In recent times, foam rolling has gone mainstream. Once a self-massage technique which was only by professional athletes, coaches, and therapists using a foam roller is now a daily practice for people at all levels of fitness. There’s a reason for the widespread acceptance of this self-massage technique: it’s simple and it works.
The process of foam rolling is also known as myofascial release. Fascia is the thin tissue which connects our muscles. Imagine it as your body’s internal packaging — it assists our muscle groups to cooperate as integrated units.
When fascia is healthy, it is flexible, supple and glides effortlessly over your muscles. However, binding in your fascia can develop for a variety of reasons, such as muscle injury, inactivity, disease, inflammation and even trauma. Even just sitting at a desk for eight hours a day can get your fascia ‘gummed up’ and stiff.
Using A Foam Roller Before A Workout
Many people now prefer dynamic stretching as opposed to static stretching. Here, you move your body through the chosen range of motion. Running on the spot while kicking your butt, for instance, is a dynamic adaptation of the traditional static quad stretch.
Foam rolling the body part you would otherwise stretch, instead of actually stretching it, serves a similar purpose as dynamic stretching. This is because your muscles have the opportunity to move around. In fact, studies show that using a foam roller can improve your range of motion when done before exercise.
How To Utilise A Foam Roller After A Workout
As we said earlier, moving your muscles around on a foam roller is a form of self-massage. Many people enjoy this after a workout or as a method of getting moving without exerting themselves too much on a rest day.
The science is silent about how exactly massages work for recovery or for easing sore muscles. Massages don’t function to flush lactic acid or other toxins; however some studies support the idea that damaged muscles could repair themselves slightly faster with massage.
More importantly, massage feels good. If you feel as if you have knots or trigger points in your muscles, or if you just constantly feel better after a foam rolling session, that’s a perfectly good reason to take some time rolling out.
Foam rolling before you work out will to help build heat. It’ll also reduce muscle density, which will allow for a better warm-up before to exercise. Using a foam roller is a better warm-up than static stretching. This is because it gets the blood flowing to the muscle and works out any tight spots for better mobility.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy
As you can see from this article, foam rolling is a fabulous way of warming up before or cooling down after your workouts. Learn more about this great technique by doing our Foam Rolling Course. Learn more by following this link.
