Gravity Fx Fitness

A great way to assist your warm up and help prevent injuries is through use of the Stick and a tennis ball.  The tennis ball is great for loosening up the fascia (connective tissue) in the arch of your foot.

Your fascia provides support for your muscles and is spread all throughout your body in different layers and in diagonal patterns, as well as vertical and horizontal.

Tight (restricted) fascia in your feet can cause problems further up the body, so a simple way to work them is with a little self massage.  You can do this seated or standing by rolling the ball underneath your foot for 30 seconds to two minutes, using an amount of pressure that works for you.  You can progress to a golf ball if needed, as long as you didn’t just injure your foot.

This is also good to do before you exercise or prior to stretching.  Same thing applies to massage with the Stick. If you have special issues or health concerns check with your doctor or therapist first.

Brian Morgan

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I’m going to do a product review of two different self massage tools – the Stick and the Tiger Tail.  I’ve used both of them and am also a massage therapist, so I’ll try to give you my professional opinion.

Frequently I am asked how often someone should get a massage.  I usually tell them it depends on what the problem is, but ideally if you are exercising regularly and fairly intensely, once a week.

I realize that most people don’t have the time and/or finances for this, especially in today’s economy.  Many hard training athletes will often use some form of self massage in their warmup, whether it is a rolling massager like the Stick or a foam roll.

Foam roll massage uses very deep pressure and can be pretty painful the first week or so, even with big, strong athletes.  I sometimes use a massage ball or tennis ball for some deep tissue work, but I will leave that for another article.

I use both of these devices prior to lower body exercise or flexibility work such as flex band stretching.  Massage prior to stretching will get better results.

Expert strength coach Mike Boyle gives this analogy – if you have a knot in a rope and you pull on both ends of the rope, the knot gets tighter.  Muscles will behave similarly if you don’t relieve the excess tension in the muscle before stretching.

The Stick has individual rollers which conform to the shape of your muscles and can be used at different speeds and you can vary the pressure to meet your needs.  Tiger Tail has a single roller that provides a little more firmness if you prefer deeper pressure.

It is also smaller, making it convenient for taking it with you in your workout bag, though they are both very portable.  I like both of them and would recommend either one.

The Stick is used in sports training centers and by athletes at all levels.  Hard training individuals need some type of massage to help keep injuries to a minimum and increase the tissue quality of the muscles.

Having a flexible muscle with lots of “knots” isn’t good and trying to stretch a muscle with knots without massaging them first isn’t wise.

My advice is to use some form of self massage and then get a professional massage as often as you can.

You can find both of these items at PerformBetter.com – click on Flexibility and Recovery.

Learn how to be pain free and make your body unbreakable.

Get moving!

Brian

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