It's Time to Take Your Post-Workout Recovery to the Next Level
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An active body is a healthy body – but it can also be a sore, stiff, beat-up body. Stretching and rest can help, but will only get you so far. To fully unlock tight muscles, ease achy joints, and maximize your mobility, you basically have two options: spend thousands of dollars per year on professional massages, or spend about $30 on a foam roller.
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Why Should You Foam Roll?
“There are many reasons why someone should use a foam roller,” says Alek Kucich, CPT and founder of BOUT Boxing in Roslyn, NY. “Foam rolling allows the muscles to release tension, which can temporarily increase flexibility and help you warm up more safely and more effectively.“
In fact, in a meta-analysis of 21 different research studies, pre-workout foam rolling was consistently shown to improve both flexibility and sprint performance, and post-workout rolling significantly reduced perceived muscle pain.
Medically speaking, foam rolling facilitates ‘myofascial release.’ Fascia is the tissue that surrounds and supports your body’s muscle fibers (as well as its nerves and organs), giving them shape and attachment to tendons and bones. If you’ve ever cooked a chicken breast and wondered what that thin, translucent layer of tissue on the outside is: that’s fascia.
Ideally, these tissue fibers flow smoothly and freely, allowing your muscles easy mobility. But under the stress of repetitive motion and sustained tension – or other factors, like injury, disease, inactivity, or inflammation – the fascia start adhering to one another and cease to be pliable. They somewhat literally form ‘knots’ that result in tense, stiff muscles. Stretching alone won’t alleviate myofascial issues (and myofascial issues actually limit your ability to stretch). But myofascial release from foam rolling can help loosen the tissue, facilitating muscle relaxation and increasing range of motion.
Foam rollers “release the muscles and loosen them up, like stretching does, but with a much lower risk of pulling something during your workout,” says Kucich. “We don’t stretch nearly enough—or effectively, for the most part. This tool can allow you to target muscles you would otherwise miss.”
Keep reading and we’ll show you how.
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How Do You Foam Roll?
Simply put, you’re using the foam roller plus gravity to give yourself a massage. Use your body weight to dictate the amount of pressure: put your full weight onto the muscle for an intense effect, or ease up by partially supporting your body weight to press less deeply into your muscle.
Before we get into some specific movements, here’s a general warning: don’t overdo it. “People think pain equals progress, and that isn’t the case,” Kucich advises. “There should be a mild discomfort, but nothing that makes you scream.”
If a particular knot is too painful, you’re not out of luck. Just concentrate on the area around that spot, which, as Kucich says, “is often more important, and effective, than the actual [knot] itself.”
In general, Kucich advises beginning with the larger muscles (like quads and hamstrings) before moving on to smaller muscles and specific target areas.
Quadriceps
Lie prone with forearms on the floor (as if in a forearm plank position), with relaxed, straight legs.
Place foam roller under your thighs.
Roll back and forth (and/or side to side) a few inches at a time, pausing on the knots in the area.
Separate the rolling into small segments, rather than trying to roll the entire muscle at once.
To increase intensity, cross one leg over the other and shift your weight onto the bottom leg.
Lats
Lie on your side, with the foam roller placed about 6 inches below your armpit and your bottom arm extended over your head with the thumb facing up.
Using your legs and the opposite hand (placed on the floor in front of you), roll up/down and side to side a few inches at a time, pausing on any knots.
Don’t go past the armpit: instead, roll slightly roll backward at the top to work the tissue on your shoulder blade.
Gluteus/Piriformis
Sit atop the foam roller with one leg crossed over the other thigh.
With palms flat on the floor behind you, transfer your weight to the side whose foot is off of the ground.
Roll up and down and/or side to side, about 2 inches at a time, pausing on knots, and gradually move through the entire glute.
TFL/Gluteus Medius
Lie on your side as if in a side plank, with foam roller just under the pelvis bone.
Slightly rotate your entire body posteriorly, so that the pressure of the roller is between your buttocks and your hip.
A few inches at a time, roll up/down and side to side, pausing on any knots.
Hamstrings
Sit on the floor with the roller under both hamstrings, slightly above the knees.
With palms flat on the floor behind you, roll back and forth a few inches at a time, pausing on any knots.
To increase intensity, cross one leg over the other and shift your full weight onto the bottom leg.
Calf/Soleus
Sit on the floor with a roller placed slightly below the knees (on the thick part of your calves).
With palms flat on the floor behind you, roll up/down and side to side a few inches at a time, pausing on any knots.
Gradually move lower to hit your Soleus muscle, but do not go further than about three inches above the heel: the Achilles tendon is very sensitive and rolling directly on the area may cause irritation.
To increase intensity, cross one leg of the other and shift your weight onto the bottom leg.
Which Foam Roller Should You Buy?
There’s a wide variety of foam rollers on the market: smooth or textured, short or long, cheap or surprisingly expensive; some offer heating and/or cooling, or even vibration functions.
Kucich prefers a conventional smooth, softer foam roller (like the LuxFit model recommended below), as he feels that overly textured rollers can be unnecessarily painful. Ultimately, practicality is king. “Most of the time a smaller, 12-inch roller will be just fine,” says Kucich. “If you have specific needs then of course the size and material matter more, but for most people, I believe the best foam roller is the one you will use.”
When in doubt, keep it simple: it makes more sense to start with a small, conventional foam roller and only ‘upgrade’ to something more intense if you feel that a ‘normal’ roller isn’t doing the trick, rather than to jump straight into the deep end and risk irritating tissue that’s already bothering you.
Amazon Basics Foam Roller
Simple, affordable, offered in four different sizes and two different colors — if you’re looking for a simple foam roller, look no further. The high-density foam offers a phenomenal myofascial release, while the molded edges ensure your skin will never pinch.
TRX Rocker
If you’re anxious about choosing the right texture for your needs, consider this versatile offering from TRX: it offers three different textures, allowing you to access low, medium, or high-intensity pressure depending on which side you’re using.
Triggerpoint GRID Foam Roller
If you’re looking for a textured roller with a little extra force, the GRID is a well-made option. Its multi-density exterior provides lasting durability and a couple of different texture variations to increase your intensity. The GRID comes in six different colorways, including a camouflage option (in case you need to, I dunno, stealthily roll out your quads in the woods).
Brazyn Morph Collapsible Roller
If your home is light on storage space, or if you need something you can take with you on the road – whether you’re a traveling athlete or, like the author of this article, just a guy whose back and hips don’t handle long car/plane rides well – this clever design flattens for easy packing with a simple pull of a cord. Its texture might not be for everyone, but its practicality is undeniable.
TheraGun Therabody WaveRoller
Leave it to the makers of one of the best and most popular massage guns to revolutionize the foam roller concept. Yes, it's pricey, but if you're dealing with some extra-dense knots or persistently tight muscles, it might be time to bring in the big guns. This foam roller combines massage and vibration, in five separate intensity settings, to deliver a targeted muscle-relaxing therapy, reducing tension, promoting blood flow and increasing range of motion.
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