Make the Most of Massage

Category: Advanced Massage Techniques/Information

  • How to Massage with Your Fists

    How to Massage with Your Fists

    Let me guess what your go-to tool is for deep pressure?

    Forearms.

    Am I right?

    Mine was.

    But then my neck started to bother me, my elbow felt funky, and my already unstable left shoulder said I don’t think so.

    So, I went searching for another way to deliver deep pressure.

    Guess what I found?

    You got it–fists.

    Well, not exactly balled-up, punch-you-in-the-face fists.

    More like relaxed, I’m-going-to-fall-asleep fists.

    Why a relaxed fist?

    Because I want to take all unnecessary tension out of my hands AND my fists don’t need to be tight to deliver deep pressure, aka, transfer my body weight onto the client.

    We’re doing massage here, Mark, not fist push-ups.

    Funny you should mention fist push-ups.

    When you do a fist push-up a lot of your body weight is distributed through your arms onto the floor, right?

    Your fists (and feet) are the contact points between you and the floor.

    And that’s exactly how I want to do deep pressure massage with my fists (minus the feet part…lol).

    I want to lean my body weight onto the client so that my body weight is doing the work and my fists are simply the points of contact.

    It’s really not hard to do.

    These 3 steps will make it even easier. 

    Massage with your Fists in Three Steps

    1. Make a lose fists, not a tight fist.

    Okay, so we already talked about a loose fist, but it’s worth mentioning again because my objective is to save all body parts, not just one or two.

    Tightening your hands for no reason is extra muscle stress that you don’t need.

    If you’re a chronic hand tightener when doing massage, read this: Massage Body Mechanics 201: Relax Your Hands.

    2. Lean to generate pressure.

    You’ll probably need to lower your table to get enough leaning distance between your fists and the body part you’re working on so that you can effectively transfer your body weight.

    Don’t overthink this step.

    You already lean when using your forearms, right?

    Leaning with your fists is pretty much the same thing.

    Just like leaning with your forearm you can lean with your chest parallel to the table.

    Or you can lean with your chest perpendicular to the table.

    It’s not hard to do.

    It just takes getting in some reps to get comfortable with leaning.

    Here’s a video that will get you up and running with leaning to generate pressure: Deep Tissue Basics of Massage—The Lean.

    So, now you have enough information to massage with your fists when doing deep, static pressure.

    The only other thing left to do is to glide with your fists. 

    You can lean and glide with your fists in small areas effectively by remaining stationery.

    But if you want to do a long glide (like up the back) then you’ll need to…

    3. Move your feet.

    Moving your feet allows you to keep your shoulder, elbow and wrist in alignment as you glide and transfer your body weight onto the client.

    In this video I show you how I move my feet when massaging with my fists and knuckles:

    [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omwk-NyVjZU[/embedyt]

    Massage with Your Fists Checklist

    Fists are a great forearm alternative for deep pressure.

    To get competent at massaging with your fists you’ll need to…

    1. Use relaxed fists.
    2. Lean to generate pressure. (Low table.)
    3. Move your feet.

    Boom.

    Now you can have happy everything:-)

    Need more deep pressure help?

    My Delivering Deep Pressure Without Hurting Yourself class is here.

    It’s an online home-study class (3 CEUs) with lots of videos and guidance.

    It’s based on the discoveries and strategies that I used to save my body and massage career.

  • Massage with Your Back to the Table

    Why would you want to do massage with your back to the massage table?

    Well…there are two reasons why I do massage with my back to the table.

    One, I can get a quick rest.

    And, two, I can get more vertical so that I can get out of a static posture.

    By static posture in the massage room I mean a prolonged work position, like hunchy back.

    Before you think I’m nuts, I need to throw some qualifiers in here.

    Strategic Back Bends

    First, I don’t have my back to the table for long periods of time.

    In fact, the times I do are strategically worked into the massage.

    And, two, I’m only using one hand (though I have experimented with two).

    I know, it’s getting hard to picture, right?

    So here’s what it looks like:

    I’m applying static pressure with one hand.

    And by using only one hand I can stand up straighter than if I had two hands on the client.

    But, Mark, can’t you just stand up straight with having one hand on your client and without having your back to the table?

    You can.

    It looks like this.

    But when you have the back of your legs against the table supporting your weight you can actually lean back a tad and get more extension in your back (like you’re doing a standing cobra).

    Man, does that standing cobra feel good.

    Besides occiput trigger point work, my other favorite times to do standing cobra are with sacrum compression…

    and hamstring compression near the ischium. (It’s a super-comfortable lean into area.)

    Get Your Standing Cobra On

    So what about you?

    Do you actually take time to rest during the massage?

    You should.

    Try the standing cobra rest/recharge.

    Standing Cobra Formula

    Here are the steps:

    1. Pick your areas to try it in.

    My areas are sacrum, hamstrings, and occiput.

    By the way, your table will have to be low to do this.

    Go here for more information about experimenting with a low table.

    2. Turn your back to the table, switch to one hand and lean into the one hand as you straighten your back.

    3. Then allow yourself to lean back into the table so that you create some extension in your back (standing cobra).

    You’ll know you’re doing it right when there’s absolutely no strain in your back because your body weight is supported by the back of your legs against the table and your hand on the client.

    Take strategic rests (resets), like standing cobra, and you’re body will be happier.

    Add if you layer in other strategies you’re body is going to be so happy that you’ll be able to raise your weekly massage max.

    By the way, the How to Deliver Deep Pressure without Hurting Yourself course is here. It’s a 3 CEU online, home study course. It’s packed with videos and guidance. Let’s get you out of pain and keep you out of pain:-)

  • How to Do 8 Hours of Massage in a Day

    How to Do 8 Hours of Massage in a Day

    Why would you want to do an 8 hour massage day?

    Here are some damn good reasons.

    Bills are due.

    You’re trying to build a massage business.

    You have a massage business but want to take it to the next level.

    You need to double your annual income.

    But isn’t that a recipe for burnout and injury, Mark?

    If you did an 8 hour massage day every day, yes.

    But if you’re using 8 hour massage days strategically, as part of a plan, then an 8 hour massage day once a month, once a week or even twice a week is not going to hurt you.

    Why am I so confident that you can handle this without getting hurt?

    Two words.

    Massage tools.

    Well, two words and a sentence: When you know how to hold a massage tool without hurting your hands, you can deliver light, medium or deep pressure (static or gliding) effortlessly.

    Come on, Mark, effortlessly?

    Yes, effortlessly.

    But before I show you how to use a massage tool effortlessly, let’s lay down some ground rules for an 8 hour massage day.

    8 Hour Massage Day Ground Rules

    1. Be strategic about saving your body starting with the first massage of the day.

    When you start your 8 hour massage day your fresh and you feel good.

    So what happens during massages one and two of the day?

    You press your thumbs into everything.

    Don’t.

    Use massage tools from the get-go so that you’re thumbs and other body parts don’t ache at the end of the day.

    Here’s another example of being strategic. If you stood at every moment during a massage in an 8 hour massage day your legs would probably rebel somewhere around hour 4 and your form would get sloppy.

    Preempt fatigue by resting your legs starting with the first massage of the day by leaning into the table or grabbing a seat on a stool whenever you can.

    2. Stay fueled.

    The time you make mental mistakes happens when your brain glucose is low.

    And by mental mistake I don’t mean you don’t know if you’ve worked your client’s right quad and have to go back and check for oil residue.

    I mean you stop getting in the best position to deliver pressure because you have no energy. Or you forget to use massage tools because your thinking is cloudy.

    How do you solve brain glucose lows?

    Eat complex carbohydrate snacks between clients.

    I wrote this article for Spirituality & Health about the effects of low brain glucose and how to avoid it.

    Okay, now we have the ground rules down for an 8 massage day. The next thing to do is to become competent with massage tools.

    I’m going to give you the most practical primer I can.

    Ready?

    Massage Tool Primer

    1. Hold a massage tool so that it doesn’t hurt your hand.

    This is how I was taught to hold a T-bar in NMT school.

    See how my finger tips are squeezing the end.

    Can you guess what my fingers felt like at the end of the massage with a T-bar?

    Exactly.

    They felt like crap.

    Here’s one way I hold the T-bar without gripping.

    Fingers are relaxed and happy here, right?

    In this article I show you the basics for holding without gripping.

    Once you get the hold down, then you need to…

    2. Press with a massage tool while leaning.

    Why leaning?

    Because it’s an efficient way to deliver pressure with minimal impact on your upper body.

    Leaning is not difficult.

    It just takes practice.

    Here’s how you do that.

    [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE9P3BOdxAM[/embedyt]

    Now there’s only one more thing you need to be able to do:

    3. Glide with a massage tool while leaning.

    Gliding with a massage tool is essential to know if you want to incorporate massage tools into all aspects of your relaxation massage.

    Again, it’s not hard to learn, but you do need to get your reps in.

    Here’s how you glide with a massage tool.

    Okay, let’s put this all together.

    8 Hour Massage Day Playbook

    Before you actually start the day have your physical and mental preparation done.

    1. Pack snacks to eat in between clients.
    2. Think about how you can save your body (rest body parts) when working.

    Speaking of saving your body, don’t wait for massage #3 to break out the massage tools. Break out the massage tools at the very beginning of the day. Use them whenever you can.

    To become competent with massage tools you need to learn how to (1) hold a massage tool, (2) press with a massage tool and (3) glide with a a massage tool.

    Bam.

    The 8 hour massage day is yours:-)

    Want to learn more about massage tools and saving your body?

    I have online, home-study CEU classes.

    This one will get you competent with using a massage tool: How to Use a Massage Tool (Fearlessly and Effectively), 2.5 CEU.

    Also, to get my latest weekly information, sign up below.

    It’s free:-)

  • How to Do a Great Massage at the End of the Day

    How to Do a Great Massage at the End of the Day

    You have 8 hours of massage to do. And your last 3 are deep tissue. How do you make the last massage as good as the first? You get hyper-efficient with how you do your work (hyper-efficient massage).

    But before you can do hyper-efficient massage, we need to talk about just doing massage efficiently.

    I use two categories to explain massage efficiency: (1) work and (2) rest/recovery.

    And you’re probably thinking resting while doing massage is called napping, Mark.

    Well, resting while doing massage is close to napping, but not quite. We’ll get into that in a minute.

    Let’s start with working efficiently.

    Working Efficiently

    Working efficiently means that you’re maximizing your productivity with minimum wasted effort.

    Here’s how I do the work part of massage effortlessly:

    1. Lean for medium to deep pressure.

    I use a lock, stack and lean technique for medium to deep pressure. You can read more about that here.

    1. Keep the feet moving.

    If you’re not moving your feet to get into the proper position to lean, your work will become harder because you won’t be able to efficiently transfer your body weight onto the client. Here’s how I move my feet:

    [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omwk-NyVjZU[/embedyt]

    There’s more, but if you do these 2 things–lean and move your feet–you’re gonna be pretty efficient.

    And that will get you through the first 5 massages of your 8-hour massage day.

    Then walks in Hour 6, and Hour 6 wants a deep tissue massage.

    What usually happens next?

    Your brain hurts and your body is tired and your form starts slipping, right?

    But this is precisely the time that you can’t give into fatigue. You must get hyper-efficient (be even more efficient than you were for the first 5 hours).

    Working Hyper-Efficiently

    How’s that going to happen when I’m ready to fall on my face, Mark?

    You’re going to talk yourself into hyper-efficiency.

    “Move your feet, buddy.”

    “Come on now, stop reaching.”

    “You got this…fifteen more minutes to go…relax your shoulders….”

    As you talk to yourself you start to become acutely aware of every move you make. With this  new, laser focus on form you can correct any sloppiness that has occurred because of fatigue and you can take it a step further by removing all inefficiencies that were getting past your radar when you were less tired (massages 1 – 5 of the day).

    Now the work gets easier again and you can fight off the droopy feeling.

    But that’s only half of what you’ll need to know to be 100% hyper-efficient.

    Here’s the first step of the other half: You need to be efficient at resting/recovering while doing a massage.

    Resting Efficiently

    How do you rest during a massage?

    1. Take a seat.
    2. Rest your arms on your legs when sitting.
    3. Relax (instead of tightening up) into the lean.

    And you can give your overworked postural muscles a break by doing this;

    1. Get upright.
    2. Lean against the table.

    Do these things to get through the first 5 massages.

    Then become hyper-efficient with relaxing to conquer hours 6, 7 and 8.

    Resting Hyper-Efficiently

    How?

    Turn “resting” up a notch.

    Look for every opportunity where you can sit, lean into the table and get vertical. 

    When you do, you’ll find more opportunities than you had thought were available. Jump on these opportunities and you’re body and brain will thank you.

    Here’s the short version.

    Hyper-Efficient Massage in a Nutshell

    Massage hours 1 -5:  Be efficient with work and rest.

    Hours 6 – 8: Be hyper-efficient with work and rest.

    When fatigue moves in, talk yourself into hyper-efficiency.

    Then you’ll start to see when body mechanic errors are creeping in and when you’re missing resting opportunities.

    Make the corrections and rest like you’ve never rested before.

    Being hyper-efficient will not only make your last massage as good as your first, it will also make you realize that you can handle much more than you had thought:-)

    Want to make sure that you can do a lot of massage and not be in pain?

    Check out Delivering Deep Pressure Without Hurting Yourself.

    It’s a 3 CEU, online, home-study course. It has all the strategies and techniques that allow me to work 6 to 8 hour days.