Finding a coach
Unlike massage therapists, Rossiter coaches are a bit more challenging to locate, but a list of certified coaches is available at http://therossitersystem.com. Several instructors from My Pilates Studio in Centerville also recently completed training and will incorporate the Rossiter System with their Pilates program to help clients reclaim movement in their bodies.
There are no fluffy white robes to wear or new age music softly playing in the background.
It’s not relaxing or soothing like a massage — it can actually be painful — but the end results can be amazing.
“I guarantee my sessions,” said Diane Gallagher, a Rossiter System senior instructor. “I tell people that if at the end of a 20- or 30-minute session, they don’t feel better, they don’t pay me. And I can tell you, I don’t work for free.”
Gallagher, a Cincinnati native, now based in Colorado, is one of a growing number of instructors or coaches trained in the Rossiter System — a form of powerful two-person stretching that focuses on loosening tight connective tissue throughout the body.
“It’s powerful and effective because, unlike massage, you are involved,” Gallagher said. “And no one knows your body better than you do.”
Samantha Grigsby is a West Milton licensed massage therapist who recently added Rossiter System certification to her resume.
“Massage is something that is done to you,” Grigsby said. “When someone is using Rossiter, they are doing it with you.”
Rossiter basics
Rossiter is a workout — not a treatment or therapy — designed to help people restore their body’s natural system of space, adding weight to tight areas and moving against that weight using normal movement patterns.
Bodies endure daily wear and tear. When connective tissue becomes stressed, it shortens and thickens. Usually, a good night’s sleep and sufficiently healthful lifestyle help the connective tissue return to normal the next day.
When connective tissue can’t bounce back in a day, it continues to shorten and thicken, not just at the place it is overworked or stressed, but everywhere. Common sensations include tight muscles, tingling, soreness, loss of strength, buzzing, aching, throbbing, numbness and pain. These are the major symptoms of repetitive stress injuries and can be found in athletes as well as those who spend most of their waking hours in front of a computer.
With Rossiter, the person doing the stretches is in charge of and in control of their body — how much weight they are willing to accept and how hard they are determined to reach in the stretches. The person helping them stretch, provides the weight and encouragement, coaching them through movements as effectively as possible in order to achieve the best results.
“We are applying weight, with our feet, very slowly and in a controlled manner,” Gallagher said. “They are moving against that weight.”
At first glance, it looks a bit peculiar with your coach actually stepping on you, but it is the weight of the coach’s foot combined with the dynamic stretches you go through that makes it both a unique and effective workout.
“I usually tell people it’s fast and very effective but not comfortable,” said Rossiter coach Travis Sira, who works at BellaVita Massage in Oakwood. “Basically, I’m going to step on you and run you through range-of-motion stretches, but you are in charge. It is done totally to your comfort level.”
Rossiter benefits
For many years, Richard Rossiter taught factory workers techniques to keep them pain-free. He later adapted his knowledge of connective tissue, focusing on two-person stretching — hard, powerful and often painful stretches that make a difference.
“For many people, Rossiter is the missing piece to their recovery from injury and overuse, because it works on the head to toe fasical network that keeps all our parts where they belong with the correct amount of space for everything to work as designed,” Gallagher said. “For some people, this workout can be life changing.”
Most people feel an immediate change in the first Rossiter session. Some only need one session, others, especially those with longstanding issues, may require two or three sessions to restore their natural space and keep it at its intended state of looseness.
“I can step on a 200-pound man for a few minutes and he can suddenly feel better,” Grigsby said. “It’s very persuasive because it is so effective.”
Sira, of Bellbrook, has also seen dramatic results like a soccer player he worked with whose hands dangled 7 inches off the ground when he was asked to touch his toes prior to his workout and whose knuckles touched the floor when he was finished.
“Once people do it, they are hooked,” Sira said.
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