Five tips for stretching with your new best friend: the lacrosse ball
On the surface, triathlon appears to be comprised of three skills: swimming, cycling and running.
But when you drill down, there are two other arenas that deserve just as much attention as those three obvious sports.
Can you guess what they are?
Sunscreen and sportswear?
Fish oil and financing?
Technology and travel?
Nope. The answers we were looking for are stretching and nutrition.
Stretching and nutrition can heavily influence your performance in triathlon, and we’ve talked about both subjects a few times already on this blog (see A beginner’s guide to endurance grubbin’, Fill your tank like a frugal caveman and Stretch like gumby).
As with most triathlon topics, there’s no shortage of information and advice. That’s why it’s important to try out various approaches and figure out what works best for you.
Recently, I’ve incorporated rolling out with a lacrosse ball into my mobility routine and it’s helping me bounce back from my foot injury, recover after exercising, increase flexibility and (hopefully) prevent future injuries.
I don’t see many people using lacrosse balls to stretch at the gym, so I’m assuming it hasn’t caught on with the masses.
In case you haven’t experimented with this tactic yet, I’m going to share some of the tips that I’ve found useful thus far, so that you can try them out and see if they work for you too.
Here are my five tips for stretching with a lacrosse ball.