The Importance of Recovery: Step 2 Stretching and Step 3 SMR

Over the past several weeks I have been exploring methods of recovery. It’s not simply about resting the body after an exercise session, but about intelligently helping the body heal and functionally move to reach healthy balance within the body.

In the June 28 2020 post I explain there is a constant play of stability and mobility. Certain areas in our body function best when strong and stable and other parts of the body function best when flexible and mobile.

In the July 5 2020 post I explore how strength training helps build the body to function optimally. I highly recommend strength training with a plan designed by a certified personal trainer as it’s important to have a solid program and system built to work with your unique set of strengths and weaknesses.

In this post we are going to delve into stretching and self-massage, which is step two and three of my recommended list of recovery methods.

Certain parts of the body become tight as the muscles shorten from overuse and poor posture. For example: a person’s job is to shovel snow every day for six months of the year. That repetitive motion of holding the shovel and using the front torso muscles repeatedly will create very short and tight chest muscles and abdominals with long and weak back muscles. Eventually, if not corrected by stretching the front body and strengthening the back body, dysfunction may occur and an overuse injury and chronic pain could result. Another example: a person with a desk job who sits for 8 hours a day with their back and shoulders rounding forward. The front torso muscles and hip flexors will become short and tight while the back muscles and hip extensors (gluteals) will become weak, eventually resulting in chronic discomfort in the low back or shoulder girdle.

For step 2: stretching tight areas and strengthening weak areas of the body help the joints have correct range of motion so the joints that need to be more stable don’t become compromised. 

My fave way to stretch? Dynamically: meaning a slowly moving the joint in large ranges of motion for a certain period of time. Check out the video below for a 12 minute lower body dynamic stretch.

For step 3: I like self massage using either a foam roller or 1-2 small soft lacrosse balls using a technique called self-myofascial release (SMR). Myofascial release is a set of techniques that aim to give fascia (the cling wrap around muscles and joints) a workout, stretching and smoothing it so your body can work optimally. 

Studies show that SMR helps reduce tissue tension. This allows muscles to experience an increase in joint range of motion and helps reduce the risk of developing adhesions. Studies also show that performing SMR after a hard exercise session helps reduce soreness, which may contribute to quicker exercise recovery times. Another benefit of SMR is it promotes a feeling of relaxation after a workout, which helps elevate daily stress.

In the June 28 2020 post I provided a quick foam rolling routine (a SMR technique) that is helpful to do every day or every other day. For this post here is a feed good dynamic stretch routine. Enjoy!