Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT) is a modern, logical system of massage therapy. NMT is based on understanding how the neuromuscular system functions. Neuromuscular principles help me understand what’s causing your pain: trigger points, posture, etc, and how to treat it. The nervous system controls everything in the body, including muscle tension and pain.

Neuromuscular Massage is a very detailed massage of muscles, tendons, ligaments, connective tissue, etc. Precise massage therapy releases problem areas that are missed by general massage.

Neuromuscular massage techniques often use the thumbs or fingertips to explore tissues in detail. Elbows or forearms are also used, when necessary. Tense muscles often form bands of muscle fibers even tighter than the rest. These are areas of hypertonicity and ischemia. Searching thoroughly, I can feel bands of tight muscle fibers; the areas that are in the most trouble. These are found and treated until they release.

Neuromuscular Therapy has grown to include treatment of the craniosacral system, joints, connective tissues and internal organs. Problems in any body system can create high-intensity nerve impulses that stimulate muscles to contract, leading to pain.

Sports massage is geared toward all types of athletes.  The particulars of the massage are specific to the athlete’s sport of choice and are often focused on a particular troublesome area like a knee or shoulder.

Sports massage can be used as a means to enhance pre-event preparation and reduce recovery time for maximum performance during training or after an event.  Athletes have discovered that specially designed massage promotes flexibility, removes fatigue, improves endurance, helps prevent injuries, and prepares them to compete at their absolute best.

Similar to the Swedish Massage, the Deep Tissue Massage targets knots and relieves chronic muscle tension.  The benefits of a Deep Tissue Massage is to reduce inflammation and help to eliminate scar tissue.

The focus is on the deep layers of muscle tissue, tendons, and fascia (the protective layers surrounding muscles, bones and joints).

Unlike the Swedish Massage, where the strokes are with the grain of the muscle, a Deep Tissue Massage strokes are against the grain of the muscle.  The deep finger pressure may be slightly uncomfortable and can cause muscle soreness before reaching the desired relaxation and pain relief.

This massage is designed to increase the level of oxygen in the blood, decrease muscle toxins, improve circulation and flexibility while easing tension.

The muscles are rubbed with long gliding strokes in the direction of the blood returning to the heart.

Additional techniques include circular pressure applied by the hands and palms, firm kneading, percussion-like tapping, bending and stretching.

Lotion is used to reduce friction and stimulate the skin.

With low sugar, no fat, and less calories hitting the markets like wild fire, less sodium is slow to catch up.  Why haven’t we placed more emphasis on lower sodium items when sodium is more threatening to our health than sugar, fat or calories?  Is it because sodium is hidden in our foods to the point that we can’t even recognize it?

It is recommended that an average American consume 2,300 milligrams per day (the amount of one teaspoon of table salt) according to the Dietary Guidelines, but in fact, we consume about 1.5 times more sodium in a day than we should.  Over doing it leads to much greater health problems like high blood pressure which is a major cause of heart disease.  It also puts our body out of whack when it comes to balancing our need for potassium, calcium, magnesium or other nutrients.

Even if you don’t sprinkle your food with salt, you are still getting an unhealthy dose in processed foods and meals eaten outside of the home.  These contribute to about 80% of our dietary sodium.

Tips on how to reduce your salt intake:

• Lay off the Salt Shaker
• Pay attention to food labels and food ingredients
• Choose Lower-Sodium and No-Salt products
• Add fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products to your diet
• Stay away from items like soy sauce, cheese, and ham when you eat out

How do you recognize Salt hidden in food?  Look for these names for salt listed in the foods ingredients.

Processed Foods:  Sodium Citrate, Sodium Phosphate

Condiments & Seasonings:  monosodium glutamate, sodium nitrite, sodium saccharin, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), and sodium benzoate

Table Salt:  Sodium Chloride

Kettlebells have hit the fitness scene like a firestorm.  If you have never seen a Kettlebell, it looks like a cannonball with a curved handle on top.  The American Council on Exercise (ACE) named Kettlebells as one of the top ten fitness trends in 2009 in a press release on December 9, 2008.  The Press Release stated that “The reason for the surge in kettlebell training is that it gets back to basic training that requires functional, whole body fitness…a great way to get a whole body workout in a relatively short period of time.”

Contact a Personal Trainer at NuBody Fitness in Concord, NC today to see how they incorporate Kettlebells into their workouts.  Kettlebells help you to

• BURN FAT:  You not only get a great cardio workout just by swinging the kettlebell, it also helps you get a great strength training workout that will target your fat and weight to speed up metabolism and help you shed those unwanted pounds.  The dense muscle mass you will build from adding a kettlebell into your workout will help you burn calories from the fat that you store all day long and will boost your metabolism.
• SERIOUS CARDIO WITHOUT HURTING YOUR JOINTS:  Because the Kettlebell is designed to workout with a fluid motion you don’t have the jarring motion that comes with lifting heavy dumbbells or barbells.  A Personal Trainer at NuBody Fitness in Concord, NC will help you master the swing, clean, press and snatch movements.
• DEVELOP FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH:  Adding a Kettlebell into your workouts will help your body work together as one unit because it requires your whole body to be in sync.  You will find that you are walking straighter and are more balanced after you have done a workout involving a Kettlebell.  You will use your core like never before.
• WORKOUT ANYWHERE:  Learn how to properly use a Kettlebell during one of NuBody Fitness Bootcamps.  You will learn new exercises that you can take with you anywhere because it requires only one piece of equipment, the Kettlebell.  It is small enough to fit anywhere.  Take it on business trips, vacations, to work, or just to do a small workout by your bed.

Don’t just take our word for it….

In the study mentioned above by the American Council on Exercise it was discovered that a kettlebell workout burned as many calories per minute as running at a six-minute-mile pace.

Contact NuBody Fitness in Concord, NC to talk with a personal trainer about how you can begin to melt away the weight by participating in a NuBody Bootcamp that incorporates the Kettlebell.