As elite CrossFit athletes, Ben Smith and Scott Panchik run into tweaks, strains, bumps, and bruises a lot. They are constantly pushing the boundaries of what overtraining is. If you aren’t pushing your body at least occasionally then you will never know what your body is capable of doing. Ben and Scott believe that it’s all about the trial and error process.

During the difficult times, Ben and Scott like to discuss their training with each other and see what they are doing differently and what is working best. Sharing this knowledge helps them grow as athletes. Every little bit helps and if there’s something out there that can allow them to recover faster and perform longer then you can pretty much guarantee that they will have it in their gym bag and be using it every day.

Stay Healthy with the Right Recovery

One of the best ways to keep your body healthy as an athlete is proper recovery. During workouts our bodies break down. During the recovery process, they rebuild and get stronger. Proper recovery also helps prevent of overuse injuries and maintain proper body mechanics.

You’ve got to do everything right. From your nutrition to your sleep to your recovery tools, there are a lot of various components that allow your body to work as hard as it does. CrossFit Games Athletes don’t just wake up and work out at their peak every day, there’s a lot of little things that happen along the way.

“What separates some of the good people from the great people is their ability to recover.”

Favorite Tool for CrossFit Recovery

Ben Smith and Scott Panchik choose Marc Pro as their recovery tool of choice. Marc Pro’s unique patented technology allow for results that can’t be achieved with any other method. Discover why over 100 pro teams and countless elite athletes choose Marc Pro.

Marc Pro is an EMS device that enhances your body’s natural muscle recovery process.  When you’re recovered, you can train harder, maximize gains, prevent injuries, get rid of soreness/fatigue, and perform at your best.

To understand how Marc Pro works, you first need to understand how the human body works. Research shows that in order for muscles to optimally recover and realign, you need muscle contractions- which is just another term for movement. You could keep squatting, walking, or cycling to get in the necessary movement, or you can use Marc Pro. Kelly Starrett explains,

Ultimately, it’s an amazing technology that we use that allows and facilitates the body to do what it’s supposed to do.

The Science Behind Muscle Recovery

In order to adapt to exercise stress, your body goes through four main stages of recovery. Muscle movement facilitates each of the four stages. By moving, your body is able to optimally repair the damage and normalize tissue a lot quicker. However, keep in mind that if you move for too long or at too high of an intensity, you’ll start to cause damage. The key is to move at a low-intensity that won’t stress or fatigue muscles.

Using patented technology, each Marc Pro device creates non-fatiguing muscle contractions to speed your body’s natural recovery process. Unlike other forms of movement, such as going for a light walk or cycle, Marc Pro will not put stress on your muscles so you can reach a more complete recovery. Also, Marc Pro is easy, comfortable, and you can use it while working or watching TV- so you don’t have to dedicate any additional time towards recovery. Discover more about Marc Pro and find out why Kelly Starrett calls Marc Pro a “game changer”.

You may also like:

How Does Marc Pro Compare to Other E-Stim Devices?

Post Workout Recovery: What’s the Most Effective Method?

Who Uses Marc Pro?

See what happens when four of the most elite CrossFit Games Athletes in the world get together to talk about whatever comes to mind. No rules. Nothing off limits. And lots of picking on Noah Ohlsen. The Gathering is a 3-part video series hosted by one of today’s greatest minds in fitness, Kelly Starrett, and shot by the Marc Pro team in San Francisco, CA.

Thanks to Kelly Starrett, Noah Ohlsen, Ben Smith, Emily Bridgers, and Scott Panchik, we were able to capture an inside look at what it means to be a CrossFit Games athlete, how elite athletes handle intense training while keeping their bodies healthy, and how everyday people can apply these strategies to their own lives to be healthier and reach their goals.

In Episode 1 of the series, the group sits down and gets personal to discuss training challenges and overcoming limits.

“As a group, no one is working harder than CrossFit athletes.”

Keep an eye out for Episode 2 and 3 dropping over the next few months!

Why does pain always shows up at the most inconvenient time? You have a life and things to do; you don’t have time to be held back by knee pain.

When knee pain sets in, there are ways to effectively eliminate it without the use of drugs. The goal shouldn’t be to just ignore your pain, it should be to fix it and prevent it from happening again. Kelly Starrett, DPT has worked with every type of athlete, from the pro player to the person who takes CrossFit classes to get fitter. Whatever level you’re at, pain can affect you; so Kelly Starrett has shared his Marc Pro Plus technique for knee pain relief that works quickly and effectively.

Relieve the Pain

The first step is to immediately relieve the pain. Place one electrode on each side of the knee, “sandwiching” the area that’s in the most pain. Turn up the intensity on the high setting to create a buzzing sensation that’s strong, but comfortable. Keep this going for about 30-60 minutes. For the most effective results, over the course of the session turn up the intensity as you get used to the sensation.

Recover the Area…

Too much congestion in the knee (aka swelling) usually isn’t a good thing, and can often be the cause of pain or contribute to it. The placement above will provide lasting relief, but the following placement will help decongest the area, bring nutrients in, and help your knee recover.

“The more movement and more non-fatiguing muscle contraction I can derive, the more easily I can get the ship turned around and be ready for tomorrow’s training.” – Kelly Starrett, DPT

Place one pad on the inside of your lower quad and another slightly higher on your outer thigh. Turn on the low setting and turn up the intensity to a level that is comfortable but strong. Since the low setting is non-fatiguing you can use this placement for as long as you desire. Longer use means better recovery.

You can use both of these placements at the same time for up to 60 minutes. If you want to keep going after 60 minutes, take the pads that were directly on the knee and place them on the lower half of your leg (ie. calf placement) and use the low setting. By this time, your knee pain will be eliminated and you can now work on recovering the joint.

Managing More Intense Knee Pain

Sometimes, you may find yourself in need of a little more knee pain relief. If you’re in a situation where your knee pain is intense and the above placement isn’t working, try making an “X” with the pads around the area that needs relief (use the high setting).  This will create a cross current that will do a great job at stopping the pain.

You May Also Like:

Sore Legs? Try these recovery strategies from MobilityWOD

Brian Mackenzie Shows How to Use the Marc Pro Plus to Release Tight Muscles

How to Address IT Band Issues

What’s the secret to faster post workout recovery? The answer lies within the body’s natural muscle recovery process.  Discover how each stage works and what you can do to make sure your recovery is quick and effective.

The 4 Stages of Recovery

There are four main stages that regulate muscle recovery when you’re adequately hydrated, nourished, and rested. Muscle activation, which happens through movement, is vital to each stage.

Stage 1: Delivery of nourishment

To repair damaged tissue, nourishment and supplies need to be delivered to the area so the recovery process can begin. When your skeletal muscles are activated, they send a signal to your smooth muscles that surround blood vessels to relax. Once relaxed, your blood vessels dilate and circulation increases, allowing more nutrients and supplies to be transported to the damaged tissue.

Stage 2: Waste Removal

To keep waste from building up and leading to swelling or further damage, the next stage involves the process of removing waste. The lymphatic system is responsible for removing waste, but it’s a passive system. Activation of the muscles that surround lymphatic vessels is required to push out the waste.

Stage 3: Tissue Regeneration

During this stage of recovery, myokines are produced and released into your body. Myokines are the proteins in the body that drive tissue regeneration. Muscle activation provides the mechanical stress required to produce myokines so that your damaged tissue can be repaired.

Stage 4: Remodeling of Repaired Tissue

After tissue has been repaired, it then needs to be remodeled. When new tissue is formed, it creates a random pattern that makes it hard for the tissue to slide smoothly past one another. The tissue needs to be rearranged in straight lines so it can function properly. Mechanical stress, or movement, allows the repaired muscle tissue to optimally remodel. Failure to optimally remodel the repaired muscle tissue leads directly to dysfunctional movement.

How to Speed the Stages of Recovery

Movement is the natural facilitator for the recovery process. Normal amounts of movement (ie. doing your normal routine, errands, etc.) will result in a normal rate of recovery. However, if you’re training, lifestyle, or age requires you to recover quicker, you will need to do something out of your normal routine. Adding in the right amount of movement, or muscle activation, will speed the process.  This is why active recovery is a popular technique for athletes and is proven to be the most effective way to improve recovery. With traditional active recovery, there are some limitations that can effect your recovery results. Discover how Marc Pro perfects active recovery.

A Marc Pro purchase features more than just a device. Being part of the Marc Pro family means you have lifetime access to free concierge service and advice. Whether you’d like pad placement ideas, best practice tips, or have specific questions, you’ll receive a one-on-one support call whenever it’s convenient for you.

We encourage all customers to take advantage of our free concierge service calls – schedule yours today! Simply select a time from the calendar below and one of our specialists will personally reach out to you.

If you have questions about our products, but do not yet have a device, please email contact@marcpro.com or call us at 855-627-2776 and we’d be happy to help.

The most important piece of information to understand in this article is that the body’s muscle recovery process is reliant on muscle activation. Each stage of the process requires muscle movement in order to repair damaged tissue effectively and efficiently. To better understand why compression boots fall short when it comes to recovery, let’s take a look at how they fit into each stage of the recovery process.

The Four Stages of Recovery: How Compression Boots Fit In

There are four main stages of muscle recovery in adequately hydrated, nourished, and rested individuals.

Stage 1- Increase blood & nourishment:

Compression may create an initial surge of blood and supplies into the area once compression is released, but there is no increase in blood flow. Why? While the area is compressed, blood flow is reduced. As soon as the compression releases, blood rushes in but the net total of blood going into the area is the same (or more likely less) as it would’ve been without any applied compression. The goal of this stage should be to bring more supplies and nutrients into the area, compression boots don’t help with that.

Stage 2- Activate lymphatic system:

Through external pressure, compression can help get rid of some waste that’s closer to the skins surface, but in order to effectively remove waste from the body, the lymphatic system needs mechanical stress. Plus, compression can’t reach deeper vessels within the lymphatic system without crushing the superficial vessels. The only way to effectively reach all lymphatic vessels and produce mechanical stress is through muscle activation.

Stage 3- Facilitate the production & release of myokines:

Muscle activation is required for the body to produce and release myokines, which drive the tissue generation process. Since compression boots don’t create any activation, they won’t help with this stage.

Stage 4- Optimally remodel muscle tissue:

Once the tissue is repaired, muscle activation is required in order to optimally remodel the tissue. Failure to do so leads directly to dysfunctional movement. Again, compression boots don’t create muscle activation so they can’t do anything to assist this final stage.

At best, compression boots can help one stage of the recovery process. Even then, it’s not the most effective method. There are other practicality issues with compression. Compression boots make it hard to target areas throughout your body. A different attachment is required for each body part; but even if you have every attachment, you still can’t target everywhere you want.

Portability is also a problem. Compression boots are bulky and inconvenient to transport. There’s nothing wrong with using compression boots if they feel good to you, but to get the most effective recovery, the best choice is Marc Pro. Our devices create non-fatiguing muscle activation so you can get the most from your recovery. The versatility, portability, and ability to provide instant pain relief also sets Marc Pro apart.

Intermittent fasting has been a hot topic for discussion lately. Some people swear by it, others think it’s just a fad. Either way, there are some upsides and downsides to intermittent fasting. Let’s take a look and see how it can affect people who live an active life.

Two of the most popular patterns of fasting for athletes are the full day fast and the 16:8 fast. In the full day fast, you take a break from eating for a full 24 hours, usually once a week. In the 16:8 fast, you take a break from eating for 16 hours and then have an eight hour window to eat. Most people who do this type of intermittent fasting will partake 2-3 times per week.

The Pros of Intermittent Fasting

Although the studies have been small and are relatively new, there is research that shows a number of positive effects of intermittent fasting.

1. Increases Human Growth Hormones (HGH): This hormone has to ability to speed muscle recovery, increase energy, build lean muscle mass, and improve athletic performance. People who fast have been shown to have higher levels of HGH.
2. Reduces inflammation: Fasting has been shown to reduce oxidative stress and prevent chronic inflammation in the body, which is linked to many diseases and conditions.
3. Enhances cognitive function: Studies have shown that when your body is in a fasting state, your concentration is improved. Your brain is able to laser focus on tasks at hand, meaning quicker reaction times, fewer errors, and ultimately improving performance.
4. Effective weight loss: Intermittent fasting can decrease insulin resistance and increase metabolism. The full day fast is especially effective at weight reduction since it requires you to abstain from eating for a full 24 hour period, reducing your overall caloric intake.

Full Day Fasting

• Good for those with weight class requirements
• Beneficial for athletes that need to stay lean for optimal performance
• Can be useful for endurance athletes (as long as you don’t fast on a training day)

16:8 Fasting

• Ideal for athletes who benefit from enhanced focus and concentration
• Useful for those who participate in weight training

The Cons of Intermittent Fasting

When you’re in the fasting state, there are a few issues that can arise. It’s also important to note that fasting is more beneficial to some groups of athletes than others. For example, a baseball player may find the increase in focus that fasting can provide to be very advantageous. Whereas, the endurance athlete may experience a decline in performance while fasting, since they rely on immediate energy provided by food to fuel their workouts.

1. Decreases energy: It’s no surprise that giving up food for long periods of time can leave us feeling tired and weak. Many people report headaches, bad mood, and a lack of energy when they don’t follow their normal eating schedule. If you train heavily, the effects can be even worse. Your body is working hard but it doesn’t have the necessary supplies to fuel your efforts. For those who do train on fasting days, it’s recommended to supplement with BCAAs. However, even if you do supplement, your performance will most likely be lower on fasting days.
2. Risks for women: Fasting is more likely to lead to nutritional deficiencies and issues with fertility and reproduction for women than for men. Although intermittent fasting has its benefits, the risks are greater for some women.
3. Decline in performance: Many athletes (especially endurance athletes) need to be able to quickly tap into energy stores. However, if there is no immediate energy available, your body and mind will be negatively affected and performance will suffer.

Full Day Fasting

• Not favorable for athletes who need to put and keep weight on

16:8 Fasting

• Not ideal for endurance athletes
• Not conducive for those who train a lot each day

Whether intermittent fasting is the right choice for you depends on your goals and health condition. Intermittent fasting is not for everyone, but if you do decide to try it for yourself, be sure to strategically incorporate fasting days with training to minimize the potential negative effects.

 “You don’t realize that you’re not working or feeling as good as you can feel… you can feel better.”

The MobilityWOD movement began in 2004 when Kelly Starrett became involved with CrossFit. Since then, the movement has progressed to reach everyone from the most elite athlete to the person who works out to stay active and healthy. In this video, Kelly Starrett shares a behind the scenes look at changing the way people think about movement, body maintenance, and human performance. It is possible to feel and live better.

Work flow demands are through the roof. People are pushing themselves harder and longer than ever before, making overuse and injuries a common occurrence. But, with the right tools and strategies in tow, we can get back on track to do the sports and activities we love. Kelly’s program gives people granular goals so they can be consistent and successful despite their busy schedules.

To see more videos from Kelly, be sure to visit his page: www.marcpro.com/kelly-starrett

Injuries are nearly impossible to avoid in sports. With high intensity and high impact activities, injuries can be a fairly common occurrence. However, did you know that nearly half of all athlete injuries can be prevented? Overtraining, also known as overuse, causes a majority of the injuries that occur in sports. But, by taking the right recovery measures, it is possible to prevent injuries that develop due to overuse.

The Key to Dealing with Overuse

Professional and recreational athletes are pushing their bodies harder than ever before. Whether it’s getting ready for the World Series or going for a daily workout at the gym, everyone has goals for what they want to achieve. Reaching goals requires a lot of hard work and consistency, which can ultimately lead to overtraining when injury prevention measures are not a part of the process.

During exercise, muscles break down. When an athlete trains consistently without allowing their body to recover in between, their muscles continue to break down. Eventually, your muscles can’t handle any more stress. Not only can this lead directly to an injury, but it can also lead to improper biomechanics. The best thing you can do for overuse is allow your body to recover. During the recovery process, muscles are able to rebuild and get stronger. Recovery is the key to combating overuse and preventing injuries.

Injury Prevention Strategies

Once an athlete is adequately hydrated, nourished, and rested, the most effective recovery method is active recovery. Active recovery is the process of activating muscles in order to bring blood and nourishment to the damaged tissue, remove waste from the area, produce/release myokines to rebuild tissue, and optimally remodel the new tissue. Muscle activation is the only way to achieve all four of these goals. However, there is a fine line between muscle activation for recovery and muscle activation for exercise, so it’s important to know how much is too much.

Marc Pro is an active recovery tool that provides muscles activation without the fatigue. Over 100 professional teams and countless elite athletes use Marc Pro because it doesn’t fatigue their muscles. Athletes are able to fully and quickly recover so they can stay injury free and perform at their best while still training on a consistent basis. Marc Pro can also be used as a warm up tool so you can loosen up muscles before going into a workout, game, or competition.

“The biggest thing for me personally has been using the Marc Pro on a daily basis.”- Josh Tomlin, pitcher for the Cleveland Indians on using Marc Pro for recovery and injury prevention

“Marc pro is my modality of choice to accomplish that, which means it will reduce fatigue time of my players, keep them on the floor, working at a higher level, for a longer period of time.”- Gary Vitti, Head Athletic Trainer at the Los Angeles Lakers for 32 years

“One of the greatest values of Marc Pro and recovery is it cuts the micro trauma off at the knees. By the time you get to the next workout, you’re recovered and ready to do it.” – John Schaeffer, Olympic & Pro Trainer

“The bottom line is, if you’re recovering better you’re going to perform better. I was looking for the best way to recover and I found that to be Marc Pro.” – Noah Ohlsen, 5x Crossfit Games Athlete

Discover how Marc Pro is Active Recovery Perfected

Overtraining Syndrome: Why More Isn’t Always Better

3 Injury Prevention Strategies for Baseball Pitchers

Many of the world’s most elite athletes utilize Marc Pro devices to improve recovery, conditioning, performance, and provide pain relief. But, you don’t need to be an elite athlete to benefit from the Marc Pro. If your day consists of phone calls, emails, meetings and lots of other to-dos, you might be just as in need of Marc Pro. Discover how you can benefit from the Marc Pro’s unique technology to conquer your fatigue and body pains.

How Marc Pro Can Help:

Your body works hard to keep up with the demands of life. Some examples of overuse that Marc Pro can help with include:

1. Back muscles get tight or painful from sitting all day.

Using Marc Pro to target back muscles can loosen up and refresh your back.  To eliminate back pain, the pain relief mode on the Marc Pro Plus can provide very significant and lasting relief.

2. Traps, forearms, and hands become strained from typing

These muscle groups are often overused and stuck in non-ergonomic positions for hours at a time. Using Marc Pro will help recover your muscles and combat overuse issues.

3. Lifting kids or household items can cause muscle exertion

When your body feels fatigued, Marc Pro can be used to refresh your muscles and get you back to living and feeling your best.

Almost everyone is overworking their bodies. Eventually, muscles break down. Overuse is a leading cause of injury and pain. You can try to find a way to prevent all the sitting, typing, lifting; however, this option is impractical or unrealistic for most of us. Instead, we need to find ways to recover from the stress and strain on our body.

Using Marc Pro a few nights a week while reading or watching TV can help ensure that muscles get a chance to recover. You will also be conditioning muscles proactively so they can do more work and perform better before breaking down. The end result is feeling better, fresher, and able to do more.

Discover how to use Marc Pro or put it to the test for yourself today!

What’s your go-to treatment option? If it’s the RICE method, you may want to rethink your recovery strategies.

Almost 40 years ago, the RICE method was developed by Dr. Gabe Mirkin as the recommended treatment protocol for acute sports injuries. Four years ago, Dr. Mirkin retracted his position saying that the RICE method is not the preferred treatment.

Uncovering the RICE Method

There are four components to RICE- rest, ice, compression, elevation. However, some of these components aren’t backed by evidence or shown to actually help.

It’s not just that the RICE method is ineffective. Research shows that rest can prolong the recovery process. Ice has also been shown to delay healing and interfere with athletic performance, along with some other potentially harmful side effects. Compression and elevation are still useful methods, but subsequent research has shown that mild movement is the most effective technique for a quick and optimal recovery.

At the 2018 National Athletic Trainers Conference in New Orleans, athletic trainers from 12 universities and Cirque du Soleil stopped by our booth to talk about why they are leaving ice in the cooler. The group discusses using Marc Pro as an effective method for speeding recovery and getting athletes back in the game.

 “If you look at it and you start reading and doing some of your own research, what makes sense is movement. That’s how muscles heal, that’s how tissue heals.” – Brandon Aiken, University of South Carolina, Aiken

For more details on how ice affects the body’s healing response, what the published research says, and the scientifically proven method for speeding recovery, read The Truth About Icing and Recovery.

by Gavin Murray, rider for the Marc Pro Cycling Team

As a cyclist, there are two types of workouts that are really taxing on the legs: sprint training and long base days.

Sprint training revolves around shorter and more intense intervals as opposed to base days which target the metabolic system while putting as little pressure on the muscles as possible.

For a sprint training day, I like to warm up by doing 1.5 hours at what we call metabolic base which is a heart rate around 100-130bpm. I then do 2 max sprint efforts where I focus on form and power. In general, I mainly try to keep my front end as low as possible and keep a high out of saddle cadence as opposed to grinding gears. These efforts are normally separated by spinning the legs for 1 minute.

I do another 30 minutes spinning at metabolic base and then I do big gear work, which mainly consists of spinning a high gear at a low cadence (50-60 rpm). This part of the workout targets recruiting as many muscle fibers as possible and they help with sprint endurance. I’ll do 4 sets of these at 1 minute each all out.

The final on-bike component of this exercise is an hour spin back home at metabolic base. So overall this workout is normally 2.5-3 hours long. By this point I’m normally pretty fried.

When I’m home, recovery is the main priority. I immediately change out of my kit and get into my recovery routine.

I first make an Herbalife recovery smoothie, and do some light stretching and foam rolling for 30 minutes. In rolling, after a sprint workout, I target glutes and quads. I think it’s a good companion to using a Marc Pro, and really helps reduce muscle soreness.

I use my Marc Pro to cap off the day’s workout. My quadriceps are my priority when using the Marc Pro. I’ll use a low frequency with the intensity set to 9 for about an hour on both legs simultaneously while I’m watching Netflix or working on the computer. Depending on the intensity of the workout I can spend anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours targeting the quads. From there I move onto other areas. I’ve also really found that repeating sprints is really hard on my lower back. So I’ll use my Marc Pro on a high frequency to help control soreness in my lumbar.

We sat down with Pat Giruzzi, Assistant Athletic Trainer at Hamilton College, for some insight on what he loves about his career and how he uses Marc Pro to save time.

How long have you been an athletic trainer?

I started at Hamilton College in August of 1998.

What attracted you to the profession?

Growing up, I was always in athletics. I starting playing hockey at the age of 5. When I went to prep school, I played 3 sports including football, hockey, and lacrosse. Injuries started to build up as I continued to play those sports. It was then that I became interested in athletic training. I was attracted to helping other athletes get back to the field quickly.  I decided that athletic training would be my academic focus in college.

While I played hockey my first year in college, the Director of Sports Medicine spoke with me and said that I needed 1500 credit hours to work with teams as an athletic training student. I was falling behind with needed credit hours because of the hockey team, and I decided to shift away from playing on the team. I was able to make a deal to work with the hockey team to get more athletic training hours over the next 3 years, and the rest is history.

What is your philosophy in regards to athletic training?

Even though I work many hours, it never seems like work because I love what I do.  Everyday varies because of all the different injuries and situations.

The other part of my athletic training philosophy is that I do not believe in ice. I am using the Marc Pro 100% of the time on injuries. We started using the Marc Pro 17 months ago, and I have changed the way I treat athletes in that time because of using the Marc Pro.

What sports do you typically work with?

At Hamilton College, there are 29 varsity teams. I have been covering both Men’s Soccer and Men’s Ice Hockey for the last 18 years. I also work with our Baseball program.

What injuries do you most commonly address?

I have dealt with many different injuries, but the most common would have to be strained hamstrings, knee injuries, shoulder injuries, and many back injuries.

How and when did you hear about the Marc Pro?

I received an email featuring Gary Reinl and Kelly Starrett about the negatives of icing injuries. They discussed using the Marc Pro and I immediately wanted to learn ‘what is the Marc Pro?’. I reached out to Gary and met with him at the NATA meeting and then ordered 5 units to help teams recover after strenuous workouts and both acute and chronic injuries.

How many Marc Pros do you have at the college?

We currently have about 30 units at our school. The Marc Pro has become the key modality that everyone is using. We also have an H-Wave for orthopedic surgical athletes. Our treatment now starts with the Marc Pro because it has cut injury time by half.

How do athletes use the Marc Pro at Hamilton College?

In addition to our training room, we will send athletes home with Marc Pro units. We tell the athletes that they need to wear the device whenever they can when they are in their dorm rooms. We explain that this will improve their chances to recover from their injuries quicker.

What do your coaches and athletes like best about the Marc Pro?

Both the athletes and the coaches have seen the benefits of the Marc Pro. They now know why the top pro athletes are using the Marc Pro, and college athletes should be using these units non-stop. The Marc Pro has been huge for muscle recovery, which both coaches and athletes like for its sports benefits.

How has the Marc Pro helped you in the training room?

It is like having another set of hands it the training room.  We can treat more athletes faster with the Marc Pro.  It will help them get back to the sport they love faster. It is a true time-saver!

What has been the most surprising thing you have learned throughout your career?

I have been surprised to learn that icing is no longer “the norm.” If you had asked me two years ago, “How would you treat an acute injury?”, I would immediately say, “Ice”. Now, I am only using ice to keep water cold. I have also learned that I can help get athletes back to play so much faster with the Marc Pro.

What is your favorite part about your work?

My favorite part is watching an athlete that has been sidelined with an injury get back on the field and succeed.

Want to hear more? Watch our interviews from the NATA Meeting, where talked with 13 athletic trainers about why they are leaving ice in the cooler and taking a new approach to recovery.

There’s a better way to deal with golfer’s elbow than popping ibuprofen or using ice. Kelly Starrett shares some proven techniques that will help treat golfer’s elbow and prevent it from starting in the first place.

What Causes Golfer’s Elbow?

Pain on the inside of the elbow is a common problem for many golfers. The contact and force made with the ball is ostensibly a small car accident in your elbow. Now clearly this didn’t happen the very first time you hit the ball, so what happened? The problem begins on the 19^th hole. You finished the round, put the clubs back in the car, shut the trunk, and go about your daily life. At that moment, a basic adaptation error has occured- you’re not decongesting the tissues from the stress that you engage in from a normal round of golf. The goal is to remove the congestion so the localized swelling doesn’t accumulate too significantly, leading to the very painful condition of golfer’s elbow.

The 3 Methods from Kelly Starrett

Strategy #1: Desensitize the area

Using IASTM, assisted soft tissue mobilization, the first step is to desensitize the area. You can use either a scraping tool or a butter knife to perform the movement. Scrape the area by placing your tool at a 45-degree angle with your skin. If you’re using a knife, make sure the back side or handle makes contact with the skin. A little lotion may help make the exercise more comfortable, but it’s not required. Scrape the tool down your arm for 30 seconds, then scrape the up for 30 seconds. By this point, your skin will be a bright pink. This means that blood flow to the area has increased. Doing this mobilization exercise 1-2 times per day can make a big difference in telling your brain that this is not a threat, and more importantly in bringing more nutrients into the area.

Strategy #2: Dynamic warm up

Getting prepped to play is key. When you get to the course, time can be a little bit constrained. Try to get your muscles prepped before you leave home, then you’ll be ready to go as soon as you arrive. Walking on the course will bring up your core temperature and increase blood flow to muscles. But sometimes the smaller joints like the elbow are lost in that common warm up cycle. Kelly’s suggests a dynamic warm up will create some easy motion with a little bit of resistance.

Grab a bungee cord, large rubber band, or even some Theraband. Take the rubberband and place it around the back of your neck. Grab the cord with both hands and pull down towards the ground. Repeat 100 times. Next, step on the band with your feet and grab with each hand for some simple bicep curls. Do 100 bicep curls to finish up the routine. This dynamic warm up with better prepare your body to handle the micro trauma that comes with a round of golf. You’ll notice that you’re able to turn the ball, turn the club over, and generate some more force.

Strategy #3: Range of motion exercises

When your wrist and elbows are stiff, it puts additional load on the musculature and connective tissues. This exercise is designed to improve full rotation capacity of the wrist to elbow segment, which will lead to better compliance and ability through the tissue. Take a club and grip with palm down, keeping the club horizontal to the ground. You can modulate the resistance on the club by moving your hand grip position closer or farther away from the club head. Rotate the club and get your body comfortable with moving to the limits of its rotation. Do this 20-30 times. Then switch the direction of rotation and complete 20-30 more reps. Once that’s complete, grip the club with your palm up and complete the exercise again. Do some of these exercises with a straight arm and some with a bent arm.

These 3 strategies can help effectively treat and address golfer’s elbow, but Kelly Starrett also recommends using a Marc Pro. It’s one of his favorite tools that can address the tissue congestion at a cellular level. It allows you to pump out congestion and swelling, and bring the blood flow and hydration to the tissues. This can be done before and after a round to make sure golfer’s elbow isn’t a part of your game.

My biggest take away from this season is that there is no perfect lead-in to a race, no magic formula for what will deliver a special day where everything comes together. I honestly thought that I had nailed my Kona lead-in this season: Wattie and I made our trek down to Tucson from Bend in mid-August and we went straight to work. I hit every single session I was given and saw numbers and times for splits or efforts that were better than I’d ever seen before. We had friends (thank you again Corbs, Bagg, VT, Purple Tiger, and Matty for the daily motivation, company, positivity and great camp environment!!!) come down this year, primarily to provide a great swim environment, which helped tremendously. I was swimming the best I ever have in the month of September. Most importantly, in my head/mentally, I felt motivated, inspired, and ready to push every single day of the eight weeks. I think that resulted from our approach to the entire season: having a pretty laid-back start to the year and building all the way through until Kona prep began. I felt more ready to hit that final block hard than I’d ever felt before. In prior Kona lead-ins, I’ve had random blocks of two or three days where I was just over it. I would be ready for Kona to be there so that I could get it over with and have an off-season. That didn’t happen at all in the eight weeks before this year’s Kona. I also didn’t have one single hiccup, which was new. In 2016 (the year I got third in Kona), I got sick midway through the final block. I could feel it coming, and so we took two days completely off and then another two days of very light training. Just moving, really. Last year, I hit a couple different speed bumps: food poisoning one night, which meant the entire next day off and then a lighter day or two, and then another brush with sickness where I took a complete day off and then a lighter day the next day. So for both 2016 and 2017, I thought my preparation hadn’t been perfect because I didn’t hit all of my training. I also didn’t do as much overall training volume in 2016 and 2017 as I did during this lead in, so in my head, I felt that this year’s Kona prep was incredible and was sure to lead to a great race day.

We flew over the Tuesday before race week in order to get settled, get over any travel issues, make sure my equipment was all set, and get most of the pre-race media interviews out of the way before race week. Usually I get to Kona and step off the plane and I can’t believe it’s here: my favorite couple of weeks of the year! This year, that spark didn’t seem to be there. I just felt tired. I literally fell asleep every day in the final two weeks before the race. I am a BIG napper, but usually only during the end of big blocks of training and then I come around. When I taper for a race, I usually take a nap in the first few days of lighter training/the taper, but by day three or four, I’ve come around and I am raring to go. So having arrived in Kona the Tuesday before race week, 12 days before the race, I knew I was in BIG trouble when I couldn’t keep my eyes open at 2 pm the day before the race and fell into a 45-minute nap. My coach and I are still working through where we could have shifted things, at what point, etc. but most everyone who is reading this probably saw the race unfold, so I’m not going to go into the actual race in Kona. I will just say that I felt flat—I had no spark in me, and I just felt off the entire day. I did not put together the race that I felt I could have given my training and the progress I had made in swimming, biking, and running.

Anyone who has had a bad race or a bad day in any sport or event you’ve dedicated so much time and effort into will relate to what I’m about to describe: sadness, frustration, confusion, anger, tears. I’ve had off-days in the past at races where I know exactly what I wish I had done, or what I would have changed. The weird thing about Kona was that I was just kind of confused. I couldn’t process for at least a week where we had gone wrong. I had come in SO fit and so mentally prepared to leave it all out there and it was one of the worst races I’ve ever had. I am NOT saying it was one of my worst races because of the end result/my placement by any means—I mean it was one of my worst days in terms of the effort I was able to put out on the day compared to the training and progress I had seen leading in. I was so confused what had happened. During this first week following Kona I didn’t know what I was going to do, if I would race again or not in 2018. I signed up for Ironman Arizona but wasn’t sure I could handle—mostly mentally—toeing another start line.

Following Kona, I did NOTHING until the following weekend. We were in Kona for a few days after and then flew back to Bend. The weekend following Kona Wattie and I rode our gravel bikes for a couple of hours, getting off the grid onto the dirt roads and trails around home. I still couldn’t sense if I could mentally come around for another Ironman, but I certainly knew I didn’t want to end 2018 on my Kona performance. In the end, I committed to Arizona after another week in Bend that included a couple of ninety minute gravel rides, three swims of about 2k, and a couple of 45-minute jogs: so not much training at all. I also focused on fully recovering from my race in Kona to make sure physically I could be ready for AZ. To be fair, I would say that I only ran about 16 solid miles of the marathon in Kona, so my legs were not as damaged as running a solid full marathon, or even as damaged as some of my final few long training runs prior to Kona. But I was still using my MarcPro every day for any of the time I wasn’t out on my gravel bike to keep blood flowing, coupled with lots of stretching and foam rolling and taking lots of epsom salt baths.

The temps dropping and the breweries tempting, Wattie and I flew back to Tucson for the final three weeks leading into Arizona. After getting back down to Tucson, my coach put the final three-week block of the season into Training Peaks. Without getting into too many details because this would turn into a whole book, haha, I will just say that this training block was very “loose.” To be perfectly honest, I was not motivated to train. I had trained harder than I ever had in my life before Kona and had a horrible day. So each day in this block was a battle to just get the training done. I wasn’t in it mentally. I was just going through the motions to keep my body moving and keep my fitness up but I really wasn’t motivated by Ironman Arizona itself. I was motivated to make up for such a bad day in Kona. I felt I had let everyone down: my sponsors, my family and friends, my coach, so I was doing the training and physically working hard and hitting numbers but wasn’t really that into it. I had left everything I had in Kona.

During Ironman Arizona race week, it hit me that I was actually about to do another Ironman. Now I started to get super nervous. I couldn’t get what had happened in Kona out of my head and thought it was going to happen again. I kept picturing another horrible race and totally embarrassing myself. On top of these feelings, I woke up Saturday— the day before the race!—with a full-blown head cold. I had a major headache and coughed up some odd green phlegm. Wattie and I earnestly discussed pulling the plug, but we decided to see how I was when I woke up race morning. I didn’t get out of bed all Saturday except for an interview I had to go do.

Race morning I woke up to more green phlegm and a headache but nothing too terrible. I thought about Mike Krezza, the firefighter who was killed during his final big ride in preparation for AZ. He would give anything to be toeing the line and I wasn’t going to race because of a minor head cold? No.

I will refrain from a full-blown description of the race itself, as most people may have watched it. I can confidently say that it was the best-executed race of my triathlon career. I had a solid swim (for me) in 57:30, which could have probably been about 30 seconds quicker as I was swimming with Skye Moench and Christen Brown until about the final 1000meters, where I got a nasty calf cramp in the freezing cold water. I honestly thought I was going to have to stop swimming and tread water for a kayak, but I was able to stop kicking on that side and it subsided after about five minutes.

Onto my Argon 18, I went to work executing my plan and only my plan. I wasn’t concerned with the four girls up the road—I just watched my Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt to drink my Herbalife24 CR7 Drive every five minutes. I got two and a half bottles down by the 60-minute mark, exactly what I was aiming for. I made it back into town for the start of the second lap in 1:33 and hit the lap button on my Bolt. The first lap had felt easy and very controlled. “Okay, time to pick it up just a fraction for this 1:30ish lap,” I thought. I stayed on my fueling and also had to pee, which is a great sign of hydration, and also part of the plan. I made it back to the turn around in 1:32, so just a bit quicker! Time for the third lap, which was when it was time to turn it on. I picked up my effort level even more knowing I only had an hour and a half left to go, but I also stayed on my fueling, something I didn’t do a good job at in Kona. I made it back to transition feeling fueled and not too thrashed (I’ve definitely over-biked before in past races), but I had biked solid. By that I mean that I put a solid effort in. My main goal in the Ironman distance has been to run a faster marathon than I’d run in the past (I had been targeting a 3:00 goal pace) but I wanted to do that off biking well: not purposely biking easier in order to run better. My Ironman AZ bike time: 4:35

On the run I went to work on the first lap pretending that I only had a half-marathon to run. I told myself it was like racing Oceanside 70.3 or any other half and I should just get the legs moving fast until they come around. It took about five miles or so to settle into a groove and I just started ticking off two-mile intervals. At this point, Carrie Lester was still ahead of me by a couple of minutes but I was just trying to focus on my race and my pacing. I must have nailed my Herbalife24 nutrition on the bike because I had absolutely no stomach issues the entire run and didn’t have to use the porta-potties once, which has NEVER happened. My HOKA ONE ONE’s were amazing: so light and quick. And I had support crew ALL over the course—thank you so much to each and every one of you for breaking up every single mile with a friendly face to see. I made it through the first lap sticking to my own run pacing and then continued to feel solid through the second lap, something that has also never happened. I usually fade around the 18-20mile mark, which I think I did slightly, but nothing crazy. In the end: 3:00:49. FINALLY!!!! I couldn’t believe it!!! I had reached the goal I had been targeting for 2 years. Crazy what sticking to your own personal race plan and focusing on what you and only you can do!

If you’ve never seen the Ironman Arizona course, I’ll describe the run course: 80% of it is a cement path, so the second I stopped moving at the finish line, I knew I would barely be walking for at least a week. On top of a harsh course, my left calf was still completely knotted/sore from the cramp I got in the swim. I spent the three days after the race rotating between hot epsom salt baths and elevating my legs with my Marc Pro on. I could barely walk so at least my MarcPro was keeping the blood flowing. I also slept using the Marc Pro for the first three days after the race just to try and keep some blood flow through the night! The end result? Although my legs WERE trashed, by the end of the week following Arizona I felt like I’d returned mostly to normal. It’s really nice to have a tool that allows you to recover while you’re basically doing nothing (except watching House Hunters or catching up on work for the business).

It’s now been about a month since Ironman Arizona and so a month of unstructured training and trying to take a complete mental break from the sport of triathlon, something that can be pretty tough to do. I did absolutely nothing for the first week after the race and enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday with our friends and family in Bend, OR. The second week I did three or four short jogs, three or four hot yoga classes with my Mom, and a cold snowy gravel ride with Wattie. The third week after IMAZ, I got back into the pool a couple of times for 2-3km, as well as three or four jogs and a couple of spins. All of these were when I wanted to do them and for however long I felt like. The “off-season” break can be a tricky one, as the season is fresh in our minds and we can be tempted to want to get back into a schedule to work towards new goals we may have in mind. I’ve definitely woken up to those days over the last week or so motivated and ready to train, but there are also days that I wake up and want to do absolutely nothing. I don’t even want to think about swimming, biking, or running. That’s how I know I’m not fully mentally recharged yet and it will only make it worse to force anything right now. Right now is key to listening to your own mind and body and knowing when you are ready to fully commit again.

Currently, Wattie and I are in San Diego visiting our Wattie Ink. headquarters before we head up to spend a few days at Herbalife this week. Then we will continue on to Sacramento to visit a new Argon 18 shop at the end of the week before making our way back up to Bend for the holidays. The goal is to fully recharge this winter with lots of skate skiing and snowboarding. If Mt. Bachelor gets hit, you will find me on the mountain this month, as we missed a snowy winter last year having stayed down in Tucson. I just want to say the biggest thanks to all of you for reading, and supporting, and hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season.

By David Christenson, rider for the Marc Pro Cycling team

It’s that time of year where cyclists are beginning their winter training to prepare for the season ahead.

After some time off, it was time for me to do a fitness assessment to get an idea of where I’m at in my fitness as I ramp up the training in the weeks to come. I did this indoors on a smart trainer. There are so many apps and training platforms we can use to assess fitness these days, which is great. I decided to give the Sufferfest’s 4DP power test a try. This tests your 5 second power, your 1 minute power, your 5 minute power, and your 20 minute power all in one test. You perform intervals in the times I mentioned and each interval is full gas for that duration. It’s an extremely tough test, but these numbers will define my training as my baseline. I’ll build from there in the next several months, peaking for key races on the calendar.

I’ve added some weight training and core stabilization exercises this winter. I followed up my power test with some squats and dead lifts. I’m not going for high weight but going for higher reps. I’m hoping that this will help me build up for the season and maybe add a few more watts to my power profile. One thing I notice even after just a few weeks is how much better I feel overall. Just engaging other muscles that are neglected when just riding the bike.

The first couple of weeks the weights definitely beat me up, so I’ve been using the Marc Pro a lot to help recovery. Like most cyclists, the quads are a favorite pad placement. But, as I increase my weight training, I’m using it more and more on my shoulders and lower back.

You may also like:

Cycling Sprint Training | The Workout & The Recovery

How to Avoid Hitting the Wall

Brandon Aiken, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine at the University of South Carolina Aiken, shares what excites him about sports medicine and how Marc Pro complements that passion.

Tweet

How long have you been an athletic trainer?

I have been an athletic trainer for over 20 years. I started out as a grad assistant and working as a rehab tech, with over 1,500 hours of internship hours.

What attracted you to athletic training?

I have always been interested in athletics. I injured my knee playing football and we had an athletic trainer come to the school. Seeing the athletic trainer, I thought to myself that athletic training offers the best of both worlds. In athletic training, there is the medical side of the profession and the sports side too. The job is a lot of fun and there is amazing satisfaction with bringing athletes back to play.

What is your philosophy in regards to athletic training?

I believe in treating the whole athlete, not just the injury. There are physiological components to athletes that must be taken into account that are both mental and physical. There are multiple elements that must be taken into account from nutritional deficits, stresses from school, to sleep deficiencies.

What sports do you typically work with?

I am lucky enough to work with all teams. In the fall, I work primarily with women’s volleyball and travel with the team.

What injuries do you most commonly address?

There are a wide variety of injuries, but most commonly I see ankle injuries, shoulder injuries, and issues with the knee.

What is the most difficult aspect about being a trainer?

There can be long hours with time away from the family. I have a 5-year old and 2-year old, so being away from them during travel seasons is difficult.

How and when did you hear about the Marc Pro?

I heard about the Marc Pro about 5 years ago. I am a fan of Kelly Starrett and his thoughts about mobility and working out tissue in the training room. I found Gary Reinl’s video from the CrossFit Games about not icing injuries. I liked Gary’s courage to say no to ice and thought that the theory of not icing made sense.

Initially, I started with a soccer player and did not use ice for treatment. I went home that night and thought, “Am I doing the right thing?” A few days later, the soccer player was feeling better, faster than we expected.

How many Marc Pros do you have at the university?

We have 24 units at our school. Our treatment protocol includes the Marc Pro because it allows us to get athletes out to the field quicker. Because athletes see the Marc Pro’s benefits, we have to offer seasonal priority to teams that are in-season. Every year, it is in my budget to buy 2 more Marc Pro units because it is impossible to keep them in stock for the athletes.

The units are always checked out, and 4 of our athletes have purchased their own personal Marc Pro devices.  We have a check out sheet that includes the Marc Pro unit number and has a place for the athletic trainer to sign for approved athlete usage.

What do you tell athletes who check out the units?

We train the athletes on how to use the device and tell them that you are looking for the biggest contraction possible. We also say to turn it as high as you can tolerate, be in a completely relaxed position, and use it for a minimum of 4 hours in a row.

What do your athletes like best about the Marc Pro?

Simply, the athletes see the value in the Marc Pro because it allows them to get better, faster.

How has the Marc Pro helped you in the training room and strength room?

We include the Marc Pro in a range of motion and strengthening exercises. I am also a strength coach and we don’t recommend athletes ice post-lifting. Why would we do it for injuries? Now I only use ice for keeping water cold.

The Marc Pro moves things along so much faster and doesn’t slow the healing process down. Ice does not allow for the body to do what it has to do. With the Marc Pro, recovery times are faster, we can reduce pain, reduce swelling, increase range of motion, and strengthen. In turn, this leads to sustained and long-term recovery–complete recovery for the athlete.

What has been the most surprising thing you have learned throughout your career?

Everyday, my job keeps getting more fun. Someone once told me, “If you know everything in sports medicine, you should find a new job.” I am always looking to learn because there is so much to learn about how to get better in a sport. We have to get away from the thought that “we have always done it this way.” Our team incorporates continuing education courses into our budget every year to support ongoing learning.

What is your favorite part about your work?

I love the relationships that you build with athletes. It is such an amazing experience to see athletes come back from an injury.

Want to hear more? Watch our interviews from the NATA Conference, where talked with 13 athletic trainers about why they are leaving ice in the cooler and taking a new approach to recovery.

Tweet

In the second episode of The Gathering, Ben Smith, Noah Ohslen, Scott Panchik, and Emily Bridgers are interviewed by renowned physical therapist and mobility expert Kelly Starrett. The group met up in San Francisco, CA to talk about training challenges and how they overcome them to achieve their goals. This episode covers topics such as:

How many times should you attempt to hit a weight?

How do you know when to keep pushing and when to back down?

How to differentiate between soreness/small tweaks and something that could be a more significant injury

What do you use to recover from training and competitions?

The group’s answers varied quite a bit on some questions, but reached a consensus on others. Ben Smith revealed that he’s had sessions where he attempted a weight 20 times or more before hitting it at the end. Scott Panchik says three incomplete reps is his limit. But when it came to pushing themselves and preferred recovery methods, they were all on the same page.

If you haven’t watched it yet, check out The Gathering Episode 1.

Workout and recover like a CrossFit Games Athlete. We asked Scott Panchik and Emily Bridgers to share an example of what a workout of the day looks like for them and how they recover from it using their Marc Pro.

Scott Panchik’s WOD and Recovery

Scott shared one of his aerobic workouts of the day. To recover from his exhausting routine, he used the Marc Pro calf placement.

Workout of the Day

• 3 mile run, but…
• Every 400 meters, stop and do 5 pushups and 10 air squats before continuing with run

Recovery with Marc Pro

• Calf placement with electrodes on the calves and bottoms of feet
• Duration: at least 30 minutes

Emily Bridgers’ WOD and Recovery

Emily’s workout was compliments of CrossFit Linchpin. Since she has been dealing with a nagging shoulder issue, she used the focused shoulder Marc Pro placement to recover from her workout.

Workout of the Day

• 15 minute AMRAP
• 200m run
• 10 DB snatches (right)
• 10 DB snatches (left)
• 5 bar muscle ups

Recovery with Marc Pro

• Focused shoulder placement with electrodes on the delt, trap, and surrounding the shoulder blade
• Duration: at least 20 minutes before leaving the gym

The sooner you can start using your Marc Pro, the better. Marc Pro will be able to work quicker when metabolic waste is still loose in the body. Even with these duration suggestions, you can use your Marc Pro for as long as you need. If a workout was particularly difficult, try using your Marc Pro for 60 minutes to make sure you’re ready to go for the next.

Watch Emily’s workout and recovery video!