FORSTER STRUCTURE PROGRAM© STRETCHING
During exercise our muscles shorten and the connective tissue must be stretched to maintain full range of motion, good posture and alignment. As we age, connective tissue naturally tightens and begins to lead to functional limitations. These limitations lead to altered mechanics of the joint and eventually joint wearing (Arthritis). It is the one aspect of aging we can reverse. Discover the safest and most effective stretching techniques to help you perform better, prevent injury, improve your range of motion, and aid in your recovery from exercise.In this video you will learn:
- • The safest and most effective stretches for each part of your body
- • How to incorporate a safe and effective stretching routine into your training
- • The importance of stretching to develop healthy joints and muscles for life
- • How stretching aids in the recovery process and helps to prevent injury
- • The performance benefits of a proper stretching routine as it pertains to MMA and general fitness
- • How stretching improves your range of motion, resulting in improved athletic performance
FORSTER TRAINING SYSTEMS© FOAM ROLLING FOR RECOVERY
Overload of stress without the reprieve of recovery exercise leads to a breakdown of the systems involved in training. No one will create adaptive strength if their training program is void of recovery adjuncts. Roller Work is a critical fitness adjunct for injury free peak performance, recovery, and a long, healthy life! Incorporating foam roller work in your MMA training program will help avoid injury, improve recovery, eliminate knots and improve postural alignment creating a healthy body that is resilient to injury and primed for great performances!
PHASE IV FUEL© Performance Recovery Nutrition
What you provide for muscle energy is vital to your success as an athlete. PHASE IV will teach you how to tailor your nutrition and hydration to the essential recovery cycle. What we do will increase the fitness value of all your workouts. What you put in your tank before, during and after workouts greatly impacts the fitness, conditioning, and weight management goals. Recovery nutrition is built in to all Periodization training models because it’s needed whether you feel hungry thirsty or not. After your workout, your body is in a state of stress and needs nourishment. Usually after exercise your body will be dehydrated, your blood insulin levels will be low, Cortisol and other “breakdown” hormones will be high, your glycogen (fuel stores) will be low or depleted, and your muscles will be in a state of breakdown. Your recovery nutrition should reverse all of the above and restore your to a hydrated, fueled, recovered, and muscle building state. Learn what science teaches about the guidelines for an effective recovery drink. Whether your goal is to lose weight, put on muscle, or simply outlast your opponent, your nutrition must support your workouts, competitions, and your lifestyle! We use real science, not gimmicks or fads to address your personal physiology and nutritional needs. The time to figure out the best mix of calories and fluids for your personal physiology is now!
Your nutrition and hydration program post workout can either greatly improve or diminish the productivity of each of your workouts. Just as your workouts change and progress over the training cycle so should your nutrition and hydration practices. Your nutrition must support your workouts and your competitions! We use real science, not gimmicks or fads to address your personal physiology and post training nourishment. At PHASE IV we utilize Resting Metabolic Rate Analysis and VO2 Testing to determine precisely your nutrition and hydration needs. The time to figure out the best mix of calories and fluids for your personal physiology is now!
Expert Massage and Body Work
Voted “Best Place to go for a Sports Injury” and “Best Place for a Massage”
– Competitor Magazine
Muscles are the workhorses of the body. When muscles are chronically overworked and remain tight it leads to limited range of motion that will negatively impact the joints. Over time, increased exertion will overcome the muscle’s ability to perform. Training schedules must include massage to overcome tight and sore muscles. The tightness comes from a reflexive increase in muscle tone in response to pain and inflammation. A “knot” will form in the muscle, causing adhesions to develop between the microscopic connective tissues of the muscles. This will immediately impact the fluid and chemical exchange within the muscles, and ultimately impair the function of those muscles. Permanently shortened muscles and fixed poor posture can be reversed with massage therapy. Massage will help reverse and break up adhesions in tight muscles, allowing them to return to their full length. Massage or “soft tissue mobilization” will help separate the fascial adhesions between muscle fibers. This allows the muscle fibers to move freely again, restoring normal movement and improving the muscles ability to do its job: contract and develop force to do work. Massage increases blood flow, which helps create healing by flushing waste products like the stress hormone Cortisol out of the body via the lymphatic system. Because training is designed to push the boundaries of your current physical fitness level, massage will help relieve post exercise muscle soreness and will serve to help recovery and avoid the formation of painful knots.
Compression Clothing for Recovery
The recovery science behind compression gear is significant!
- • Post-exercise lactate removal was significantly faster with compression stockings.
- • Compression stockings improved all markers of recovery except for creatine kinase (a marker of muscle cell damage).
- • The EC30 stockings produced the lowest levels of fatigue.
- • Blood lactate levels after the tests were lower with compression stockings. For the second experiment (3-minute max efforts) post-exercise lactate was lower only when compression stockings were worn during recovery.
- • Recreationally active men experienced a reduction in delayed-onset muscle soreness 24 hours after wearing compression stockings (18-22 mmHg) compared with traditional sports socks.
- • Wearing a full-body compression garment for 24 hours after a challenging, heavy-resistance strength workout enhanced psychological, physiological and performance markers of recovery when compared with non-compressive garments.
Cryotherapy Products – Ice is Nice
The safest choice for treatment of injuries and soreness is ice. Ice decreases pain and provides vasoconstriction (closing of small blood vessels). This helps limit the amount of swelling that occurs immediately after the stress of exercise or injury. Ice has a calming effect on nerves, which can decrease pain. Our ice bags are designed to be placed on sore areas for 15 minutes with compression; and to enhance results for treatment of swelling, elevate the area being iced. You can repeat this procedure once the skin has recovered and is warm to the touch.
THE COMPLETE WaterPower Workout Book BY ROBERT FORSTER, PT
Working against water’s natural resistance makes for a healthier more balanced workout than is possible on land, with virtually no risk of damage to the body. For rehabilitation, cross training and sport specific training, pool workouts build aerobic and anaerobic fitness, core strength, balance, muscle endurance, power and agility with virtually no damage to your body. The Complete Waterpower Workout Book is a comprehensive guide to water exercise, a best seller in its 9th addition, and translated in four languages.
HEALTHY RUNNING STEP BY STEP BY ROBERT FORSTER, PT
Healthy Running Step by Step will help runners of all ages and abilities understand the science behind every aspect of running: training program design, running technique, nutrition, recovery, flexibility and strength training and why running injuries occur, how to prevent them, and how to speed up recovery. Injuries plague the majority of runners, wrecking training plans and cutting running careers short by decades, but they are not inevitable. Authors Robert Forster, P.T., and Roy M. Wallack explain that nearly all running injuries can be rehabilitated quicker and even avoided altogether with the right training, strengthening, stretching, running form, and diet strategy. Drawing from Forster’s three decades of training and treating Olympic athletes and more than 10,000 runners at his award-winning Santa Monica, California, physical therapy and high-performance centers, this book emphasizes that better performance is inextricably bound to injury reduction and that a comprehensive, science-based training plan with built-in anti-injury “insurance” must include these crucial elements: Periodization training, Proper technique and footwear, Nutrition, Posture and flexibility, and Strength training. This book also includes detailed, step-by-step rehabilitation matrixes for the five most common running injuries: IT band syndrome, Achilles tendonitis, shin splints, plantar fasciitis, and hamstring injuries. Using these unique matrixes as your guide, you’ll recover from injuries more quickly and understand what you need to do to prevent their reoccurrence.