Summary
Mike Reinold is joined by strength coaches Greg Robbins and Tony Bonvecchio from The Strength House to answer listener questions on mixed grip deadlifts, self-myofascial release before training, and gaining mass as a high school athlete. The discussion on SMR covers whether foam rolling before a workout hurts power output, with the consensus being that any reduction in neural drive is negligible and dissipates quickly during the warm-up process. The coaches emphasize that self-myofascial release should be treated as a tool for specific purposes rather than a blanket requirement before every session. For powerlifters, they note a trade-off between flexibility work and maximal strength, while team sport athletes benefit more from foam rolling to mitigate muscular tone before training. They caution against foam rolling becoming a crutch or a mental dependency that prevents athletes from training effectively when conditions are not perfect.
Key Points
- Any decrease in force production from pre-workout SMR is minimal and dissipates during the warm-up process
- Self-myofascial release should be a targeted tool, not a mandatory warm-up ritual
- For powerlifters, excessive flexibility work can trade off against maximal strength gains
- Team sport athletes benefit more from pre-training foam rolling to reduce muscular tone
- Foam rolling can become a psychological crutch where athletes feel unable to train without it
- Double overhand grip should be used as long as possible to build grip strength before switching to mixed grip
- High school athletes struggling to gain mass typically need to eat significantly more food and track intake
Key Moments
Any force reduction from SMR dissipates quickly during warm-up
The coaches explain that research showing decreased force production from foam rolling measures it immediately after, but by the time you complete your full warm-up routine the effect has dissipated.
"if it did, we're probably talking about micro units here. And it's also probably something that dissipates rather quickly. I think that when the research shows stuff like that, it decreases your ability to generate force. It's usually like immediately. So in the research project, they do it and then check their force."
Foam rolling as a tool not a ritual
The coaches discuss how foam rolling has become so popular that people do it reflexively without a clear reason, and argue it should only be used as a targeted tool for a specific purpose.
"It's got to be a tool. I feel like foam rolling is this thing that's gotten so popular. It's like, why are you doing it? You know what I mean? Right. Maybe... I mean, I'm not sure why that has really ideas come around either because I think most of the research shows that foam rolling doesn't really affect strength and power, right?"
Team sport athletes benefit more from pre-training SMR than powerlifters
Tony explains that team sport athletes benefit more from pre-training foam rolling because their sports create high muscular tone, and unlike powerlifters they cannot afford to trade movement quality for maximal strength.
"there is sometimes a tradeoff between maximal strength and movement quality, and you can't really make that tradeoff with team sport athletes because there's not a single sport where maximum strength is the most important thing."
Foam rolling as a psychological crutch that holds athletes back
The coaches caution against foam rolling becoming a mental dependency where athletes feel they cannot train properly without completing an extensive SMR routine first, calling this mentality mentally weak.
"I can't squat if I don't foam roll head to toe for 45 minutes before. Right. Right. And like if, if that workout sucks and they blame everything on the fact that they didn't get to warm up properly. Right."
