5:20 PM Friday, January 10, 2025
Losing weight and building muscle are some of the more common New Year’s resolutions you’ll hear from people, but fitness experts say there’s one other thing people should take into consideration as they work on their health goals — recovery.
Days into the new year, Life Time in Plymouth is packed with people trying to get 2025 started on the right track.
But cardio and strength training aren’t the only components of a healthy lifestyle.
“Recovery’s huge, and it’s only taking off. It’s getting more and more popular,” said Alex Bowe, a personal trainer at Life Time.
Recovery means helping your body heal, and Life Time is offering more options for members to help their muscles recover after a tough workout.
“So whether that’s stretching, foam rolling, massage gun, anything that’s going to heal your body and essentially prevent injury, because we don’t want to be injured, and recovery is important to make sure that we stay healthy throughout the day,” said Bowe.
On a recent Thursday, Ken Eto of Plymouth took time to recover after a personal training session. First with a massage gun that stimulates blood flow to the muscles, then with an assisted stretch, a service Life Time added within the last year.
“It’s a form of recovery, and if you have those achy joints and you’re looking to just move better, assisted stretch will help with those issues,” said Bowe.
Life Time Personal Trainer Alex Bowe uses a massage gun on Ken Eto.
Eto is recovering from recent spinal surgery, but he had a goal of getting back into the gym to build back his strength.
“I decided to do something for myself and I hired Alex here, and he has a good reputation of helping people like me at my age to get back strength,” said Eto.
Eto is an avid golfer, and ultimately, he’d like to get back to playing the game he loves.
“Stretching is important for my age. I’m 78, so it’s important to me,” Eto said.
From a trainer’s standpoint, a little stretching can go a long way to improving our workouts and living a healthy life.
“That’s why recovery is so important,” Bowe added. “To warm your body up, make sure you’re taking your body through different ranges of motion, just so you can prevent injury.”
An assisted stretching session can range from $60 for a 25-minute session to $120 dollars for a 50-minute session.
Related: Business Matters: Plymouth’s StretchLab Adds Flexibility to Every Body
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