No matter which form you practiced: Judo, Karate, Boxing, Wrestling, Hapkido, MMA or, or … You live in your body and use it for competition or martial arts. These are ideal conditions to benefit from Rolfing. Especially if you’re looking for a new way to deal with injuries.
A trained body image as a foundation
Through your training you have created your own exact body image. This means that you can implement movement instructions very precisely. This allows you to pointedly guide an external force into the depth. An example: If as a Rolfer I stretch your ribcage in a targeted way, then you can also stretch yourself under it in a targeted way. This allows the tissue to glide on the inside of the chest. These are stretches and movements that you cannot achieve on your own. And these stretches are soothing and beneficial to health. You train your own body image and thus your range of motion. What the inspection service is for a car that is Rolfing in martial arts.
Handling of injuries in martial arts
The goal of a good martial arts training should be to have fun together without injury. Nevertheless, depending on the mentality, injuries happen. You block a kick and break a rib. You get caught in the uniform and sprain your fingers. Or you are thrown and land unfortunate on your shoulder … – You certainly know the whole litany. Take care of your injuries without completely interrupting your training! Get out of your protective postures. Except you’re not just going to keep doing what you’re doing. Here Rolfing can support you as fascia therapy and movement training. And exercise training doesn’t mean gymnastics. Because it’s not about the big visible movements. Your micro movements are more important. That is, your way of preparing for a movement.
When dealing with injuries, there is a danger of underestimating the built up protection of your own body. I.e. you believe that you can move “as normal” again. In fact, your body has hidden small “movement building blocks”: The small turn of the shoulder, the minimal opening of the elbow, the small turn of the foot. These are all movements that you consciously do not perceive. If these movements are omitted, however, you will become grosser motor skilled. Something you might want to avoid. I.e. your body awareness has to perceive safety, to allow these micro movements to happen again and to take them into account.
Dealing with getting older
If you have stood on the mat for many years, you will also notice that you slow down as you get older. You are not quite as supple anymore, even if you stretch and move well during warm-up exercises. Their suppleness depends on the fact that different muscle groups can glide well against each other. This is both a question of coordination and a question of tissue. Good body work “lubricates” the individual tissue layers. Not for nothing many Thai boxers also know Thai massage. Bodywork like Rolfing supports her in systematically supplying all areas of the body.
Depending on the martial art there are different ways of dealing with body tension. If your body is always under tension, you run the risk of experiencing early joint wear. Find ways to completely relax your body over and over again. This helps you to maintain the length of your muscles and thus also “space” in your joints. You can use Rolfing as a maintenance service for your body, either to look for the right thing or to completely shut down to zero once.
