Amar’e Stoudemire shares photo of him soaking in red wine bath on Instagram

Red, red wine makes him feel so fine, keeps him rocking all of the time.

 

With a hat tip to Neil Diamond and UB40, Knicks big man Amar’e Stoudemire posted a picture Wednesday on his Instagram page of himself immersed in a red-wine bath, with the caption that read in part: “Recovery Day! Red Wine Bath !! #Kinging”

Bathing in red wine — known as vinotherapy — is said to aid recovery and boost circulation by using grape seeds, skin and stems to heal and rejuvenate the body.

“It’s a rejuvenation and it’s not 100% red wine. It’s water and wine combined, but majority red wine,” Stoudemire said after practice on Thursday. “The red wine bath is very important to me because it allows me to, it creates more circulation in my red blood cells. Plus, it’s very hot, so it’s like a hot tub.

“But it’s also the red wine just kind of soothes the body, which follows up with a 90-minute massage and then also you have the ancient tub, so you have like a salt tub and a hot tub and a cold plunge and a pool and you just kind of mix it all up.”

Stoudemire said he’s been soaking in the “30- to 40-minute” baths “at a place here in New York” at the recommendation of his wife “for like 6-to-8 months,” most recently on Wednesday after the Knicks had played three games in the previous four nights.

“I felt great and after doing that recovery day, my legs felt rejuvenated. I felt great so I’m going to continue to do that for sure,” Stoudemire said. “My wife told me about it and so I started to look into it myself and it turned out to be a pretty good thing.”

Asked what type and quality of wines used in the baths, the six-time All-Star added, “I don’t know, I haven’t tasted it.”

Stoudemire opened last season on minutes and games restrictions following multiple knee surgeries, but he finished strong with averages of 16 points and 28 minutes over his final 21 appearances.

First-year coach Derek Fisher and the Knicks’ medical staff have periodically backed off on the 13-year veteran in practices during training camp, with the aim to have Stoudemire available for more than the 65 games he appeared in last season.

“I feel great. My body feels great. I worked extremely hard this offseason to be in top shape and be there full-time. But my body feels great. I feel confident. Hopefully it pans out well,” Stoudemire said last week. “It has been a long time since I have been this excited to start the year off.

“Last year was a difficult year. I think this year is a different story. I feel so much better now than I did last year. I’m healthy. I feel strong. So it’s definitely a different situation. Obviously (I want) to reach back to my dominant self. I feel like I’m there now. I feel like my body is feeling so much stronger, so I feel dominant.”

Stoudemire scored a preseason-high eight points and added five rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench in Tuesday’s win over Philadelphia in Syracuse.

“Amar’e is still a great athlete,” Fisher said Thursday. “We often spend times comparing guys to what we consider their form that they used to have or they used to be in. When you consider what Amar’e has experienced and been through, to be so passionate about competing at a high level, doing all the little things necessary to try and stay healthy, those things are not just for him. That is for his team.

“So it says a lot about who he is and why he’s here. He has been very clear about the fact that he is excited about this season and he wants to not just have success individually but he wants our team to have success.”