Foam Rollers

About a year ago, a trainer at the gym had me spend about 20 minutes with a foam roller. He explained to me that using this thing correctly would help stretch my muscles and tendons and break down soft tissue adhesions.

We started out rolling my calfs and it hurt like hell in certain spots. He explained that the superficial fascia, a soft connective tissue located just below the skin can adhere to the muscle tissue and become stuck. This can cause restrictive motion, cramping and muscle knots or trigger points.

In my case, my calf muscles were so knotted that it had affected my stance and stride. I couldn't do a squat without turning my knees out. The trainer had me roll the knots out in my calfs and I found I could balance better and do my squats correctly.

I should of gotten into a regular habit of rolling my muscles out, but I'm too impatient for that kind of thing. Lately though, my hamstrings, calfs and glutes are all knotted up and I've been rolling them out the last couple of days. It makes a big difference and I found that I could squat a lot more weight after a few sessions. 

Theres a great article here about using foam rollers and detailed instructions in running times showing how to use them. There's also plenty of good vids online.

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