Fitness: Foam Rollers = Torture In A Good Way
Welp, enough of me being a fatass. I blimped up over the holidays to 15 pounds over my ideal weight and with good reason. I ate like a f*cking gluttonous king. I’m easing myself back into it going back to Insanity for a week before i start P90X2. Yes, the king of the cornballs Tony Horton released another DVD that’s even crazier than the first and I’m pretty stoked to try it out. One of the tools I needed to buy was a foam roller. Kind of perplexing, seeing as it looks like a pool toy more suited for kids. (Charlie Murphy voice) WRONG! WRONG!
Foam rollers have picked up steam in the workout community recently as a pre and post workout routine. It helps with muscle stiffness through self-myofascial release which is just a pretty fancy term for self massage. You know those knots that are a pain in the ass for your significant other/massage therapist/escort to rub out? Foam rollers attack those problem areas, especially in the lower body. I do a lot of jumping during my workout routines so I gave it a shot. It was pretty painful. Scratch that, it hurt like hell. I had stiffness on my IT band (important area to work on for runners) and my quads. After 10 minutes on the roller I thought I was being interrogated by the Spanish Inquisition but felt a good amount better afterwards.
Granted, there’s not a whole lot of scientific studies out there going into detail over the benefits of foam rollers. But the reduced soreness I experienced after was good enough for me. Because damn near two months off of hard workouts kicked my ass and I could barely get out of bed yesterday. Self-myofascial release also breaks down lactic acid, which is the stuff that makes you sore to begin with. Hitting the IT Band is especially useful as a jacked up IT band will actually negatively affect muscle groups. Below you’ll see a video of some exercises by the lady gurus of Tone It Up:
Give it a shot for a few weeks to supplement tough workouts and see if it works out for you. At worst, you’re out 20-30 bucks. At best, a foam roller will help you recover quicker.
