Why I Started Using A Muscle Recovery Balm BEFORE My Workouts
Posted by Kris Petersen on May 7th 2026
Recovery & Performance
Why I Started Using A Muscle Recovery Balm BEFORE My Workouts
Most people reach for a recovery product after training. I used to. Then I realized the biggest obstacle to a good workout wasn't what happened after I trained. It was getting my body ready to train in the first place.
As I've gotten older, I find myself stiff and sore even on days I'm not training. Not injured. Not broken. Just carrying the kind of accumulated tightness that builds up in active bodies over time. My knee, my lower back, my shoulders and traps. Some days that stiffness is manageable. Some days it's the thing that talks me out of a run, a bike ride, a hike, or a dumbbell circuit I had every intention of doing. And I realized at some point that this was the real problem I needed to solve — not recovery after training, but the friction that was stopping me from training in the first place.
That's when I started applying Performance Balm before my workouts instead of only after. And the change wasn't just physical. It changed how motivated I felt to start.
The Real Barrier After 40 Isn't the Workout. It's the Start.
If you're over 40 and still training consistently, you know this feeling. You want to work out. You have the time. But your knee is nagging, your lower back is tight, your shoulders feel like they need 20 minutes of warm-up just to get to neutral. And somewhere in that friction is the thought: maybe today isn't the day.
That thought is the enemy. Not laziness. Not lack of discipline. Just the very real physical discomfort of a body that hasn't been primed to move yet. Address that discomfort and the motivation problem largely solves itself. Show up already feeling better and the workout happens. Skip the pre-training preparation and that stiffness becomes a reason to stay on the couch.
For me, applying Performance Balm 5 to 10 minutes before I train is what addresses that barrier. The circulation increase is real. The reduction in aching and stiffness is real. And the psychological effect of feeling your body respond before you even start moving is something I didn't expect but now rely on completely.
Why Stiffness Happens in the First Place
Joint stiffness and muscle tightness that persists even on rest days are signs of reduced synovial fluid viscosity, accumulated metabolic byproducts in tissue, and the slower inflammatory regulation that comes with age. It is not a sign that something is wrong. It is a sign that your body needs more intentional preparation before it performs. Topical application of warming and cooling agents accelerates that preparation process significantly by increasing local circulation and signaling tissue to get ready for load.
What Each Ingredient Is Doing Before You Train
When I looked at Performance Balm's active ingredients through the lens of pre-training preparation rather than post-training recovery, the case for applying it before workouts became clear. Here's what each key ingredient actually does when you apply it before you start moving:
Menthol — Immediate Circulation Signal
Menthol activates cold-sensitive receptors in the skin, producing that sharp cooling sensation you feel the moment the balm contacts skin. More importantly for pre-training use, this reaction triggers a localized increase in blood flow to the area. More blood flow means more oxygen and more warmth delivered to the muscle tissue before you load it. You feel it as cooling. Your tissue experiences it as preparation.
Camphor — Deep Warming and Circulation Support
Where menthol works quickly at the surface, camphor works deeper and more slowly, producing a genuine warming effect in the underlying tissue by stimulating thermoreceptors and supporting local circulation. Applied before training, camphor helps ease the stiffness in joints and deep muscle tissue that menthol alone doesn't reach. The combination of the two creates a dual thermal effect that accelerates the tissue preparation your warm-up is trying to accomplish and does it faster.
Arnica Montana — Clearing the Baseline
Arnica's reputation is built on post-training use and that reputation is well earned. But applying arnica before training also makes biological sense. If you're carrying residual soreness or stiffness from a previous session, arnica applied before your next workout helps address that accumulated tissue state before you add more load on top of it. Think of it as clearing the baseline before you build on it again.
Magnesium Chloride — Releasing Muscle Tension
Magnesium plays a critical role in muscle contraction and relaxation. It is literally the mineral that allows muscles to release. Many people who train hard are chronically low in magnesium, which shows up as excessive muscle tightness, cramping, and reduced range of motion. Topical magnesium applied before training helps address localized tightness in a way that oral magnesium simply cannot target. Applying it to a chronically tight lower back or shoulder before you train is meaningfully different from taking a supplement and hoping it reaches the right place.
The warm-up is trying to do what a good pre-training topical does faster and more directly. Increase local circulation. Reduce stiffness. Prepare tissue for load. Using both together is not redundant. It is additive.
What I Actually Do Now
My pre-training routine is simple and takes less than 10 minutes total. I apply Performance Balm to the specific areas that tend to give me trouble — my knee, lower back, shoulders, and traps — about 5 minutes before I start moving. Then I go into dynamic warm-up while it absorbs and starts working.
My Pre-Training Protocol
Apply Performance Balm to target areas → 5 minutes of dynamic movement — leg swings, hip circles, shoulder rotations, thoracic rotations → 2 to 3 warm-up sets at 40 to 50% of working weight before your first working set. The balm is doing its job while you move, and by the time you hit your first real set your body is genuinely ready rather than still waking up.
The difference I noticed after making this change wasn't subtle. My first working sets started feeling like my third or fourth working sets used to feel. The stiffness that used to take me 20 minutes to work through was already gone before I started. My range of motion on the first rep was the same as my range of motion on the last. And the motivation to actually start — which had been the real issue all along — stopped being a battle.
When your body feels better before you begin, starting is easier. And when starting is easier, consistency follows. That compounding effect over weeks and months is worth more than any single great workout.
Does This Mean You Skip the Post-Training Application?
No — and this is an important distinction. Pre-training application and post-training application serve different purposes and neither replaces the other.
Before Training
Prepare tissue for load. Increase local circulation. Reduce pre-existing stiffness and aching. Improve range of motion from rep one. The goal is preparation — getting your body ready to do the work well and motivated enough to start.
After Training
Address the inflammation and tissue stress created by training. Support repair processes. Reduce next-day soreness. The goal is recovery — helping your body adapt to the work you just did and come back ready to do it again.
I use Performance Balm at both ends. Before training on the areas I'm going to load. After training on the areas that worked hardest. In the evening I switch to the CBD Lavender Balm. The beeswax base creates a slower, extended release that works through the night while I sleep. Each product has its phase and its purpose. Using them that way is what makes the whole routine work.
The Bottom Line
Using a muscle recovery balm before training isn't a hack or a workaround. It's a logical application of what the ingredients actually do at a physiological level, combined with the honest acknowledgment that for men over 40 the hardest part of a workout is often just getting comfortable enough to start.
If your knee is nagging, your lower back is stiff, your shoulders are carrying tension from the day before — that discomfort is solvable. It doesn't have to be the reason you skip the run or push the workout to tomorrow. Five minutes and a small amount of balm on the right areas can change the entire trajectory of how a training day goes.
Train hard. Recover harder. Age well. In that order — but with recovery support running through all three.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Amazing Kind products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. This article is for educational and informational purposes only.
Before. After. All Night.
Performance Balm for pre and post training. CBD Lavender Balm for extended overnight recovery. Two products. Every phase covered.