Hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and it's
product review time again. The folks at
piece of muscle sent me their foam
roller set. So let's get started.
So the foam roller set
comes with a nice carrying bag which is
cool because you can just throw it
around your shoulder and go, and the
other really nice thing I like about
this specific roller set, is it's a
little bit smaller. So it's easy to
travel, you can probably fit in your
suitcase if you're going somewhere,
throw it in the bag, over your shoulder, and
you don't have a long foam roller that
you have to haul around with you, so I
really like that fact that it's short
and sweet, and easy to carry around. As
you can see in the middle, if you push
through, you have the other foam roller
here.
Nice solid fit. And so you have a couple
options, and the thing that I really like
about these is this honeycomb shape here
is really cool because it's not super
tough on your muscles because it kind of
distributes the pressure just a little
bit unlike some of the little knobs
that you see on other foam rollers, but
it's still firm so it gives you that
nice pressure on those muscles to get
those trigger points out. ASo it's really
nice i like that honeycomb action there,
and you can see how if you push on it, it
has a nice give, but it comes back into
place. And the reason for that is it's
made out of a EVA type of material, and
that's the same kind of material that's
in running shoes in the forefoot that
absorbs the shock when you're running, so
this is really cool because it's made
out of that same material and it's a high
density material so it absorbs that
shock but it's also just a little bit
firmer to really get those muscles kind
of laid back out if they're tightened up
and spasm out. So you can use this a
couple different ways. You can have it
Hollow and use the big roller with some
of the trigger point spots to help roll
everything out, but if this is
a bit too much for you, you can just use
this part of the foam roller. Which you
can see is a lot more squishy, more give,
so it's not gonna be quite a stressful
on those muscles. Probably what you would
want to start with first, and that's kind
of what I would say a step up from a
pool noodle, so it still gives but it's a
little bit firmer than those pool
noodles. So I really like that and then
if you wanted a little bit more firmness
than even this, you put it all together, PUSH it in there
so it stays nice and good,
and then that makes it a little more
solid as well. So this would be the one
where you really want to get in their
work those muscles you can do it. So I
really like all of this, it's nice, it's
compact you can take it with you, and it
really gets into those muscles. So what
I'm going to do is show you some
exercises, foam rolling, and let you see
some for the upper body and for the
lower body. The first one I'm going to
show you a lat rolling stretch.
I think this one's kind of not used as
much because people think rolling more
for your legs than your upper body, but
this one feels really good.
I would do the lighter foam this the
smaller foam roll for the lats because
usually it's pretty tender to start off
with, but you just kind of get down on
your side, right down where those lats
are. You can put your arm up a little bit
and just roll up and down on it like
that. If you want a little bit more you
can, remember with foam rollers you don't
have to go for a really long time.
You can even start with just like 10
seconds in each spot and kind of work
your way up from there because most of the time
you will be pretty sore because you're
getting those muscles worked in a way
that they're probably not getting worked
because the biggest point of having a
foam roller is stretching out those
muscles that are difficult just to
stretch normally. Then you can bring the
one with the honeycombs down to your calf
area, and just stretch it like this.
Now this one would be if you just want a
little bit of a stretch, you use your other
leg kind of as an assistants to kind of
take some pressure off of it. So you're
just starting to roll it. If you really
want to get super deep down into that
calf muscle, you can take your other leg
and cross over it, and then roll. So then
you're getting your whole body weight
pressure on there, and usually with the
foam rolling ,when you hit a spot and you're like
"oh!", that's what you want to focus
on that's the spot that he's working out
that trigger point kind of area. So if you're
rolling and it doesn't really feel
uncomfortable and feels pretty good,
your muscles are probably pretty good
you don't really need to focus on that
spot. So you do want to feel that spot
where you're like it it hurts so good
kind of feeling. Then you can also
stretch out your back a little bit by
doing it horizontally on your back, kind
of in between the lower back and the mid
back, and just lean on it this way. Now
again this might be enough for people,
but if you want to do more you can kind
of lean back and roll just a little bit,
and you might get a couple pops in your
back, as long as they're not painful pops,
that's fine it's just realigning the
spine, and that's usually pretty good to
get it nice and relaxed cause sometimes
it's slightly out of alignment and
that's what makes it uncomfortable. And
then, if you want to stretch out maybe
your chest muscles, you can do it
vertically and lay on it. And get right
on the spine, right in the middle, and
then just place your hands out to the
side. Then you're going to stretch those
chest muscles a little bit. And if you want
to put something on your head if you
don't want to just hold it there,
you know so it's not getting over
stretch, but then just stretching out
those chest muscles like that. And then
you can even turn it a little bit of an
angle, and roll it up and down your back
as well, and that just kind of gets it at
a different angle on your back to really
loosen up those muscles. So there you
have it that's your peace of muscle foam
roller set, if you have any questions
leave them in the comments section. If
you like to find out more about the
product you can go to peaceofmuscle.com
If you're interested in purchasing
the product you can go to our product store
or at askdoctorjo.com/peace - p e a c e
So remember, be safe (don't hurt yourself
with these), have fun (don't knock somebody with it), and I
hope you feel better soon.