Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Discussions on improving your BJJ, navigating mat-politics and all aspects of the jiu jitsu lifestyle. Multiple weekly episodes for grapplers of any level. Hosted by JT and Joey - Australian jiu jitsu black belts, strength coaches, and creators of Bulletproof For BJJ App. Based out of Sydney, Australia
Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Unlocking Your Body's Potential: The Power Of Soft Tissue Work
Why have so many disavowed the power of massage and soft tissue work? If something is not "scientifically proven" does it deserve to be totally thrown out? We explore the underrated power of soft tissue work as one of the most effective tools for improving training performance and preventing injuries. Massage, rolling and trigger point techniques are essential despite scientific controversy, delivering real-world results that dramatically improve movement and alleviate pain. Tune in for a little knowledge on a subject you may have thrown out!
Increase athleticism, reduce injuries and build a grapplers physique with the Bulletproof for BJJ App. Start your FREE 14 Day Trial today:
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/bulletp...
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...
Stay Hydrated with Sodii the tastiest electrolytes in the Game! Get 15% OFF: BULLETPROOF15 https://sodii.com.au/bulletproof
Unlock the jiu jitsu game you've always dreamed of! Get $16 off: BULLETPROOF16
https://submeta.io/
Today, jt and I are talking about one of the best tools that you can have in your training toolkit, and that is soft tissue work. Now, this is something that both JT and I will employ on a regular basis to allow us to get more from both our training in the gym, but also our training on the mats, and if you listen to it, it's also going to help you to extract more from your training as well. Now there's a couple of things we unpack here. We're going to explain to you why there is a prevailing myth that soft tissue work ie massage, rolling, trigger point work doesn't actually produce a result. We're going to tell you why that is false and exactly what the result is that you can expect to do.
Speaker 1:Having this simple toolkit can help you to alleviate potential injuries early in the piece, before they become a proper injury. That requires money, doctors and time off the mats, and then we're going to run through what our top three spots are, each that we find ourselves going back to regularly, and you're going to learn what they are so that, hopefully, you can use them too. So enjoy the episode. Hopefully this helps you get more from your training and do me this solid while you're here, make sure you subscribe and make sure you like, because we know a lot of you watch the show and you enjoy it, but you haven't yet done that and that just goes a really long way to helping us get the show out there to more good people just like yourself.
Speaker 2:Better listen very carefully. A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready.
Speaker 1:Essentially, at this point, the fight is over.
Speaker 2:So you pretty much flow with the goal. Who is worthy to be trusted with the secret to limitless power?
Speaker 1:I'm ready. So I've been having this issue lately probably for the last couple of months if I'm honest it's probably a little bit longer where I get pins and needles in my arms and then sort of goes down into my hands, particularly at nighttime, sort of wakes me up in the middle of the night. It's pretty uncomfortable, but you know it's not so uncomfortable that I've been bothered to do anything about it. Now, if you followed our Instagram, you might have seen a post from me a couple of years ago where I was talking about how I had these symptoms back in the day and went through this whole process of trying to figure out what the fuck was going on.
Speaker 1:And I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, to which the only solution is surgery. So I had a surgery booked in right Now. I exhausted every avenue to try and find out what was going on. My very last port of call was surgery and no one could find a solution for me. So I'm like well, fucking surgery. It is because this shit's like keeping me up at night. Anyway, long story short, found a guy not a surgeon who said I can fix that, give me 15 minutes, what? And the magician, as he's known as, in my circle fixed it right.
Speaker 1:What Through aggressive circle? Fixed it right, what through? Aggressive, aggressive, uh, soft tissue work around the elbows and forearms? Yeah, right now.
Speaker 1:Um, it's been creeping back in and it's probably I don't know maybe 10 years since I've seen him sure and I really haven't had to think about it, but it's crept in and I was like fuck, I need to do something about this. So yesterday at the gym I spent probably a total of eight minutes releasing the tissues around the forearm with the barbell which, again, if you follow us on Instagram, you would have seen that drill where you stack two barbells on a rack and use it like a roller or like a pasta maker.
Speaker 2:I was about to say the pasta maker.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're just squeezing it through, and it just made me think like this tissue work is actually a really important tool to have in your kit.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And it probably isn't as popular as it should be, because I think most of us benefit from it. Yeah, soft tissue work cops a bit of shit right.
Speaker 2:There's two things that have happened in the last, conveniently in the last five to eight years. There was like a couple of different like PubMed articles that came out saying oh, palpation, like massage work doesn't do shit, and so physiotherapists are like what? But we've been doing heaps of this massage stuff Like yeah, it doesn't change tissue length, doesn't X, y, z? But here's the thing People get it done, they feel better. People get it done, the joint heals quicker, like it's-.
Speaker 1:They move better.
Speaker 2:It's not that palpation doesn't actually help you heal, it does. It's just in scientific terms. It doesn't do what they thought it did. It doesn't mean it doesn't work. So a bunch of physios are like, well cool, I don't have to give massages anymore, I ain't doing it, I'll rub and tug. I don't have to go there to make my money. Happy days, all right, fair enough. Professional Tug and tug, tug and tug.
Speaker 1:Yeah, second time around's a bit rough, go on and so that's it.
Speaker 2:The same is true. They start. You know there's a bunch of papers that came out saying, oh, foam rolling it doesn't change the length of the itb, it doesn't this, it doesn't that, it only xyz. And so people really shitting on it. But we know that when people that do a certain amount of self-release, like tissue release work, soft tissue work that they get improved movement and this enables them to then do better squats and then better jujitsu, and so they go. Oh yeah, but it's just a band-aid. It's like everyone needs a fucking band-aid.
Speaker 1:Everything's a band-aid, like everything's short-term.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it is a process of enabling you to feel better, so why the fuck would we not do?
Speaker 1:it, I think, to the um, like with everything in the in the health and fitness realm, once something show me the research joe.
Speaker 1:Well, once something data creeps in as a trend, you then get these people that are all in on that thing and they're like that is all you need. So it's kind of like they're like, you know there's, there's those pts. When you look at the pt sort of um cohort in a particular gym and you'll you'll know the one that's into like the functional training or the one that's into trigger point work yeah there's a trigger point.
Speaker 1:One will have all the different tools that we can around a big fucking bag full of you know, and they've got their client doing six different types of role, and you're like, all right, maybe that's gone a little bit too far, right, but but yes, as a tool of like, hey, do this for like five or eight minutes before your session and then do your session, lift your weights, do the thing Hugely effective, right, massive. Now, yeah, I just, I don't, I don't factor it in anymore. I think I used to do more of it. And then I got to a point where I'm like I don't really need this, I'm just going to do my, do my training. But like any good tool, it's, it's there, sort of on the bench, and when I need it I'm like, fuck, yeah, I'm pulling that shit in off the bench.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure I. Me personally, I feel like, like many things you know, once something is a habit, it's kind of in my routine and so, whether it be a certain mobility exercise or a certain stretch or whatever, it becomes more subconscious. And also, let me just put it out there, folks, a lacrosse ball is pretty cheap. You can buy 12 lacrosse balls on Amazon for like I don't know, 20 bucks, 25 bucks max. So, even though there's lots of websites out there that are selling one singular massage ball, trigger point ball, for $30, you can get a bunch of them. You know, I bought a bunch recently, so I've got one in my training bag, one in one in the car or one like. So I kind of don't have an excuse to not do the thing. Yeah, and so for me, just a simple massage ball, that's the main thing I use. Um, but yeah, you can use barbells and.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the lacrosse ball not to be confused with like cause there's, there's other massage ball like spiky ones, and shit, sure, they like spiky ones and shit Sure, they all fucking suck, at least the ones I've come across. The lacrosse ball is where it's at it's like dense, hard, heavy, like rubber. It's got the grippiness, yeah, and it's fucking like when you get on it because it has the density it really presses into you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you get it in your ass. Yeah, you don't feel it in your spine.
Speaker 1:So tell me then, in just sort of laying out our top spots to hit, what are your top spots to hit with that thing?
Speaker 2:So for, me specifically the points where I always get tight just through lifestyle and everything else is I will always roll my feet because my calves and ankles has always been a thing for me Hips and knees, knees, pretty good, but so rolling out my feet is a massive unlock when I do ankle mobility and squat work, so rolling out my feet is a big deal. Um, glutes, always glutes. Uh, you always do glutes, always glutes, like 100 daily or like um whenever. Whenever I'm squatting, whenever I'm to do anything hip derivative, it's got to be glutes. Just because I think a lot of the time for many people I have found that when people are expressing distress or discomfort in their lower back, they have tight, it's got to be glutes. As soon as you hit glutes, oh Pretty much, they feel it everywhere, and so for me it's a really good unlock. The reason why I do it is I've never really, even when I'm super mobile and feeling healthy as and not necessarily loaded up it never gets heaps better.
Speaker 1:There's always more that you can squeeze from From that zone.
Speaker 2:And then the third thing is pecs Through pec minor, pec major, because even though, don't get me wrong, thoracic extension is a great thing, I always find it's not like, oh, I've got a huge chest or I'm doing heaps of bench, but I do occasionally. I always get tight through the front and that is the biggest limiting factor on my overhead position, my squat position, like the thing that really stops my thoracic extension is pecs being tight, and every time I do it I'm always like oh my God, this is fucking killing me.
Speaker 1:So you do the cross ball on the ground, lying on it, and then- no, no, I actually do it usually in a doorway? Yeah, I can go past it a bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a doorway. Yeah, so you can go past it a bit. Yeah, so that way you've, you actually stand in the doorway facing the doorframe so your arm can go past the point and your head can go past the point. Yeah, and so from there you can go um behind internal rotation and then you go external rotation and try and reach up. Yeah, nice. Well, kelly starrett would be jizzing his pants right now Would love a shout out to the big, muscular, fat, bald man.
Speaker 1:JT and I got 40 plus years of experience in the gym on the mats, and we came together to build an app that's going to help you get the most out of your jiu-jitsu training Bulletproof for BJJ app strength and mobility programs targeting jiu-jitsu specific hotspots. Take a two week free trial right now. All you got to do is go to the app store, search Bulletproof for BJJ and we'll see you on the inside.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's just like it's crazy what it does in terms of as soon as I've done that for like 30 seconds on each side, my overhead position improves dramatically, right on, right, like it's bang for buck, buck. I do my hips. Now I can squat better. I roll my feet, my ankles start to unlock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's not that it is a cure-all, but it makes my mobility work more effective yeah, yeah and it's a, it's a precursor to then doing your movement prep and then your session all the stuff yeah, and I think this is this is a big one, for like the real big takeaway, like whatever increases blood flow, brings your fucking attention to the area, makes it feel like just gets that shit moving so that you can then express whatever your baseline range is in your session, so that you can, you can train that session in the most efficient way. Um, how about you?
Speaker 2:what's your, what would be your top three?
Speaker 1:uh, I often give people the foot one I love. I don't do it so much myself, though Every time I try it it's always gross, so I could probably benefit from it. But where I always return to is glutes, because same thing every now and again I get a little lower back flare up, particularly if I'm doing heavy barbell uh, deadlifting. So, yeah, glutes and forearms, ah, yes, and barbell is good for the forearms, but I actually think the lacrosse ball is a superior tool Against the wall.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I it just there's. I use both because I can't actually apply enough pressure. With the lacrosse, like I need to inflict more pain on myself, but my whatever, my, my nervous system won't allow me, don't do it, whereas with the barbell, because it's heavy, I can kind of just hang on it and it and it's really gnarly but I can do it to myself. Yeah, so you know. But but yeah, I really liked the lacrosse ball as a tool for that.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, there was a period there when I used to get like shoulder. It would often come after, um, it would often come after attacking arm triangles on people. Oh yeah, like just just the, just that squeeze where you really and you're, and you're often really elevating your shoulder as you squeeze and, um, I might get the tap, I might not, but I'd end up with this like, oh, shoulder, neck, and it was rotator cuff. So if I was ever lucky enough to be able to go to my osteo or physio or whatever, they could just get in and find the muscle, the rotator cuff, and usually massage that shit for a couple of minutes and I'm good.
Speaker 1:But I found lacrosse ball was my solution when I couldn't and it always took me a while to find it and then, once I was on it, I could just lie on the ground on my back, hit the spot and then just take my arm, my shoulder, through some rotation and that would fucking go a long way, wow. So yeah, like five, five minutes thereabouts of this shit goes such a long way. A last one that I don't do, but I know for total like for for people who are super tight and move like shit. Coming into the gym, whether it's a foam roller or a PVC pipe or a fucking steel water bottle, is beating up the thighs.
Speaker 1:The quads ITB quad hip flexors like it five minutes before your lower body session goes a long way.
Speaker 2:It goes a huge way, and so this is a very crude analogy that was given to me, so don't totally destroy me in the comments section, my scientific friends. I mean you can, but I don't give a fuck. But I just thought I'd pre-frame it because this is not really exactly how it works, but it is a good way to think about it. It helps you understand it. If we think of fascia, like the tissues that surround our muscles and form these slings and elastic kind of mechanisms in the body, fascia can be tight, so like for any of you out there of our meat eating friends who eat steak, when you get gristle on steak, that is fascia, right. And so fascia can be gristly, it can be just hard and stiff. But when you have adrenaline and you have heat and you have movement, it can be like chewing gum. It can be super elastic and stretchy and dynamic. And that's mainly why jujitsu folks feel like shit before warmup because all their connective tissues are stiff and tight. But once that adrenaline hits, whoa magic baby, I'm working. Here's the thing.
Speaker 2:This is my problem with most people's warmups they're just trying to elevate their body temperature to get the adrenaline, to then get that elastic effect. But oftentimes when people are warming up, they do stuff which might tighten up themselves, like, for example, like skipping. Like skipping for 15 minutes that is not going to help you squat better, like that's the fucking wrong thing to do. That is going to make your Achilles tighter, ankles tighter, like it will not help you squat better. So if your goal is to squat really well, skipping is not the thing.
Speaker 2:But what I love about using the ball and doing this massage work, this is like chewing gum. So this is an analogy given to me by an amazing osteopath who was just basically saying if you think of the fascia like chewing gum, when you take chewing gum out the packet, if you try and pull on the gum, it would just break, it's just stiff, but if you chew the gum, it will become elastic and move well. So the analogy that was given to me was using the ball and doing this tissue treatment work is like chewing the gum. So now, when you come to do any amount of work, the tissues are ready to go, and so I just I always keep that in my mind and that that helps me immensely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, all right. So then to finish, what are the top tools there? Get yourself a lacrosse ball. Definitely get a lacrosse ball. Get something you can roll on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, A roll of a roll of any description, but preferably something hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um and uh. I mean voodoo flossing. We didn't talk about that. It's always handy to have one of those bands too. It is. We'll cover that another day.
Speaker 2:Definitely, and it only takes five fucking minutes like legit Yep, that's all it is. It's literally 30 seconds here, a minute, here, a minute there, bop, bop, bop three different spots and you're good to go. And you identifying the three things that you need to work on is also key. There it is Happy days, stay lim. There it is happy days, stay limber, stay elastic.
