Elite level sprinter with no therapy/massage, etc

[tamfb]

@fogelson

I’ve talked to a lot of people about this. One of the top therapists out there (works with arguably the best group around right now), said that he has noticed some people do as well without therapy as with therapy, performance wise. He gave this info btw to a paying client, so I’ll just say that for setting your mind at ease about how much it may be affecting performance. I tend to disagree with him to an extent, finding I had overall better training performance (and hence meet and overall performances) when getting consistent therapy, but it was interesting to note and he cited a number of examples of people who went from receiving no therapy to “great” therapy and vice versa with little change in overall performance (main change was in injury rates).

On the other hand, a lack of therapy can often lead to injuries if training becomes too intense from a volume and/or intensity perspective or too many meets are run. There is a fine line I think and if people start running meets fatigued or tight, bad things can happen. Some of this it mitigated with good coaching, athletes doing all of the little things (foam rolling and other self-therapies, good diet and supplementation, etc.), and more, but good therapy is always going to trump 0 therapy.

What does your guy do on his own? If he does all of the little things, that will go a long way in helping. Regular foam rolling, self-stretching, saunas, whirlpool, etc. can go a long way, though they are still not manual therapy.

Something I have been saying for years now…