Floating for sport
Elite athletes use floating to improve their physical and psychological game. But you don’t need to be a world champion to enjoy the benefits of the room.
Floating and your muscles
Relieved from the stress of gravity, floating allows your muscles and joints to completely relax – the Epsom Salt in the water literally take the weight off. It helps dissipate lactic acid build-up in sore muscles after a workout, and many elite athletes include floating in their training regime.
Floating for rehabilitation and recovery
Whether you’ve had a particularly heavy gym session, or you’re looking to speed up your recovery after a marathon, the float pod gives your muscles a break and a boost that can’t be found elsewhere. It also helps to speed up rehabilitation after injury, as the deep state of mental relaxation experienced in the pod allows your body to heal itself faster than would be normally allowed.
Floating and your mental game
Exercise is as much a mental activity as it is physical one. Being able to switch off for an hour with no distractions can help you focus in on the challenges you’re facing in your workouts and approach them with a renewed sense of clarity, whether you’re climbing Everest or the stair machine at the gym.
Floating and visualisation
Visualisation is the process of creating a mental image of something in you, whether that’s practising a trick shot, or visualising an uncomfortable conversation to quell anxiety beforehand.
Basketball superstar Steph Curry often speaks of how he floats to improve his shots – visualising making the same shot over and over. What’s incredible is that there’s evidence to show that visualisation as a training aid can be just as effective as practicing such tasks in reality. Your mind is more powerful than you think.
[TALKING HEAD: Kasia Romanowicz ““When I was preparing for the competition, floating helped me a lot with focus, and being in that moment. I use that hour to switch off, or to visualise preparing for the competition, and actually being on the stage. That focus was really important for me.”]
[TALKING HEAD: Natalie Walker @ Psycle: “As an instructor doing that many times a week, it can leave you feeling quite depleted. It’s important to get back to yourself and make sure you feel really restored. One thing I’ve found is that it’s difficult to switch off from the outside world, so one of the things I think is so amazing about Floatworks is that I really feel rejuvenated after a float. I feel restored and I feel like I’ve taken a bit of time for me, rather than giving to everyone all the time.”]
[TALKING HEAD: Susie Rodgers[*] “Every float is different. I sometimes went in there and thought about races and visualised performing and thought through strategies but it also gives you a chance to switch off and go into your head without any other stimulus. I find that refreshing.”]