Foam Rolling

I have been asked a couple times recently if I still get sore from working out and the answer is definitely yes.  Even though I have been working out with a trainer for the last almost 6 months, I have not had one single duplicate workout.  I don’t really know how my trainer comes up with all these different exercises we do, but every workout has been different.

We do some variety of squats almost every session.  We also do step ups, lunges, reverse lunges, rows, presses and a million other things.  He switches up the weight so my body doesn’t get used to the amount.  Sometimes we do exercises on the Boce Ball to improve balance.  (The boce ball is basically half a ball – the flat part sits on the floor and then you can step on it.)  But the most recent thing that we have used is the foam roller.

My trainer told me to sit on the floor and put my calf on top of the roller.  Then press down and roll it out away from your body.  We did that several times and then slowly moved the roller up the leg so it hit different spots on the calf.  My right calf had knots in it so he applied some additional pressure to the top of my shin (just pushing down slightly) as I rolled. 

Then we worked on glutes.  I sat on the foam roller with one leg bent and the other straight.  Then I rolled the foam roller back and forth, really working into the muscle.  This actually felt as though it was releasing some of the tension.

Next were the hips.  First we did the right hip by sitting on the foam roller and then twisting slightly so that your hip instead of your butt was flat on the roller.  Then you roll back and forth massaging the hip.  The right hip was fairly uncomfortable, but I could start to feel it loosen up as I continued the movement.  The left hip was a different story.  It was so tight it was borderline painful to roll it out.

The hips were nothing compared to the ITB though.  After we did the hips, I rolled the foam roller just below the hip and would roll it all the way down to my knee and back up to the hip.  My trainer told me that typically people have the most pain or sensitivity closer to their knees.  Not me, it was the upper part of my leg (very close to the hip) that was the most painful.  I was actually wincing as I rolled out my ITB.  When my trainer said “just 9 more” I practically died!

The video below is a foam roller exercise video.  I have not done some of the things on it, but it gives you an idea of what I am talking about since foam rolling seems to be kind of a new thing and foreign to most people still.

Of all of the things we have done so far, and believe me we have done a lot of random things, the foam roller is the one that has been the most uncomfortable, borderline painful, and left me the most sore afterwards.  My trainer swears that the exercise is extremely beneficial and from what I have read it is basically a cost effective sports massage.  They say “no pain, no gain” … I sure hope they are right!

Foam rolling takes gumption!