10 tips for foam rolling

This post is sponsored by Peak Win Athletics. The Peak Win Athletics foam roller used in this post can be found on Amazon. This is a great little foam roller perfect for home gyms, or foam rolling on the go! The storage compartment makes it a snap to store your extra equipment (jump rope, gels, towel, keys), grab it and go! In this post you’ll find a review, 10 tips for foam rolling, how to, and benefits to foam rolling.

It seems like such a constant in my fitness program that going over the benefits of foam rolling seems moot now, but hey let’s recap. Basically foam rolling is amazeballs and everyone should be doing it, period. Yes even you! Yes it might feel uncomfortable, yes you should still do it! Not convinced? Read on…

Here’s some benefits of foam rolling:

• Improves blood circulation – it’s a massage, duh!
• Improved flexibility – the less tense we are the better we move.
• Improved posture – I leave yoga class feeling 2″ taller, same with foam rolling
• Prevent injury – due to increased blood flow, and properly aligned and moving muscles.
• Helps exercise technique – poor technique can be due to tight muscles, foam roller to the rescue!
• Relaxing – ok not all the time, but sometimes it can be!

How to foam roll

• Get into position to roll the desired area.
• Spend 15-30 seconds slowly rolling the area
• Find a ‘hot-spot’ or point of discomfort and hold for 20-30 seconds
• repeat, repeat, repeat

10 Tips for foam rolling

1. Choose a density or firmness suitable for you. Beginners should start with the basic white, and move onto firmer foam rollers as they become more experienced.
2. Go slow! Too often I see people rushing the movement, instead go slowly, feel the roll so you can see where your bumps and knots are.
3. Before or after the workout? Both! Seriously, as Nike said “just do it”.
4. Roll the tight muscles. Roll the tight muscles strengthen the weaker muscles. Get your posture assessed by a Personal Trainer or Physical Therapist to find your tight/loose muscles.
5. Breathe. Seriously holding your breath won’t make it any easier.
6. Mind body connection. Don’t switch off, the mind body connection is huge. Plus checking in with your body is a good thing
7. Continue stretching. Foam rolling isn’t the end of your flexibility training. Make sure to still do your post workout static stretches.
8. Beware the bone. Foam rolling is for soft tissue, not bone. Stay off the boney areas.
9. Pain vs discomfort. If you’re especially tight there is going to be some discomfort. If the foam rolling is truly painful then back off. Modify by dropping to a less dense flat roller and working up.
10. Pretzel Olympics. Some of the techniques involve a lot of core and upper body strength to get good pressure so ensure you use good technique. Plank alignment is used in many of the exercises so it can be quite the core workout too!

Peak Win Athletics Foam Roller Review

As I’ve been using the Peak Win Athletics Foam Roller I figured I’d share my honest opinion. Firstly it comes in blue or pink, which obviously I got the pink! I have to be honest I nearly got the blue but my yoga mat, blocks, strap, bolster etc are purple and that seems to be my go-to for flexibility stuff so had to get the pink to compliment the purple. In the Amazon description it states the foam roller is 18″ but mine is 13″ as you can see in the pic below.

The foam isn’t super dense. Not as tough as a rumble roller (which honestly are too tough IMO) but firmer than the white standard foam rollers. The triggerpoint nibs (bumps and ridges) really help get into the muscle tissue nicely. Bonus is that the end caps are removable so you can use this for storage too! Why? Why not! Throw your jump rope, towel, keys, phone and more into the middle and use it like a gym bag and foam roller rolled into one! With a lifetime guarantee you really can’t go wrong with Peak Win Athletics, for a more detailed review check out my video below, or stop by my YouTube channel.

I’ll be sharing more Peak Win Athletics workouts and posts in the upcoming week or two! If you have any questions leave them in the comments. Let me know if you already foam roll or are looking to start.

 

Disclosure: I received compensation in exchange for writing this blog post. Although this post is sponsored, all opinions are my own because hey I keep it real yo!