Self Myofascial Release/soft tissue Work: Mandatory for Masters Athletes

I think everyone in the athletic community appreciates the value of massage as it relates to recovery and performance.
But the problem with massage, or any manual therapy, is 3 fold:
1. It's expensive: $45-100+ per hr.
2. Convenience or time issues: have to go to wherever to get the session done
3. Skill set of practitioner. As with any profession there are some good and some not so good practitioners and you could spend some time and waste some money on those who don't work for you.

So let's take a step back and see why soft tissue work, of any sort, is so valuable. Over time, and as we age, we accumulate micro-trauma to our tissue, both muscular and fascial. Our training creates microscopic tears in muscle tissue which if left unattended can turn into spasms and eventually trigger points. All of those impair optimal muscle function and contraction, create pain, inhibit recovery and hurt performance.
I think I've made it clear as to how much I believe in massage therapy and a good practitioner is worth their weight in gold IMO. But we can't always do massage therapy as much as we would like so we need to find alternative soft tissue work.
The solution is in Self Myofascial Release (SMR, from now on).
This involves the use of sticks, foam rollers, and small ball work to "iron out" those kinks and muscle spasms and try to preserve tissue quality and thus function. Essentially, you are using your body weight to allow the tool to "iron out" the knots and kinks that accumulate over time.
SMR should be a regular, consistent part of any Masters athlete's training regimen as important as mobility, strength, power or any other facet of athletic development. You will feel better and move better if you do it consistently as part of your training or at other convenient times of the day. And much like mobility work, a little will work wonders and you can even do it several times a day.
Your body will thank you for it.
Next week we will have a YouTube demo of some of the devices and also show a quick foam rolling regimen.

Train hard and train smart!
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