 PM

Psshhh, I like it when it's hard enough to make my face scrunch.... maybe that says something about me though, lol.

Anyway, make sure you're hydrating well day before, during and after massage. It tends to help release stuff that's trapped in the muscles/connective tissue/etc. that may be toxic to the body so keep it moving to the liver/kidneys and out of your system.

Brian Lawyer · 02-16-2009, 07:07 AM

Time to report the results. I just told the guy to do deep tissue. I think I already had a pretty good tolerance from all my foam rolling. I bought this foam roll that is hard as a rock plus sometimes I like to use this mini-basketball that gets real deep. The masseuse kept asking me if I could feel it, as if he was surprised I wasn't crying out for mercy.

As far as health benefits... not really sure how I was supposed to feel. I basically woke up the next day feeling like some one shoved their elbows deep into me in various spots all over my body. Oh wait, that is what he did.

So all in all, I was probably just as sore from the massage as I normally am from beating the crap out of my body during a real heavy lifting session.

Steven Low · 02-16-2009, 07:45 AM

lol, should feel better over the next couple days. Looser... more alive perhaps.