With a keen interest in the topic of motorsport or if you watch the racing closely, it quickly becomes clear that racing requires more than perfect driving skills and talent from drivers.
Physical fitness is a must to occur behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, along with honed skills.
And it’s not about the appearance or weight of the pilot of the car, although the weight in this sport is scrupulously monitored. An untrained person is unlikely to endure even a couple of laps at a qualifying race, much less a full-fledged race. G-loads on deceleration and acceleration are comparable to those experienced by military pilots and astronauts.
Relaxing the muscles with massage is as necessary as physical loads to overcome all the obstacles that the race track prepares,. In addition to restoring muscles that are overworked during racing, massage and spa helps reduce stress, which also exists in any competition.
By the way, the F1 Grand Prix is taking place later this year in the UAE, so a full body massage in Dubai will be the perfect recovery solution after such a serious and rewarding event. Spa centre is as indispensable for racing stars as the gym.
The connection between a pilot’s fitness and performance is fundamental, though not the most obvious. It is a necessity to endure colossal workloads and stress, at least to complete the race. A race driver at any competition knows that a fraction of a second is crucial. And in order to snatch them from an opponent, it may take many months, or rather, years of work on your body.
You can often see beautiful photos of car pilots with muscles on the Internet. This is the result of regular and hard training. But they don’t work hard for beauty, but for certain muscle groups: the neck, shoulders, forearms, pectoralis major, arms, hamstrings, and quadriceps femoris.
All these parts of the body are either directly involved in driving the car, or are subjected to severe overloads while driving at high speeds.
Therapeutic massage is one of the most popular techniques among all athletes
The physical and mental health of F1 riders is carefully monitored to detect a weak spot in the body in time. Professionals in the field of racing absolutely understand that deficiencies in the body or excessive overload negatively affect the performance of the driver and increase the risk of injury.
There are a number of methods used for follow-up, including regular medical check-ups, physical therapy, and biomechanical analysis. These techniques can help identify any areas of weakness or imbalance.
Massage therapy involves the manipulation of soft tissues and promotes their relaxation. Massage therapy may be especially beneficial for Formula One drivers due to its ability to reduce muscle tension and pain, promote relaxation, and improve blood circulation.
In the off-season, riders focus more on strengthening their muscles and strength training – getting in shape, and at the beginning of the season, maintaining this form becomes the main task.
A separate area of physical and cognitive abilities that pilots must develop is concentration and reaction speed. Riders have to make a lot of lightning fast decisions during a race, and their reactions need to be perfectly trained. Often before the competition, you can see how pilots wake up their nervous systems and train reflexes by practising with a tennis ball. When every fraction of a second is important, concentration should be at its maximum literally from the start, it is unacceptable to waste time on achieving concentration.
Like F1 drivers, team mechanics have strict workouts and eat healthily daily
It is worth noting that due attention is paid not only to the health and well-being of sports car drivers. In addition to driving a car on a race track, it is imperative that the vehicle be well maintained. That is why there are mechanics responsible for this on each team.
Preparing and training mechanics for breathtaking pit stops is no worse than the pilots themselves. Frequently, there is even a dedicated department that takes care of the staff, from diet to fluid intake, injuries and workouts for leading them on top-level care.
For mechanics, pit stops are a sharp and strong load, and at this time many muscle groups are involved. For those who work with changing tires, and also turning nuts, a strong overvoltage is felt in the hands. A large load falls on the back and on the legs. Therefore, it is important to knead and warm up the muscles, so that they work more efficiently and without injury. The warm-up is repeated before each pit stop practice and throughout the weekend.
In addition to a variety of exercises for the arms, back, and other parts of the body, mechanics train reactions. To do this, tennis balls are used. It is necessary to adjust and match the eye and hand coordination. This speeds up the reaction and helps to achieve a few-second pit stop.
Conclusions? Formula 1 Grand Prix drivers are some of the most physically demanding athletes in the world, requiring a high level of physical fitness and well-being to perform at their best. Monitoring and improving the health of these elite athletes is critical to their longevity and success in the sport, and massage therapy can play an important role in achieving these goals.