Anyone use a foam roller consistently?

[Titan18]

I started gear back in January and have made some good progress, put on muscle and strength is way up from where I started. My issue right now is my flexibility. My legs are so tight it's difficult to even put socks on at this point. I bought a foam roller after doing a little research. I've been using it a few days now and .....damn it's painful. I'm just wondering if its something I should keep doing and if the benefit is worth the time investment. Anyone use one regularly or wouldn't go without it? What benefits have you seen from it?

 

[Barny]

I personally love rolling out on a hockey ball as part of a warmup/get rid of knots before playing rugby/training. I've had issues with my back for the last 15 years and used rolling as a tool to get the muscles ready for a mobility session but found stretching much more beneficial. For overall mobility I would look at stretching exercises and things like yoga, over foam rolling alone.

Foam rolling seems to have scientific benefits when used in a warmup, but there is little consensus to suggest it works for performance/recovery. I've linked a recent meta-analysis paper on the topic of foam rolling here if you are interested.

 

[Titan18]

I personally love rolling out on a hockey ball as part of a warmup/get rid of knots before playing rugby/training. I've had issues with my back for the last 15 years and used rolling as a tool to get the muscles ready for a mobility session but found stretching much more beneficial. For overall mobility I would look at stretching exercises and things like yoga, over foam rolling alone.

Foam rolling seems to have scientific benefits when used in a warmup, but there is little consensus to suggest it works for performance/recovery. I've linked a recent meta-analysis paper on the topic of foam rolling here if you are interested.

Cool, thank you.

 

[JesterBOB]

I started gear back in January and have made some good progress, put on muscle and strength is way up from where I started. My issue right now is my flexibility. My legs are so tight it's difficult to even put socks on at this point. I bought a foam roller after doing a little research. I've been using it a few days now and .....damn it's painful. I'm just wondering if its something I should keep doing and if the benefit is worth the time investment. Anyone use one regularly or wouldn't go without it? What benefits have you seen from it?

All the same, I think that you have such an amount of fluid that accumulates, you need to look at the diet, the amount of water you drink and the amount of salt you eat.

 

[Titan18]

All the same, I think that you have such an amount of fluid that accumulates, you need to look at the diet, the amount of water you drink and the amount of salt you eat.

Thanks Bob, I had not considered fluid. That's a valid point.

 

[JesterBOB]

Thanks Bob, I had not considered fluid. That's a valid point.

Often we forget about it, but it is very important.

 

[jJjburton]

I started gear back in January and have made some good progress, put on muscle and strength is way up from where I started. My issue right now is my flexibility. My legs are so tight it's difficult to even put socks on at this point. I bought a foam roller after doing a little research. I've been using it a few days now and .....damn it's painful. I'm just wondering if its something I should keep doing and if the benefit is worth the time investment. Anyone use one regularly or wouldn't go without it? What benefits have you seen from it?

The pain will subside once you do it often. Also for trigger point rolling when you feel a lain stop there and take a deep breath and then continue. As well only 1 minutes of foam rolling per section.

What it does is give you ROM which would help preworkout to have more of a well formed workout. And almost working out a part of the muscke not reached before in a way, which when doing an exercise you would not want to go heavy and start lighter weight.

Also foam rolling focuses on the fascia around the muscle, when jumbled and tight it “crosses” one foam rolled after a while it smooths.

This is what i learned from the class of foam rolling, i took.

 

[Titan18]

The pain will subside once you do it often. Also for trigger point rolling when you feel a lain stop there and take a deep breath and then continue. As well only 1 minutes of foam rolling per section.

What it does is give you ROM which would help preworkout to have more of a well formed workout. And almost working out a part of the muscke not reached before in a way, which when doing an exercise you would not want to go heavy and start lighter weight.

Also foam rolling focuses on the fascia around the muscle, when jumbled and tight it “crosses” one foam rolled after a while it smooths.

This is what i learned from the class of foam rolling, i took

Lots of good info, thank you. I've been doing it mostly on off days, and focusing on legs for the most part as that's where my flexibility is pretty much nonexistent. My legs have grown a lot of muscle this year, which is great but I am VERY stiff. I have noticed, like you mentioned, that the pain has subsided substantially and now it feels good for the most part, like a deep massage.
Edit: one more thing I've noticed recently is a lot of pain in my lower back since starting foam rolling. I'm wondering if there's areas that shouldn't be foam rolled.

 

[jJjburton]

Lots of good info, thank you. I've been doing it mostly on off days, and focusing on legs for the most part as that's where my flexibility is pretty much nonexistent. My legs have grown a lot of muscle this year, which is great but I am VERY stiff. I have noticed, like you mentioned, that the pain has subsided substantially and now it feels good for the most part, like a deep massage.
Edit: one more thing I've noticed recently is a lot of pain in my lower back since starting foam rolling. I'm wondering if there's areas that shouldn't be foam rolled.

Yes when i grow muscle i feel the same especially when fast.

So ideally its odd, the “Kinetic Chain” is the connection of joints throughout the body. So when something hurts you usually look below and above that area that hurts. Sometime knee pain is cause ld my ankle issues or hip issues.

So the lower back pain, you want to look at your thorasic spine and hips. Are those tight?

I would be willing to say that your hips and piriforimis area is pulling on lower back.

Also make sure you are foam rolling right. You dont just roll. There is a technique.


Look up “Trigger Point” foam rolling on youtube there stuff will show you whats up.

Not sure how versed you are in it.

The worst area to foam roll is lower back, 99% of time its dint wrong, even if you think it feels good or like its doing something. People donit wrong causing more injury.

 

[Titan18]

Yes when i grow muscle i feel the same especially when fast.

So ideally its odd, the “Kinetic Chain” is the connection of joints throughout the body. So when something hurts you usually look below and above that area that hurts. Sometime knee pain is cause ld my ankle issues or hip issues.

So the lower back pain, you want to look at your thorasic spine and hips. Are those tight?

I would be willing to say that your hips and piriforimis area is pulling on lower back.

Also make sure you are foam rolling right. You dont just roll. There is a technique.


Look up “Trigger Point” foam rolling on youtube there stuff will show you whats up.

Not sure how versed you are in it.

The worst area to foam roll is lower back, 99% of time its dint wrong, even if you think it feels good or like its doing something. People donit wrong causing more injury.

Yes, you are spot on, my hips are so stiff they feel almost frozen. Like from a seated position I cant raise my foot and rest it on the opposite knee.

I'm gonna have to look up trigger points, I just kind of roll around on the foam roller and try to go over the most painful areas. I do know not to get too close to my knees.

 

[Hayes88]

Great advice above! Stretching my man, it will help not only with the mobility, but with the development as well and preventing injury. Most of us men I would say are horrible at stretching if a coach doesn't tell us to, and if we do it we do it halfassed.

I have the same as you, as soon as I started gaining legs I couldn't put on my socks, and more often than ones did I pull something doing just that - putting on a damn sock.
And I am in no regard big compared to many here (don't even have separation, just one solid piece).

Before I knew I had a ddd/ hernia I used foam roller on the inflammed muscles at back, as well as ball. It does help relieve knots, but imo nothing in comparison to a real stretch a few days.

However, my advice would be warmup in beginning with some movement rather than stretch since you want that stability. Stretch after.

 

[JesterBOB]

The pain will subside once you do it often. Also for trigger point rolling when you feel a lain stop there and take a deep breath and then continue. As well only 1 minutes of foam rolling per section.

What it does is give you ROM which would help preworkout to have more of a well formed workout. And almost working out a part of the muscke not reached before in a way, which when doing an exercise you would not want to go heavy and start lighter weight.

Also foam rolling focuses on the fascia around the muscle, when jumbled and tight it “crosses” one foam rolled after a while it smooths.

This is what i learned from the class of foam rolling, i took.

In addition to the roller, I also like small hard balls, they allow you to more effectively press on the trigger points