RECOVERY > TRAINING
As the years go on and I grow older, the amount of time I spend on recovery has grown exponentially. In my situation, it has become more important than the actual training. Now, don't get me wrong, practice is necessary, but the reality is if you(I) don't spend time recovering, appropriately, all that training is going to be for naught, and then you(I) wind up injured. As an endurance athlete, recovery is instrumental in establishing longevity and the following recovery tools and methods are how I survive.
The reality is, most injuries are preventable with proper movement prep and targeted recovery. When we adequately warm our muscles up before activity, and we are diligent about performing all of the appropriate actions to recover, we set our bodies up for success to conquer whatever it is we're trying to accomplish. It makes no difference whether it's going for a run, training for a race, summiting a mountain, going fishing, skiing, rowing, or merely taking on the day including all that happens from dusk till dawn. Every movement requires a balance of prep, training, and recovery. I could go on and on about movement prep, after all, that's what we do over at Vimocity - where I work. What I am here to tell you about are some of my favorite recovery tools and how I've used them to battle pain the past four years that has manifested in my sacrum, IT band, piriformis, hip flexor, and hamstring. It's been a rough roller coaster with one gluteus medius that has stopped working, entirely.
These are a few of my favorite methods of recovery, I use them interchangeably based on what type of therapy I need at the time, and I am in no way a doctor or medical professional - proceed at your own risk. When I say that I use these tools based on what I need, I evaluate my body and what kind of pain I am experiencing, then decide which device and method to use to treat the issue best. So for example, if my fascia is tight and my hamstrings and IT bands are all wound up, I would use my Tiger Tail to roll things out. But, if I have tightness in my piriformis, instead of the Tiger Tail, I would sit down on one of my Orb balls, digging in deep and rolling all the crunchies out.
Just like you change oil and do maintenance on your car, so should you for your body and in no particular order, these are some of the kinds of ongoing maintenance I do to keep myself moving.
