Recovery maintenance splits into two categories: the professional work, acupuncture, sports massage, chiropractic, that you bring in occasionally, and the daily self-care, foam rolling, lacrosse ball work, mobility, and stretching, that you learn to do on yourself. The hard training only works if you maintain the machine, and as an older athlete who recovers slower, I have had to become a serious student of this. In this Physical Friday I share which professionals have actually helped me, why I do most of my own maintenance in about twenty minutes a day, and the three resources I trust most: Kelly Starrett's MobilityWOD, free yoga on Amazon Prime, and Laird Hamilton's XPT.
Watch or listen now: press play above and follow along.
Bring in a professional when self-care is not resolving the problem or when something clearly needs expert hands. I have had great luck with acupuncture and I know when I need to go, and chiropractic was very helpful for me in the past. Still, if I went to a professional every time I had a tweak, an ache, or a pain, I would spend all my time in there. Most day-to-day maintenance you can and should learn to do on yourself.
Self-massage, foam rolling, lacrosse ball work, stretching, mobility exercises, and yoga. With about twenty minutes a day I can address most of the little aches and pains before they become a nagging injury that stops my training. Many people do not even know they should know how to give themselves this kind of self-care, and that is exactly what this episode is about.
Dr. Kelly Starrett is the number one recovery resource I can point anyone to. He wrote Becoming a Supple Leopard, the idea being that a leopard is ready to go at all times and never needs a massage therapist. His subscription site MobilityWOD has what feels like thousands of articles and videos showing you exactly how to address things like tendonitis or plantar fasciitis yourself with lacrosse balls, rollers, and mobility work.
It certainly feels good, but for me it has been inconsistent: I get a good one, and then the next one is not so good, so it never became something I implement regularly. If a weekly professional massage works for you and you have the time and money, awesome, continue. Many of us do not, which is why learning your own techniques matters more.
Amazon Prime Video has hundreds of yoga videos included free with a Prime membership. Type in yoga and pick an instructor who appeals to you, and if your hips or hamstrings are tight there are videos targeted exactly at that. Black Swan Yoga is another one I have used. Classes are fun, but you will not always have the time, and this travels with you.
XPT, extreme performance training, is the protocol from big wave surfer Laird Hamilton and his wife Gabby Reece, built around breathing, ice, sauna, and moving properly. Laird is a few years older than me and going through the same thing, an aging athlete who wants to keep doing what he loves. He wants to ride hundred foot waves; I want to walk up mountains with my kids and keep doing CrossFit. The breathing and ice protocols can really help recovery.
The emails coming in lately are incredible, guys losing tons of weight, getting stronger than ever, building habits that are changing lives. All that hard work creates a new requirement: maintenance. I am getting older, I am an older athlete who recovers slower, and that means more of my own time on flexibility, mobility, and self-massage out of pure necessity. I explain how I structure it in the episode, so press play above.
I have tried most of them. Acupuncture has been incredibly helpful and I know exactly when I need to go. Chiropractic helped me in the past. Massage feels great but has been too inconsistent for me to keep on the calendar. The honest scorecard, and how I decide when a problem is beyond my own tools, is in the episode. Press play above.
Kelly Starrett's book title carries the whole philosophy: a leopard is ready to go at all times and does not book a massage. With MobilityWOD I can self-diagnose where it hurts, figure out what it probably is, and follow the exact lacrosse ball and roller work to fix it. How I actually use the site when something flares up is in the episode, so listen for it.
Both fill the gaps the foam roller cannot. Free yoga on Amazon Prime covers the tight hips and hamstrings on any schedule, anywhere, while Laird Hamilton's XPT brings breathing, ice, and sauna into the picture, built by an aging athlete solving the same problem I am: keep doing the things we love. The full tour of both resources is in the episode. Press play above.
This is all a personal journey. Some of these tools will work better for you than others, and if a weekly professional massage gets it done for you and you have the time and money, keep doing it. Most of us need to learn to do these things on our own, and the resources are sitting right there.
Check out Starrett, the yoga library, and XPT, spend your twenty minutes a day, and send me your own recovery wins at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com. Press play above for the full episode.
Dr. Kelly Starrett · Becoming a Supple Leopard · MobilityWOD · Laird Hamilton · Gabby Reece · XPT · Black Swan Yoga · Amazon Prime yoga · acupuncture · chiropractic · sports massage · foam rolling · lacrosse ball work · CrossFit · Physical Friday
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the workouts, recovery methods, and fitness habits that keep me ready for guiding, fishing, hunting, and everything else outdoors, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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