Rolling Your Way to a PB!

Hey there happy readers, hopefully you all recovered well after a great weekend at the The Sparke Helmore Triathlon Festival. The New Run festival is upon us and I wish all of those competing in possibly their first 10k, half marathon and of course the inaugural Newcastle Marathon all the best come April 6th. 

Last month I touched on the concept of dynamic mobility and just how much it can benefit your ability to get the most out of your exercise. As Kelly Starrett, author of “becoming the Supple Leopard” says, mobility is all about reprogramming the body to move the right way. This time around I wanted to touch on the importance of regular maintenance and how this, combined with mobility work can drastically improve your sporting performance, limit those hideous days off from over training, while at the same time minimise soreness and injury that may be a result of pushing it just a bit too hard.

For me, one of the most useful tools in the maintenance shed is the physio roller. This small and relatively cheap piece of kit, (available from: http://www.trispecific.com/triggerpoint-therapy/) used regularly can not only break up years of scar tissue. It can help your ability to reprogram your muscles and give your muscles that extra spark, increasing blood flow and waking them up the right way pre workout too. Used as little as 10-15 minutes a couple times a week (ideally daily) is a great little self injury insurance program that you deserve to invest in yourself! If done the right way, you too will be rolling your way to a PB. 

So the nuts and blots of using a physio roller are really simple. Consistently roll over the physio roller with the intended muscle for about 30 seconds, swap sides, do the other leg and then move on. If you have time definitely repeat! You can not do this too much- you will only get more benefit. 

My favourite areas are absolutely the calves, hamstrings, quads, ITB, hip flexor, glutes, back and pecs. Below should be a great little illustration of how to get stuck into the basics of using a physio roller, If you have any further questions pop in for a demo or give us a call- we would love to show you how to roll…

Happy training and above all- Enjoy!!!

James Staciwa

Chiropractor