Should knowing Dave has f*cked his body up worse than I have mine bring me joy? Well, I'm not sure if it brings me joy, but I do really appreciate watching the Fixing Dave Tate series. Dave has been putting in some grueling work and it is paying off.
Ok, so maybe watching his look of total hostility while doing his warm up and rehab stuff causes me to giggle a bit, but that's because I understand his pain. We are both approaching fifty and a lot of time and effort has to be put in so we can continue chasing our lifelong passion of strength training.
The cool thing is, I am able to take away a lot from watching Dave's journey. We all don't have access to someone like Dr. John Rusin like Dave does. Thankfully so much of it is being filmed and documented for us to follow. Whether you've been around the bend a few times or are a younger lifter, we can all learn from these lessons.
The biggest takeaway I had from the most recent Fixing Dave Tate: Lower Body Full Workout was to slow my ass down when foam rolling. If you watch the video, early on you'll see Dave rolling. He was taking it nice and slow. Sometimes he was only rolling out two inches or so at a time.
In the past I have always treated foam rolling like a race to finish with long fast passes. I found it was doing me more harm than good so I stopped rolling altogether. Then after watching the vid, I gave foam rolling another shot. I started with my back where I have a lot of lingering issues. I rolled ever so slowly, pausing and breathing through tough spots. I'll be damned, it felt great.
The true test of how well something works for me however, is not that day, but the next. As luck would have it, my back felt even better the next day. Man, I couldn't wait to get back on that roller. While taking my slow purposeful passes, I made a great connection.
There's very little I love more than a great massage. When getting a massage, my masseuse isn't speeding her way through my body. She takes her time. She finds every kink and knot and takes her time working them out. Hmmm, suddenly foam rolling makes more sense to me.
So whether it's foam rolling, stretching, rehabbing, or just watching Dave kick some ass training, watch the Fixing Dave Tate series. I have no doubt you'll learn a lot, and you'll get a few laughs too. Way to stay after it Dave. You are an inspiration to us all.