The Go Fit Now Rules for Self Myo Fascia Release (SMFR)
First of all, let’s define self myo fascia release (SMFR):
Self (you do it to yourself);
Myo (muscle);
Fascia (the web of connective tissue that surrounds muscle, holds skin onto the body and essentially holds everything in its correct place inside the body, including your organs. Myo fascia is the fascia surrounding and holding your muscles);
Release (the act of letting go of tension).
These rules for doing your own myo fascia release are based on our observations and experience from over fifteen years of teaching people to release their muscular tension using a variety of self myo fascia release (SMFR) techniques.
SMFR has been one of our greatest secret weapons in helping clients handle chronic and acute muscular pain including back pain, knee pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, hip and ankle pain. Some of the results we’ve seen are nothing short of miraculous – being called a wizard or magician after helping someone release their nagging back pain in less than ten minutes is a faily common event.
We recommend getting lessons on how to do self myo fascia release correctly. It’s a powerful tool only when it’s done the right way.
Our rules are for people who have been taught how to do self myo fascia release to ensure they get the best results possible.
The Go Fit Now Rules for SMFR:
- Do it often, preferably daily. You brush and floss your teeth every day, right? Well, fascia is growing all the time (watch The Fuzz Speech video to understand how this works), so you get the most benefit by doing a bit of SMFR every day. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Think of it as daily internal housekeeping.
- Do some before physical activity – sports, running, cycling, working out with your trainer, stretching, dancing, whatever. It’ll increase your range of motion and prep your body for the upcoming event.
- Don’t forget the feet! They are holding you up all day long. You’d be surprised at the amount of tension throught the body that can be relieved just by doing a bit of daily SMFR on your feet.
- Your attention is an important component for good results. This is not something you just “go through the motions” and it magically works. You do need to mentally focus. Being able to put your attention into the area you’re trying to soften up – think of it as “melting the knots” – is a skill you can develop. Breathing and relaxing to create the release of tension as you use the pressure from the foam roller or other device. With practice you’ll find the tension will dissolve within a minute or so.
- If you notice discomfort while you’re mid exercising, STOP and do some SMFR around the area. This often handles the problem and you can go back to the activity. Don’t keep working on top of pain, your body is telling you something isn’t right.
- Make sure you are working soft tissue. Be careful of bones. For example, don’t foam roll on the front of your knee joint. Don’t use a softball on your skull or ankle bones. One area that can get tricky is the lower spine. This is where good coaching on tools and technique becomes critical.
- Going a little softer is better than going in too hard. The fascia will react back against too much pressure. Better to do it for longer and be gentle. Ideally the fascia will release under gentle pressure after about 90 seconds (that’s breathing in and out slowly and deeply about 15 times). As you get more skillful, it will take less and less time.
- Make sure you drink plenty of water after doing SMFR – when you release a knot, you also release toxins into the system and need to flush them out. Drinking enough water will help this process.
Learn how to do self myo fascia release
If you want to learn how to relieve your own pain and discomfort anytime, any place, Rudi and I have many techniques to share and have been helping people from all walks of life become proficient in these life-changing tools.
We can help you in person and virtually, anywhere in the world.
