When you foam roll you restore your body’s optimal muscle function.  The basic idea is that the foam roll is used to apply gentle force to release knots or adhesions in the muscle that wind up creating altered movement patterns (hence, the reason I was getting torn calf muscles while running).  Foam rolling will reduce your chances of injury and will relax the muscles in your body.  It is like a self-massage.

The reason that foam rolling is important is that it loosens up the muscles.  Tight muscles restrict the range of motion for your joints.  This modifies the normal neural feedback to the central nervous system.  This will lead to poor movement patterns, which can cause fatigue and injury.  Foam rolling is also known as self-myofascial release.

Self-myofascial release has the following benefits:

• Corrects muscle imbalances
• Increases joint range of motion
• Reduces muscle soreness and relieves joint stress
• Maintains normal functional muscular length

There are some specific areas that really need self-myofascial release. 

Iliotibial Tract (IT Band)

The IT band runs down the outside of your leg.  Chances are that if you do not foam roll you can run your hand down the side of your leg just above the knee all the way up to just below the hip and you will feel tenderness.  This is the IT band that is sore.  Rolling the IT band daily relieves the pain you are feeling, relieves back pain, aligns the leg muscles and frees up your knee joint.

Piriformis

The piriformis muscle is one of the causes of sciatica.  When that muscle tights up it presses against the sciatic nerve, causing major pain.  Rolling the piriformis muscle daily will relieve lower back pain and stress in the back.

Hamstring

The hamstring tends to be tight in most people.  Foam rolling releases the trigger points in the hamstring that cause it to contract tightly.  Daily rolling of the hamstring will cause it to loosen.  This will help your running movement.

Quadriceps

It feels awesome to roll your quads.  The tension that you get in that area after a good workout gets released when you roll the quads.

Stretching

Always stretch your muscles after you foam roll.  They are primed for stretching when you complete foam rolling.

Frequency

I recommend rolling daily.  You can use your foam roller to roll your upper and middle back (lower back is not recommended).  You can even roll your lats and shoulders using a foam roller.  The benefits will become evident right away.  Give it a shot by purchasing one from Perform Better.

PS:  To an unnamed person, thanks so much for your encouragement.  I think you should check back on Day 84 for the shock of your life.  The website link you sent me was not impressive to me at all.  I guarantee I will look better than that when the 84 days is over.  Thanks again for your encouragement.  It was much appreciated.

Matty’s Workout Log:

I am pumped for this new mission.  You are going to see some major changes in my body over the next 84 days.  As mentioned previously, I will be doing reveals every 21 days.  This means I will be completely covered up for all pictures except for Day 1, Day 21, Day 42, Day 63 and Day 84.  At the same time, I am going to be taking pictures uncovered that I will store away.  I will use those for a video like Adam: RTP 2.0 Blog.  This is the point in time where I expect serious results.  I am working harder than ever before and that means I will get better results as a reward for that hard work.

I have such an odd body.  With 16.75% of body fat, it must all be in my back and sides because I have gotten so much leaner everywhere else. 

The Results Are In:

Mike’s Spike Chart

Matty’s Spike Chart

I had an increase in strength over all exercises of 55% and Matty had an increase in strength over all exercises of 60"%.

Yes, my body fat percentage increased a small amount, but with the number of calories I’ve been eating and the low amount of cardio, I am quite satisfied.  I still gained 4.37 lbs. of lean body mass.  I am up 22 lbs. since starting my bulk on 9/8/2008.  That amounts to 18.39 lbs. of lean body mass that I’ve added to my frame and just 3.61 lbs. of additional fat during that time period.  Wow! 

Have a look at my poses:

I can definitely see some changes in my upper back and my shoulders.

I can’t seem to find Matty’s Day 1 picture, but here is what he looks like now: 

His lats have growh and his shoulders have much more definition.  He doesn’t feel he worked hard enough, so in M6 he is going to step it up even more. I’m not quite sure how he will do that because I personally feel he has done a great job with the training, but needs to nail his nutrition.

The M6 Plan:

The M6 plan is two pronged—nutrition and training.

Nutritional Plan:

I plan to go full bore with the nutritional plan that I’ve created.  I have taken some time to re-read The Anabolic Solution for Bodybuilders by Dr. Mario di Pasquale and Everything You Need to Know About Fat Loss by Chris Aceto and I reviewed my nutritional logs.  I took what I learned from the two books and my own experiments and I’ve come up with a winning nutritional plan.  I tested it out for the final weeks of M5 and it works.  You will notice new macronutrient ratios on tomorrow’s Accountability Log as well as one additional low carb day.  The idea will be to burn fat and build muscle.  I will be supplementing with Branch Chain Amino Acids daily to help maintain muscle mass.  I am going to be very strict about following this anabolic maximizing nutritional program.  My body likes the ketogenic nature of this type of nutritional program, so that’s why I will use it to cut. 

Training Plan:

I will continue to use High Intensity Training techniques.  I am going to be using a modified full body slam.  Carlos DeJesus has tweaked my training plan and as a result, I will be training Monday’s and Wednesday’s with slow repetitions and at my repetition inroad levels.  On Friday’s I will be training with regular speed repetitions, but high repetitions (15 repetitions for upper body and 20 for lower body).  This will confuse my body and hopefully give me some tremendous results.  M6 is about “Getting Competition Ready” and will also involve 3 days a week of abdominal training along with 1 day a week of core training (ala Firm and Flatten Your Abs by David Grisafi). 

My cardio is going to involve 6 sessions a week for 40+ minutes.  I will be focusing on burning maximum fat via these cardio sessions, but also maintaining maximum muscle.  This is why I will be making sure to get my BCAAs in daily (they help to maintain the muscle mass you gain).  If I am not getting the results I want I will add 2 sessions a week of Max-OT cardio.  This is where you run for 16 minutes and try to get as much distance as you can during those 16 minutes.  Just like with your training, there is a progressive nature to Max-OT cardio.  The idea is to go further and further with every single session.  It is intense and it burns fat like crazy! Because of this increase in cardio I will not need to decrease my calories and that means I can continue to gain muscle through the food as fuel idea.

Structural Control:

I’ve learned the importance of keeping my body aligned and in shape.  As a result, starting with M6 I have added foam rolling to my accountability log.  If you have never used a foam roller, it is an amazing thing.  I will be posting an article all about it on Monday as part of a two part series on extra things you can do to keep your body healthy.  The series will be called Healthy Musts and will spell out why you need to foam roll and stretch your muscles.  You must read both parts of the series.  I am sure you will learn alot.

You can pick up a foam roller at Amazon.com.

Not For the Weak of Heart:

Matty’s Workout Log:

This got me thinking about the word “dependence” and how much my internet connection brings to my life.  Yes, I am dependent on my ability to use the internet.  The internet is my tool for teaching other people about fitness.  The internet is my source of news.  I actually read the Orange County Register via the internet because I am at my computer the majority of the time during the work days. The internet is my avenue of accountability.  I have become dependent upon the ability to look things up when they hit my mind.  The internet is a major tool in my life.

When you take stock of your life you will find alot of things that you are dependent on.  Some of these things will be good and some will be bad.  You have to take stock and make changes where necessary.  If you are dependent upon something that is bad for you come up with a plan to change that dependence.  Make it go away.  If you are dependent upon things that are good for you figure out how you are going to continue to nurture that dependence.