The BLACKROLL® looks quite inconspicuous, but still waters are known to be deep and so the innovative foam roller has established itself as a real miracle tool in competitive and hobby sports. In an interview, Shida Pourhosseini, yoga & regeneration trainer, BLACKROLL® master trainer and author of the book “Optimal regeneration with yoga and BLACKROLL®” reveals why regeneration is so important and how BLACKROLL® in combination with yoga can help. 
Shida Pourhosseini, yoga & regeneration trainer, BLACKROLL® master trainer and author of the book “Optimal regeneration with yoga and BLACKROLL®
What is BLACKROLL®:
The BLACKROLL® fascia roller is ideal for people who want to improve their mobility and specifically treat painful muscle stiffness. It supports you in self-massage of the back, neck, core muscles, thighs or calves and serves as a functional training device to strengthen deeper muscles. Although self-massage does not replace an experienced therapist, it can complement some traditional treatment methods, particularly physiotherapy, connective tissue massage, or osteopathy.
The special thing here is that when working with BLACKROLL® you only work with your body's own weight in order to vary the pressure on the tissue being massaged. Muscle pain and tension can therefore be treated specifically in order to accelerate the regeneration of stressed muscles and loosen fascia adhesions.
BLACKROLL® meets Yoga: Interview with expert Shida:
Hello Shida, nice that you are part of our special “Regeneration and Deep Muscles” this week and are supporting us with your expert knowledge. As a certified yoga teacher and trained BLACKROLL® master trainer or conceptionist of the “BLACKROLL® meets Yoga” program, you have made a name for yourself in the yoga sports scene and include well-known professional athletes such as world swimming champion Marco Koch, professional triathlete Daniela Bleymehl and some Bundesliga clubs your customers. You have also been working weekly as a yoga & regeneration trainer at the elite football school in Frankfurt for many years.
What exactly is Nambaya and what does your day-to-day work look like there?
"I initially worked full-time in the IT industry for many years. However, this year I finally turned my hobby into a career and am now working full-time for the Nambaya company.
I became aware of this after I had intensively studied the topic of sleep. Nambaya has developed a sensor to analyze your sleep and, based on the results of sleep quality measurement, offers personalized therapies to improve body regeneration. I use Nambaya as an analysis tool to start a collaboration with my professional athletes. The sleep report shows me where the athlete is and what he actually needs for training. It completes my work as a yoga & regeneration trainer.
By observing movements and breathing during various sports or relaxation exercises, I can determine what condition the athlete is currently in and adjust my training accordingly. Spontaneity and flexibility are particularly important here. After all, humans are not machines that always work the same way. After 3-6 months of regular training, it is worth reviewing the athlete's status again in the form of a second sleep analysis to see whether his health/fitness status has changed."
You often integrate the BLACKROLL® into your yoga classes and have also written a book about it. How did you come up with the idea of combining yoga with the BLACKROLL®?
"I was convinced that yoga and its own aids such as blocks, pillows, belts and blankets would be enough for me. I came into contact with the fascia roller due to my own herniated disc in 2009. I found it very beneficial and pain-relieving at the time in physiotherapy. The opportunity to combine the two came to me through my work with athletes. I noticed that many athletes had enormous shortenings and their arms didn't come close to reaching a block. I tested the fascia roller for the first time with the swimming world champion Marco Koch. As a breaststroke swimmer He improved his leg kick and stabilized his position in the water by rolling out his adductors and hip openers.
I was fascinated by the quick results and wrote down my experiences to try out in different sports. The combination of yoga exercises and the use of the BLACKROLL® increases the elasticity of joints, tendons, muscles and fascia and helps everyone to restore their natural functioning. Actually, yoga per se is fascia training. But yoga in combination with BLACKROLL® has a multiplying effect in becoming or remaining more flexible and supple."
Does fascia training have any other benefits besides improving mobility?
"Fascia training stands for injury prevention, regeneration and can also be used very well in a specific sport. That's why it's hard to imagine sport without it.
Strengthening, building muscle, maintaining flexibility and adequate hydration are the most important factors in keeping our muscles healthy. Due to one-sided movement patterns, or too little movement - i.e. sitting for long periods of time, but also stress and other psychological and emotional stress, we tend to develop imbalances, tensions and shortenings in the body. These cause pain and functional movement restrictions. We can counteract this by rolling out the fascia with yoga and the BLACKROLL®. Self-massage improves the tissue structure in the restricted muscle regions. This achieves greater flexibility and reduces performance weaknesses.
Small injuries and adhesions, as well as a lack of mobility and flexibility, can be easily discovered. As soon as the user rolls over affected areas, he or she receives feedback, usually a slight pressure pain. This pleasant pain then helps to resolve the symptoms at this point by repeating the roll cure several times or increasing the pressure. In this way, every athlete can take preventative measures or return to sport more quickly if injured."
How exactly is a yoga class structured for you and how do you integrate the Blackroll?
"When training yoga, I always start with the feet, then work on the hips, the hamstring muscles, the thoracic spine and the diaphragm. These are areas of the body that are almost always integrated if time allows. Breathing awareness, technique and final relaxation are also never allowed miss.
The BLACKROLL® plays an important role for me, especially after training. When used correctly, it promotes blood circulation in the tissue, loosens adhesions and reduces tension in the muscles and fascia. Instead of the hands of a physiotherapist, the combination of resistance from the foam roller, pressure from your own body weight and the rolling movements massages the muscles and fascia. This myofascial self-massage improves blood circulation and the removal of waste products caused by intensive exercise."
Can I work alone with the BLACKROLL® at home or is there a risk of “breaking” something?
"As a rule, your own intuition and body perception count. You should feel a sense of well-being and stick to the contraindications.
In principle, there are three hard contraindications that generally rule out the use of BLACKROLL® and some soft ones that should be discussed with a doctor:
Hard contraindications:
• Redness
• Swelling
• Acute pain
Soft contraindications:
• Osteoporosis
• Acute intervertebral disc damage
• Taking blood thinning medications
• Fibromyalgia
• Rheumatic diseases
• Joint replacement
• Tumor diseases
• Pregnancy"
Can I strengthen and train my fascia and deep muscles without aids like the BLACKROLL®?
"You can also do fascia training without the role and attend courses such as fascia fitness or fascia yoga. Yoga itself, as already mentioned, is per se a form of fascia training. In these courses, however, the fascia is worked on through springing, swinging and stretching exercises something intensified."
Thanks to Shida for this interesting and insightful interview.
In our theme week on Instagram and Facebook, Shida will be with us all week long and there are lots of great promotions waiting for you.
If you would like to get started right away, but you still don't have the right equipment, then we already have a one-time voucher for you. Use the code " OGNX_PulsYoga_BR_20 " to secure your 20% voucher when purchasing yoga products .*
You can find more videos and information about sleep analysis on Pulsyoga and at Nambaya .
*20% discount code is valid for 2 weeks until April 19, 2020
© Images: Christian Grau