I have a new type of self-myofascial release that I want you to try when you do your next off-ice hockey workout. I will explain it in a second, but first, how was your Christmas? Ours was awesome – the turkey was a big success – put some sausage in the stuffing as per the suggestion I got from one of you. Cooked it first of course 😉 it was delicious!
The highlight of the holiday might just have been the Christmas Eve morning workouts at the Revolution Gym – the adults kicked it off at 7am and then the high school and college Varsity group took over from 8-9am. You think teenagers are lazy – not our crew. In the gym at 8am going hard. We had 13 athletes show up for this workout, it was awesome!
You know I talk a lot about the difference between being very good and being great? Well once again, the cream rises to the top – World Bronze medalist in the Decathlon was in for the 8am workout on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day I picked up a text from one of our Olympic Champions who was in the gym doing his workout on Christmas. Could he have taken the day off- certainly; but did completing the workout as scheduled give him a better chance to repeat as champion in a few weeks? Yes. That is what a champion does, it is the price of success.
New Way To Do Myofascial Release…
We have been using the foam roll and lacrosse ball for years to do some nice tissue quality work. We typically roll over the tissue trying to move the fascia on the muscle to disrupt adhesions or break down some of the ‘gunky’ tissue. That is what we THINK we are doing anyway – some argue otherwise. Whatever the mechanism, it makes the athletes I train feel better and I think they move better, so we do it.
In this new technique we are going to use the lacrosse ball – you could also use the foam roll, to ‘tack’ down the fascia and move the muscle underneath it. So essentially the same outcome, just coming at it from a different direction. The video below shows you what I mean.
If you cannot view the video in the player above, simply click on this link – http://youtu.be/P6psZE5p8Us
We typically do 10-15 movements per ‘trigger point’ and find 2-3 trigger points or sensitive spots per muscle before moving on. This is a technique you can do daily, even multiple times per day. Go easy at first, don’t give yourself bruises and remember to stay off of bony prominences (places where your bone lies under the muscle – like your hip bone for example).
It is not fun when you start, but it gets better and is a nice way to add some movement to the self-myofascial release which should be a part of any off-ice hockey workout.
Cheers,
M
PS – the Boxing Day sale is still on until Sunday, December 29th – you can learn more about it here – – BOXING DAY SALE FOR SKATERS AND GOALIES.