Foam rolling: are you doing it wrong?

February 7, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments

Ever go from feeling like an invincible gym God… to a pained pauper?

Adulated for your gains one day – and decrepit the next?

Well, pack it in, pansy.

’cause it’s probably just a mobility issue you’re not handling well.

See, I’ve long praised the therapeutic capacity of foam rolling. By freeing up bound down tissues, you can improve your ability to move and increase your range of motion. And, while that may all sound like a yawn and a half, it’s totally not. And anyone like myself whose taut body’s had ’em feeling like a young, leg braced Forrest Gump on run day, knows what I mean. Yes, mobility’s crucial for anyone on a weight loss path – or just anyone who’s working out regularly. Because when you’re attempting anything active with a restricted body, you lose out on strength and power. And that means that not only are you not getting the most out of your workout, you might be getting the worst. Why? Well, because if your A list body parts are out’ve commission, then you’ve gotta compensate with your understudy muscles for certain motions – ones that aren’t meant to do that job. It’s like getting a crappy substitute teacher while the legit one is home sick. (And meanwhile the whole class fails.)

Enter… the foam roller.

Sure, it can feel like it’s comprised of porcupine and Lego’s lovechild when it runs over your IT band…

(Not sure if his expression is horror… or focus.)

But the results you get are worth it to the worth-it-eth power.

Or, rather they can be – provided you’re doing it right. When I first started using mine, I mistakenly thought that the idea was to roll out my fettered flesh like it was something imminently destined for the oven. I later learned that this was wrong. The idea isn’t to do a quick swipes with this cylinder all over your bod. It’s not even to treat the restriction like a speedbump that you go over and reverse repeatedly. Nope. Rather, the idea is to steamroll that badboy in slow-mo, hit park when you feel the knots, and then… breathe. You don’t move. You don’t keep rolling. You simply sit (or lay) with the pain, breathe into it deeply, tighten against it, and then – when you’re ready – let the breath expel along with the contraction. You just let it go. You let the breath go, you let the contraction go, and with it – you let the restriction go. It may sound almost too easy, but it totally works. Depending on how knotted up a certain locale on your body is, it may take several minutes and repetitions of this. Keep in mind, though, that it also may take several minutes – depending on your capacity to relax. As an example, I myself usually take a few minutes to even be willing to do the “letting go” part of this exercise. (You don’t realize how much tension induced scrunching your shoulders do all day, without your permission.) But, once I do? It’s like coming out’ve a massage parlor (minus the time, money, and occasional sexual harassment, obvi.). And, just like a massage, you’ll wanna water your system directly after to flush those freed up toxins out. Hydration’s always key. Whether someone else has done the de-knotting, or not.

So next time you pop yourself on one of these body logs, remember that the name, foam rolling, is a bit misleading. Think of it, if you can, as being more of a “flesh pressing”. Muscle pulverizing. Restriction squishing. Not a monotonous revolving over your knot dotted body dough. More like breathing deeply into the discomfort. Being willing to work through the pain, in order to dismiss it, and subsequently return to your gym kingdom, with yet another awesome title:

Titan of tightness smiting.