Hey Guys! Today I'm going to show you
how to foam roll now quite often I
see people foam rolling and in my opinion they're not doing it
the most effective way. So I'm going
to show you how to foam roll, and the muscle groups that I think
are the most valuable for foam rolling. So
first of all let me just show you how most people do foam rolling
and I'll explain why I don't think it's that effective
and then I'll show you how I would suggest you
do foam rolling and why I think it's more effective. Now
the purpose of foam rolling in my opinion is that you're trying to
relieve some of the tight parts of the muscle.
The parts that have gone into maybe slight spasm.
You're trying to release them to gain more
flexibility, and function of the muscles.
So most people I see foam rolling do foam rolling
like this...
Where they're just rolling along the muscles forwards
and backwards. Now I don't think this is very
effective because you're not focusing on
the parts of the muscle that need the most attention, the
parts that are tight and the parts that you're trying to release.
So the parts of the body that I think you should roll
are your "quads", your calves, your "buttocks"
and your upper back- your thoracic spine.
And the reason for this is that they are all quite large areas
and a foam roller will get in there really nicely.
So if I was doing foam rolling myself
I would get on the roller just as like I am now
and what you're trying to do is hunt for the parts
of the muscles that are tight and probably very painful. So I'll start from the top
I'll roll along until I find a part of the muscle that I feel is a bit tight
and I'm just going to stay on that point.
Now if you stay on that point, eventually that pain is going to
start to disappear and your body is going to allow that muscle to
relax.
So to do your calves
get the roller underneath your ankles.
You can start with both legs next to each other,
take some pressure off with your hands and roll
along the roller until you find a tender point.
When you find a tender point just stay on that point
until the pressure or until the pain starts to
decrease.
If you want to make this more intense
cross one leg over on top of the other and
just gently roll until you find that tender point
and hold... As the pain starts to go down
move a little bit further along the roller
and continue the process until you get all the way
to the top of your leg.
Now for your "glutes"sit on top of a roller.
I always start with my knees bent and feet on the floor.
And from here I'll just roll straight forwards and backwards.
To get it more intense on to one side
I will slightly turn
and then roll like so .
You can experiment with having your leg straight
or your leg bent. It doesn't really matter
as long as you're not rolling on any bone
and you can feel it working in the right part of the muscle
And lastly guys for your upper back
I would use this more as a mobilization
for the spine, just to try and get that spine
opened up. So what I would do is put the roller
behind me and lean back until
the roller is on the top of my shoulders
I bring my hands just behind my head to support my neck
and what I'm trying to do here is fold over the roller
to try and open up my spine
so from here I lean back
down
let the spine open up
and I can come up as well, move to a
different part of the spine
and come down.
If you want to roll your lower back, don't
use a foam roller but instead use something
like a Lacrosse ball or massage balls
and the reason for this is that they're small and they'll
get into those small muscles very nicely and not
put too much pressure on your spine. So in summary guys
foam rolling is a really good way to prevent injuries
and if you have some injuries like tendinitis
it can really help to relieve tension going through the muscles
and therefore take the pressure out of the tendons.
It's a really cheap way to look after your body
you don't have to invest in a massage therapist, you can do this
at home, you can get these anywhere on Amazon.
I did another video a while back about the different types
of foam rollers that you can get. If you want to watch that video
it's just linked up here.
If you have any further questions, put them in the comments section below
and I will see you in the next video, bye bye.