A New Back Massage Exercise With “The Stick”.

Hello everyone,

I have taken a little time off of blogging to concentrate on getting the word out about The Stick in Alberta, Canada.  I am now back to my schedule of providing great material and tips for Stick users.

Here is a video that explains how to use The Body Stick to massage that hard to reach place in the middle of your back.  The massage technique can be done anywhere at anytime.  People who spend a lot of time at their computers may be especially interested in this video.

Avoiding Injury With “The Stick”

You ask yourself, how can a massage stick help me to avoid injuries?  Here is how:

1. By rolling over your muscles, you can feel tightness.
2. By rolling over your tight muscles, you will loosen them up.
3. By rolling over your muscles, you may feel knots (trigger points).  Knots lead to injuries.
4. By rolling over your muscles, you will release those knots.
5. By rolling over your muscles before exercise, you will warm them up.
6. By rolling over your muscles after exercise, you will help to cool them down.
7. By rolling over your muscles, you will increase circulation.  Poor circulation leads to muscle fatigue.
8. By rolling over your muscles, you will segmentaly stretch each muscle.  Flexibility is good!
9. By rolling over your muscles, you may feel soreness that you never thought you had.
10. By rolling over your muscles, you will get to know your own body!!!

The Stick can do all this and more!!

I also found a great article that refers to avoiding fitness faux pas.  The actual title of the article is:

Don’t hurt yourself: Avoid 5 fitness faux pas

Play it safe with tips for avoiding injury on the field, in the gym

Basically the five faux pas to avoid are:

1. Not sporting the right gear
2. Ignoring instruction
3. Overdoing it
4. Not varying your routine
5. Overexposing yourself to Mother Nature

Here is the direct link – Click Here -

Massage Therapist Video About “The Stick”

Brian Morgan created this video.  He is also a strength and conditioning coach, specializing in 30 minute fat loss and wellness solutions.   It is a good video showing how The Stick is used!

 

I would like to see him, just concentrating on one muscle group at a time.  However, he does state that he is using The Stick for warm-up purposes.  There is also a short clip of him using a tennis ball to roll out the bottom of his feet.  I recommend the Foot Wheel!

Understanding the Science Behind Exercise?

To truly reap the benefits of exercise, training and recovery, I think it so important to have background knowledge in the basics of Exercise Science.

There has been countless text books, articles and studies completed on this subject.  In fact, the topic of Exercise Science is the basis of University grants and study programs.  Many Universities have Human Performance labs.  There are also countless training facilities that study human exercise at the highest level imaginable.  Not to mention the labs in the animal world as well.  Studying the effects of exercise is big business!!  How do you think the Elite Athletes of the world and their coaches get their information and training tips?

How is your knowledge?  Where do you go for advice?  What is your background in exercise?  Even though I have a Physical Education Degree, teach Sports Medicine, manage an Athletic Department and have numerous coaching and sports medicine related certifications and courses under my belt, I am always updating my knowledge and understanding of Exercise Science. 

I have provided a link to a great (short) article I found that briefly speaks of “The Science Behind Your Workout”.  Basically, the article gives the basic information of these topics:

 

1. The Principle Of Individual Differences
2. The Principle of Overload
3. The Principle of Progression
4. The Principle of Adaptation
5. The Principle of Use/Disuse
6. The Principle of Specificity

It is so important to understand what is happening to your body when you are breaking down muscle tissue and building it back up.  The Stick can help!

The Sprinter Stick

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and The Stick

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS is the fancy name to why your muscles hurt so much after a workout or training session.  There have been many suggestions to why this happens.  Some theories include:

• The muscle itself has been damaged and therefore is sore.  Microscopic tears and lesions form throughout the muscle.
• Muscle soreness is the natural occurrence after a particular bout of exercise that has a high intensity or duration.
• Muscles need to be broken down and recover in order to get bigger and stronger.
• Muscle soreness and stiffness after exercise is most common when an exercise/training program has been implemented or altered.

Needless to say, I think anyone who has experienced a tough training session can expect some soreness over the next 24 -48 hours.  The key question is how to alleviate that muscle pain!!  The Stick can help.  I know this because new research out of Australia has suggested that simply stretching out the next day is not very effective at all.  Here are some ideas from Elizabeth Quinn who is a sports medicine expert: (I Have placed “The Stick”beside the tips that apply to using this great massage tool.)

Here are some tips for dealing with soreness after exercise:

• Try an Ice Bath or Contrast Water Bath. Although no clear evidence proves they are effective, many pro athletes use them and claim they work to reduce soreness.
• Use active recovery techniques. This strategy does have some support in the research. Perform some easy low-impact aerobic exercise to increase blood flow “The Stick”. This may help diminish muscle soreness.
• Use the RICE method of treating injuries. Rest,Ice,Compression,Elevation
• Although research doesn’t find gentle stretching reduces soreness, some people find it simply feels good.
• Gently massage the affected muscles. Some research has found that massage was effective in alleviating DOMS by approximately 30% and reducing swelling, but it had no effects on muscle function. “The Stick”
• Try using a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication (aspirin or ibuprofen) to reduce the soreness temporarily, though they won’t actually speed healing.
• There is some evidence that performing Yoga may reduce DOMS.
• Avoid any vigorous activity that increases pain. “The Stick”
• Allow the soreness to subside thoroughly before performing any vigorous exercise.
• Don’t forget to warm up completely before your next exercise session. There is some research that supports that a warm-up performed immediately prior to unaccustomed eccentric exercise produces small reductions in delayed-onset muscle soreness (but cool-down performed after exercise does not). “The Stick”
• If your pain persists longer than about 7 days or increases despite these measures, consult your physician.
• Learn something from the experience! Use prevention first. 

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness – Prevention
While DOMS is common and annoying, it is not a necessary part of exercise. There are many things you can do to prevent, avoid and shorten the duration of DOMS:

• Warm up thoroughly before activity and cool down completely afterward. “The Stick”
• Cool Down with gentle stretching after exercise. “The Stick”
• Follow the Ten Percent Rule. When beginning a new activity start gradually and build up your time and intensity no more than ten percent per week.
• Start a new weight lifting routine with light weights and high reps (10-12) and gradually increase the amount you lift over several weeks.
• Avoid making sudden major changes in the type of exercise you do.
• Avoid making sudden major changes in the amount of time that you exercise.

As you can see “The Stick” can be instrumental in reducing muscle soreness.

To read the full article from Elizabeth Quinn click here.

Using The Stick in Cold Weather

Since I live in an area in Alberta, Canada where there has been a substantial amount of snowfall and cold weather this year, I decided to experiment a little with The Stick as a warm-up and cool-down tool in cold weather.  Here are some relevant Stick tips.

Here is what we know already about The Stick as a warm-up/cool-down tool:

• A typical warm-up for healthy muscle tissue is about 20 progressively deeper passes over each muscle group (about 30 seconds per area).
• By warming up muscles for exercise, the muscles are becoming stimulated and ready to perform by increasing the blood flow to that muscle group.
• A typical cool-down for healthy muscle tissue is about 20 progressively deeper passes over each muscle group (about 30 seconds per area).
• By cooling down muscles after exercise, muscles are permitted to slowly return to their resting state and blood pooling will be reduced.  Soreness and stiffness can be diminished with a proper cool-down, leading to  increased recovery for the next time training takes place.  Never mind allowing your heart to recover.

Here is what I have been doing:

1. Rolling over my legs (one leg @ a time) in my house, starting with quads, then hamstrings, then calves.
2. Switching legs
3. Lower back/Upper Back
4. A little on the arms.
5. Going out for a run in the cold/snow.
6. Light stretching on thet front step of my house.
7. Repeating steps 1-4 in my house.
8. Stretching my lower back with the Posture Curve!

My findings have been very impressive.  I feel fantastic!  Due to the fact that I warm-up with The Stick, my muscles are prepared for exercise without expending energy.  This is a real benefit since the cold and snow already zap a lot of energy to begin with.  I can start my run right away without spending extra time outside “warming-up”.  My muscles are primed and ready to go.

You may notice that when you do exercise outside that your muscles due become stiff and cold even though you are exercising.  This is really apparent when your done your workout.  Typically your legs are a little cold and stiff.  This is where The Stick is even more impressive.  By rolling over your muscles, you actually are speeding up circulation by bringing blood flow to the area you are rolling.  Your legs actually warm-up a little at the same time you are flushing out the lactic acid that has built up from your training session.

Needless to say, The Stick is amazing!!

P.S.- My wife, who is the real runner, loves using The Stick too!!

P.S.S – These same results will work for your pets and horses!!