Every body every body getchyour ROLL ON!!!

I hope this isn't what you had in mind

Ever work out?  (GOD I HOPE SO!) If so, do you ever get sore? (Please say yes again!!!) Well, if you do that's fantastic. It means you are working hard and making some progress.  If you aren't getting sore, you need to step your game up.  Ok, back to those of you who are getting sore. Post-workout stretching is excellent and can help a bit with minimizing soreness and help decrease recovery time, however I am writting today to talk about myofascial release.  Essentially self massage, in the form of rolling. 

Massage therapy is a necessary part of recovery and adaptation, but it can make a massive dent in your bank account. If you want an easy, cheap, and effective way to relieve the aches and pains that are slowly building up in your body, all you have to do is make friends with a foam roller.

Foam Rolling is the most cost effective way to get relief from muscle aches and pains. All you need is a piece of foam (most gyms will have a few lying around), a little bit of space, and some pain tolerance! If you aren’t doing it already in your routine, then you should start, right now. You will see and feel the benefits immediately.

You'll want to start slowly and target painful areas. (Most people would want to avoid pain, but in this case we run towards it.) When you are rolling and hit a "hot spot" or sensitive area, just try to hold there for a few extra seconds and work it on out.  It's much easier than trying to convince your significant other to give you massages 3x per week.  (If your significant other does this for you, you are insanely lucky and need to shower them with compliments, love, and generous gifts often.) What we are looking for is to release the tension of the muscle tendon area. When you increase the pressure in this area where the muscle is at risk for injury, it responds by relaxing the muscle.  This is a good thing and I'm sure you don't need or want to read about the scientific explanation of it all (if you do, feel free to Google it).

You can foam roll as much as you want, and as often as you want.  There is no limit to this except maybe time and pain tolerance.  You should try to do it at least a couple of times per week.  Roll major muscle areas, back, legs, etc, try to build up your tolerance, and do one leg at a time. Don't forget the painful IT band. You can also target your arms, calves, feet, and anything you can think of.  Feel free to Google videos of people rolling to learn where and how they roll.  As you roll more and more, you will start to loosen up a bit and can upgrade to a stiffer foam roller, or even a rolling ball which will be more concentrated (lacrosse balls and baseballs work well if you can handle it). You can also upgrade to a PVC pipe which can be found at your local Home Depot or Lowes.  If you have time and money a sports massage is best, but rolling is the next best thing.  Roll out, people.