3 Foam Rolling Truths
Last weekend we hosted Mike Engelsman (MassageTherapist) from iMove Physio who taught us all things foam rolling…
Ove the hour he spent with us he showed us the basics of foam rolling, what areas to target before performing movements in the gym and the science behind what is actually happening in the body.
Whenever attending or hosting one of these workshops/seminars I always take notes and come up with takeaways so here are my big 3 from Mike:
It shouldn’t hurt. Something I have been guilty of in the past when rolling out is to push harder so it hurt a little more than I wanted it to. In fact we should not be doing this. To get the benefits of foam rolling you don’t need to put in so much pressure that it hurts. A slight discomfort of the area being rolled is all that’s needed to get the benefits from rolling out.
If your IT band is tight you shouldn’t just put all your focus into it. Sure if you’re like most your IT band (tight part on the outside of your quads) isn’t the one and only place you need to roll out. Other areas to focus on which can help with releasing it’s tension are the quads, glutes, hamstrings and adductors. If you still see no benefit it might be time to go and visit a massage therapist.
One big session is not as good as 5 smaller sessions. During my short more intense bouts of training over the last few years I have been guilty of not working on stretching and rolling daily. Instead I would have an active rest day once a week. On this day I would spend 45-60 minutes foam rolling and stretching and think it was as good as doing 5 smaller sessions. This is not the case. It’s in fact better to spend that same time spread over the week to get better results. Who would have thought consistency would be better???
Shaun Diachkoff
@shaundiachkoff