This article is brought to you by Bad Zurzach

Training and regeneration belong together like night and day. If your time spent on regeneration is too short or completely omitted, it can lead to injuries or, in the worst-case scenario, long-term damage. Over-training also means stress. This in turn stimulates an increased secretion of the hormone cortisol, which inhibits muscle development and can even cause muscle breakdown.

For this reason, it is important to plan sufficient relaxation phases between your training units. And what can be more beneficial than spending your time in warm thermal water? This creates conditions similar to those in the mother's womb, which are deeply relaxing and thus ensure a significant reduction in cortisol. Incidentally, the latter has even been scientifically proven in a recent study by the Medical University of Graz and the Landesklinikum St. Pölten. Moreover, warm water relaxes the muscles, strengthens the immune system, supports the musculoskeletal system, and improves the blood circulation.

Water and us

While water is pleasant and beneficial for the outside of our bodies - for our insides it is vital. This is because it makes up 50 to 75% of the human body and is constantly used up by the various metabolic processes and eliminated from the body via urine, the intestine, sweating, and even breathing. It is therefore a vital factor for your tissue, cells, lymph, blood, and all gland secretions and is responsible, among other things, for the following functions:

• It regulates the body temperature, which must lie within the range of 37°C; on the one hand, by distributing the thermal energy gained from food around the body, and on the other, by cooling the body through sweating.
• It is an important means of transport in the metabolic processes. 
• It dissolves substances from tissues, including metabolites and toxins. If there is too little water in the body tissues, the body becomes full of «waste products».
• It regulates the body’s pH level as an electrolytic buffer for acids and alkalis. When there is a lack of water, the body usually becomes over-acidified.

The magic power of thermal water

The ingredients that distinguish thermal water from normal spring water are absorbed through the skin. Moreover, chemical and physical reactions take place on the body’s surface. The various substances help with a wide variety of complaints: sulphur alleviates skin and rheumatic muscle and joint disorders, carbonic acid can help with light to medium blood pressure and circulation problems and noticeably stimulates the blood circulation, and water with a particularly high salt content has a positive effect on muscle and joint problems. In water we also weigh less than 10 percent of our weight, which is why movements are also easier.

Relaxation is also training

At the Thermalbad Zurzach, healing water with a temperature of 39.9°C has been brimming to the surface of the 430-metre-deep Glauber’s salt spring at 435 litres a minute since 1955. The bathing complex covers 2000 m2 and is the largest man-made thermal spa in Switzerland. The thermal water is odourless and there are numerous massage jets to relax all the muscles from your neck to your toes. It thus offers the best conditions for a soothing relaxation unit after your training. To ensure you don’t put too much strain on your circulatory system, make sure you take a break after each 20-minute bathing session.

More information: www.thermalbad.ch