What is Body Tempering?
Body Tempering uses heavy tools (typically heavy cylinders) to give you a deep tissue massage. The weight of these cylinders can range from 5 pounds to 300 pounds. It is similar to foam rolling only you are not laying on the roller, the roller is laying on you. One of the great benefits of this reversal is that you don’t have to twist into uncomfortable positions to hit those hard-to-reach spots, we do all of the work for you. And, while Body Tempering is more intense than foam rolling it is not as painful. This is because the weight is distributed over the surface area of the tool which allows the body to ease into the pressure.
From Bodytempering.com:
Body Tempering Tools are designed to:
- improve range of motion
- increase flexibility
- reduce soreness
- mobilize the myofascial layers
- address trigger points (or tender points)
- strengthen tendons
- alter sympathetic nervous system excitation.
It is a fundamental part of numerous professional and high-level athletic programs. These include the NCAA football Champion Clemson Tigers, The MLB World Series Champs Kansas City Royals, The NCAA Women’s Basketball National Champion UCONN Huskies, The NFL Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles, and Gold Medal Olympic Shot-putters and Swimmers.
It’s designed to reduce tone leading to sprains/strains, open up range of motion and improve flexibility/mobility to achieve ideal positioning for training.
It is also designed to reduce feelings of fatigue to lengthen work out time and reduce soreness to enhance future training sessions.
The following article which was written by Osteopathic physicians does a great job of explaining the mechanisms in Body Tempering:
The article is a little heady so, in case you don’t want to read the whole article, here are some interesting points:
BT has been shown clinically to be beneficial for athletes, as it provides an alternative to traditional stretching, foam rolling, and deep tissue mobilization to facilitate repair of muscle strains, improve soft tissue extensibility, and reduce pain.
BT appears to help prepare soft tissue for activity and improve muscle recovery, with longer-lasting results than static stretching, massage, or other soft tissue interventions.
BT may be used to target and release painful myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) and fascial perforation, points where there is compression of nerves and vascular structures.
If Body Tempering is something that you would like to try, we offer it as a stand alone session or as part of a bodywork session at our Denver location. Please contact Josh Sebring at our Denver location if you have any questions.