Photo Credit: Rogue Fitness
You've got your training, nutrition, and sleep on point, but your job isn't done yet. There's a whole lot more you can do to maximize gains and it involves self-myofascial release (SMR) work. We're not talking about a few foam rolls on the IT band before you squat, though. We're talking about extreme SMR work. This is the type of work that separates the truly dedicated from those who are just messing around.
The fascia is a thin sheet of connective tissue that surrounds every organ and major tissue in the human body. It's made up of collagen that interlocks in a wavy pattern that allows it to be strong, yet flexible.
There are two main types of fascia, visceral and deep. Visceral fascia connects and suspends the internal organs of the body. Deep fascia is the connective tissue surrounding the muscular system. It wraps around every muscle and muscle fiber, separating them to reduce muscular friction. It also allows separation of the nerves, blood vessels, and capillaries that pass through them.
Fascia can undergo trauma over time, which will result in the accumulation of fibrotic scar tissue, making the connective tissue bind together. This makes it restrictive and inflexible and reduces the function of muscle in terms of flexibility, contractibility, and blood flow. In short, that can really hamper your gains.
Pick up one of those knobby black rollers (such as a RumbleRoller). This type of roller is much harder than a foam roller. Also, get a lacrosse ball. Other apparatuses are often just too soft and pale in comparison.
You can use these other devices to test just how bad off you are. If you can't fall asleep while lying on a tennis ball or regular foam roller because it causes you discomfort, then it should be an eye opener to how much work you really need to do.
The roller isn't precise enough to effectively work the hamstrings. Unlike other muscles where the individual heads are closer together, the hamstrings run farther apart along the femur. The lacrosse ball, however, can get in between each hamstring head that's missed by the roller.
Use the lacrosse ball on any hard chair. This allows you to accommodate flexibility while imposing the most bodyweight on one particular spot. The best ways to use the ball are:
The front delt is both a shoulder flexor and an adductor and needs to be rolled out on both aspects. When rolling horizontally for adduction, you want to get deep toward the origin of the muscle, next to the clavicle and above the pec. There tends to be a lot of adhesion at that spot. You can add more weight by hiking your butt in the air.
Lie on your side on top of the roller and roll from the middle of the humerus to the top of the shoulder. There are seven deltoid heads. Three are reachable from this point, so changing your angle to slightly forward and slightly back will allow you to hit multiple heads. To increase tension and dig in further, flex your arm at about a 90-degree angle and place your hand under the elbow to "lift" it up as you move along the roller.
Lie face down on top of the roller with your arm extended out and externally rotated. Roll from the sternum to the armpit insertions. You can angle yourself slightly to hit the clavicular head of the pecs. To hit the bottom portion of the pectorals, move your arm upward a few degrees and roll in a slightly diagonal path.
Use the same starting position as you did for the pecs, but move the biceps across the roller. You can stop at certain trigger points and rotate your arm perpendicularly to the muscle.
It's probably hard for anybody to find time to do SMR on the entire body, so there are logical ways to break up the work:
Ask Me Anything I receive great questions in my T Nation Community Coaching Lab. If…
Ask Me Anything I get a lot of great questions in my T Nation Community…
An Exaggerated Warm-Up Isn't Helpful I don't know when the lengthy warm-up became a thing,…
Training and Your Metabolic State When I think "workout," I think of speeds. Your metabolic…