A Rolling Start...

You don’t have to tie yourself up in knots to get the best results.

Everyone knows that muscles need to be pliable and flexible to function to the there optimum and allow us to carry out day-to-day movements most efficiently.

All this considered, very few people pay enough attention to the quality of their muscle tissue. Choosing more often than not to spend a little longer in the gym working hard!

For those with the time and the money I offer sports massage therapy, however of late, with great success, I have been encouraging clients to start their training session with a little bit of soft tissue work by using the foam roller.

Despite being uncomfortable at first, self-myofascial release (SMR) on a foam roller offers numerous benefits to its recipient including relief from trigger points, adhesions and scar tissues within muscles.

It works thanks to a principle known as autogenic inhibition. Within each muscle-tendon junction there is a mechanoreceptor known as The Golgi Tendon Organ (GTO) that are highly sensitive to changes in muscle tension.

When excessive tension occurs within a muscle to the point of injury, The GTO kicks in and stimulates muscles spindles to relax the muscle. This reflex reaction is called autogenic inhibition.

Whilst The GTO offers protection from injury if stimulated correctly (by foam rolling) it can offer a highly effective method of gaining increase flexibility and pliability within a muscle.

With foam rolling you can stimulate the muscle tension, which in turn will cause the GTO to relax the muscle. In essence giving you a stretch and some!

I can often be heard to say that static stretching at the end of your session can increase your strength by up to 20%. Whilst stretching is important, stretching alone will only improve the length of your muscle. SMR with a foam roller will break up all the knots, adhesions and scar tissue that accumulate over time and will not only improve your range of motion but also improve the quality of tissue.

The techniques of foam rolling are really easy to learn. By simply sandwiching the foam roller between you and the floor and rolling the target muscle across it slowly you can get some fantastic results.

If you’re not already using a foam roller to help improve tissue quality, you need to be.