Happy Wednesday, friends! Is your week off to a good start? The good news is that it’s Wednesday – the bad news is that we have a couple more days until the weekend. I have a work retreat tomorrow, which I’m looking forward to. This will be my first full team retreat in person since March 2020. I can’t wait to see all of my Zoom colleagues in person – it’s going to be a big deal!
Tomorrow is also Cinco de Mayo, and while we are planning a tame one this year (taco night at home) because we’ve got a busy day, it’s still one of my favorite holidays. That’s a throwback pic to last year’s Cinco celebration. And, I’ve got a facial on my schedule this weekend. Speaking of weekend – have you sent your Mother’s Day cards out yet? I always try to send my mom and mother-in-law a card and a small something in the mail. Nothing big – but something meaningful to let them know that I’m thinking about them – even if we don’t all live close by.
Theragun
But now, here’s the real purpose of this post. I owe you my thoughts on the Theragun! Aaron and I bought the Theragun as sort of a join Christmas present for each other. So, we’ve owned it since December, which means I’ve had the pleasure of using it during my half marathon training.
The Theragun is supposed to be one of the best massage guns out on the market. It’s used by many sports therapists for recovery through the use of percussive therapy. I L-O-V-E this thing. I’ve always been big on addressing issues as they arise during training. If something hurts, I like to find the fix immediately. I used to get fairly regular massages when I was training for my full, and I credit that to helping my body recover and bounce back.
Sadly, I don’t live close to my former massage therapist, and I haven’t been able to find one who is as good as Faye. So, when I do get in to see her, it’s a real treat – but it doesn’t happen as much as I’d like. We bought the Theragun Prime, and it came with several different types of heads.
Theragun app
One of my favorite things about this is that it provides ongoing education on how to get the most out of your device. I downloaded the Therabody app to to my phone, and it contains guided and timed sessions for various parts of your body. For example, if you want to use it for carpal tunnel, there is a guided video on how and where to use your Theragun. It will vibrate when it wants you to switch locations. And, on the website right now, there is a session on how to use your Theragun if you work from home.
I love that the company adds new content to the app regularly, and I do utilize the guided sessions more than I thought. Aaron and I use ours pretty much every day. Tight neck? No problem – we use the Theragun. Back pain? Theragun! Tight IT bands? We bust out the Theragun.
Theragun for recovery and activation
One of the things that I find to be really unique about this device, is that you can actually use it for muscle activation. So, if you want to warm up a certain muscle group before a workout, you can use it for that aspect of your workout as well. While I use it way more for recovery, I have used it to activate some of my leg muscles prior to a long run.
My favorite place to use it? I’ll give you two. I use it on the bottoms of my feet to help loosen up my fascia – and they can tend to tighten up. This has helped significantly for some plantar fasciitis that can flare up every now and then. I also love to use it on my IT bands. When my IT bands tighten up, they can actually start affecting my knees, and the Theragun has been such a crucial part at making sure that I keep my IT bands loose and elastic.
Running recovery
As far as using it help with half marathon recovery? It’s been great. I have focused on the bottom of my feet, my glutes, IT bands and shins. While I was sore for about a week after the race, I attribute the Theragun for getting me back out there and doing some slower, maintenance runs. I’m a big Theragun guy over here, and it will be a a valuable member of the Gomez household for the foreseeable future.
Now, I get that it comes with a bit of a price tag, but you will use the heck out of it. If you ever get massages, it’s about the cost of two massages and you can use it whenever you want. So, if you are on the fence about getting one, I highly recommend. Aaron and I both use it pretty much every day.
