Enhancing your fitness journey is not only about the exercise, workouts and energy that you put into your sessions. It is also about how you then rest, recover and optimise the health of your body to be able to make the most out of your workouts. The purpose of this is to improve the quality of the effort you do put in, to raise your overall performance for optimum health. Working hard without looking after yourself and implementing recovery techniques may hinder instead of enhance, your fitness journey. We are going to look at how to do this effectively, by looking at the value of incorporating foam rolling into your exercise routine.
What is foam rolling?
Foam rolling is a self-myofascial release (SMR) technique. It is an effective tool to add to your warm-up or cooldown, to use before and after exercise. The benefits of foam rolling can vary from person to person but it can help to relieve muscle tightness, soreness, and inflammation as well as increase your joint range of motion and improve your posture, all beneficial outcomes to maintaining and improving your current health and fitness levels. Through this self-massage technique, you can help to release built up tightness from overuse, weakness and repetitive movements. It has become a staple in gyms, health and wellbeing centre's and with physios.
The Benefits of Foam Rolling
It has been recently reported that muscle strains and tightness can limit life activities as well as reduce your exercise time or number of sessions when you are still sore from the previous workout. This is increasingly prevalent in young adults and more common in women, often associated with pain. However, taking action to mitigate this tension, such as through foam rolling, can have positive impacts on your workout performance, and also your every day life. Lets looks at some of the benefits of including foam rolling into your weekly routine.
1. Convenient
Foam-rolling is a convenient and budget friendly option for recovery, with one piece of small equipment, the foam roller, you can enjoy the self-massage techniques, releasing tension and soreness from the comfort of your own home and in your own time.
2. Reduce muscle soreness
One study found evidence that foam rolling after exercise may help reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness. When foam rolling for 20 minutes immediately after exercise, in addition to another session 24 to 48 hours after exercise these participants show a decrease in delayed-onset muscle soreness when compared to exercising without foam rolling. They also performed the physical exercises better than those who didn’t foam roll. More research is needed in more diverse groups to understand these benefits further.
3. Improved mobility and enhanced recovery
Although studies are just emerging, research has shown so far that foam rolling can help to increase mobility and range of motion in joints, as well as enhance recovery for improved future workout performance. In Verywell Fit’s ultimate foam rolling guide they report research which shows this can be achieved in rolling just 3 times per week for three sets lasting 30-50 seconds.
4. It feels great
This is an opportune moment for self-care, priorisiting your wellbeing and time for you to look after your body, health and mind. Many people find foam rolling to be calming and relaxing, reducing tightness which can also help relieve a feeling of tension in your muscles enabling you to feel calmer as a result. Taking the time to stretch and roll ensures you also take time to rest, which can be as beneficial overall for stress levels.
5. It works!
The evidence and data does show that it is a beneficial technique, for example, further studies have shown it has helped to improve speed and flexibility, reduce muscle soreness and maintain performance. However, it is also part of a holistic approach to recovery and performance, it won’t replace a healthy lifestyle and you will still need to eat a balanced diet and get enough sleep to aid recovery.
Types of foam rollers
Foam rollers are generally cylinder-shaped hollow or dense tubes made of dense foam. They come in a range of lengths, sizes and firmness. It helps to take the time to find one which suits your needs and preferences to ensure it is comfortable to use.
Our amp wellbeing textured rollers have ridges and waves on them, which help them to be able to work deeper into the muscles to work out knots and tension. You can find the range here.
How to use your Foam roller
Using your body weight, roll the core muscle groups (quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calf muscles) in an effective way to relieve tension in areas which regularly get fatigued and sore.
How to foam roll calves
Increase your flexibility, stride length and performance with calf rolling. Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you. Place your foam roller underneath your Achilles and raise your torso up, forming a platform with your hands. Gently use the roller to apply pressure and target tender areas where necessary.
How to foam roll your quads
Lay flat on your stomach and place the foam roller underneath your thighs. Gently bend your legs at the knee and rock backwards and forwards taking care to effectively stretch the muscle.
How to foam roll your back
Lie with the foam roller placed horizontally underneath your shoulders and slowly roll your upper back up and down the roller, pause in areas of tension to focus the pressure. This can be particularly helpful for countering the effect of sitting for long periods at a desk. To enhance movement, extend your arms out in front of you as you move up and down.
Remember: focus on your muscles, avoid joints, bones and never foam roll or apply pressure to your neck.
How long does foam rolling take?
A good rule of thumb is to roll a muscle for around one minute. Make sure that as you apply pressure, you stretch the muscle out for maximum results. The bonus is the benefits of foam rolling can be achieved in 5-10 minutes post workout!
The widespread use of foam rollers for sports settings to increase training efficiency is shown to be justified in research.
Foam rolling can help enhance recovery, reduce muscle tenderness and improve performance, with a method that is affordable, easy to perform and time efficient to enhance muscle recovery. If you are serious about improving your health and wellbeing and achieving your fitness plan, adding in effective recovery and stretching techniques will help you reach your goals.
Do you foam roll? Let us know how you get on and your favourite moves!
