Recovery For Athletes With Salt Therapy

Athletes are always striving to be better. They spend hundreds of hours working to increase endurance, shorten recovery time, and improve overall performance. Can salt therapy’s benefits support better recovery for athletes?

Professional and amateur athletes alike work hard to break their records and accomplish their goals. A crucial part of training is giving the body time to rest and recover so it can mend. Pushing the body beyond its limits without allowing it to recuperate can cause lasting damage.

Salt therapy is a natural way to boost respiratory function so athletes can reach their maximum potential. This holistic therapy provides fitness centers with a profitable and unique service to engage existing clients and attract new members. It’s a new opportunity to offer effective recovery equipment for athletes.

What is Salt Therapy?

Halotherapy (aka salt therapy) is a holistic therapy that involves breathing in salty air. Halotherapy is a fast-growing treatment that may provide numerous health benefits for people with respiratory and skin conditions, as well as anxiety and depression. 

The effectiveness of salt therapy is dependent on a halogenerator. This machine grinds particles of pure-grade sodium chloride (salt). Then, it disperses the particles into a hygienic and controlled environment known as a salt room or SALT Booth®.

Individuals spend between 10 and 45 minutes during a salt therapy session. They breathe the micron-sized salt particles into their respiratory system. The salt that is not inhaled and falls to the skin is absorbed into the outer and deeper layers of skin.

Along with reduced stress and better sleep patterns, those that have undergone salt therapy have also reported enhanced respiratory function and athletic performance.

Why Salt Therapy for Athletes?

Athletes are using salt therapy to enhance their lung capacity and increase endurance and performance. Recovery for runners and many other types of athletes may be improved through salt therapy.

Optimized breathing is vital for an athlete’s performance. Airway inflammation and obstruction are two respiratory conditions that can lead to a variety of health and performance issues. These include reduced stamina, longer recovery time, increased dehydration, and a greater risk of injury.

When lungs have to contend with foreign particles, bacteria, or inflammation, they can prevent athletes from achieving optimal performance. In addition to eating right, getting proper rest, and training, optimal respiratory function can be the difference between striving for a goal and shattering it.

While spas, resorts, and yoga centers have been offering salt therapy for years, health and fitness clubs are joining the movement. Salt therapy is a way for athletes to increase their competitive advantage and perform at their best. It’s a new and exciting option to consider among the many training and recovery methods for athletes.

The Benefits of Salt Recovery Therapy for Athletes

Adding salt therapy to an athlete’s fitness regimen offers many benefits, including quicker recovery and better performance. Halotherapy improves breathing, which increases oxygen intake and delivery to muscles for more energy. That puts halotherapy among the best recovery tools for athletes.

Improving the flow of oxygen to muscles before, during, and after a training session has the additional benefit of increasing aerobic capacity. This enhances the efficiency of the body’s cardiovascular system. Many athletes choose to take supplements or performance-enhancing drugs to boost their athletic performance, which is evident by the billions of dollars spent every year on these products. Salt therapy is a safe and natural alternative to those recovery strategies. It helps athletes achieve better physical performance without harmful side effects.

“I’ve seen amazing results from salt therapy and started leaking mucus and breathing better when I left the salt room. I’ll be adding salt therapy to my routine going forward in my NFL career.”

Jimmie Ward
Defensive Back – San Francisco 49ers

“Salt therapy cleared up my sinuses and released some of that inflammation. I feel much better; got my lungs expanded a little bit.”

Donald Stewart
Wide Receiver – Montreal Alouettes

Salt Therapy for Stamina, Endurance, and Recovery

Salt therapy provides athletes with a performance boost in three interconnected ways: 

• Stamina
• Endurance 
• Recovery 

Stamina and endurance enable athletes to be more powerful for longer. Regardless of the sport and style of training, each is essential for greater athletic performance.

Stamina

Salt therapy helps enhance athletic stamina, allowing for short, highly effective bursts of energy during training to break through plateaus. Stamina is the ability to sustain physical or mental activity over a long period. Both physical and mental stamina are critical for athletic performance.

Physical stamina refers to the full capacity of energy you can summon from your muscles. It is the amount of time you can perform a task at or near your physical limit without fatigue or reduction in quality. 

Mental stamina is just as crucial for an athlete’s success. Salt therapy rooms provide a perfect environment for relaxation and meditation. This can enhance cognitive focus, increase attention span, and improve reaction time.

Endurance

Halotherapy boosts muscular and cardiovascular endurance, which gives athletes the ability to safely extend the duration of training without causing physical harm. Endurance is the body’s physical capability to sustain physical activity for a long period. 

Physical endurance refers to the maximum amount of oxygen you can gather for a specific physical activity. Muscle endurance is how long your muscle strength can be sustained during training. In contrast, cardiovascular endurance is how long your heart, lungs, and blood vessels can support your training before getting fatigued.

Salt therapy benefits include clearing airway obstructions and reducing inflammation. This allows athletes to better manage their breathing patterns. Since oxygen supply is a crucial element for muscle growth, strength, and recovery, athletic performance is enhanced when respiratory function improves.

Recovery

Salt therapy is recovery therapy for athletes. It supports optimal respiratory function and increases oxygen flow in the body, which helps boost overall fitness performance. 

Including recovery time between workouts is essential for optimal performance. Without proper recovery between training sessions, the risk of injury and fatigue increases. Recovery for athletes is simply crucial.

Oxygen is essential for muscle recovery. When sinuses and nasal passages are clogged, it becomes more difficult to supply oxygen to the muscles, which slows down post-workout active recovery. 

As salt therapy works to clear airways, the time it takes for oxygen to reach the muscles decreases. The end result — and a key benefit for beginner and elite athletes alike — is recovery time and promoting better sleep quality.

The body heals the microscopic tears in muscles overnight. This is why getting good sleep is important for the recovery process.

Why Are Gyms Adding Salt Therapy?

Halotherapy is a great recovery technique to offer to athletes, competitors, or anyone looking to boost their physical performance and gain a competitive edge. Fitness centers are taking note of the popularity of salt therapy rooms among patrons. From a financial perspective, they’re taking advantage of the high return on investment.

Obviously, there are up-front costs to add salt room therapy to your facility. However, the labor expenses are minimal, and ongoing consumables amount to just pennies a day. Fitness and wellness clubs around the country are experiencing significant revenue boosts as a result of adding salt therapy to their services.

As one satisfied SALT Chamber client puts it, “Having experienced the benefits firsthand, it’s just a natural fit to have a SALT Booth® installed. It provides great benefits for all types of people, it’s easy and it generates additional revenue.”

Adding Salt Therapy to your Fitness Facility

Respiratory function and lung capacity are crucial to any physical sport. Athletes tend to treat their bodies as temples to achieve peak performance. 

So, it comes as no surprise that more and more athletes are turning to salt therapy to take their performance to the next level. From improving performance to supporting better recovery for athletes, salt therapy is a powerful option.

Salt rooms are custom designed and can be installed in an existing, underutilized room or built to specifications for a brand-new space. If space is limited and there isn’t an available room to convert into a dedicated salt room, our SALT Booth® might be just what your facility needs. 

SALT Chamber can work with you to find the best option for your business and get you on your way to increased profits and happier clients.

Dedicated Salt Room

Salt rooms are a safe, relaxing, drug-free environment affording athletes a wide range of health benefits that can enhance their fitness results. The unique microclimate found in salt rooms mimics the climate in natural salt caves. The simple act of sitting and breathing in a salt room can deliver powerful benefits to athletes. 

Dedicated salt rooms reflect the aesthetic you choose, from wall coverings like Himalayan salt tiles or bricks to grains of Himalayan salt covering the floor. Lighting, seating, and other decor complete the ambiance.

Salt Booth®

A SALT Booth® is a space-saving option when you want to offer salt therapy but don’t have a lot of dedicated space available. A SALT Booth® has a 4’ x 4’ footprint and installation is plug-and-play.

This self-contained unit doesn’t require any upgrades or construction to your facility. Crucially, it gives your clients the option to experience salt therapy privately in only 10 minutes. 

Clients can spend time in a SALT Booth® to cool down following an intense workout or as a stand-alone experience to improve respiratory function. Easy to use, easy to schedule, easy to maintain: A SALT Booth® makes salt therapy that much more accessible.

Custom Multi-Use Room

Salt therapy complements many wellness services you may already offer. By converting an existing space into a multi-use room with a halogenerator, you can give your clients the option to upgrade another service to include salt therapy.

Common complementary services include meditation, massage, yoga, reiki, and more. Some fitness clubs also incorporate sound and light therapy for an additional wellness boost. Consider the services your business offers and if any could easily combine with salt therapy.

Salt Therapy: An Ace in the Hole for Athlete Recovery

SALT Chamber has worked with fitness facilities across the country, including:

• NexGen Fitness – Buffalo, New York
• Ocean Pacific Gym & Wellness – San Diego, California
• Athletic Republic – Boca Raton, Florida
• New Leaf Fitness & Spa – Lawrenceville, Illinois
• Retro Fitness – Annapolis, Maryland
• NeuroFitness Wellness Center – Ann Arbor, Michigan
• TMPL Fitness – New York City, New York
• Moxy Fitness, Lisbon, North Dakota
• Avenue X Fitness – Columbus, Ohio
• Athena Fitness & Wellness, Olympia, Washington

With decades of experience in the salt therapy and spa industries, and the largest portfolio of projects completed worldwide, SALT Chamber is the perfect partner for your new or expansion venture. 

Let SALT Chamber help transform an empty or underutilized space into a profitable salt therapy room. 

Contact us today to speak with a Salty Specialist, download our 32-page price guide magazine, and learn how easy it is to add salt therapy to your new or existing gym or fitness facility.