Floatation for Athletes

Millions of people around the world play sports and exercise, from the elite professional athlete to the beginner who just starting a walking program for general health and wellness benefits.

Floatation can benefit all of these individuals by enhancing their performance, improving their conditioning, speeding the recovery, preventing injury, and assisting in maintaining peek. 

The floatation tank has been used in various area of sports medicine for a many years now. With its distinctive combination of physical, emotional and mental benefits which optimizes the athlete’s performance in every way.

Exercise is important for everyone, but so is recovery. Research has shown that in relation to exercise and athletic participation floatation:

Speed the healing process by taking the pressure off strained bones, joints, and muscles and increase the flow of the blood circulating through the body, it basically compresses the recovery time from days to only hours.

• Healing: because of the hour long weightlessness in the tank, it takes the pressure off strained bones, joints, and muscles and increase the flow of the blood circulating through the body, it basically compresses the recovery time from days to only hours.

• Pain relief from the magnesium: Epsom salts promote muscle relaxation, Epsom salt is made up of naturally occurring minerals as magnesium and sulfate. Magnesium tends to be really good for aches and pains and when floating your body absorbs the magnesium, thus increase the body´s levels of magnesium, while at the same time, drawing out toxins.

• Better sleep: Floating helps improve the the sleep quality in which can be crucial to recovery.

The most common sports injuries are sprains. Prevention is the best way to avoid sprains, working out at high level without proper rest intervals can lead to long-term injury. In fact, a severe sprain or tear can keep you from the gym for weeks, While in float tanks, your body is completely at rest. the lack of external stimuli signals your body to enter a very deep state of whole body relaxation. And the more relaxed the body is, the less likely you are to suffer sprains when active.

Floating works so well to improve an athlete’s mental training which is why the best athletes in the world float.

World Champion NBA All-Star Player Stephen Curry is a big fan of floating, in a short clip on how he deals with pressures and expectations with the help of the tank.

Scientific Research has found that floatation helps athletes with:

• Visualization: The floatation tank is the optimal environment for visualization because the relaxation it ensures is so deep that the brain soon begins to generate an unprecedented amount of very slow, strong, rhythmical theta waves, which are associated with vivid, lifelike images it allows an athlete to control every aspect of the desired athletic experience. He would be able to walk through each step of the technique and fully focus on the visual and imagery aspect on perfecting it.

• Increased focus & concentration: The meditative-like state of floating may deserve all the credit for providing athletes a boost of focus and concentration. Studies have found that basketball players threw more free throws and archers performed better after floating, indicating a higher level of mental focus during competition.

• Stress relief: Like in most professions, athletes perform better when they are not stressed, while performing under pressure is unavoidable for most athletes, floating provides a much-needed escape and enhanced sense of relaxation.

We’re all familiar with how Stephen Curry physically prepares for his role as an MVP-caliber basketball player. But, what we don’t often get to see is Curry training the hardest part of his game—his mind. ‘Overcome’ tells the story of Stephen Curry training his mind to deal with pressures and expectations as he prepares for the post season.

• American Football 2017 Champs Patriots keep up with floatation therapy throughout run to Super Bowl LI, Tom Brady keeps a float tank of his own at home to help him remain atop his game as he nears 40. “it feels like you are just on a cloud or something because there are no pressure points. For athletes, I´m 120 percent all in on it." Julian Edelman

• Manchester United Midfielder, Wayne Rooney, owns his own float tank, and spends up many hours a week to help recover from injuries 

• “The AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) has a floatation tank that is used for recovery purposes, primarily to promote relaxation and sleep for athletes.” – Nicole Vlahovich, PhD, Australian Sports Commission

• UFC fighters Pat Healy has credited his wins to his float practice, while also Tom Watson, Jens Pulver, Royce Gracie and Pedro Sauer float regularly.

• UFC Host, Taekwondo & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, Joe Rogan owns his own float tank and talks about the affects of floating on his popular podcasts.

• Silver Medalist in 2008 Beijing Olympics, British Triple Jumper Phillips Idowu, used floatation therapy weekly for a back injury.

• Rugby League Athlete Willie Mason is a regular floater, rugby players put their bodies through some intense training and that the game itself is pretty brutal on the body. Mason says "it`s so crazy - you need to try it to believe! It" the best recovery treatment I have had in my career. It´s keeping this old body going!"

• Swedish professional free skier and alpine ski racer, 9-time Winter X game medalist, Jon Olsson keeps on top of his game with floating.

"Effects of flotation restricted environmental stimulation on intercollegiate tennis performance."
By: McAleney, P. J., Barabasz, A. & Barabasz, M. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1990

REST for Muscle Contraction Headaches: A Comparison of Two REST Environments Combined with Progressive Muscle Relaxation Training
By: Rzewnicki R., Wallbaum A.B.C., Steel H. & Suedfeld P.

"Restricted Environmental Stimulation: Research and Commentary. pp.245-254. Toledo, Ohio: Medical College of Ohio Press." 1990

"Flotation REST and imagery in the improvement of athletic performance".
By: Suedfeld, P. & Bruno, T. "Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology", 1990

Floatation Tanks Enhance Visualization Effects
By: Wagaman, J.D., Barabasz, A.F., Barabasz, M, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1991

Progressive muscle relaxation and restricted environmental stimulation therapy for chronic tension headache: a pilot study
By: Wallbaum AB, Rzewnicki R, Steele H, Suedfeld P. Int J Psychosom. 1991;38(1-4):33- 9, 1991

Creativity Enhancement Through Floatation Isolation
By: Forgays, Donald G.; Forgays, Deborah K, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 1992

Restricted environmental stimulation technique improves human performance: rifle marksmanship
By: Barabasz, A., Barabasz M., Bauman J. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 76, 867-873, 1993