*Winner of the Popchips giveaway is Lindsay-e-mail me at supersana786 at gmail dot com to get your snack on*

I hope everyone had a lovely Friday!

I seriously love my clients they are always passionate about my workouts, just today they were arguing with each other about how many reps they should be doing.

“No she said 25!”

“I heard 50.”

Me: “50 it is..” (They were only supposed to do 15)

After teaching a noon walking class, I showered and headed out to lunch with my mom and sister.

Potbelly opened up here in Columbia a few months ago and this was the first time we were all able to check it out.

I ordered the Grilled Mediterranean, description from the website:

Introducing our newest sandwich creation.
The Mediterranean! We tried and tested lots of recipes until we found the perfect combination of zippy hummus and layers of chunky veggies that satisfies like only a Potbelly sandwich can.

The Mediterranean sandwich is made to order with amazing ingredients:
Zippy Hummus: our own recipe! Made with chickpeas, roasted red peppers, lemon juice, tahini, seasoning and the zip of Potbelly’s Hot Peppers Oil.
Feta Cheese, Artichoke Hearts, Roasted Red Peppers and Crispy Cucumbers.

Too hungry to snap a decent picture- also why did I ask for mayo? I was just confused by the sandwich ordering process.

I added on some hot peppers and the sandwich was a total winner.

After lunch I had a fun a appointment to get to!

Since May, Helen the owner of Ellicott City Massage Therapy and I have been e-mailing back and forth about how massage therapy can help with the process of injury recovery. The reason I contacted Helen was because she came highly recommended by my physical therapist, who routinely gets massages herself.

I probably would have never considered massage therapy had I not discussed the benefits with Helen beforehand. Here is a bit of our e-mail exchange:

How massage therapy can aid with injury recovery?

“Massage has lots of great benefits, but with regards to injury recovery, it mainly helps to reduce or eliminate the pain cycle and heal the damaged tissues. When we have an injury, of course the tissues in the area are damaged, which causes pain so that your body knows not to move around for awhile, especially in the manner in which the injury occurred. While recovering, typically you have to lay around not doing anything, which then makes the rest of your body hurt! It becomes a cycle of the injury causing pain, which cuts down on  movement/activity, which then in turn causes more pain.”

How massage therapy can aid with recovery from Spondylolysis?

“In your case, the injury is a little bit more complicated than say, a strained muscle. Massage will not be able to “heal” your spine, but it can cut down on the aches and stiffness that go along with it, and hopefully keep you moving more in the ways that you would like to. It also can cut down on the release of certain stress hormones and increase the release of endorphins, similar to the effects of exercising. Also, our modern world of sitting more and being in front of a computer wreaks havoc on the spine from poor postures, causing tightness in the leg and hip muscles which can be alleviated with massage.”

To be honest, I was not looking forward to spending an hour unplugged with a stranger touching me. I was also unsure of what I would wear while getting the massage, do most people get naked?

However, right off the bat, Helen did a great job of making me feel totally comfortable and I kept all my undergarments on (TMI?).

For a person that usually never feels relaxed I think I might have even drifted off for a quick nap mid massage.

I am not sure why but, I expected the massage to involve some pounding on my back? But I was pleasantly surprised that it was more gentle but firm rubbing. My favorite part was head and the lower back/tail bone massage.

Since this was my first massage, I was apprehensive every time a different body part was being worked on. When I go in for my next massage, I will be able to ask for what specific parts I want worked on and with what intensity since I know now what to expect.

If you are looking for some chronic pain relief I highly recommend

Ellicott City Massage Therapy also check them out on Facebook

5072 Dorsey Hall Dr. Suite 103, Ellicott City, MD 21042
410-505-4339

* Full disclosure I was given this massage free of charge in exchange for a post about my experience at Ellicott City Massage Therapy .

A huge thanks to Helen for an awesome massage and for answering all my crazy questions.

If you are interested in learning more about massage therapy check out this article from the University of Maryland.

I spent the rest of my evening grocery shopping for 2 hours at Wegmans. Yes two.

I can’t take my mom anywhere- I think I had to drag her out.

(I accidently dropped my purse with my camera in it so I had to take a test picture to make sure it still worked.)

Wegmans sweet potato sushi for dinner:

New obsession.

Have you ever had a massage before? Did you go nakkied?