Do it yourself massage : The tennis ball and foam roller self-massage for best performance in your sport practice on the French Riviera!

Are you practicing a regular sport activity?

You certainly aim for higher performance, speed, precision and endurance.

Warming up and stretching before exercising is highly recommended to improve your practice and prevent soreness and injury.

If you are still experiencing muscle pain after your sport activity, massage will be an excellent solution.

Small injuries, knots, tight and sore muscles can be treated effectively by getting regular massages.

You will not only prepare your body and prevent muscle aches but you also will increase your sports practice.

Professional athletes are always assisted by massage therapists during their trainings and games.

It is proven that the treatments have a huge impact on their performance.

While there’s no substitute for experienced hands, some of the benefits of massage can be replicated at home through self-massage.

The following auto-massage techniques can be easily applied by yourself before and after each training session.

Place the foam roller or tennis ball directly on the muscle or body area you want be treated.

By applying medium to strong pressure with your body weight, the tissue, tendon and muscle will be massaged.

For the neck, back, shoulders, quads, glutes, and hamstrings its best to lie on the floor while your body will be used as natural weight.

With your body, slowly start rolling over the roller or ball for several minutes.

Rolling over problem areas can help release that built-up tension and re-establish the integrity and optimal performance of muscle tissue.

Increase pressure slowly and never force yourself on injured or infected tendons and muscles.

If you attack an already-irritated area of your body with aggressive self-massage, you can increase inflammation and hamper the healing process, so go easy.

The foam roller and tennis ball technique are very efficient when used together.

The foam roller is effective for larger areas and gives a more global release of tension and warming up of muscle groups, while the tennis ball will be used for more precise pressure on specific knots and tight spots, as it goes deeper into the layers of the muscle and connective tissue.

You can replace the foam roller with several tennis balls assembled in a sock.

Now it’s your turn!

Read our article Massage for Iron Man athletes and Weekend Hikers in the Nice area.

Find more self-massage exercises with a tennis ball here.