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Health & Fitness

What is a Foam Roller?

Wondering how a Personal Trainer uses a foam roller with clients? The MissFIT Complete Personal Trainers show you some specific exercises to do using a foam roller.

Ok, this is probably a dumb question.  Have you ever finished a workout and
already found an area that you were feeling the soreness from your workout
beginning?  Have you ever started a workout and felt that you had an unusual
tightness or “knot” in one of your muscles?  If you are like most of us who
exercise regularly, your answer would be YES!

 

You may not know it, but you NEED a foam roller!

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The What

 

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A foam roller is typically 36″ in length.  It is a large, firm cylinder of
foam.  It comes in a variety of firmnesses.  Some even have ridges or little
spike like bumps in them.  But what are they for, you may be asking.

 

They have a couple different uses for pre and post workout therapy. Therapy? 
Yes, using a foam roller is like giving yourself a massage.  So why are we
seeing these tools more and more in Physical Therapy clinics and Gyms?  Studies
have recently shown that massaging sore muscles can work wonders and keep muscle
tissue healthy.  Think of a foam roller as a injury prevention tool as well.

 

The How

 

The application techniques are simple. Initally the use was based on an
accupressure concept, in which pressure is placed on specific surfaces of the
body. Athletes were instructed to use the roller to apply pressure to sensitive
areas in their muscles-sometimes called trigger points, knots, or areas of
increased muscle density. The idea was to allow athletes to apply pressure to
injury-prone areas themselves.

 

The use of foam rollers has progressed in many circles from an accupressure
approach to self-massage. The roller is now usually used to apply longer more
sweeping strokes to the long muscle groups like the calves, adductors, and
quadriceps, and small directed force to areas like the TFL, hip rotators, and
glute medius.

 

There is no universal agreement on when to roll, how often to roll, or how
long to roll, but generally, techniques are used both before and after a
workout. Foam rolling prior to a workout can help decrease muscle density and
promote a better warmup. Rolling after a workout may help muscles recover from
strenuous exercise.

 

Click here to check out these ways to use a foam roller on specific trigger points and
large muscles.

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