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  Why do I continue getting daily pliability? Because I want to play football for as long as possible. I love my sport. I love my teammates. I love what I do. Ever since I was a kid, my first love was always football, and to me, sustained peak performance means doing what I want to do, and what I love to do, for as long as I can.

  TWO FAQS ON PLIABILITY VERSUS FLEXIBILITY AND STRETCHING

  What’s the difference between pliability and flexibility? Couldn’t I get the same effects of pliability from stretching?

  It’s easy to think that people who’ve been stretching for the past twenty years would be pliable. That is not necessarily true. Stretching promotes flexibility, but you can’t equate flexibility with pliability. There are a few important differences.

  Pliability is all about lengthening and softening the muscles. Flexibility, which often comes as a result of stretching, may lengthen the muscles to some degree, but it doesn’t soften them. Lengthening and softening the muscles relieves tension on them. Stretching doesn’t.

  Second, pliability training always involves—and requires—some level of proactive positive trauma to stimulate the muscle and train the brain to contract and relax the muscle in its fullest state. Throughout our pliability work at TB12, we focus on the brain–body connection. Stretching doesn’t do that.

  Another issue is that people who are extremely flexible can stretch their ligaments to the point where their ligaments become too loose. This makes it hard for their muscles to contract back to an optimal state. In some cases, it can increase the risk of injury. Whenever people stretch out their back or their legs, they risk creating microtears in the fibers of those muscles, like ropes that have been pulled too tight and begun to fray. To heal microtears, the body sends in lactic acid, which hardens and scars the muscles. In response, what do most people do? They stretch their muscles all over again. Over time, this cycle of stretching, tearing, and restretching can lead to injury.

  This is why stretching is an activity that would actually benefit from pre- and post-pliability training. Doing pliability before and after stretching, as you would with any sports activity, can help minimize the amount of muscle tissue microtearing and muscle scarring that could result in injury. You don’t get points for sticking your foot behind your neck! Think of pliability as the pre- and post-routine to any physical activity or sport, up to and including yoga.

  Can I Do Pliability on My Own?

  Yes! But here’s a disclaimer. Without a doubt, the highest form of pliability comes through targeted, deep-force muscle work provided by a TB12-certified body coach. Achieving optimal pliability isn’t altogether possible without the treatments of a body coach trained in those methods. But you can achieve limited amounts of pliability, and experience some of its benefits, by using other methods, which I’ll go into in the next chapter. These include self-pliability with assisted devices, self-pliability unassisted, and partner pliability. But the highest form of pliability will always come from a certified TB12 body coach—and that’s what I would recommend.

  This, to me, is the highest form of pliability—Alex working on my right shoulder before I practice throwing mechanics.

  CHAPTER 5

  TRAINING AND METHODS

  FOR THE PAST DOZEN YEARS, as I’ve said, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Alex, who’s allowed me to experience pliability at the highest levels. Just as some athletes use coaches for golf or tennis, a body coach is responsible for figuring out how every muscle in your body works, in isolation and with other muscle groups, and bringing your body’s strengths and deficiencies into balance. I certainly realize that outside professional sports, most people don’t have the luxury of a body coach. But there are many ways to incorporate pliability into your strength and conditioning regimen that come close to replicating the benefits I get from Alex’s targeted, deep-force muscle work. These range from partner pliability to self-pliability using assisted devices such as vibrating foam rollers and vibrating spheres to unassisted self-pliability. In each case, the key is to do pliability both before and after exercise.

  Alex lengthening and softening, always toward the heart.

  Whatever form your pliability takes, all methods can fit together. I believe that any method of incorporating optimal pliability into your strength and conditioning regimen will help transform your health, performance, and longevity. The more pliability—and the more balance—the better. However, I want to make it very clear that the best method of achieving optimal pliability is through a certified TB12 body coach.

  SELF-PLIABILITY USING ASSISTED DEVICES: VIBRATING FOAM ROLLERS AND VIBRATING SPHERES

  Outside of working with a TB12 body coach, to my mind, one of the more useful devices out there for creating and maintaining limited pliability on certain muscles is a vibrating foam roller. Foam rollers target the body’s trigger points, as well as larger muscle groups. Trigger points are small patches of tightly contracted tissue that can keep our muscles from getting the blood circulation they need. The regular use of a vibrating foam roller can help muscles recover and revert to more natural states of pliability—but only to a certain degree.

  The thing is, foam rollers by themselves don’t create optimal pliability. Pliability is as much about neurostimulating our brains as it is about lengthening and softening our muscles—again, the brain–body connection—and to do that, you need some kind of vibrating function. At the TB12 Center, we exclusively use a high-intensity vibrating foam roller. When it’s used as part of a comprehensive strength, conditioning, and pliability regimen, the roller we use has been clinically proven to improve users’ range of motion by 40 percent over traditional rollers. Our goal is to get people to experience a degree of pliability if they can’t make it to a TB12 Sports Therapy Center. But optimal pliability requires a certified TB12 body coach.

  Along with the vibrating foam roller, we also use a vibrating sphere. Before and after workouts, some athletes use a lacrosse or squash ball to stimulate their muscles. But again, unless the ball has a vibrating function, it won’t activate the nervous system and therefore won’t lead to any pliability. By contrast, both the vibrating foam roller and the vibrating sphere affect the nervous system. When you use one or the other, your brain learns new patterns and habits as your muscles are contracting and relaxing.

  Remember always that our brains and bodies learn through trauma. The nerves in our muscles are in constant communication with our spinal cord, which is the seat of our nervous system. The spinal cord and brain take in and process the information that comes from our muscles—and send that information right back out again to those muscles. This ongoing cycle of exchange keeps our pliable muscles firing evenly, at 100 percent.

  MUSCLE GROUPS

  As everyone can see, the body’s muscle system is extremely dense, complex, and interconnected.

  CHOOSING BETWEEN A VIBRATING FOAM ROLLER OR A VIBRATING SPHERE

  Are a vibrating foam roller and a vibrating sphere interchangeable? For many muscle groups, the answer is yes. But if you’re doing pliability on your legs, for example, the stability of the roller can be better. For muscles or body areas that are harder to reach, like the neck, arms, or back, a vibrating sphere can work better, and you can also use the sphere against a wall. The sphere is also more compact and easier to transport in a suitcase if you travel. But more important than whether you choose the vibrating roller or the vibrating sphere—or both—is the fact that you’re getting started with degrees of pliability, and the ways it can help improve your performance.

  SELF-PLIABILITY WITH ASSISTED DEVICES

  In the section ahead, I’ll be showing you eighteen muscle groups you can target using self-pliability with assisted devices.

  A full-body pliability session should take about twenty minutes. Once you experience a difference in the muscle you’re working on, and it feels softer than it did when you started, move on to the next muscle. In some cases, if you’re doing pliability and you feel like your hip flexors or your ar
ms are especially tight, focus most of your effort and attention on those muscles.

  If you’re using a roller with multiple speeds, begin with the lowest speed and work your way up to higher speeds once you get comfortable with the vibration. (If the highest speed feels too intense, that’s an indication you should drop down a speed or two.)

  In the pages ahead, I go through the best ways to work with the vibrating foam roller and sphere. An illustration of the muscles you’ll be working on using assisted devices or doing partner pliability can be found on pages 78 and 79. Again, achieving pliability with assisted devices takes time. You’ll begin to feel a difference after two weeks, and a more noticeable difference after about a month.

  LOWER BODY

  BOTTOM OF THE FOOT (PLANTAR FASCIA)

  WHAT IT IS: The plantar fascia is a dense tissue band that runs across the bottom of your foot and connects your heel bone to your toes.

  REASON FOR PLIABILITY: It all starts with your feet! Runners, walkers, and people with flat feet are at higher risk for developing issues with the plantar fascia, ranging from foot pain to problems with their Achilles tendons. If the bottoms of your feet aren’t pliable, you’ll have less range of motion with your toes, which can lead to reduced motion in your ankles, which in turn places more load on your calves.

  1. Flex your left foot and position it on top of the foam roller.

  2. Make sure to keep your weight on your standing leg and foot, without hyperextension.

  3. Maintaining this same stance, curl your toes inward as you roll the roller toward your toes, then extend your toes as you roll the roller backward toward your heel. Then switch to the other foot.

  CALF (GASTROCNEMIUS AND SOLEUS)

  WHAT IT IS: The gastrocnemius and soleus muscle group is made up of two separate muscles and is more commonly known as the calf muscles.

  REASON FOR PLIABILITY: We use our calf muscles to walk, run, stand on our toes, and more. The more weight we put on them—especially if we’re over forty—the tighter they can become.

  NOTE: When foam-rolling your calf muscles, make sure you maintain full knee extension, and roll from the heel (where the Achilles attaches) all the way up past the knee, making sure you hit both the side and the middle of the calf. Consider bending your knee (see photo) to penetrate all sides of the calf muscles more deeply.

  1. Sitting on the floor, place your left calf on the foam roller, with your right leg slightly aloft and your hands behind you.

  2. Bracing yourself on both palms, roll your calf forward onto the roller, beginning with your heel, as you rhythmically contract and relax the muscle.

  3. As you target your soleus, cross your right ankle over your left to achieve maximum pliability. Repeat for the other leg.

  FRONT OF LEG (TIBIALIS ANTERIOR)

  WHAT IT IS: The tibialis anterior is a long, slender muscle located in the front of your lower leg that leads down to your ankle and foot.

  REASON FOR PLIABILITY: When the tibialis anterior tightens, it can lead to shin pain, imbalances, poor biomechanics, and a decreased ability to support weight, which in turn makes you more susceptible to injury.

  1. Maintaining a crouching “frog” position, with straight arms and both hands placed in front of you, position both your ankles on top of the foam roller.

  2. Still bracing your weight on your arms and hands, and using your right leg as a launcher, begin rolling back and forth on your left shin.

  3. Target your tibialis anterior muscle more deeply by angling your shin against the roller, following the same directions as above. Repeat on the other side.

  FRONT THIGH MUSCLES (QUADRICEPS)

  WHAT IT IS: The quadriceps is a group of muscles situated in the front of your thigh.

  REASON FOR PLIABILITY: Quads that aren’t pliable can lead to poor biomechanics and increased stress on surrounding muscles, leading to decreased athletic performance.

  NOTE: When foam-rolling your quadriceps, make sure you roll the entire length of your muscles. Starting from the top of the knee, roll all the way up to the top of the hip bone. It’s also important to get the inside, middle, and outside aspects of your upper leg, making sure you hit all four of the major muscles that make up the front thigh muscles. To add more neural input and lengthen and soften even more, flex your knee as you trace up the length of the muscles.

  1. Begin in a modified plank position, with your elbows under your shoulders and the foam roller positioned an inch above your knee bone.

  2. Roll up and down your quad, allowing the foam roller to move toward your upper thigh.

  3. As you move the foam roller up and down, rhythmically contract and relax your quad muscles. Repeat on the other side.

  INNER THIGH/GROIN (ADDUCTORS)

  WHAT IT IS: The adductor muscle group, otherwise known as the inner thigh or groin, helps us control and stabilize our legs and feet.

  REASON FOR PLIABILITY: Reduced pliability can lead to tight, dense, stiff movement, leading to poor biomechanics, increased strain on surrounding joints and muscles, and decreased athletic performance.

  NOTE: When foam-rolling your inner thigh, roll down your inside upper leg to the inside part of your knee. To increase neural feedback as you lengthen and soften your muscles, extend your knee as you roll up the length of your inner thigh.

  1. Begin, again, in a modified plank position, resting on your elbows, with your hands clasped.

  2. Angle your upper left leg so the interior is flush against the foam roller.

  3. Keeping your knee extended, move the foam roller up and down your adductor muscle as you rhythmically contract and relax it. Repeat on the other side.

  BACK OF THE THIGH (HAMSTRINGS)

  WHAT IT IS: The hamstring muscle group includes three back thigh muscles. We use our hamstrings when we walk, run, turn our hips, and bend our knees.

  REASON FOR PLIABILITY: Nonpliable hamstrings can lead to poor biomechanics and poor posture, which in turn decrease athletic performance and increase the risk of injury.

  NOTE: When rolling your hamstrings, make sure to roll the entire length of the muscles from below your knee on both the inside and the outside of your shinbone. Include both your inside and your outside back thigh muscles in your rolling routine.

  1. With both arms behind you and your hands on the floor, begin by placing the foam roller right below where the underside of your left knee meets your thigh muscle.

  2. Bracing yourself on your hands, roll forward on the foam roller as you rhythmically contract and relax your hamstring muscles.

  3. To achieve deeper pliability, cross your right foot over your left as you’re rolling. Repeat on the other side.

  OUTER THIGH (IT BAND AND TFL)

  WHAT IT IS: The IT band and TFL are muscles that help our pelvis maintain balance when we stand, walk, or run.

  REASON FOR PLIABILITY: Without pliability, other muscles will experience increased burden, potentially leading to groin pain.

  NOTE: When rolling out the IT band and the TFL, roll from the knee joint to the top of the hip. (You may want to use the vibrating sphere, which allows for more direct contact with your TFL.) Using the vibrating sphere against a wall is a good way to control how much pressure you place on your muscle.

  1. Lie on your right side, bracing your weight on your right elbow, with the foam roller positioned an inch or so below the knee joint.

  2. Roll upward to the top of the hip, and then back down again to below the knee joint.

  3. As you roll, extend both arms to maintain your balance. Repeat on the other side.

  TORSO

  POSTERIOR (GLUTEUS AND PIRIFORMIS)

  WHAT IT IS: The gluteus (aka glutes) and piriformis muscles make up our backsides. The glutes are especially important in generating power and explosiveness in athletic performance.

  REASON FOR PLIABILITY: Decreased pliability makes you more prone to strain and injury, leading to poor biomechanics, increased stress on joints and soft tissue, decreased athletic
performance, and higher risk of noncontact injuries.

  NOTE: When rolling out your backside, sit in such a way that your outer hip makes contact with the roller. As you begin to roll, extend your hip so that you deepen the contact between the roller and your hip’s external rotator. Next, cross your leg over your knee to target an even deeper area of the muscle. Here the vibrating sphere is a great tool for hip pliability, as it allows you to get deeper into the muscle.

  1. With your arms behind you, brace your weight on both hands, with the foam roller positioned directly under your buttocks.

  2. Make sure that your outer hip is in direct contact with the roller, and extend it as you begin rolling.

  3. Target the glutes and piriformis more deeply by crossing your left knee over your right knee. Repeat on the other side.

  LOW BACK (QUADRATUS LUMBORUM)

  WHAT IT IS: The quadratus lumborum is situated in the lower part of your back on either side of your spine, within the abdominal cavity.

  1. With both knees bent and positioned in front of you, place the roller on the lower left part of your back, beneath your rib cage.