One easy way to smooth out tight muscles, prepare the body for workouts and make it less prone to injury afterwards is to take up foam rolling, says Sam Bolger, senior fitness trainer at Haddins.
From more gentle-looking smooth varieties to the harder studded versions, foam rolling – also known as myofascial release – is one of the easiest ways to work out troublesome knots and tight spots in the body’s muscles and fascia, or connective tissue.
The simplest way to do it is to position a muscle over the roller and move it back and forth, starting with the calves and moving up.
“When you feel a tight bit, hold it there for five to 10 seconds – after a while, the pain should go,” Bolger says. He compares the knots in muscles and fascia to a knot in a bunjee cord, which eventually will get tighter and tighter with pulling.
“When you keep breaking your body down and down, it does try to look after itself and it will tighten up,” he says. “What you need to do is self-massage it, release any trigger points – and stretching isn’t enough.”
Foam rollers are effective because they are self-directed, rather than trying to convey to someone where the sore bits are. Bolger warns, however, that they are not a “self-torture” device – it might be uncomfortable but it shouldn’t be painful. Myofascial release can also be done with firm foam or tennis balls.
amcqueen@thenational.ae
