How To Use Foam Rolling To Free Your Tight Muscles

Below is my fitness article from the latest edition of Smorgasboarder magazine…
(I have written the content below as well in case it is a bit hard to read)

Tight, overactive muscles. We all have them somewhere in our body. Tight hamstrings, stiff shoulders, tight calf muscles, a stiff back. For me the issue has always been tight hip flexors. Playing too much sport always lead to my hip muscles getting stiff and sore and sometimes this has put me out of action with injury.

.

Over the years I tried various physiotherapists and chiropractors with varying degrees of success, but who would have thought I could have saved all those consultations with a simple chunk of round foam?

.

  Foam rolling for surfers (I just bought a bunch of rollers so it I had to try)

.

Enter the “Foam Roller”

When I first got shown one of these a few years ago I was sceptical to say the least. But after trying it out several times on my tight muscles I was hooked! Now anytime I feel my hips start to tighten up, I simply grab my foam roller and a few minutes later they are pain free and loose again!

The technical term for foam rolling is Self-Myofascial Release (SMR). The idea is that you use the foam roller to massage your tight muscles by rolling on top of it. It’s basically like giving yourself a sports massage (but for a fraction of the cost). By rolling on the tight, overactive areas of your muscle, you decrease the density of the muscle, which helps it to loosen up.

This is important for any surf or snow sport athlete because tight muscles can restrict your performance and even lead to extra time out of the water or off the snow due to injury.

.

We all know the benefit of having flexible muscles and mobile joints, however many of us don’t do enough to improve in this area. So if you want to fast-track the process and free up your stiff muscles in record time, grab yourself a foam roller (order online or purchase from your local fitness store) and have a go at some of the exercises.

.

Guidelines for Foam Rolling

• Foam rolling can be done before or after exercise / surfing
• Foam rolling works great before stretching
• Let your bodyweight push down on the roller and roll up and down the muscle
• Focus on any trigger points (knots in the muscle)
• Roll on each area for 30-60 seconds (or longer if you need)
• Don’t roll over bones or joints
• Don’t roll on recently injured areas

.

If you have any questions or comments about foam rolling please leave them below…

Cheers,
Clayton

.

The Total Surfing Fitness Performance Package comes with a foam rolling
manual and videos to show you step-by-step what to do…