How to get started foam rolling
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So in this video, we want to talk about foam rolling this concept of where do we begin? How do we do it? What are some principles that we can anchor ourselves to, to make that experience as best as possible. So typically, at least the most common foam rolling tool on the market right now are little spheres and small rollers. Again, this can vary hugely. But what is use these tools kind of as a general understanding of the tools that we have, doesn’t really matter what you use, you can use, you can use a basketball or you can use a PVC pipe, it really doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that we want to produce a myofascial release in our tissue, we want the fascia to essentially be this and be this or we want to be that dried up sponge that’s on a kitchen countertop, after we haven’t used it for a week to become hydrated, it’s not stiff and getting kind of crinkly, it’s loose and small, and it’s soft. So that’s essentially what we want to do with our fascial connective tissue. So here’s the most important thing, I’m gonna kind of demonstrate as I go, if we’re going to start foam rolling, and let’s say one fall aside, in my head, the amount of pressure that you put in needs to be regulated, it needs to be less than you think we grew up in a society that more is better, you know, give me give me three cheeseburgers versus one that’s going to be best. In reality, our soft tissue response, just like natural human response, a whole person response, think about that time where you were a little kid, maybe that siblings are the cases. And you kind of get picked on beat up on a little bit, and just couldn’t defend yourself. And finally got to the point like I don’t know what to do well, what you did was you got to a fetal position you tucked in tight, you protected yourself. And that is what all trillion plus cells of our body do. Well, if this is getting attacked and beat up on by an external force this ball, those cells locally are going to get beat up on and they’re going to flex, they’re gonna flinch, they’re going to tighten down. That’s the exact opposite of what you want to do here you want to lose to multiply, you want to multiply the spreading of this hydration. So how hard you push matters, it will be uncomfortable. But it should not be uncomfortable to the point where you’re changing your face, making vocal sounds in a sense. So here’s my rule, if 10, 1 out of 10, is like ooh, stop, go to a five, maybe it’s six. That’s the max that you should be pushing on to. Yes, you can go more. Yes, it is uncomfortable. But I know you can manage more look, push that five or six and wait. Wait until that five, six in that hip reduces to a four to a three, I’ll go to about a two three. Before I’ll dig in and go deeper. And I’ll as I go deeper, the sensation gets back higher, because I’m going into new tissue, I’m going into tissue that hasn’t been softened yet. So go back to a five, six, not five, six, again, wait and a rest. Soft tissue fashion takes about 90 seconds to get changes. So if you ever feel if you don’t feel change, with the 90 seconds any decreasing, then you’re probably pushing too hard. And you need to back off a little bit more. So that long drawn out what I just said is so critical. So you don’t waste time, you don’t mean you want to be foam rolling, trying to help yourself just grinning, you’re sweating, you’re just feel so much pain, and it doesn’t change, it’s still that eight stays that eight. So back off, go easier than lighter, you’ll go through tissue faster, I guarantee it, you’ve got the tissue faster. So that’s how to form it doesn’t matter what tool you’re using through does doesn’t matter. So the next thing you want to do is get comfortable. So I have a yoga mat here I have a little pad here you’re gonna be hanging out applying and essentially getting on the floor. So relax, get into a zone that you can relax, don’t get on your cell phone. Don’t Don’t do input back to something you can receive input through ever movies on some music’s playing that’s fine, but you need to focus on that soft tissue and be mindful. So be in an environment that’s that’s comfortable. And then my last little quick tip is you don’t have to be on the ground. There are tools out there are canes that you can essentially wrap around your shoulder. You can go against a wall and pressure and against a wall. Just get creative on how you want to apply essentially a very cheap massage therapist to your body using ground using the wall and of course there are many other tools out there. But those are just the basics now where do you start? Well, the collective of the body that I mean, there’s, I could really dive into some details here, but the collective of the body to do some of this, where do I start to foam roll. And I just wonder general foam rolling, start with anything that attaches to the hip, and anything attached to the upper back. That’s like 600 Plus muscles. So I would go after starting with the quads. And just a quick little placement on how to do that. Now, I would probably use a foam roller for this in this position, and I would just find a place. And I would just stop, melt, stay there, wait, maybe 90 seconds, maybe two minutes, and wait for that to open up. You don’t want to push too hard. So if I’m not like an eight, I’m going to have to back off a little bit. If I’m one little bit more, I put some more body weight, like even cross limbs over to put more pressure through that joint and go through the quads, essentially searching for the worst spot as you go through it. Then I’ll go inside that, again, still on my stomach, give the those adductors the same principles apply and to show you positions to get into them. A little bit more of a tight location would be hip flexors. So I’m going to find my hip bone. And I put the ball on the hip bone and then roll towards the belly button until that ball falls off that bone into the abdomen. As I roll up and down. That’s where the hip flexor lives, same principles apply. softening it up. And now we’re actually go to the outside hip, which is another great, great spot. And then not forget about the actual glutes themselves, that’s a big territory all the way down. And all the way up. That if I’m gonna go to the hamstrings, depending on the start on the sit up against a wall, put this hamstring essentially, there’s this roller, essentially right where the glutes meet the leg, start run on top, the hamstring almost kind of in that connection zone, I have my direct pressure, I want to move down among both hamstrings here, you can go to just one in front of rolling kind of go lower down into it and essentially plied downward force, or put even more force, I can sit on a coffee table hard one in a sense, or chair and put that ball right into that zone. So going to the upper back, this was a real simple one, just wrapping up right to my mid that we spent so much time in this kyphotic four bed position, it’s important to get open ourselves up. So this is kind of going more after joints and the connective tissue between joints, but hands on the back. And I just want to create a little fulcrum with this foam roller and open bed mat. Reading on this one, it’s critical. Because I just want to take some nice deep breaths in and out to allow my body just to open up and extend back. Now since you have 12, mid back vertebra, so you can kind of move a little bit, an inch down and inch up, open back, you can find this place where you can kind of essentially bend backwards and open up keeping your hips flat. That’s a great, great, great site. And then from there mid mid that you can’t take it about, there’s all these major connections on the side. So there’s a rolling right through here and just finished a nice pressure on the side of my trunk and also on the other side. Now, there’s this concept about why is it called foam rolling, then I’ll end with with this, you know this concept of rolling back and forth. That’s not bad. I’m not saying don’t do that. But that’s really good for flushing tissue out. And it’s post workout. We’re just warming up the tissue trying to get that that sensation back and forth, back and forth, just to get some good hydration, some flow in and out. I like doing it again kind of post workout flush the system or pre workout get the kind of tissues mobilized but it’s not very good when you’re rolling over tight tissue and just feel as you just kind of feel it’s less of a strain and it hits and it relaxes then hits then it relaxes. That’s not a good way to release tissue, at least in our methodology. Have fun with that, go for it and foam rolling on one spot. I went for more than five to eight minutes on one particular location. Tissue just like anything else needs time to adapt and change and grow. So multiple times throughout the days versus one hardcore time at once. So there’s one tip for you.
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