Foam rollers are the new craze. For those of you that haven't had the luxury of working with one of these pieces of equipment, a foam roller is a 6 inch thick piece of cylindrical foam, typically either 1 foot or 3 feet in length. The densities of foam rollers vary. Some are very malleable (and probably only suited for the elderly or someone that is extremely sensitive), while others are much more stiff. In most cases, I think the stiffer type are much better. In fact, I sometimes use a 4 inch thick, 3 foot long piece of PVC piping to do my foam rolling work.
So why the foam rolling emphasis recently? It's come to our attention that, in general, we spend a lot of time improving tissue length (think stretching), and NO time on tissue QUALITY. As a simple illustration, let's consider a muscle as a long rubber band. Many people have had the experience of having a “knot” in their muscle, or an extremely tender or hypersensitive area. Think of tying a knot in the middle of our rubber band. Now if you go to stretch that rubber band, envision that it will take more absolute force to attain the same overall change in length and also that the areas immediately adjacent to the knot will become thinner and superfluously stretched. While this isn't EXACTLY how things work in the body, it will work as a metaphor for our purposes.
Foam rolling has been likened to a form of soft tissue therapy, similar to various forms of massage, Active Release Techniques (A.R.T.), etc. While I can appreciate the usefulness of foam rolling, and recommend that all my clients/athletes do it immediately before they train (and throughout the day if they're willing), I think it's important to keep everything in perspective. Foam rolling is not the cure for cancer, as the industry push seems to insinuate. Averaging around $25, a foam roller is essentially the world's cheapest massage therapist. But you get what you pay for. An actual manual therapist will out-perform a foam roller EVERY time (assuming they therapist has any clue about what they're doing).
I've been fortunate to have had the experience of getting A.R.T. work done by Dr. William Brady in Boston over the last few weeks. While Dr. Brady is a chiropractic physician, A.R.T. therapist, and certified strength and conditioning specialist, I liken his work to that of a magician. A typical visit lasts about 5 minutes, 2 of which consist of answering questions and testing range of motion (ROM). Do the math, only THREE minutes of actually work. I leave every single session with DRASTIC ROM improvements, and feeling much better. This isn't an advertisement for Dr. Brady (although, if you're within an hour of Boston, I HIGHLY recommend that you look him up. Tell him Kevin sent you); it's just an illustration of the difference between the results attainable from foam rolling accompanied by stretching, and the results attainable from a skilled soft-tissue therapist. You'll getter better results, in terms of ROM AND health, in a few A.R.T. session than you would from hun
dreds of hours of foam rolling and stretching.
So why still recommend foam rolling? Well, quite simply, not everyone has access to a soft-tissue therapist. Ideally, I'd have every athlete I work with seeing an A.R.T. and massage therapist regularly (at least one of them, at least every two weeks). The busy schedules of modern society often don't permit for such a commitment. Foam rolling is a cheap, yet still effective compromise.
If you're interested in beginning to foam roll, I can tell you that you will feel much better after a week or so of doing it consistently. I've tried a lot of the foam rollers on the market and can only recommend two: the three foot black one from Perform Better (
Invalid Link Removed), and a three foot piece of PVC piping from anywhere (Home Depot is probably a good bet). While you're out, pick up a lacrosse ball too. You can use a lacrosse ball to apply a more concentrated, focal pressure on smaller tissue that won't respond to the more global pushing of a foam roller.
Once you're equipped, go to youtube.com and search prodigyperformance. I've been busy over the last few weeks adding a ton of video. I probably won't add it to the Prodigy website for several more weeks so youtube is your best bet. As always, feel free to email me if you have any questions (
[email protected]).
Keep training hard,
Kevin Neeld, C.S.C.S.
Invalid Link Removed
Invalid Link Removed
