For the longest time, I saw fellow fitness friends tweeting about foam rolling and how blissful it was, but I had no idea what it was. I began looking these foam rollers up on-line and realized that I could truly benefit from one. I have always had super tight hamstrings and hip flexors, so seeing that there were ways to roll these areas to lengthen and stretch them intrigued me. I figure it could also come in handy now that I'm running more. My legs are always tight and sore post run.
Thankfully Santa (aka my husband) bought me one for Christmas! He got me a textured roller made by Gaiam which also came with a massage routine DVD. I've heard that the textured ones give a deeper massage to the muscle and can take some getting used to. Hopefully it's not too painful at first...I can be a wuss at times.
I also found this handy graphic on Pinterest (of course) which I think will come in very handy.
Do you use a foam roller? If so, do you have any tips or techniques? Please feel free to share below!
I learned about foam rolling from Ben Greenfield Fitness, and then Tony Horton added the technique to P90X2 as a substitute for a lot of the stretching in P90X. I was buying some extra "stuff" for P90X2 already, so I ended up making my own foam roller with PVC pipe, foam pipe insulation and duct tape. It works pretty well. At some point I want to upgrade to the bumpy roller. The brand Tony recommends is the Rumble Roller (also sold by Beachbody, of course).
ReplyDeleteHi Fred! I still have not checked out P90X2 but I have heard of the Rumble Roller. I happened to see a few by Gaiam while shopping in Target so I figured why not. If like to get a smooth one too, I figure variety could come in handy. Do you have directions for how you made yours?
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