Jody Baty at Knead massage kindly volunteered to give a cyclist a massage free of charge in trade  for a review, massage aficionado and masters Battenkill Champ Alexis Kraft took her up on it.

I am a massage addict.  All right, now that that’s out of the way… This week, I opted out of my usual corner storefront Chinese massage (strictly PG-13, nothing salacious about my massage preferences, I swear!) to check out the services at Knead.  That was a smart idea. Cyclists, of course, live with aches and pains.  Suffering equals success for a lot of us.  A slammed stem gets us low, 95 RPM+ cadence engages the fast twitch muscle fibers, a little extra jump when you get to the front of the pace line will get you over that next roller without losing speed, etc.  Let’s not even start to talk about the crashes.  We adapt, and that ache becomes a part of our lives. For many of us, massage seems a little too pro; Monday -“Recovery Day” – is there to replace massage, and a foam roller at home should take care of all the problem areas (IT bands, IT bands and IT bands) so we can get back on the bike refreshed on Tuesday morning, ready to shred the Park apart for another awesome week of training and racing.  But a real massage is just the thing for a monthly (or so) post-ride Sunday or recovery Monday that we all should build into our training programs.

Jody at Knead happens to have an in depth knowledge of what cyclists need in a massage.  She rides, and has worked with cyclists a lot.   Understanding the specific
needs of endurance athletes is one thing; understanding cyclists is what you really want in any trainer (assuming you are a cyclist…) On a quiet backstreet in Brooklyn, near Prospect Park, Jody’s studio is tucked away but easy to find.  All the amenities you want – water, a healthy snack, comfy waiting room, nice private massage rooms –are there to help you relax.  She makes sure to ask the right questions up front about any specific pain issues, and what sort of pressure you want/need.  I have almost always opted for the straight-up Sports/Deep Tissue massage, and requested the same.  

Ah…to the good stuff.  In the end, given my ongoing recovery from a nasty crash, Jody spent a good deal of time focusing on my upper body, working out the imbalances from left to right side, and so much tension around the neck and lats.  She uses hot stones to help out relaxing the muscles, and puts a lot of effort into working out the neck/ back/upper arm soreness we all live with. And that’s the really significant thing to remember: your legs are always going to need less work than your upper body.  Cyclists put much more stress on their core and arms than they realize; the back is a bridge most of the time held up by your shoulders and glutes.  The legs are spinning away, with moments of stress but mostly low impact tension.  Your shoulders and arms, on the other hand, are in a relatively fixed position for long periods of time, and that puts a strain on those muscles that then need to be relaxed.
 
After my massage, Jody informed me that she gave me a combination sports/relaxation massage, and made a point to tell me about some ongoing areas of tension that I should continue to work out in another session soon (lower back, the scourge of the old man).  I felt great, and had that post-massage buzz that sticks around for awhile.   The next day I felt refreshed and ready to go.  But two days later was even better. Jody recommends massages on a weekly basis; most of us don’t have the time/ $ for this, but the real point is to build massage into your recovery schedule, especially after an A race, or a particularly busy training week.  But avoid it during a build week; you don’t want to work out the tension when you are trying to fine-tune your race prep.  It will counteract the gains you are working to achieve.  Knead is indeed what you need.  Check it out online at kneadmt.com and make that reservation!