Scheduling Regular Massages

Yesterday was a great day.  It started off teaching a 6 a.m. barre class and then I had about an hour to kill before heading over to a massage appointment.  I know, rough start to the week, right? 😉

While waiting for my session, I popped into the Starbucks next door for a snack.  I was counting on ordering some kind of egg white wrap, but this location didn’t have any of the hot food menu items.

Oh, the inconsistencies!  It kills me sometimes.

Staying positive and on a mission to find something healthy, I stumbled upon the Protein Bistro Box.  I have seen it plenty of times, but never really thought to try it before.

For $5.25 – including tax – you get a hard boiled egg, two small slices of Cheddar cheese, a piece of multigrain muesli bread with honey peanut butter spread, and a handful of apples and grapes at 380 calories.  Not to shabby, Starbucks.

Although the hard boiled egg and cheese was good, I have to say that my favorite part was the honey peanut butter spread.

I may or may have not squeezed every last drop out of the package and licked it clean like it was a Go-Gurt.

Whoops!

Already Missing Our Regular Massages

Scott and I both used to have memberships to a salon called Massage Envy.  They offered hour long (well… lets say fifty minute) massages for $39.  A contracted membership includes a massage a month (without gratuity) and if it goes unused, the credit rolls into the next month.  If you want more than one massage a month, you will be charged $39 for each one after.  Great deal right?

I started my membership about two years ago when I spent my days serving and nights dancing.  I would often end up with aches and knots and liked my membership for a few different reasons.  One is obvious – I love massages.  If you ever get stumped on what to get me for any kind of celebration or holiday, that is it.

Anything allowing me to pamper or treat myself = best present ever!

To me, massages are more than just pampering.  They enable me to loosen my muscles and only a few sessions have ever felt “good” to me.  I prefer the pressure to be deep to ensure the therapist is getting out as many knots and trouble spots as possible.

Channeling the advice given to me by several active friends older and wiser than me, I will share that it is important to stretch and schedule massages on a regular basis.  Being an active runner, dancer, and someone who frequents the gym is even more of a reason to make regular massages part of my routine.  If you aren’t a fan, I really hope that you come around.  The feeling of releasing toxins and working out knots is liberating and I feel good the moment I leave the salon even up to a few days after.

You may have noticed I said we used to have memberships. Sadly, both Scott and I canceled ours last month.  We are pretty confident we will be moving out of the city (and quite possibly the state) in the near future, and want to eliminate as many extra expenses as possible.

For the price, Massage Envy worked really well for us.  As a fitness instructor and blogger who sits at the computer hours upon hours of the day, I am sore from one job or the other the majority of the time.  I usually have a kink or two in my neck and often ask Scott to “dig” into my shoulders and neck to loosen it up while we are just bumming around at night.

If I haven’t convinced you yet… maybe a picture of what I feel like after a protein packed snack and a great hour long massage looks like?

BAM.

Scheduling in regular massages and stretching has done wonders for my overall health, soreness and even headaches.  As of right now, I have only a few weeks left to take advantage of my membership and use up all of my massages that have rolled over.  The thought of not having a place to get an affordable massage is making me think it will be quite some time before I have another one.  Boy, am I already starting to miss them…

Now What?

Wherever we end up, I am going to fight for getting regularly scheduled massages.  There is a way to even fit them into a tight budget, and I outlined exactly how to do so in my How To Budget Beauty Pampering post.

No matter what I end up doing for extra work, I know I am still going to spend most of my hours a day on the computer.  Believe it or not, more than a few therapists have told me those are the backs that come in at the worst shape.  Slouching over at a computer can create more knots and pain than someone who spends the entire day on their feet.  Really.

For now, I’m going to spend more time on my foam roller, which also seems to help loosen my muscles up.  I roll from the bottoms of my legs all the way up to the top of my neck and feel a sense of tension release after doing so for a few minutes.  Al right, you talked me into it… I am going to do a video about foam rolling soon because I need to share some good stuff with you!

Questions of the Day

• How often do you schedule massages?

• Do you prefer to relax with light pressure, or like to get kinks out by requesting firm or deep pressure?

As much as I like to relax, I like to take care of business when booking my massage sessions.  Every time I go in the therapist always tells me my neck, shoulders and back will take more than that session to work out and I tell them to go for it and dig deep.  Although it doesn’t necessarily feel good at the time, the end result of feeling loosened up later on is completely worth it to me.