Skeletal muscle is further divided into several subtypes: Type I, slow oxidative, slow twitch, or "red" muscle is dense with capillaries and is rich in mitochondria and myoglobin , giving the muscle tissue its characteristic red color. It can carry more oxygen and sustain aerobic activity. Slow twitch fibers, as the name suggests, contract more slowly than fast twitch muscle fibers and they can contract for a longer period of time. We often call these 'endurance' muscles because they're great for aerobic activities that require endurance like running, cycling and swimming. Type II, fast twitch muscle, has three major kinds that are, in order of increasing contractile speed: [4] o Type IIa, which, like slow muscle, is aerobic, rich in mitochondria and capillaries and appears red. o Type IIx (also known as type IId), which is less dense in mitochondria and myoglobin. This is the fastest muscle type in humans. It can contract more quickly and with a greater amount of force than oxidative muscle, but can sustain only short, anaerobic bursts of activity before muscle contraction becomes painful (often incorrectly attributed to a build-up of lactic acid ). N.B. in some books and articles this muscle in humans was, confusingly, called type IIB. [5] o Type IIb, which is anaerobic, glycolytic , "white" muscle that is even less dense in mitochondria and myoglobin. In small animals like rodents this is the major fast muscle type, explaining the pale color of their flesh. Aerobic exercise involves long, low levels of exertion in which the muscles are used at well below their maximal contraction strength for long periods of time (the most
Transcript
Skeletal muscle is further divided into several subtypes:
Type I, slow oxidative, slow twitch, or "red" muscle is dense with capillaries and is rich in mitochondria and myoglobin, giving the muscle tissue its characteristic red color. It can carry more oxygen and sustain aerobic activity.
Slow twitch fibers, as the name suggests, contract more slowly than fast twitch muscle fibers and they can contract for a longer period of time. We often call these 'endurance' muscles because they're great for aerobic activities that require endurance like running, cycling and swimming.
Type II, fast twitch muscle, has three major kinds that are, in order of increasing contractile speed:[4]
o Type IIa, which, like slow muscle, is aerobic, rich in mitochondria and capillaries and appears red.
o Type IIx (also known as type IId), which is less dense in mitochondria and myoglobin. This is the fastest muscle type in humans. It can contract more quickly and with a greater amount of force than oxidative muscle, but can sustain only short, anaerobic bursts of activity before muscle contraction becomes painful (often incorrectly attributed to a build-up of lactic acid). N.B. in some books and articles this muscle in humans was, confusingly, called type IIB.[5]
o Type IIb, which is anaerobic, glycolytic, "white" muscle that is even less dense in mitochondria and myoglobin. In small animals like rodents this is the major fast muscle type, explaining the pale color of their flesh.
Aerobic exercise involves long, low levels of exertion in which the muscles are used at well below their maximal contraction strength for long periods of time (the most classic example being the marathon). Aerobic events, which rely primarily on the aerobic (with oxygen) system, use a higher percentage of Type I (or slow-twitch) muscle fibers, consume a mixture of fat, protein and carbohydrates for energy, consume large amounts of oxygen and produce little lactic acid. Anaerobic exercise involves short bursts of higher intensity contractions at a much greater percentage of their maximum contraction strength. Examples of anaerobic exercise include sprinting and weight lifting. The anaerobic energy delivery system uses predominantly Type II or fast-twitch muscle fibers, relies mainly on ATP or glucose for fuel, consumes relatively little oxygen, protein and fat, produces large amounts of lactic acid and can not be sustained for as long a period as aerobic exercise. The presence of lactic acid has an inhibitory effect on ATP generation within the muscle; though not producing fatigue, it can inhibit or even stop performance if the intracellular concentration becomes too high. However, long-term training causes neovascularization within the muscle, increasing the ability to move waste products out of the muscles and maintain contraction. Once moved out of muscles with high concentrations within the sarcomere, lactic acid can be used by other muscles or body tissues as a source of energy, or transported to the liver where it is converted
back to pyruvate. The ability of the body to export lactic acid and use it as a source of energy depends on training level.
Humans are genetically predisposed with a larger percentage of one type of muscle group over another. An individual born with a greater percentage of Type I muscle fibers would theoretically be more suited to endurance events, such as triathlons, distance running, and long cycling events, whereas a human born with a greater percentage of Type II muscle fibers would be more likely to excel at anaerobic events such as a 200 meter dash, or weightlifting.
Definition: Our bodies are made up of different types of muscle fibers, all of which rely on different energy systems. Slow twitch fibers, as the name suggests, contract more slowly than fast twitch muscle fibers and they can contract for a longer period of time. We often call these 'endurance' muscles because they're great for aerobic activities that require endurance like running, cycling and swimming.
In general, many of us will have about 50% slow twitch fibers and 50% fast twitch fibers, although it will differ between individuals. Successful long-distance runners will often have more slow twitch fibers while sprinters or bodybuilders will often have more fast twitch fibers. Strength training in different rep ranges (from 4-16) will allow you to work different muscle fibers and energy systems in your body.
Tennis Ball Part 1: A Tool You Never Knew You HadFeeling sore, tight and fatigued? You’ve stretched until the cows came home but you really don’t fee any better. You’ve deloaded, done your recovery session, even taken a hot bath. You know what you need is some deep, hard, painful soft tissue work. Oh how nice a massage would be right now. The problem is not all of us have the time or the money to invest in some good soft tissue work. Want a cheap yet extremely effective way to get rid of your aches and pains? Go out to your backyard and steal your dogs tennis ball…with a little understanding and application, this little baby is going to become your new best friend.
What Is A Trigger Point?
A trigger point is a specific area in the muscle where the fibres are over active and cannot relax and release from their contracted state. Most of us at some point in time would have referred to this as a knot.
Trigger points can be actively painful, i.e. you feel the pain at the site or because of the trigger point. They can also be completely pain free, unless they are poked and touched. These are called latent trigger points. Both will cause you issues and further pain.
If you want more information about how to find trigger points, check out this book review, the trigger point therapy workbook.
Diagram from Tandem Point Therapy
What Is Myofascial Pain Syndrome?
Myo is referring to the muscle; fascia is the stuff that covers the muscles. Myofascial Pain Syndrome is therefore when you experience pain as a result of dysfunction in your muscles and fascia. It is basically a fancy name for muscle pain. Myofascial Pain Syndrome occurs when a muscle and/or its fascia has trigger points.
How Do Trigger Points Cause Pain
Not only do some trigger points hurt you right on the spot, they can get you in places totally unrelated. A big symptom of a trigger point is its referred pain. Trigger points have the ability to send their pain to another part of the body. Trigger points can cause:
Often joint pain we experience is simple referred pain from trigger points. It is common to feel referred pain from a trigger point in your wrists, shoulders, knees and hips. To test it out, extend your wrist. The muscle that pops out on the top of your forearm is a common place for latent trigger points. Press around there, you are most likely going to find some sore points! Some of you will even find pressing on those sore points will refer pain down to your wrist.
Sometimes, you just don’t know they are there. In this case, it’s not too serious, but if you have knee pain and it is because you have some trigger points in your calves, it is very easy for it go unnoticed and untreated. In fact, this is a common cause, or secondary cause of knee pain. The pain caused by latent trigger points is often more worrying than those of active ones. Trigger points make the muscle tighter and shorter, often reducing range of motion. If you don’t know they are there, chances are they will go untreated and can lead to further injury and bad mechanics.
pic: johnny alive
Tennis Balls Rock
We have seen and discussed the benefits of foam rolling. But, a tennis ball allows you to be a lot more focused and really get into your trigger points. Active and Latent! Trigger points respond to pressure. You only have to touch one or have one touched to feel the pain it elicits. As you work through the point you find the pain diminishes as the trigger point starts to disappear.
There are quite a few spots in the body you should be working on, so I have split this post into 3 parts. Part 2 will look at areas of your lower body that need attention, and Part 3 will focus on the upper body. Until then, go and find yourself a tennis ball. A good stretch will help, but doing this soft tissue work will make you feel better, I guarantee.
As a general rule, when working, lifting and exercising we are stressing the same muscles and movements. This repeat stress can lead to overworked muscles and consequently tightness and trigger points. I don’t need to go through this again though, it’s all covered in Part 1. The lower body has many common trigger points. Most of us sit all day long, and then go to the gym and do the same things day in day out. We are going to look at some of the more common places where almost everyone is tight.
What Your Should Know Before
It will be painful… but, it shouldn’t kill you. If it doesn’t feel like a good pain, stop. Maybe you have an injury.
Go slowly. Work up and down the muscle at a slow pace, and stop on any tender points. These may be trigger points.
Work up and down through each muscle about 5 times or hold and move around on an area for 30 seconds at a time. Do each muscle a couple of times, it’s not important how much you do it, you will know what you need once you start.
When you reach a trigger point it will be a pretty deep pain you feel. This is OK, grit your teeth and stay on it.
If it is a trigger point, as you hold the ball on the spot you will feel the initial shock of pain diminish.
You may also feel referral pain as we discussed in Part 1. Don’t stress, this is normal and means you have hit a spot.
When you are on an area, work around, test it out. Trigger points are usually in certain areas, but don’t be afraid to move around on the ball and find where yours are.
Remember, even if you don’t find any trigger points or specifically release them, you will find that a deep tissue massage does wonders for how your muscles and fascia feel. Recovery is important, and this is one of the steps to feeling top notch. If you don’t actually find trigger points, you will see that these areas are very tight in most people and simply need loosening anyway. Give them a crack, work slowly and grit your teeth!
Note: Although I said everyone has a tennis ball…I don’t. I have a massage ball which is basically the same size, weight and gives the same pressure. It’s red, and I am wearing a red t-shirt…sorry. Oh and excuse my white pins, I live in Europe in the winter, and then go back to Australia for the winter. Unlucky.
I have had a lot of emails asking about the massage ball that I am using, like I said a tennis ball works great, but you can get the exact ball I am using here on amazon. There are a few other sizes too, check them out here: Spiky Massage Ball
OK, so I am going to start in a place that doesn’t have any trigger points. Intelligent eh? I simply had to include this one in a tennis ball post because this is the best way to get your foot loose. I will discuss this more in an upcoming series on fascia, however under your foot is your plantar fascia. How this functions directly affects the rest of your leg. Most of us are tight here, and we are going to start from the bottom and work up.
How To: Stand on one leg, place the ball under the foot and then let your bodyweight onto the other leg. Roll around on each foot for about 30 seconds. Get the whole foot, under the arch, and hold on any tighter areas.
2. The Peroneals
These are tight in quite a few people. Tight peroneals can lead to knee pain. Let’s get them loose.
How To:Lay on your side, place the ball under the outer side of your lower leg. Roll up and down slowly, and stop whenever you feel a tender spot. If you don’t feel any, thats great, keep rolling.
Your gastrocnemius and soleus are bound to have trigger points. Most of them you wont even know about until you find them.
How To: Start on your bum, raise yourself a little (the more of your body that is raised off the ground, the more pressure you can put through the ball…) and place the ball underneath your calves. Roll right from the achillies up to under the knee. Slowly. Stop on any tender points and hold. As the calf is pretty wide, you might need to try a few lines, i.e medial, middle and lateral. See how you go.
4. The ITB
This tight band of fascia along the side of your leg is almost always tight, and can often have trigger points. You may find in this case the tennis ball serves better for a simple fascia release, however, up closer to your hip there are some trigger points.
How To: Roll on the tennis ball, from the knee right up to the hip. If you come across a sore
point stop and hold. The ITB is often very tight, and rolling on it with a tennis ball will be painful. Personally, I often get on the tennis ball for a more hardcore stretch than the foam roller, but rarely find trigger points.
5. The TFL
This baby is often tight in people who are sitting down a lot. It gets put into a shortened position and over time will adjust and stay in that shortened state.
How To: Locate the TFL first. It is between your ITB and the top of your hip bone, slightly more anterior. Put the tennis ball underneath it, put as much body weight onto it as you can handle and begin searching for the dreaded trigger points. This thing is almost always tight in people, and you will feel quite a lot of pain and release even if you don’t find trigger points.
6. The Glute Med
How To: Similar area to the TFL, but slightly more posterior. A lot of people tend to be tighter
up the top of the glute med, where it attaches. Search around and figure your body out for yourself!
7. The Hip Rotators
You may or may not have heard of a little, painful and annoying muscle called the piriformis. This is one of a few hip rotators that you will be working through, but seems to be the one that causes people the most problems.
How To: Basically sit on the ball in the meat of your arse like I have shown you in the picture. Move around a lot and I will guarantee you will find the piriformis and its friends. This thing is small, tight and angry. When you find it you may get pain shooting down your leg. Hold it there, you can do it, and you will feel enormous benefits from this one. If the pain is too sharp, straighten your leg out and sit in he same spot, this means the hip rotators aren’t on as much stretch. The result isn’t as great but you can work into it. Suck it up and cop some pain!
What You Should Know After
After the session stretch the areas you found trigger points in. You may be bruised, probably not, but if you are doing it for the first time this
Again, for first timers, you can be a little sore after it. It is pretty localized work.
Now that your lower body is sufficiently sore and angry at you for poking around, keep at it. These things don’t happen over night. Most of us get trigger points from repeated movement patterns or being in the same position for lengths of time (i.e sitting down all day at work). The same goes the other way. It will take time to release everything, but I guarantee after one session with the tennis ball, you will feel the difference.
If you want more information on finding trigger points and where they all are in your body, then check out this review, the trigger point therapy workbook.
Tennis Ball Part 3: Upper Body
Your lower body should be loose as a goose right now. It’s time to move onto the upper body. If you haven’t done so already read Part 1 and Part 2, to find out all you need to know about trigger points and how to work them in your lower body. Part 2 also gives you some information on what to do before and after each trigger point session.Read them? Good, now we can move onto some tight and painful areas in the upper body.
If you want more information on how to find trigger points, and where they all are in your body, then check out this review, the trigger point therapy workbook.
I have had a lot of emails asking about the massage ball that I am using, like I said a tennis ball works great, but you can get the exact ball I am using here on amazon. There are a few other sizes too, check them out here: Spiky Massage Ball
1. The Psoas
This is a tough one to actually get trigger points done with the tennis ball, however this kind of work will give it a good release. The Psoas is often tight from people sitting down at work all day and having it in a shortened position.
How To:
About 2 cm right from your belly button is the initial place you want to put the ball. Lay flat and gradually raise yourself up of the ground. The higher you go the more stretch and consequently more pressure you put through your Psoas. Repeat this with the ball in the same spot a few times, then move it up and down slightly. Test out each area of the Psoas and find where you are tightest. Not everyone will feel something from this exercise, if you are tight in the Psoas I find the best way to get nice and deep where you need is some hands on active release work or acupuncture. However this is a good, cheap and convenient start!
We all tend to have pretty bad posture when we are sitting, and we can develop tight erectors (these are the long muscles that extend from your lower back right up to your neck on either side of the spine). You probably won’t find many trigger points in this exercise but, the thoracic and cervical (upper) erectors are where you want mobility and are often very tight, so that is where we will work through.
How To:
Place two tennis balls in a sock (it’s OK guys, they are very cheap…) and place it on the ground behind you. Lay down slowly and extend over the two balls. Start around where I have in this picture. You will find they fit perfectly onto your erectors and the groove between the two balls leave enough room for your spine. Once you have extended over an area, sit up, shift forward slightly, and come down again over the next vertebrae. Do this right up your back. As I mentioned before this isn’t really trigger point work, but since it’s a tennis ball post I had to include it. So many people have bad posture, this will help to straighten you out.
3. The Trapezius
For whatever reason I am betting you have tight traps. These are the bulges of muscle on either side of your neck. Go on and touch them right now and I bet they feel like rocks. People tend to get tight traps from sitting with a bad posture, stress, lifting and simply everyday life. Your traps run right down to you middle back, but it’s the top area that you will find are generally tighter.
There are two ways you can approach this. Firstly, you can put the ball on the ground, lay back and find the spots on your traps that are the tightest. Move your body around by pushing from your legs. Try to relax your neck and head.
You have lots of trigger points in this area, however you might find that the overall muscle is simply too tight and you need to loosen it first before you can get specific trigger points.
Some people may find this a little awkward so…
You can also get a sock, and place a tennis ball in it. Then, standing against a wall, place the ball where you want it, hold the sock and start searching for your spots. This can often be easier as you are able to move the sock around whilst you are putting pressure on the ball. Either way is good and try both to see what suits you best.
Sitting at your desk and using your computer leaves you with tight pecs. Your shoulders are often in a rounded position and your pec major and pec minor want to stay in that shortened position. Let’s not even touch on the fact that most people are bench press dominant when they go to the gym. Point is, these get tight, and need to be released for optimal shoulder health.
How To:
Yes, I look a little like a dead fish, but it’s the most effective way to get at these babies. You will find the best response comes from the upper pecs, where the muscle starts to get smaller and go into your shoulder. It’s a big muscle, so play around. Lay on the ground with the ball underneath you. Roll around a little until you find tight and tender spots, then hold. This is a pretty painful one, but very necessary in almost everyone.
You can see that the only two you can really access are the infraspinatus and the teres minor, they sit on the back of your scapula and can be palpated through the skin. These are both external rotators. The other two are very deep and can really only be located by a specialist. Rotator cuff tightness and trigger points are a very common cause of shoulder pain. Bad sitting posture, keeping your arms overhead a lot, using the mouse with one hand and typing with no elbow rest can cause these can become very tight.
How To:
First you need to locate the infraspinatus and teres minor. These sit smack bang on the meat of your shoulder blade. Check out where mine is (see the red marks from some tennis ball work!)
You then lay on the ball, one your side. You will find that your shoulder blade moves round to be underneath you and will be able to sit nicely on top of the tennis ball. Move around slightly to see where you are tighter. As you can see from the first diagram, the infraspinatus is quite long. I find that I have more troubles up closer to where it is about to go into the shoulder, and that is where I do more work through. Try the whole length of the muscle for yourself. Once you have found a spot, lay there and don’t move. These muscles are very tight and will respond.
For some extra work, hold your arm in the two positions I have below and internally and externally rotate your shoulder. Do this about 1o times. You should feel the pain slowly getting more bearable. The ball won’t move, so you will be staying on the trigger point or sore point, and you will be giving yourself some very cheap and easy active release therapy. This does wonders for loosening up your rotator cuff and keeping your shoulders healthy.
If you don’t have pain, get into these spots around once a week anyway. Most of us are tight and dont even know it. If you are tighter in some areas or suspect that an injury or pain is being caused by trigger points, do this as much as you want. There are no harmful side effects, other than a little soreness after the first few tries. You will only feel better. I suggest if you aren’t already doing so start foam rolling. You can consider this the next step up! Both in pain, and benefits.
Now you can keep your lower and upper body loose and mobile. Optimal muscle function is critical to your exercise program. Not only will you feel better, you will recover faster and be able to work a little harder in the gym. By getting into these spots you are ensuring that you are doing your best to prevent many overuse injuries. I can guarantee after a session with the tennis ball you will be feeling better than you ever thought possible.
Self-myofascial release: no doctor required!by Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson
Ten bucks doesn't buy much nowadays. You could pick up a day pass at some commercial gym, or pull off the co-pay on a visit to the chiropractor. If you're lucky, you might even be able to swing a mediocre Russian mail order bride.
Or, you could just go the safe route with your $10, take our advice, and receive a lifetime of relief from the annoying tightness so many athletes and weekend warriors feel from incessantly beating on their bodies. Don't worry, this isn't an infomercial. We just want you to pick up a foam roller for self-myofascial release and deep tissue massage.
How does it work?
Self-myofascial release (SMR) on a foam roller is possible thanks to the principle known as autogenic inhibition. You've likely heard of the Golgi Tendon Organ (GTO) at some point in your training career. The GTO is a mechanoreceptor found at the muscle-tendon junction; it's highly sensitive to changes in tension in the muscle.
When tension increases to the point of high risk of injury (i.e. tendon rupture), the GTO stimulates muscle spindles to relax the muscle in question. This reflex relaxation is autogenic inhibition. The GTO isn't only useful in protecting us from injuries, but it also plays a role in making proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching techniques highly effective.
The muscle contraction that precedes the passive stretch stimulates the GTO, which in turn causes relaxation that facilitates this passive stretch and allows for greater range of motion. With foam rolling, you can simulate this muscle tension, thus causing the GTO to relax the muscle. Essentially, you get many of the benefits of stretching and then some.
It's also fairly well accepted that muscles need to not only be strong, but pliable as well. Regardless of whether you're a bodybuilder, strength athlete, or ordinary weekend warrior, it's important to have strength and optimal function through a full range of motion. While stretching will improve the length of the muscle, SMR and massage work to adjust the tone of the muscle. Performing one while ignoring the other is like reading T-Nation but never actually lifting weights to put the info to good use.
What's SMR good for?
Traditional stretching techniques simply cause transient increases in muscle length (assuming that we don't exceed the "point of no return" on the stress-strain curve, which will lead to unwanted deformities). SMR on the foam roller, on the other hand, offers these benefits and breakdown of soft tissue adhesions and scar tissue.
One mustn't look any further than the overwhelmingly positive results numerous individuals have had with Active Release Techniques (ART) to recognize the value of eliminating adhesions and scar tissue. Unfortunately, from both a financial and convenience standpoint, we can't all expect to get ART done on a frequent basis.
SMR on the foam roller offers an effective, inexpensive, and convenient way to both reduce adhesion and scar tissue accumulation and eliminate what's already present on a daily basis. Just note that like stretching, foam rolling doesn't yield marked improvements overnight; you'll need to be diligent and stick with it (although you'll definitely notice acute benefits).
Those of you who have been following our Neanderthal No More series will definitely be interested in the valuable role foam rollers can play in correcting postural afflictions. Get to work on those tight muscles and you'll definitely see appreciable returns on your efforts!
So let's get started!
What you need to get:
1) 6" foam roller (either the 1' long or 3' long version)
Note: If you thought we were really serious on numbers two through four, you need to get your mind out of the gutter and find a new favorite website!
Techniques
These techniques are actually very simple to learn. Basically, you just use your body weight to sandwich the roller between the soft tissue to be released and the floor. Roll at a slow pace and actually stop and bear down on the most tender spots ("hot spots"). Once the pain in these spots diminishes, roll the other areas.
In order to increase the pressure on the soft tissue, simply apply more of your body weight to the roller. The simplest way to do this is by either moving from working both legs at once to one leg, or by "stacking" one of your legs on top of the other to increase the tension.
As you get more comfortable with SMR, you'll really want to be bearing down on the roller with most (if not all) of your body weight. As with almost anything in the training world, there's considerable room for experimentation, so you'll definitely want to play around with the roller to see what works best for you. Be careful to avoid bony prominences, though. (Insert your own joke here.)
One other technique we’ve found to be beneficial is to work from the proximal (nearest the center of the body) to the distal (away from the center of the body) attachment of the muscle. For instance, instead of working your quadriceps from top to bottom all in one shot, shorten your stroke a little bit. Work the top half first, and after it has loosened up, move on to the bottom half.
This is an important strategy because as you get closer to the distal muscle-tendon junction, there's a concomitant increase in tension. By working the top half first, you decrease the ensuing tension at the bottom, essentially taking care of the problem in advance.
Note: Those with circulatory problems and chronic pain diseases (e.g. fibromyalgia) should NOT use foam rollers.
Demonstrations and Descriptions
Hamstrings: You'll want to try these with the feet turned in, out, and pointing straight ahead to completely work the entire hamstring complex. Balance on your hands with your hamstrings resting on the roller, then roll from the base of the glutes to the knee. To increase loading, you can stack one leg on top of the other.
Hip Flexors: Balance on your forearms with the top of one thigh on the roller. Roll from the upper thigh into the hip. Try this with the femur both internally and externally rotated. To do so, just shift the position of the contralateral pelvis. (In the photo, Mike would want to lift his right hip to externally rotate the left femur).
Tensor Fascia Latae and Iliotibial Band: These are a little tricky, so we've included pictures from two different angles. Without a doubt, this one will be the most painful for most of you.
In the starting position, you'll be lying on your side with the roller positioned just below your pelvis. From here, you'll want to roll all the way down the lateral aspect of your thigh until you reach the knee. Stack the opposite leg on top to increase loading.
Adductors: Balance on your forearms with the top of one of your inner thighs resting on the roller. From this position, roll all the way down to the adductor tubercle (just above the medial aspect of the knee) to get the distal attachments. You'll even get a little vastus medialis work in while you're there. Watch out for your twig and berries on this one, though!
Quadriceps: This one is quite similar to the hip flexor version; you're just rolling further down on the thigh. You can perform this roll with either one or two legs on the roller.
Gluteus Medius and Piriformis: Lie on your side with the "meaty" part of your lateral glutes (just posterior to the head of the femur) resting on the roller. Balance on one elbow with the same side leg on the ground and roll that lateral aspect of your glutes from top to bottom.
Gluteus Maximus: Set up like you're going to roll your hamstrings, but sit on the roller instead. Roll your rump. Enough said.
Calves: This, too, is similar in positioning to the hamstrings roll; you're just rolling knee to ankle. Try this with the toes up (dorsiflexion) and down (plantarflexion). Stack one leg on top of the other to increase loading.
Tibialis Anterior: This is just like the quad roll, but you're working on your shins instead.
Peroneals: This one is similar to the TFL/ITB roll; we're just working on the lower leg now. Roll along the lateral aspect of the lower leg from the knee to the ankle.
Thoracolumbar Fascia: With your arms folded across your chest, lie supine with the roller positioned under your midback. Elevate the glutes and roll from the base of the scapulae to the top of the pelvis. You'll want to emphasize one side at a time with a slight lean to one side.
Thoracic Extensors, Middle and Lower Trapezius, Rhomboids: With your arms behind your head (not pulling on the neck), lie supine with roller positioned in the middle of your back; your glutes should be on the ground. Roll upward, reversing direction when you reach the level of the armpits. This is an excellent intervention for correcting kyphosis.
Latissimus Dorsi and Teres Major: Lie on your side with the same side arm overhead. The roller should be positioned at the attachment of the lat on the scapula in the starting position. You'll want to roll toward the attachment on the humerus (roll toward the armpit).
Triceps: Start with your body in the same position as you would for the latissimus dorsi. Now, however, you'll want to place the roller at the top of your triceps (near your armpit) and your noggin on top of your arm to increase the tension (and no, you don’t have to be that geeky kid from Jerry Maguire to know the human head weighs 8 pounds!)
Pectoralis Major and Anterior Deltoid: Lie prone with the roller positioned at an angle slightly to one side of the sternum; the arm on this side should be abducted to about 135° (halfway between completely overhead and where it would be at the completion of a lateral raise). Roll toward the humeral head (toward the armpit).
Wrap-Up
Hopefully, this article has been proof enough that SMR on the foam roller is an excellent adjunct to your training, diet, supplementation, and restoration efforts. And, even if it isn't, we're only talking about ten bucks here, people! For crying out loud, just look under the couch cushions for change and you're halfway there!
Where do you buy one? Try Perform Better:
Classic 1' roller
More Durable Foam Roller Plus
Pick one up and give it a shot. Your body will thank you for years to come!
