Everyone has either used or seen a foam roller at one point in their life. Most of the time it’s used when someone’s injured or has a nagging sore muscle. Foam rollers should be used everyday and are the poor man’s massage. It is an essential self-massage tool.
What are benefits of foam rolling?
When you roll and put pressure on your fascia and muscles, it stretches and separates them. By doing that you activate bound muscles and teach your body to reorganize them. If you experience pain when doing this it means the tissue is bound up. When it is bound up the muscle is less efficient. If you frequently use the foam roller, it will make deep tissue work more effective. You massage therapist wont have to waste time releasing tensions and can focus on the structural issues right away.
When should I use the foam roller?
Some of our clients use the foam roller before a training session to warm the body. I usually recommend that when the client is sore from a sport or previous session. If that happens, we usually dial down the workout because the client is under recovered. I have seen the best results rolling out several hours after training. Roll out 20 minutes before bed and it will teach your body to shut down and recover for the night.
What areas should I focus on?
Areas to emphasize are the upper back, hamstrings, IT bands, quads, glutes and calves. You can really roll out the entire body and use different firmness based on needs. I also use a lacrosse ball for small isolated areas that a foam roller can’t hit.
The main thing is to roll your muscles every day. It is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to recover. If you want to train harder, you need to recover more. If you have a hard time remembering to do it each morning, put it on your bed where you sleep. When you are ready to crawl into bed you will be reminded to roll out.
