Foam Rolling: What's All the Hype?
Foam Rolling is a great tool for releasing through tight muscles and assisting in the recovery of the body, benefiting a wide range of conditions.
This easy to follow guide to foam rolling provides some of my top tips for those who are beginners to foam rolling.
A Beginners Guide
Self-Myofascial Release, more commonly known as Foam Rolling, is becoming a familiar everyday practice for people of all ages and fitness levels. It utilises a range of well-designed and affordable products to “release” muscle tightness or trigger points, and release through fascia.
Fascia is like an elastic cling wrap which attaches to the muscles, bones and ligaments to provide support throughout the whole body. However it can become restricted and stiff, sometimes causing pain, due to life style factors, intense exercise, postural and movement patterns.
The purpose of foam rolling is to assist the body, it's fascia and muscles, to return to normal function and assist in the recovery, so the body is able to perform to the best of its ability, benefiting a wide range of conditions.
Nobody, athlete or otherwise, wants to put up with pain, restriction and suboptimal performance. Unfortunately stretching alone often doesn't release through tight fascia. So with the help of not only foam rollers but also massage balls, lacrosse balls and other various tools, one can release through the fascia and muscles by applying pressure to various parts of the body.
When should you foam roll?
To get the most benefit, foam rolling is best done on a regular basis. The more you do it, the less painful it will be. For those who exercise frequently, it should be done daily, pre and post exercise.
Using it gently it for 5 minutes pre-exercise will assist in warming up the muscles and improving mobility through the joint. After your session is when you can go harder and get deeper into the tissues. If you don’t have time immediately after your session to roll, just ensure you do it before you go to bed that evening.
How long should you foam roll for?
The most efficient way to foam roll is by focusing on one muscle group at a time. Studies have shown that between 2-5 minutes of rolling a muscle group is when you will get the most benefit.
Instead of rolling over the entire muscle, roll over one area of the muscle that feels tight, until you feel it has released and then move to the next area of tightness. Don’t forget to breathe!
There are so many types of rollers! Which do I choose?
It’s always best to invest in a good quality roller as this will provide you with the longest life. For beginners, start with smooth roller (you may be familiar with the blue roller) and then once your muscles have become accustomed to it and you feel like it’s not providing you with enough pressure, you can upgrade to a firmer one (usually black) or ones with spikes or grooves.
If you have any questions about recovery techniques, gives us a call and we can assist you in achieving your goals!
7 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Skip Your Warm Up!
Ever wondered if it was really necessary to warm up before you exercise? Undertaking a proper warm-up and cool-down has many benefits that can assist in decreasing your risk of injury and maximising the effectiveness of your workout.
Just How Important is Warming Up?
Get the most out of your work out and assist in preventing injuries!
Do you regularly incorporate a warm-up in your exercise regime? Or are you the type to jump headfirst into your work out?
The purpose of a warm-up is to prepare the body for exercise. Your warm up will be determined by the type of exercise you are going to be doing. It should be done immediately prior to exercise, and produce some mild sweating without fatigue.
Clinical studies have shown that a structured warm-up program can reduce the risk of injury by at least 50%. If that isn’t a good enough reason to spare the time to warm up before you start, then I don’t know what is! Because in the mind of any exercise enthusiast, the last thing we want OR need is to fall victim to injuries.
Here are some of the many benefits of a proper warm-up prior to exercise…
- Increases your body temperature – as more blood pumps around your body, the muscles become warm, and they have more elasticity and reduces the likelihood of strains
- Increases muscle temperature – a warm muscle contracts and relaxes quicker, works more efficiently and decreases the risk of injury
- Blood vessels dilate – allows more blood to reach your muscles and decrease resistance to blood flow and less stress on your heart to pump the blood
- Increased range of motion of joints as they and the surrounding muscles become warm
- Dynamic exercises decrease muscle stiffness
- Allows heart rate to get to a workable rate for the start of your session
- Mental preparation and increasing focus on the task ahead
What type of warm up should I be doing?
Your warm up should be determined by the type of exercise you are about to undertake. For example, if you are about to go for a run, you should include a slow jog for 5-10 minutes, specific running drills, and dynamic stretching to get your heart rate slowly up and blood pumping around your body and get those lower limbs muscles firing.
If you are doing a weights session, 5-10 minutes of brisk walking on the treadmill/riding on the bike followed by some easy mobility work using the muscles and joints you are using in your session to ensure the joints/muscles are primed and ready to be used. You also can include a set of non-weighted reps to allow the body to prepare for the heavier load and make sure those muscles are switched on.
Don’t forget about the COOL-DOWN!
A very important aspect to ones work-out that is often neglected or forgotten! All too often I’ve seen people finish their work-out and then rush off, rarely sparing the time or thought to adequately cool-down (I, myself are guilty of this far too many times).
It doesn’t have to be time-consuming affair, just 10- 15 minutes at the conclusion of the session. Active recovery is important because it flushes the lactic acid from the circulation. A simple way to do this is 5 minutes of brisk walking or riding the bike.
Other components of a cool-down can include some stretching and using a foam roller over the muscles that have been used in that work-out. Static stretching is best suited for post-exercise (stretch slowly and gently, hold for 30-60 seconds, stretch to the point of tension but never pain, repeat 2-3 times as needed).