How to Use Foam Rollers for Optimal Muscle Relief and Recovery
Soreness is something we all wish we could avoid. Whether you’re changing up your fitness program, or starting a new one, muscle soreness can be the bane of change.
Taking care of muscle soreness is an easy task for the foam roller.
First of all, let’s talk about the difference between muscle relief and muscle recovery.
If we had a Venn diagram, there’d be plenty of overlap, but there are some key differences.
Mainly, muscle soreness should be temporary, and sometimes ‘muscle relief’ falls into the chronic category. Soreness generally comes from a workout, whereas a chronically tight and sore muscle can be another thing entirely. Having some intent should help point you towards a foam roller or a tool like a roller stick or massage ball.
We’ll break this up into two sections so you can skip to whichever you need.
Muscle Recovery.
We're talking about DOMS here, which stands for 'delayed onset muscle soreness'.....as in, you work out, you get sore. That achy-burning type of muscle pain you get after you challenge your muscle tissue. Your foam roller is your best friend here.
Part of the problem with sore muscles is that they just hurt. You flex your knee and your hamstrings feel tight and restricted. You don't feel like you want to go full range with your knee.
Getting the range of motion back to normal is one of the easiest things you can do with a foam roller!
Muscle hurts >>> Roll Muscle with foam roller >>> Muscle feels better.
It's kinda that simple, but we'll add some tips to make sure you're getting the most out of your time.
Roll with light pressure.
If you have some sore muscles, the last thing you want to do is go right into grind mode with your foam roller. Of course that isn't gonna feel good. You want to start very gradually, beginning with very light pressure. As you make a few long 'rolls', it'll immediately feel easier to sink into the tissue. If you find yourself holding your breath or feel your face start to contort, just back off. You'll actually get more benefit by going light and using more reps to feel better. Just your body weight is enough.
Right tools for the right job.
Since we're not looking for intense pressure, a larger foam roller or massage stick would be the way to go. Bigger tools mean a bigger surface area, which spreads out the pressure. You're getting a two-fold benefit here; less pressure, and your coverage area is bigger.
This just means you won't have to spend as much time on the foam roller. If you tried to cover your whole quad with a lacrosse ball, it's just gonna take forever, and again, there's no need for intensity.
That's not always the case though.
Let's say the muscles on the bottom of your foot are sore and looking for some recovery.
Foam rollers are great for the big muscles, but they just won't work for the feet, among other muscle groups. Use the same concepts from above and scale down your tool. You still want to use light pressure, higher repetitions (think 20+), rather than hanging out one one spot for a long time. Remember, it's all about lightly moving fluid, for increased blood flow. Muscle soreness needs time and repetitions.
Roll towards your heart.
Recovery is all about moving fluid. The faster that fresh blood and oxygen can get to those tissues, the better off you'll be. On the flip side, the faster your muscle tissue can purge itself of waste products, the faster you'll recover.
It's not just about getting rid of soreness.
When most folks think about muscle recovery, it's about getting back to the gym, reducing soreness (or DOMS), and generally getting back to feeling good again. A little foam rolling, maybe a cold shower. No issue there!
However, that time away from your sport or exercise should also include some corrective work. Think muscle imbalances, postural work, muscle activation, and myofascial release. This is more of the long-term work that's going to set you up for success for years to come. It's not only about getting your muscle groups back in balance, but also about undoing the stresses of daily life; the desk, the chair, the plane, etc.
Foam rolling can help, as long as you're keeping some regular habits.
Since almost nobody's taught these habits from a young age, the way most people come across it is in the physical therapist's office. They teach you how to stretch, foam roll, or generally deal with that nagging muscle tension. It's bodily maintenance 101.
Not surprisingly, almost everyone on the planet will brush their teeth without anyone telling them to do so.....But for some reason, a lot of these bodily maintenance habits don't cross over to our physical body. We go for a couple of runs a week and call it a day.
In a perfect world, we'd be getting all the range of motion we need from our daily habits. This was most likely the case thousands of years ago. We ran, we squatted on the ground, chopped wood, threw spears, carried things, all on a daily basis. Each muscle group got some play. In short, we'd run our body through a full range of motion, lubricating all those joints and ranges.
That's hardly the case today for most people.
It is what it is.
If you want to feel your best, you're gonna want to include some bodily maintenance and foam rolling can be a super helpful addition in that department.
I'm not here to chair-shame you, I just want to impress what long periods of sitting can do, and how you can help undo all that sitting.
The body adapts to everything, in real time. In fact, if you sit hunched over for a long enough period, your spinal joints will actually begin to take that shape. Over many years, the bone will literally build up and fill in the space to take the pressure off the muscles. You see this in the much older population, where the spinal bones are shaped more like trapezoids, than squares.
Anyway, the point here is that ten minutes a day of bodily maintenance can help erase all these troubles. At the least, a few foam rolling sessions per week.
- Balance bodies move more efficiently
- Balanced joints don't send pain signals to the brain
- Balanced joints are stable joints.
The list goes on.
You don't need to be an anatomy expert to start.
The simple truth is that if a muscle feels tense or tight, it probably is. Foam rolling is a super safe way to go in and explore your muscle tissue.
Read our article on how to start foam rolling here
