MASSAGE / FOAM ROLL 5/5 How to Stay Injury Free and Feeling Strong

Muscle growth and endurance is founded on one key principal: stressors. Without stressors there could be no results. If you do not engage in resistance training, you cannot build more muscle. Same goes for endurance: if you do not train yourself to your limits, you will not create a higher endurance threshold. Everyone does well enough at working hard during the workout, but the recovery part is something of a different beast altogether. Recovery takes time and for some it seems a tedious task. If not done correctly, or at all, it can cause muscle imbalances, chronic headaches, and eventually could lead to injury. These simple steps will help speed up recovery and ultimately help to secure the results of the hard work many people are already doing.

MASSAGE / FOAM ROLL

Muscles all pull on our bones and as long as they are pulling evenly to keep the body symmetrical everything is fine. Once you continue to perform a regular routine activity like driving, or skateboarding, or golfing, you are using unilateral movement patterns. This essentially means that muscles on one side of your body may be getting a good workout, but their mirror counterparts on the opposite side are not getting used, but instead elongated and effectively weakened. This is the source of muscular imbalances which can lead to chronic pain and eventually if not treated can lead to an injury. If you continue to foam roll and get regular massages as necessary you can minimize your muscular imbalances effect on your flexibility and health.

If you are someone who works out three days a week or more, you had better be foam rolling. This small thing will make a huge difference in your recovery and performance. There are several different kinds of foam rollers out there, some are smooth and soft other are hard and have knobs. One thing that everyone who foam rolls on a regular basis knows is that it is painful. This is, I think behind time consumption, the main reason for people not foam rolling. Well suck it up and do what needs to be done. After a couple of weeks the pain will decrease due to the continued maintenance.

A good massage should be a little painful, at the very least. Working out muscle knots is tough and can be more painful than those grueling leg days you put yourself through. Especially if you have some tight muscles that have not been worked on in a while. Getting a good sports massage the massage therapist, if they are any good, will know what to do as long as you tell them what pain you are feeling. You may not understand why if you have a tight right shoulder they may need to work on your left hip, or your lats.

My advice go get a foam roller and find yourself a massage therapist, preferably one who is a specialist is fascial release or sports massage. Use the foam roller once a day for muscle maintenance. See your massage therapist once a month or even more if you want and can afford it. I work my massages costs into my bills because it is that important to me.

Keep your muscles long and loose, and you will have less pain, be more flexible, and get stronger fast than ever before.