Ask most people who exercise whether they do enough stretching or flexibility after working out and the anser is no. Yet flexibility is a vital component of fitness and without it you are effectively just creating a good looking facade with strength and cardiovascular work but on a poor foundation which will eventually result in fundamental problems.
But if you don’t have the time to do hours of yoga and can’t afford regular sports massages, what can you? One solution would be to invest in a foam roller which works on the same principle as a sports massage therapist but costs around £10.
A foam roller is a cylindrical piece of hard foam which you use to self massage your body and helps to release the myofascia, lengthen muscles and increase blood flow and circulation to the soft tissues.
Myofascia is the soft connective tissue that wraps and connects muscles, bones and blood vessels. Often due to injury, misuse or lots of exercise without sufficient stretching it and the underlying muscle tissue can become stuck together resulting in restricted muscle movement and reduced flexibility or range of motion in joints.
Moreover, if one muscle is inhibited another muscle will kick in to do the work resulitng in a domino effect which will eventually lead to biomechanical failures.
So how exactly does rolling on a piece of hard foam help? Foam rollers work by tricking the muscles into relaxing by stimulating the action of a sensory receptor in the muscle fibres called the Golgi Tendon Organ. This is highly sensitive to muscle tension and when it feels a muscle being stretched too tight, it forces it to relax and lengthen to prevent it tearing.
Of course, a foam roller is no substitute for a professionally trained sports massage therapist or for seeing someone if you are injured. But at just over £10 it should be a vital piece of equipment for anyone who exercises, from the occasional 5k runner to someone running regular marathons. The downside? It is painful but stick with it every day and you will see huge improvements in flexibility, range of motion and sports performance. Visit for a range of Foam rollers.
Visit here for exercises that you can do with the foam roller
