Is Happiness Feeling Better Fast?

Happiness is a state of being, an ideal, and like most ideals it is largely an illusion. What makes us happy are a series of moments in which we feel good. One purpose of this blog, Feel Better Fast, is to help identify the particular activities that create the moments that makeup the illusion we think of as happiness.

Feel Better Fast recognizes that you can’t feel good all the time. Feeling good only has meaning in relation to feeling bad. A steady state of feeling good would mean feeling nothing.

An unavoidable part of every human’s condition is feeling like crap. Overcoming that feeling may be what happiness is all about. One of the goals of this blog is to help identify those events that make you feel bad and provide ideas which when implemented will help you feel better fast.

Do feeling bad and then feeling good fit together to make-up the illusion we call happiness? If so, the speed with which we go from feeling bad to good is a good measure of happiness, and possibly the thing itself. That’s a proposition worth exploring and one we’ll get to soon. Until then, here’s hoping you feel better fast.

Health Nuts

“Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.” Redd Foxx.

That day is still far off. Even the healthiest nut will die of something. The trick is to figure out what you’re likely to die of and prevent it. Identifying your health problems when you’re young and they’re small is a good strategy. Dealing with a small problem from a position of strength is far better than dealing with a larger problem when you’re weak. Not to be morbid, but what will you die of?

Massage Therapy vs. Self-Massage

What is the difference between massage therapy and self-massage?

Both will do your body good. Both will improve health and mood, reduce stress, speed recovery between workouts, reduce muscle pain and soreness, prevent injury and help you feel better fast.

Massage therapy is for people who care enough about their body to go to a professional. Self-massage is for people who care enough about their physical performance to take matters into their own hands.

Massage therapy is part of the popular culture, it appeals to millions of people. Self-massage is a little edgier, it’s practiced by a relative hand full of athletes and active people who want more from their massage. It’s for people who want a massage more than once a week, who regularly test their bodies, and for people who want to take better care of themselves as they grow older. Self-massage is an intoxicant for people who are passionate about their health.

Massage therapy is for people who care enough about their body to schedule and keep an appointment. Self-massage is for people who care enough about their bodies to learn a skill set. It’s the difference between buying vegetables and growing them, both are good for you. One is active, the other is passive. One requires learning technique, the other a wallet. Both require a commitment to well being. The difference is largely a matter of degree.

People who want the best massage experience will choose both a massage therapist and self-massage. Even if both were free, a person truly interested in improving health and athletic performance would choose both forms of massage because they satisfy different needs.

Massage therapy is dining out; self-massage is home cooking. They’re both good. The problem is not in deciding which of two excellent choices to make. The problem is that most people choose neither, leaving their bodies troubled by injury, soreness, and premature aging.

The Perfect Massage

You don’t need a perfect massage. If you’re an athlete you don’t really want one. A perfect massage implies that massage was the goal. A perfect massage takes place in Tahiti, Hawaii or a spa in some well lighted corner of your mind. If you’re an active person you need something real, something immediate. What you need is something to relieve muscle soreness when you get it. That’s where self-massage comes in handy.

Massage for athletes is a means to a better workout, a better performance, less muscle pain, a faster recovery. The only thing you can say about a perfect massage is that you’ve never had one, and you’ll probably never get one. With self-massage you get the massage you need when you need it.

Traditional Running Stretches Don't Work

Admit it: Traditional stretching doesn’t work for you, me or most runners. The standard stretches recommended for runners are ineffective and often harmful. They don’t reduce our likelihood of injury. They don’t help us run faster. They don’t even feel good. Why not try something that does?

Ninety percent of runners don’t stretch after running, and feel guilty about it. Forget the guilt, if you don’t stretch it’s probably because your body is aware, even if your mind is not, that these classic running stretches are a waste of time.

A few runners do need these stretches. Their bodies require them, and they should continue them. The remaining 90% should lose their guilt and try something that's effective.

Thirty Years of Failure
For more than 30-years runners have been told that a handful of classic running stretches prevent running injuries. They’ve been told wrong. There is no persuasive evidence to suggest that these running stretches prevent injury. In fact, it’s more likely that they cause injury.

Not Simple
Runners have been told that these stretches are simple to do. It just ain’t true. To stretch a muscle as prescribed by the advocates of these stretches is anything but simple. It requires precision that most of us will never master. First you have to identify the muscle or muscle groups that need stretching, and then apply just the right intensity for just the right amount of time to get the right benefit. There are more than 600 muscles in your body so identifying the precise muscle you need to stretch is not easy. Then delivering the stretch to that specific muscle with just the right intensity and timing takes training, skill, and luck. These traditional stretches cause most runners more pain than pleasure, more harm than good.

Stretching Can be Dangerous
The advocates of traditional stretching usually warn if the stretch is not performed correctly it does little good and may be harmful. According to stretching authority Bob Anderson, author of the classic book Stretching, “Improper stretching is worse than no stretching at all and leads to injuries.” (p.173) He goes on to conclude that most runners he’s witnessed “do it completely wrong.”

Running Coaches Warn Against Stretching
For most runners, the classically recommended running stretches are either dangerous or unnecessary. The great running coaches, of whom I’m aware, warn their runners against stretching. Arthur Lydiard said stretching was unnecessary, believing that runners naturally stretch their legs while running, especially when running hills, and did not need special stretching routines. Frank Shorter echoed this theme when I was training with him last year.

Mark Allen’s coach, Phil Maffatone, suggested that stretching did runners more harm than good. Runner and coach Jeff Galloway believes that stretching is the third biggest cause of running injuries. He says he hasn’t stretched in 20-years and feels no ill effects (See page 152 of Galloway’s Book on Running, 2nd edition ).

Reducing Injuries
What are traditional running stretches good for? Increasing range of motion. Most running injuries have nothing to do with range of motion. They’re invariably overuse injuries caused by weakness in the muscle tissue not inflexibility. If you want to reduce your chances of getting injured, make your muscles stronger not more flexible.

If you want to stretch to reduce your chances of getting injured, combine it with strengthening as in yoga and Pilates. Because practitioners of these disciplines strengthen their muscles while they stretch them, these practices will reduce your likelihood of injury.

A Better Way
There is a better way to stretch. It’s simple to learn, and easy to do. It will reduce your likelihood of injury. It feels good. And it will help you run faster. It's called trigger point therapy. I've written a couple of article on them. If you want to learn more click here and here.

Prevent Overuse Injuries

Here’s what most active people do:

They suffer overuse injuries.
60 to 70% of runners,
40 to 50% of swimmers,
80 to 90% of triathletes will suffer an overuse injury in the next year.

This is dumb because almost all overuse injuries can be prevented.

Overuse injuries, also known as repetitive motion injuries, result from using the same muscle group over-and-over-again causing repetitive micro trauma in muscle tissues to accumulate. If the repetitive motion continues day-after-day without allowing your muscles to sufficiently heal, the trauma grows bigger and bigger. And then one day the muscle doesn’t work or radiates pain. You’re injured.

Here’s why most active people suffer overuse injuries:

They ignore the many signs their bodies send them that their muscles are not being given the chance to heal between workouts. They ignore the signs that trouble is brewing in the bottoms of their feet, in their IT bands, in their knee joints, in their quads and hamstrings, in their elbows and in their rotator cuffs.

Almost all overuse injuries can be prevented if you detect them when they are small problems. Self-massage is an effective way to do just that. It forces you to focus on those areas of your body that need attention. In most cases, the attention you give them in the form of massage will resolve the problem while it is small before it becomes a full-fledged overuse injury in need of professional medical care and weeks or months away from training.

It is pretty easy, really.

Put Self-Massage to Work for You

Most active people suffer unnecessary muscle pain and soreness from exercise. Massage is famous for reducing that soreness. You’ve probably experienced its healing effects. If you’re like most of us, you don’t get a massage every time you need one, and for good reason: You need one way too often, pretty much every time you workout. So unless you’re living with a massage therapist, you’re out of luck.

About seven years ago, while training for my first Ironman distance triathlon, I decided that I needed a daily massage and sometimes a twice daily massage to relieve the muscle soreness that was cropping up everywhere. I needed to be able to recover more quickly between workouts, and I wanted to stay injury free, and healthy enough to run, bike, and swim for six months.

I decided literally to take matters into my own hands, and learn massage, self-massage anyway. How difficult could that be, I thought. It’s really just a matter of learning a few simple strokes and applying them. I was right too. It wasn’t difficult to learn. And it was so effective I continued practicing it after the triathlon was over. I noticed my health and mood had improved with regular massage. I was so impressed, I decided to write a book on the subject because there weren’t any. How difficult could that be? In a word, very: It took almost five years of studying, experimenting, and doing workshops and finally I came up with a system of massage, called "self-massage-for athletes," that is extremely effective and easy to learn. At least, I think it is, and most everyone that tries it agrees.

Anyway I’d like to see what you think of the idea. So let me know. As an athlete or an active person in general, have you used self-massage to relieve muscle pain and soreness? Or to recover between workouts? Or to improve your health? If so what have you discovered? If you haven’t tried it, why not?

Immediate Stress Relief

Self-massage effectively reduces stress. If you suffer the harmful effects of stress as much as I did, you know how pervasive and damaging it can be. Stress is reported to account for 80% of all first visits to doctors. Few therapies are as effective at reducing stress as massage.

Here are some reasons why self-massage is my first choice to end stress. First, self-massage is handy. When stress arises, self-massage is always available to erase it. Second, self-massage is free you can’t get more cost effective than that. Third, self-massage is precise. It can be directed to the exact spot on my body where stress dwells.

If I feel stress in my belly, I rub it away. If stress strikes my neck, I massage it out. I’m usually surprised at how easily it surrenders to my hands. The simple act of massage empowers me and the energy it takes to massage serves to further relieve stress. Breathe deeply into my abdomen as I massage and my stress will disappear even more quickly.

For many of us, stress resides in our backs and shoulders. While my shoulders can be massaged with my hands, it’s often more effective to use a massage tool to apply enough pressure to do the job. And reaching my entire back is next to impossible with my hands. The right massage tool can extend my reach to cover my whole body while allowing me to remain relaxed and bring the correct pressure to the area of my back body that needs it most.

I’ve tried a few massage tools that can do the job. I like the Backnobber II® best. It’s sleek design looks good and it’s easy to travel with because it snaps into two easy to put together pieces. I can take it to workouts, races, and on flights. The Thera Cane® and Body Back Buddy™ while more difficult to travel with are also effective. These handy massage tools can be found at amazon.com.

Wake-Up Massage & Yoga

The goal of wake-up massage is to make your body feel and perform better by getting out the kinks caused by a “good” night’s sleep and the soreness and stress caused by a “bad” night’s sleep. Traditionally this kind of massage is done before getting out of bed and takes about ten to fifteen minutes.

Wake-up massage allows you to zero in on the muscles most affected by your nocturnal twists and turns, on those occasions when you awaken with your neck at a right angle to your head or one of your legs twisted under the other. The problems sleep causes can drag on for days or be gone with a few minutes of massage in the morning. You can do it yourself or hire a professional.

Many people believe that they are entitled to wake up fully refreshed and invigorated. Most of the time though we wake up in the morning feeling as if we’d been in an accident. We’re tired and have deep doubts about how we’re going to get through the day.

Little has been written about massage in the morning because people use to believe there was only one small part of the human anatomy that needed a massage in the morning. Science has debunked that theory and many scientists now believe that massaging the whole body in the morning is a good idea, especially if it’s their body that’s getting massaged.

We’re not too concerned now about technique. You can pick that up on the website. What you will probably want to know now is how morning massage will benefit you. How will it improve that most important relationship of all, the one you have with yourself?
Having played around with morning massage for a while, here are the three main benefits I’ve gotten:

1. Morning massage relieves muscle pain and soreness, i.e., those tiny knots called trigger points that often form in muscles while I sleep. Massage gets rid of them.

2. A massage in the morning identifies muscle pain and soreness so I can focus on those areas of my body that are weakest and most likely to get injured. By detecting these tiny injuries early, I’m able to prevent them from growing into large debilitating problems. Massage is an effective way to eliminate them.

3. Massage has been shown to improve health and mood by reducing stress which not only affects my mental well-being but physical well-being. Most illnesses are believed to be related to stress. I notice I’ve experienced far fewer sick days since starting my day with a massage.

Can I have all these benefits independent of massage? Definitely. There are other ways to relieve muscle pain and soreness, improve health and mood, and prevent injury. So why even consider using massage? This is a hard case to make, only if you have to get a massage therapist over every morning when you wake up.

The value of self-massage is obvious: immediacy and cost. No other therapy or medicine can work as quickly and cost effectively with no harmful side effects.
With self-massage you get instantaneous feedback from the only person who knows how your body feels. Your body tells your hands exactly how deep to go, how long to go, and where to go.

I’m a big believer in using self-massage to understand how massage works, even if you are fortunate enough to wake up next to a massage therapist in the morning. After all, you didn’t understand the value of working out until you started doing it regularly yourself, even if you were living with an athlete.

The benefits you get from massage are only going to be achieved when you’re genuinely interested in feeling and performing better. If you’re interested, take self-massage for a test run, play around with it and let me know what you think.

For more about feeling better, subscribe to Feel Better Fast now.

Feel Good Running

When you feel good, running is easy. It’s a reward. The story we tell ourselves is that running is a pleasure. It’s just one foot in front of the other with an effortless floating in between. We get faster, stronger, healthier.

On bad days, we feel the weight of every step and can’t wait for it to be over. The stories we tell ourselves change. Now we run out of obligation, or fear. We fear the loss of health, habit, fitness. We promise ourselves rewards or threaten ourselves with punishments.

Of course, the two extremely different feelings take you on the very same run. It’s not the run as much as the way we feel about the run and resulting story we tell ourselves that changes.

Either our morning run felt like it was hardly happening or each step felt like it was happening with a vengeance.

The challenge for runners is how to change the way we feel so the story we tell ourselves about running will keep getting us out there. Fast run, slow run, effortless run, painful run . . .  it all adds up to how we feel. If you change the way you feel the story you tell yourself about your running changes. 

Self-massage is one way to change the way we feel about running and the story we tell ourselves.

Body Magic: Inaugural Post

This blog is intended to help you keep your body tuned, to move, delight, inform, amuse, and entertain you. 

Its subjects are the human body, health, happiness, massage, self-massage, athletes, activity, sports, fitness, movement, action, running, yoga, Pilates, cycling, swimming, triathlon, dancing, flying, endorphin cocktails, and anything else that's worthy of your attention.

It's written for active people who want to be healthier, happier, and smarter--in other words you.

Stay tuned!