So you are new to class or to working with me and you have had to use the foam roller

What is the big deal?

It prepares your muscles for the stresses of the workout and allows you to perform with less injury. There are many studies that show you can also do it after a heavy lift, and it will help the response time of the muscle. That means less soreness and faster recovery.

In the warmup, here in the gym, we use it to activate as many muscles as we can prior to stretching. This brings blood to all the tissues we foam roll. You might think “there was already blood there”, yes that is true but now it is moving there freshly and on purpose. We want those tissues to have a change in temperature and the ability they must contract. We usually roll each area about 10 time (that means 10 rolls over the tissue)

The areas of the body we Always foam roll (not listed in any order)

• Upper back and around the shoulder blades. During this section you roll the spine that is supported by the ribcage, and then spend a little time around each of the shoulder blades.
• Hips: this is the Glutes(butt) external hip rotators (outside of hips) This is performed by sitting on the foam roller and adjusting your weight to one side. Think of the muscle of the butt as you do this and roll over as many as you can in the 10 rolls you are performing.
• Hamstrings: this is the back of the upper leg. You can do this one leg at a time by crossing your legs or if you need a little less weight, you can roll both at the same time. This one is approached easiest if you sit on the foam roller and place your hands behind it. It does take a little coordination and balance as well as abdominal muscles to perform this movement.
• Quads: this is the front of the upper leg. Starting face down you can place your thigh on the edge of the foam roller and crawl your arms forward and back allowing your whole body to move with the roller. If that is too much pressure to start you can roll both legs at the same time

The muscle groups listed above are all the muscle groups that are inactive during sitting. Studies show we are doing way too much of that these days and it is leading to more pain and injuries.

There is a video on the website that takes you through the basic foam rolling pattern we use and gives you a demonstration of it. It is not a long time, maybe 5 minutes. There are other benefits to foam rolling and other applications if you are interested. You can work some knots out of muscles. Ask us about that if you would like more information.