Soft Tissue Prep for Sport Performance Part I: Cross Fiber Friction
This is a 5 part series assembled to help members of the Old Country Iron Club out of Morgan Junction Crossfit. These folks are undertaking a demanding 3 week kettlebell snatch Caliber Cycle. This volume of overhead work requires proper technique and positioning. Your knowledge, your good intentions and even your flawless, pristine technique will be undermined if you have short, tight internal rotators. Without mobility in the latissimus dorsi, subscapularis and pectoralis muscles, that bell will not drift overhead into the necessary stable finishing position.
For many individuals, a personalized SMR (Self Myofascial Release) program will be necessary to maintain form and mobility as the volume and intensity of the program develops.
There is an abundance of videos out there on SMR techniques. Â Go ahead and do a couple searches and you’ll find plenty of useful moves but let’s face it, these videos are fish. If you give a man a fish he’ll eat for a day. . . You don’t need more SMR fish. What you need is to know how to SMR fish. You need to understand the underlying principles behind the multitude of videos out there and know when and how to apply the different techniques. That is exactly what this series is intended to do for you.
What most SMR videos have in common is that they use a combination of balls, bands and foam rollers to employ combination of 4 basic principles: Cross Fiber Friction, Post Isometric Relaxation, Pin and Stretch, and Antagonist Inhibition. I’m starting you out with an aggressive technique called cross fiber friction and will work toward pre-lift mobilizations from there.
This quick demonstration is on the pectoralis major, but remember to apply this technique wherever you need it. Be creative and responsive to what your body needs. If you come up with something that might be useful for others, please feel free to share in comments below. Remember to pay special attention in the following weeks to the internal rotators of your humerus pictured below.
