Ok, what we’re going to talk about today is going to be pretty fun and also a little weird (shocker I know).

I want to talk about a tool I use a TON with my ACL athletes and something I tell every single one of my athletes to buy and keep in their gym / sports bag.

This one little tool has allowed me to help countless athletes who were stuck, frustrated, in pain, couldn’t make progress, and didn’t know what to do next.

It’s cheap, portable, and you can do it yourself — you don’t need me or anyone else there to do it for you, you’re in control.

And the best part it… I don’t even know how it works.

I mean I do kind of (there are 5 or 6 possible mechanisms) but the science hasn’t caught up enough to say for certain which one it is. It could be all, or it could be none.

I just know it works, and that’s good enough for me… and the dozens of athletes who swear by this as one of the biggest tools that contributed to their improved recovery.

I’m talking about:

Voodoo Floss Bands

Those weird rubber bands that got popularized in the CrossFit space for helping competitor with achy joints get out of pain, improve mobility, and perform better.

These can be your secret weapon in your comeback from Knee Surgery.

They work by wrapping the joint tightly with one (or both) bands, moving the joint around for a minute or two, then taking the bands back off.

That’s it.

Almost like magic (hence the name) the joint feels warm, loose, and ready to go.

It’s not a magic fix, but it is such a good tool for people who are struggling with an entry point — “I want to do this but it’s too painful… I’m trying to improve my mobility but it feels stuck and I don’t want to force it… rehab feels too easy but if it do more it hurts” — flossing is a highly highly effective tool to help us overcome these kinds of obstacles.

Here’s what I know these bands can do:

• Reduce pain with exercise

• Reduce swelling and inflammation

• Improve range of motion

• Make training harder (without overloading the joint)

In short: they let you do more with less pain

When you do that you can train harder, progress faster, and feel better about every step of the process.

As for how they do that, that’s still up for debate:

The compression could restore sliding to the tissue, provide support to reduce pain signals to the brain, break up scar tissue, improve bloodflow similar to BFR (once you take them off), some combination of all of these, or something different altogether.

I’m happy to let the real smart guys figure that out, I’ll just keep helping people in the meantime and figure out who to give credit to later!

So… how do I actually use the dang things?

So glad you asked.

I typically use them in two ways:

1. As a warmup

2. To troubleshoot painful exercises

Wrap your knee up and knock out 40 - 50 bodyweight squats until that quad is getting chatty and that knee feels nice and pumped (stick to the end and I’ll show you a couple videos of exactly how I do this).

This works great as a substitute for a sled if you don’t have one (or in addition to the sled if you want to be a savage!). This also just helps you feel warm and ready to go and not need a couple sets for your knee to ‘get going’.

It’s a great catch-all to help everything else we do later feel better and be more effective.

Remember this is about gaining access to allow us to train harder and more effectively afterwards!

Troubleshooting specific exercises (particularly the deep squats and split squats) is where this tool is really a game changer and how I use it the most with my athletes.

When I say troubleshoot I mean improve stiffness, swelling and, in particular, pain.

So let’s say I have an athlete squat as low as they can on a slant board. Towards the bottom they say they feel a lot of pressure and it’s pretty uncomfortable.

I don’t want them to just ignore this and push through as this is likely to make things worse.

I can regress it and make things easier, but I still want it to be a challenge.

This is where I will wrap the athlete’s knee with the floss band and then ask them to squat again (and maybe have them hold onto something for a bit of support).

Now the bands will feel like they’re squeezing pretty tight (may even be a bit uncomfortable), but the knee itself will feel more stable and less tight.

Now I don’t want them to force it but slowly go lower and lower with each rep until by that 10th, 15th, or 20th rep they’re now working through a greater range of motion than they were without the band with less pain.

That’s the name of the game.

Then as soon as they’re done with the set we take the band off (you don’t want to leave it on for more than a minute or two) and let the blood come rushing back in and rehydrate the tissue.

I have them squat again and boom, it feels a little bit better.

Now we can either keep going with our session as planned OR, what I often like to do, I can wrap them up again for the next set and get a little more progress, and then again for the next set.

Being sure to take it off in between each time.

Then, whenever they reach their final set for the day, I like to have them do it without the floss band (just like they tried originally) and see the noticeable improvement in range of motion and reduction in pain.

It is not at all uncommon for athletes to gain an inch or two in depth on a squat and take pain from a 4 or 5 out of 10 down to a 1 or even 0.

This is what makes these so effective:

They allow us to work around pain to still be able to train in a meaningful and effective way.

This is how I’m able to get so many athletes started, we are able to find one little entry point and then can slowly build from there.

We can’t get incremental improvement unless we can take the first step.

Oh, and I guess I should tell you where to get them before we wrap this up. If you just search ‘voodoo floss bands’ on amazon you can find a dozen, I’m a big fan of the ones from Mr. Infinity and Shogun. They just feel the nicest and stay in place the best without sliding too much.

You can get a pair at the link below and use the code PRIMAL10 to get 10% off.

As promised I did want to include those 2 training videos I mentioned above. The first is an overview of how to use the floss bands in your warmup. The second goes over how to use them to troubleshoot specific exercises that are tight or tender.

These are the actual videos I use with my clients I work with 1:1 to help come back from ACL and other serious knee injuries, so hope you enjoy!

If you are interested in becoming one of the athletes I work with personally to fix their knee issues, check out the training application below.

If you found this information helpful, or know someone going through a similar situation, share it with them.

Stay tuned for my next article coming out next Saturday.

In the meantime you can always connect with me on Instagram @zakwoodwardatp

Until next time, peace ✌🏼