Looking for some advice ESB, I'm fighting on Saturday, and feeling in good shape apart from some tightness in my back and shoulders. To try and get rid of this I've booked a sports massage for Thursday night (planning on having my last training session Tuesday night where I'm just going to have some light sparring) but the more I think about it the more I'm worrying that the massage might make me weaker if the muscles are getting stretched out. Does anyone have any experience of getting a sports massage before a fight (or any other sport for that matter) and did it have positive/negative effects on your performance? Cheers, B.A.S.:bbb P.S no prizes for first one in with any happy ending jokes or that, it's 100% legit.
It won't make you weaker mate. I would advise you to just relax and stop analysing things - it's only an amateur bout (I assume). Just go about your business as usual leading up to the fight and don't make a big issue out of it. It's easy to get caught up in the detail of preparation but at the end of the day nothing you can do now is going to make that much of a difference at this level - everything depends on your training over the past few months / years. I used to over analyse everything in the last couple of days before a bout - TBH I think this just made me more nervous - you may well be different to me however. Good luck.
It should have a negligible impact, and few massages are going to affect the muscles extensively two days after. It would probably do you good to loosen up and relax. Don't let Steward's Hagler-Hearns anecdotes put you off.
