This is How I Roll

I like to treat myself to a massage three times a week, and not just an absent-minded shoulder rub. I’m talking about a deep tissue, muscle relaxing, performance-enhancing massage. Sounds heavenly, right? Where do I find the time and resources to indulgence myself like that? I’ll share my secret with you…This is self-massage and it’s free with a foam roller. This is such an easy way to treat our bodies right, not only with extra TLC but potentially by promoting healing and recovery.

What is foam rolling and how does it help?

Using a foam roller, or for more precise targeting, a lacrosse ball, apply low pressure by rolling in a long smooth motion across different muscle groups. This action massages the fibrous layer of connective tissue (the myofascial tissue) that surrounds the muscles. By massaging this tissue and smoothing out any knots and binding, we increase blood flow which helps with recovery and increases range of motion.

When should I foam roll?

In a perfect world, foam roll before and after each work out. I like to hit the tight spots coming into a workout. My top three restricted areas are my calves, quads, and upper back. Even with a standing desk, I find my ankles could use a little more mobility after a day at the office. I’ll get a fine looking squat with a little more movement in my joints. So many movements in my daily life are quad dominant so they get knotted up easily and affect my hip flexor mobility and lower back. Sometimes I use the heel of my hand or a lacrosse ball on my legs before a workout if I don’t have time for a full foam roll session. The upper back, or thoracic spine, likes a little attention after hours of phone calls, meetings, and desk fatigue. Even with good posture awareness, this area gets stuck from the occasional slouch or hunch. If I have the roller handy, a nice long roll over my upper back with my neck cradled safely in my hands, I feel all the day’s tension fall away- like water off a duck’s back.

After a workout hit all these spots again and add a nice long roll on the IT band down the side of your leg. For me, with a tricky knee, so much tension builds there and the massage of that tissue makes me a better person. Complete the roll out with the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back.

How long should it take?

For a pre-workout roll, take about 5 minutes, and spend up to 15 minutes as part of a cool down. Roll at a pace of about 1 inch per second, or slower. If you hit a very tender spot, try rolling the area around that first to avoid doing any damage. A little discomfort is normal, but severe pain is not what we are going for here.

Beginner tips:

If you are new to rolling, start slowly. Ask your trainer for instructions and to check that you are hitting the sweet spots. Be sure not to aggravate anything that is already inflamed. Find a way to incorporate this into your training during a dynamic warm-up or a cooldown, or both. Take your time with it, and breathe.

Indulgence

Remember this is your indulgence. Your deep tissue massage. Digging deeper into a painful area can cause tissue or nerve damage, so steer clear of the “no pain, no gain” mentality. If you listen to your muscles and the myofascial tissue surrounding them, you want to hear them take a little breath and then sigh out a sweet, “Thank you for taking care of me.”

What is a Warm up?

If you don’t know what a warm up is, you have either never trained before in your life, or you have been living under a rock for the past 50 years. While most people do know and appreciate the importance of a warm up, the majority are either too lazy to do them, or they perform them incorrectly, SO incorrectly that in some cases, it may be more beneficial to not warm up at all. In this article, you’re going to learn when and how you should warm-up your body, and when and how to stretch.

For those of you who aren’t as familiar with what a warmup is, here is what Tim Roberson of STACK.com has to say:

“The main purpose behind [a dynamic warm-up], in addition to increasing the blood flow to the exercise musculature, is to increase the nervous system awareness. You’re trying to stimulate that awareness to the [exercises] that are going to follow. It’s the stepping stone before you actually start doing [more] intense exercises.” (STACK)

This definition really only tells half the story. The next half of a warm-up should consist of stretching. Only after our bodies have been primed, can we optimally stretch our muscles to illicit the best performance in the proceeding workout. So to summarize, here is how we should feel after our warmup:

-Increased Body Temperature

-Improved Joint lubrication

-Engaged Nervous System

-Improved Flexibility

-Grooved Movement patterns (Gentilcore)

What Am I Doing Wrong?

We need to get one thing straight here. The warm-up is exactly what it is, a warm-up. It should be specific to the work that is going to be done in the workout, but it should NOT be THE WORKOUT. Movements that are extremely intense, or put large amounts of stress into the muscular and nervous systems, should not be in the warm-up. These include: Max-Effort Plyometrics, Sprints, or high-intensity strength training. These movements can not be performed safely in a warm-up, because in order to execute them properly, we need an engaged nervous system, improved flexibility, increased body temperature, etc., which are all things we are trying to achieve with the warm-up.

I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people going straight to static stretching after sitting in a classroom for six hours. Have you ever tried to pull an uncooked steak apart? It doesn’t happen. If you heat it up, the steak is much more pliable. The same principal is true with our muscles. Without getting into the physiology of stretching, I will tell you that you can easily pull a muscle (over-stretch), and/or won’t be optimally preparing yourself for the work to follow, without an increased body temperature.

What SHOULD I DO?

Don’t worry, although I just picked apart your whole stretching routine, chances are you can keep it. As long as you do the following before your stretch, you should be golden. You need to do a dynamic warmup. In a dynamic warm up, exercises should be specific to the upcoming workout. It should begin with lower intensity, single-joint movements and progressively move towards medium-intensity, multi-joint movements. (Cressey) It can be preceded by soft-tissue work, but that is for a whole other article. It’s important to work areas such as the ankle, hip, and thoracic spine. (Cressey) The reason being is, for most of us who are sitting at a desk all day, these areas tend to be the tightest. Another factor to point out would be that these three areas have a tremendous amount of responsibility in some of the most basic functions of movement, such as twisting, bending, extending, pushing, and pulling.

EVEN WHEN YOU ARE WARM, STRETCHING CAN BE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE. Although this takes an individualized assessment, stretching phasic (lengthened or under-active) muscles will just worsen any postural imbalances you may have, and can lead to pain and injury. Stretching tonic (tight or over-active) muscles, will help balance postural alignment, and move the body closer to an optimal bio-mechanical position (Chek).

Group Warm-ups

When in a group setting, it isn’t realistic to assess everyone for their own postural imbalances. This can apply to boot camps, sports teams, and gym classes. In this case, the best we can do is stretch each muscle and it’s antagonist (opposite muscle). An example of this would be the bicep and tricep. Stretching both will maintain the current postural alignment, but still provide the benefit of increased flexibility in the muscle.

Should I Change my Warm-up on a Regular Basis?

Like previously mentioned, the warm-up should be specific to what’s going to take place in the main workout. It never hurts to add variety, however, but if your workout never changes, then generally, your warm-up won’t have to either. Of course, if your postural status is improving with corrective stretching and exercises, then your stretches will have to change as well.

Don’t Overdue It

There is one purpose to a warm-up, and we’ve already mentioned what that is. It’s to prepare for the main workout to come. Warm-ups that are too intense or are too long will actually take away from the main workout / competition / sports practice.

Remove Unnecessary Exercises

There are many coaches out there who will put high-intensity, low-volume exercises in their warm-ups. These exercises really deserve to be part of the workout themselves. Warm-ups generally should consist of exercises at a low to medium intensity at medium to high volume. The problems happen when you mix a high-intensity exercise with high volume. This is just asking for burnout and reduced performance in the actual competition / workout / sports practice.

Warm-ups are hardly ever changed, so if an athlete is practicing for their sport 5-6 times/week and they are using the same, high-intensity exercise over and over in their warm-up, they will eventually create some sort of postural imbalance, as well as fatigue quicker, and start to see diminishing gains. (Zatsiorsky, 96) If the coach is insisting on continuing the use of high intensity exercises, they should make sure to properly use, “rest-exercise alternation and proper exercise sequencing to alleviate fatigue.” (Zatsiorsky, 96).

Most coaches use isometric training on the field or on the court because it’s simple, doesn’t require equipment, and seems to get the job done. However, they should be aware that accommodation to isometric exercises happens quickly, and gains tend to peak between 6-8 weeks. (Zatsiorsky, 124).

If you’d like to learn more about prehab, preventing injury, and warming up correctly, Sign up in the form below! I’ll send you free content on how to improve all of these things, in the most effective way possible.

Works Cited

Chek, Paul.How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy!: Your Personalized 4-step Guide to Looking and Feeling Great from the inside out. San Diego, CA: C.H.E.K. Institute, 2004. Print.

Cressey, Eric. “The 6 Characteristics of a Good Dynamic Warm-up | Eric Cressey | High Performance

Training, Personal Training.”Eric Cressey. N.p., 20 Dec. 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.

“Dynamic Warm-ups vs Static Stretching.”STACKSept. 2008: n. pag. Web.

Gentilcore, Tony. “The Perfect Warm-Up.”Tony Gentilcore. N.p., 23 May 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.

N.p., n.d. Web.

Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M., and William J. Kraemer.Science and Practice of Strength Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2006. Print.