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The Foam Roller

The Foam Roller……why it is your best workout companion

So I can guess what you’re thinking…. “How can a piece of foam help me with my workout?” By improving your flexibility and reducing trigger points in your muscles, that’s how!

Foam rolling your muscles is a form of self massage or myofascial release, to help stretch and relax overactive muscles and improve soft-tissue flexibility.  It helps speed up your recovery post workout, and using it to loosen up pre-workout can help improve the quality of your training session.

The foam roller is so versatile you can use it to reduce tension in your back and improve your posture, self-massage your leg muscles including quadriceps, hamstrings and calves, and even increase the degree of difficulty of basic abdominal exercises. Most commonly it is used by runners and cyclists to reduce tension in the iliotibial band (ITB), a thick band of tissue running down the side of you leg between the knee and hip.

I’m not going to lie…..foam rolling is painful!! I have heard grown men squeal in pain while rolling out their ITBs at the gym. But pain is only initially, when your muscles are extremely tight and sore. Trust me, it gets better the more you do it, and the benefits you will notice almost straight away.

My Top 5 Foam Roller exercises

  1. Quadriceps
  2. Iliotibial Band
  3. Thoracic Spine
  4. Chest/shoulder stretch
  5. Abdominal Workout

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