Improve Your Workouts With a Foam Roller

Most everyone needs some soft tissue work. A massage therapist is going to getting in deeper than what can be done in the gym. However, the frequency might be lacking. Few people are going to get a massage every week. What can be done in place of, or better yet, between massages?

In the gym when we talk about soft tissue work it refers to pushing on knots with a variety of tools. The most common used at Cascade Peak Performance are foam rollers and lacrosse balls. Massage sticks, vudu bands and softballs are often thrown in the mix.

Soft tissue work fits well to start a workout. It will help to relax tight muscles. Increase internal temperature and blood flow to those muscles. This also allows the muscle to go through a better range of motion with reduced chance of strain. Many chronic issues can be managed/lessened with the right soft tissue program.

There are two general ways to apply pressure to muscles and the knots in them; moving across the area repeatedly, or holding on a moderately painful area for 10-20 seconds. Overall soft tissue work should be the first 3-5 minutes in the gym. Going beyond this can take away for the actual workout.

Staying too long on any one area has the potential of effectively bruising the muscle. If the soft tissue work is being used to help a chronic issue frequency is more important than intensity, i.e. a little every day is better than one big session once or twice per week.

Post workout can be beneficial for large muscle groups. Moving back and forth over the muscle will produce the desired effect of improved recovery. However, this should be done sparingly because the total amount of time foam rolling a particular area increases the chance of bruising it. Non-training day soft tissue work is great for problem areas and recovery. It only takes a few minutes to get the desired effect.

The firmness of the roller or ball matters. Start with a low density large surface area tool and overtime work into a firmer/low surface area for detail work. Causing pain is not the goal. Moderate pain is a good guide of where to work, but sometimes a low pain area can still be highly productive for blood flow and range of motion purposes.

There are common spots most people need to work, upper back and hips. There are also techniques which are only needed for specific issues and mobility limitations. At Cascade Peak Performance we can develop and teach a program specific to your needs and goals.