Foam Rolling

Do you have a foam roller? If not, I urge you to get one. I have owned one for several years, and there are times when it gets little use, and times it gets a great deal of use. Lately it has been one busy little beaver!


I bought mine from Perform Better but I am sure they are available in many different locations. It is important to keep in mind that you get what you pay for though. You can get some very inexpensive rollers, but the foam has cells that can compress and the roller will not maintain it's hardness or shape, it will end up flattening or squishing.


I chose the Elite Molded Foam and have been happy with it.




Last week I went to see Roy on Wednesday for quad training, I knew I had been sore and tight but it didn't seem too bad to me. With my first squat he started shaking his head and said "oh no, no, you are really tight." 


OK...so what the heck am I supposed to do about it now?

Roll

I stretched, I rolled, I rolled more. I found spots that really hurt, and then made sure I didn't move from the spot until the pain subsided. Sometimes it hurts so much I want to cry, or I have to stop rolling. But when I am done, it feels oh so good.


I stretched and rolled for 30 minutes, I guess he had a lot of time for me that night. he even had me use a small dowel on my left quad, and I found a spot there, I pushed and rolled it.


The following day, that spot was tender, like I had released an adhesion, it hurt, and rolling was not really an option, that would bring tears to my eyes, so I used a wooden dowel that I keep at my desk.


For the next few days I rolled twice a day, my quad is fine now, everything is fine now, but it took lots of rolling




Perform Better has this instructional manual online so you know what to do with your roller! Or you can watch a video if you are more visual. 





I am not promoting Perform better, it happens to be a site that I like and have ordered several items from.