Today, we’re going to be talking about Foam Rolling.
We get asked a lot of different questions about should I foam roll?
What is foam rolling?
How does it benefit me?
Should I be doing it?
So, I’m going to start and show you the way I think most people would benefit from starting a foam rolling routine.
A foam roller is actually a cylindrical hard object that you basically roll your muscles up and down. It simulates a little bit of a sports massage called “Self-Myofascial Release.”
On today’s new episode on The DoubleVision Conditioning Centre you’ll learn:
- Foam Rolling and how people can benefit from it
- Use a tennis ball in lieu of the typical foam roller
- Stretch and break down scarred tissues and adhesions in your bum muscles
- Find the sore areas
- A hockey ball may also be used after graduating from the tennis ball
- Tender spots decrease and muscles loosen up
- There is less stress on your back and back pain is decreased
Transcript:
Hi! This is Stephen and Mark from TheDVCC.com.
The place to be if you want to lose fat and increase your muscle tone.
Today, we’re going to be talking about Foam Rolling.
We get asked a lot of different questions about should I foam roll? What is foam rolling? How does it benefit me? Should I be doing it?
So, I’m going to start and show you the way I think most people would benefit from starting a foam rolling routine.
Now, we’re not actually going to be talking and using a typical foam roller.
A foam roller is actually a cylindrical hard object that you basically roll your muscles up and down. It simulates a little bit of a sports massage called “Self-Myofascial Release.”
Basically, it stimulates massaging yourself. But, I think it’s quite tough for a lot of people to do, particularly if they are unused to holding their body weight a lot, and to start with proper true foam rolling I think is a bit of a stretch for most people.
So, what I thought I’d do is show you something you can do much, much easier using a very simple piece of equipment that a lot of people actually have, which is a tennis ball, and we’re going to use this to stretch and to actually break down any what we call “scarred tissue” or any little adhesions, things that can affect your body negatively in your bum muscles, your glute muscles.
So, I’m going to use Mark to demonstrate. And he’s going to sit down and he’s going to place the ball underneath his right glute. He’s then going to lean over.
Now, he’s going to roll around. Basically, he’s going to try and find sore areas. He’s going to hang out in those areas.
So, as you can see, he’s put his right foot onto his left knee. Now if you find that’s too awkward, you don’t have to. You can just sit there and you’re just leaning over, moving around.
So, you can actually use a hockey ball. I’ve got a hockey ball I use. But that’s only because I graduated from the tennis ball and that’s pretty tender.
What you’ll find is you’re going to find some tender spots, which you can just hang out and sit there for about 20 to 30 seconds. What you’ll find is those areas decrease.
And move around. So find the edge of the hip, the muscles to the edge of the hip, and then just move them around. Spend about two minutes just moving around on those glute muscles and you’re going to find that when you stand back up, those muscles feel that much looser.
By making sure that your hips are working correctly, you’re going to find that your back is under a lot less stress and you’re going to find that your back pain will decrease.
And just by overall, your glutes, what we call your hip area, functioning correctly, you’re going to be in a lot healthier posture and alignment.
So he’ll do his right side for two minutes. He’d then swap over onto his left. Just demonstrate that left side. So just move the ball over. And again, to start with, you’re going to have your legs straight out.
Bend your other knee so you can put some pressure through the other leg so you don’t take all the weight. Because be aware that if, for the first time, you do this, it can be a little bit tender.
If you want to get a bit more, you’ll put your left foot onto your right and he’ll get a nice glute stretch at the same time whilst he’s rolling around.
Now, just keep moving around, two minutes.
Find those tender spots, and then just hang out there.
After you’ve done this for say a couple of weeks, you’ll find that those tender spots are really decreasing and going down. You’ll find that your hips just feel that much more open and a lot more healthy.
Give this a shot. I’d love to know.
Don’t use a hockey ball or a golf ball to start with. Start with a tennis ball.
Probably an older one is better than a brand new hard one, just to begin with, and let us.
