Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/665755
trainer who started sending me bodybuilders, football players, track runners, and cyclists, and I had to start watching videos on YouTube to learn what techniques to use." Her research brought her to the CORE myofascial certifi cation program. "The techniques make a lot more sense when put into the context of what the athletes are doing, and why they're doing it. For example, we work on their hip fl exors because they have to be able to pick their legs up higher to run faster. Their shoulder girdles have to be able to move so they can throw the ball farther." THE ACADEMY PROTOCOL Kousaleos's approach entails using lighter pressure to spread superfi cial fascia, facilitating recovery without affecting an athlete's ability to train at an intense level. He says, "We've been able to test our method on a wide range of athletes and body C h e c k o u t A B M P 's l a t e s t n e w s a n d b l o g p o s t s . Av a i l a b l e a t w w w. a b m p . c o m . 59 types, and the overall response from the athletes is they feel like they can train at a higher level the next day and aren't experiencing a lot of the soreness that other massage experiences have given them, with therapists going too deep, too quickly." Each week, a new batch of 6–10 therapists arrives in Boca Raton to train with Kousaleos and Stanley. Kousaleos trains them in CORE Myofascial Therapy from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and the therapists work on the athletes from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Many therapists believe performing sports massage on bigger, more muscular individuals requires a higher degree of physical strength in the therapist; that you need to push harder or go deeper to be effective. That simply isn't the case, Kousaleos says. Through a combination of intensive training in myofascial treatment protocols and more effi cient body mechanics, therapists learn they can capably perform effective bodywork on athletes of all sizes. "The work we're learning here now is much less taxing on the body than what I've been doing," Daddio says. "We're learning the lunge stance, using leverage, putting your client's body in a position where you don't use any of your raw power—you're basically using leverage the whole time, which is incredibly different from what I've learned. It's going to enable me to keep my body healthy for another 10 or 15 years, easy." Hopkins agrees: "I do lot a lot of deep-tissue work, and by the end of the day, I'm beat. I use my upper body a lot to lift, push, and pull. This fi ne-tunes your technique. You're using gravity to do the work. This is going to lengthen my career, because I'm not working as hard." Another keystone of the CORE approach is the amount of lubricant used during a session. A dime-sized portion of Kousaleos's specially formulated CORE butter is all that is used, which allows the therapist to glide more slowly over the muscles. "We were always taught to use a lot of lotion," says Hopkins of her massage school education. "This approach uses friction to generate heat, and the heat actually melts the fascia under the skin instead of us forcing the muscle to move. It makes a big difference." TACTICAL TEAMWORK More professional athletes and trainers are acknowledging the benefi ts of sports massage therapy than ever before, but there's still a long way to go for massage therapy to be fully accepted into the mainstream health-care community. Kousaleos thinks the practical experience his therapists are gaining in working as an integral part of the XPE Sports Academy team is a big step in the right direction. In previous years, the approach at XPE has been to bring in a diverse range of high- level specialists—strength trainers, physical therapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, etc.—and let them perform work on the athletes George Kousaleos, founder of the CORE Institute, instructs therapists in CORE Myofascial Therapy each morning during the XPE pre-Combine training. Photo by Patty Kousaleos. ACHIE VING PE AK PERFORMANCE THROUGH SPORTS MASSAGE