Foam Rolling 101

Foam rolling seems to be a big hit as of late, so I thought it would be interesting to share some info with you. I had never really heard much of it until I attended a volleyball coaching clinic a few months ago at Montana State University. They had a session with one of the university’s athletic trainers that happened to focus on foam rolling. The volleyball team uses foam rolling exercises daily throughout the season to help alleviate muscle aches and pains, and to help prevent injuries. For this post, I asked my fellow Beachbody Coach Kari Berg Marks to share her video on Foam Rolling that she created for a fitness challenge group that I was a part of. It is not a staged, professional video that delves into the science of foam rolling. That is why I love it! I love the fact that she kept it real for us. She’s rocking the yoga pants in her living room on Christmas Day. A real person just getting her foam roll on 🙂 (click on the “Foam Rolling 101” red link below my picture to find the video)

According to fitsugar.com, some of the most common benefits of foam rolling include:
•Helps prevent common injuries. One of the most important reasons for a regular foam-rolling routine is to prevent those often too common exercise-related injuries. Many runners, for example, become painfully well acquainted with their IT band if they don’t take care to massage the band of tissue. IT band syndrome and other similar flare-ups can be caused by too-tight muscles. Foam rolling every day ensures you are massaging away fascia buildup in your muscles, in order to help prevent those areas from becoming injury trigger points.
•Helps you de-stress. Had a hard day? Foam roll your worries away by releasing muscle tension
•Keeps you flexible. Building up your flexibility is key for any fitness routine. Stretches that lengthen your hip flexors, for example, can help combat tightness from sitting as well as lower back pain.

I got to break in my new foam roller yesterday as I was wallowing in soreness after an all-day fitness class training. Let me just say…it is a beautiful kind of pain. Hurts while you are doing it, but I feel oh so much better!! Give it a whirl…