Sports massage is targeted clinical bodywork for people who train — built to treat soft tissue injuries, cut recovery time between sessions, and restore the range of motion your sport actually demands. At Fit Body Therapy in Los Altos, work is assessment-led and timed to your training calendar, whether you are three days out from a race or six weeks into rehabbing a hamstring. Sessions are one-on-one with Angelo dela Cruz, practicing since 1996.
Recovery Is a Training Variable, Not a Reward
Most athletes in the Bay Area are not undertrained. They are under-recovered — stacking Peloton blocks, Saturday climbs, tennis ladders, and lifting onto a body that never quite clears the previous week.
The failure point is rarely dramatic. It shows up as a hip that stops rotating fully, a shoulder that loses the last ten degrees overhead, a calf that tightens at mile four. Each is a small restriction, and each one quietly shifts load somewhere that was not built to carry it. That redistribution is where most overuse injuries actually originate.
Sports massage here is about finding those restrictions early and clearing them before they become the reason you take six weeks off.
Who This Is For
- Runners and cyclists managing IT band, hamstring, calf, or hip flexor restriction
- Golfers and tennis players losing rotation, distance, or shoulder range
- Lifters hitting position limits in squat depth, overhead press, or hinge
- Masters athletes who are not slowing down and want to stop being told they should
- Weekend hikers and climbers paying for Saturday all week
- Anyone returning from injury who has been medically cleared but does not move the way they did
Timing the Work to Your Training
The same techniques applied at the wrong point in a training block work against you. Sessions are structured around where you are:
- In-season maintenance — lighter, mobility-focused work that leaves you ready to train the next day
- Pre-event — brief, stimulating, no deep work that could leave you sore on race morning
- Post-event — recovery-oriented, easing soreness and restoring range after hard efforts
- Off-season and rehab — the deeper corrective work that changes long-standing restrictions, done when you can afford a couple of easy days
Tell me what is on the calendar and the session is built backward from it.
What a Session Includes
Every session opens with movement assessment — the specific patterns your sport requires, tested and measured. Treatment targets what that assessment finds, drawing on orthopedic manual therapy plus vibration, cupping, red light, PEMF, or instrument-assisted work where they add something.
Then we retest. You should feel and see the difference in the movement that was restricted before you leave. You go home with one to three targeted drills — a few minutes a day — that reinforce the change rather than a generic stretching handout.
Choosing a Sports Massage Therapist in Los Altos
Fit Body Therapy is at 600 Fremont Avenue in the Rancho Shopping Center, serving athletes across Los Altos, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, and the Peninsula.
- Practicing since 1996 — CAMTC certified, AMTA Professional Member, trained in the Hendrickson Method
- Former NASA life science support scientist — the assessment habit predates the practice
- Private suite, one-on-one — you work with Angelo every session
- Free onsite parking, easy access from 280 and El Camino
- HSA and FSA friendly with detailed receipts
Frequently Asked Questions
How soon before a race or match should I book?
For deeper corrective work, allow at least five to seven days. Within 48 hours of competing, sessions stay light and stimulating — enough to restore range without leaving you flat or sore on the day.
Can I train the same day?
Usually yes after maintenance work. After a deeper corrective session, an easy day or active recovery is a better choice — your nervous system is adapting to new range and heavy loading on top of that is a poor bet.
Is sports massage supposed to be painful?
No. The “no pain, no gain” version of sports massage triggers protective guarding, which is the opposite of what you want. Effective work stays below the threshold where you brace.
How often should an athlete come in?
Through a heavy block, every two to three weeks is common. For a specific injury, weekly to start, then spacing out as it resolves. Off-season maintenance is often monthly.
Book your sports massage session in Los Altos. Tell me what you are training for and we will build the session around it.