Foam Rolling (Self-Myofascial Release)

Hey guys, As promised here is my post on Foam Rolling(Self-Myofascial Release). Hope you guys find this interesting and can use this information in your training.

Foam rolling can be a handy method used by many athletes to acutely increase range of motion without a decrease in muscle activation or force (MacDonald et al.,2013, Cheatham et al., 2015).

I find that a quick bout of foam rolling (self-myofascial release) is extremely beneficial just before training as it increases our range of movement and it helps warm up our muscles. I would always finish training sessions with foam rolling (about 30 seconds per muscle group) as I find it helps aid recovery and loosens out the muscles. Rolling for longer than 30 seconds per muscle group can be counter productive!

Athletes across all different types of sports should use self-myofascial release as a method of recovery after training to speed up the rate at which muscles regain their normal size. Foam rolling can also be seen as a great method for injury prevention and has been proven to speed up ones recovery from injury. Again, as I said before, there is no way of completely preventing injury but there are methods we can take to lower our risk of getting injured.

Foam rolling is also great for increasing flexibility. Although it doesn't make a huge difference on the grand scheme of things, for roughly 10-15 minutes after foam rolling, the muscles stretch resulting in increased flexibility. The muscles then return to their normal size.

As someone who has had their fair share of injuries over the years I find that foam rolling offers great relief to the muscles both before and after training! If you don't have a foam roller I would highly recommend one! Alternatively, you could use a tennis ball, which I would sometimes use if I am travelling for competition and can't manage to fit my roller in. The tennis ball, though is not as effective as a foam roller.

Thanks for reading again guys, I hope that was interesting for you! Please feel free to leave a comment or any topics you would like me to discuss in the future.

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