<h3>Losing Pliability</h3>
A good way to understand <a href="https://tb12sports.com/blog/pliability-performance-recovery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what it means to be pliable</a> is to picture what it’s like to lose pliability.
Imagine you sprint the final 200 meters of a 5k road race and injure a quad muscle. Pain receptors signal the brain about the damage. The brain sends signals back to the muscles surrounding the quad to become tight, dense, and stiff. In other words, to act like a natural splint to protect the injured muscle.
The quad stops firing. Other muscles work harder to compensate for the loss. With the quad going flat, we create an imbalance. This imbalance affects areas above and below the injury and overall leg function deteriorates. The hip, knee, ankle, and foot become impaired.
When dealing with a muscle imbalance, our bodies get good at doing things the wrong way. In our daily lives, we go on walking, running, and sitting with imbalances, compounding the toll of compensation and overload.
An injury like this is an example of a “negative trauma.” We preserve negative traumas as a muscle memory until that memory is challenged and replaced by the “positive trauma” we can create through pliability work.

<h3>What is pliability and what does it mean to become pliable?</h3>
Becoming pliable means targeting muscles that the brain has programmed to be short, tight, and hard, and re-educating them to be loose, supple and responsive — helping the body restore full range of motion and proper movement patterns. Imbalances are replaced by balance, enabling optimal health and performance, regardless of age, activity, or background. 
“Pliability can help not only elite athletes but anyone and everyone who’s willing to commit to living a daily life of wellness and vitality,” Tom says. “Casual athletes, weekend warriors, yoga practitioners, marathon runners, anyone.” Whether it’s carrying a baby up and down a flight of stairs, playing tennis, or taking a snap in an NFL football game, pliability helps you do what you love better and for longer.

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<h3>How can you become pliable?</h3>
There are two primary options. 
One is working directly with a TB12 Body Coach, the same way Tom has worked with TB12 Co-Founder Alex Guerrero for more than a decade. 
“For pliability, the best-case scenario is working with a <a href="https://tb12sports.com/services/body-coaches" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TB12 Body Coach</a> to get hands-on deep-force pliability work coupled with functional movements,” says James Castrello, Head Body Coach at <a href="https://tb12sports.com/services/tb12-foxboro" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TB12’s Foxboro facility</a>.
For those who don’t have access to a TB12 Body Coach, <a href="https://tb12sports.com/shop/products/tb12-vibrating-pliability-roller-and-sphere-bundle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vibrating devices</a> are a great alternative. Either a Roller, Sphere or Mini Sphere, Castrello says, is a great option for at-home pliability work. “All of our devices are good for anyone living the TB12 Method remotely.”
The key to pliability is stimulating and re-educating the brain by creating new neural pathways. You have billions of neurons and trillions of synapses between neurons. Through deep-force pliability work, you can take advantage of your brain’s inherent neuroplasticity (i.e., its ability to learn, change, and grow) and, over time, teach your body optimal movement patterns.

TB12™ Vibrating Pliability Mini Sphere

Pliability retrains the brain, allowing you to restore muscles’ ability to fully contract, achieve full oxygenation and blood flow, accelerate healing, and eliminate imbalances and compensations that restrict performance and result in injury.
Castrello offered these essential tips to get the most out of using a TB12 vibrating device, which can be used in conjunction with exercises outlined in the <a href="https://tb12sports.com/shop/products/tb12-method-book" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TB12 Method</a> book or the<a href="https://tb12sports.com/services/tb12-app" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> TB12 mobile app</a>.

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<h2>How to Get Started With Pliability Training Using a Sphere or Roller</h2>

Getting started on the path of pliability is worth it, Tom Brady says. “If you want proof that pliability training works: I’m it. I was the 199th pick of the 2000 draft — an athlete that had always been told he didn’t have the right body for football. No one had believed I’d play a year of college ball let alone in the NFL. Not a lot of players have ever started as quarterback while in their 40s. If you want a great case study for what the TB12 Method and pliability can do for you — I’m right here, playing another season in the NFL.”

How to Get Started With a Vibrating Roller or Sphere

TB12™ Vibrating Pliability Mini Sphere

Before and after workouts

One minute per muscle

Be consistent

Use the mini sphere for hard to reach spots

Work toward higher vibration levels

Strive to make a change

Make it part of the mix

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Prehab

Functional Strength + Conditioning

Performance Nutrition + Supplementation

Pliability for Performance

Recovery