You don’t have to be a professional athlete to appreciate proper prep before a workout or competition. Warm-up sessions before exercise or sports improve safety and may extend endurance. Making infrared therapy part of your fitness plan is also a smart practice.
As a kid you might have hurried through the whole ‘warm up’ routine in P.E. class, which often took the form of jumping jacks and toe touches. If you played a sport, the coach made sure warm-up was part of practice and competition.
As an adult, you realize the value of warming up and incorporate it into your exercise routine or wake-up regimen. Basically, warming up or stretching is essential. It keeps you limber, increases your range of motion, and helps you avoid injury.
Before you launch into major fitness or physical activity, stretching and doing light movement as a lead-up signals your muscles, “Hey, we’re about to get busy.”
What’s also critical is how you end your workout. Sometimes you don’t have the luxury of a cool-down, but it’s equally important as a warmup for your muscles and your heart. Slowing the pace of your activity, like swimming, running, or doing a cross-fit class, is a gradual way to cool down. A good stretch helps, too.
Whichever you choose, the point of ramping down is to help your body properly recover and relax so you’re ready the next time.
Infrared plays a key role in both warming up and recovering.
Infrared for Performance & Recovery
For most athletes, the warmup process is second nature. They understand that their goals, whether it be to win a game, improve their score, or simply achieve a certain level of performance, are more attainable the better prepared they are. Some athletes have even used infrared emitting clothing to enhance their performance.
Many sports participants, whether professional or amateur, turn to infrared as a tool for assuring they get the most from their game or workout. Diet and nutrition, sleep, and mental rejuvenation all play a role, as does proper body care.
Ideally, your performance outcomes are improving as you go. You could be a yoga instructor, fitness trainer, or weekend warrior with a workout regime. Whichever the case, you should allow some downtime in between activities for your body to recover.
Studies show infrared therapy helps with recovery and even with building muscle mass, which can ensure consistent or elevated performance.
What’s great is that infrared not only helps with recovery, but with stress, anxiety relief, and better sleep. Overall, sauna therapy will benefit your health even if you take a break from fitness.
Infrared To Treat Injury
Runner’s knee, tendonitis, tennis elbow, ankle sprains, muscle pulls….yikes! For all of the benefits that come with sports and physical activity, there are sometimes injuries along the way. Even with proper warm-up and cool-down practices, accidents can happen.
Fortunately, infrared saunas can improve your body’s rate of healing. Just like the heat helps maintain your muscle’s flexibility and range of motion, the deep penetration of far infrared can expedite cell rejuvenation. This aids in the repair of muscles and tendons.
For prolonged injuries, regular sauna sessions can be the saving grace that keeps pain at bay. Chronic pain sufferers have found infrared makes a great addition to their healing regimen. This finding is backed by science, including a study conducted in the Netherlands.
Health Mate has designed and manufactured infrared saunas for more than 40 years as a solution for people to maintain and regain proper health. If you haven’t already, see our current models and learn more about the benefits of infrared therapy.