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Roll Your Pain Away

By Jason Zaretzky

How Foam Rolling Can Alleviate Pain, Increase Performance, and Improve Overall Quality of Muscle Tissue

What if I told you that you can relieve muscular pain while drastically improving your ability to function, all by just rolling around? Rolling around on a foam roller that is.

Self Myofascial Release or ‘foam rolling’ is a self help technique that helps the following:

In other words using a foam roller on a daily basis basically improves the overall quality of your muscle tissue.

How does this work?

Foam rolling works very similar to a massage, except by using your own body weight to self massage (roll away) restrictions by breaking up knots and adhesions, that your body develops through exercise, activity, as well as from chronic inactivity and overload patterns such as poor posture from work related tasks (sitting hunched over at your desk all day).

How do you do this?

To perform foam rolling you simply position a muscle on the roller and use your own body weight to apply pressure into the roller looking for tender spots. When a tender spot is noted just hold on that spot until the tenderness decreases by at least 50% - 70%. The knots or adhesions (that cause the tenderness) won’t just disappear they will travel to different spots of the area you are working on, so be sure to scan the rest of the area you are working on to find where the knots and adhesions moved to. You can perform this on all the muscles of your body with the exception of directly on your neck and lower back.

When Should You Foam Roll?

It is best to Foam roll as part of your warm up (pre-exercise) before any kind of static (reach and hold) or dynamic (active/moving) flexibility work, as well as on your off days to help aid in recovery. You should perform you foam rolling work first because you will be freeing up your muscles allowing for better range of motion during your static or dynamic flexibility work, as well as prepping your body for more intense activity.

To recieve your free Foam Rolling exercise program, visit www.optcfitness.com and click 'Roll Your Pain Away' link on the homepage or in the articles section of the website.

About the Author:

Jason Zaretzky is Owner and Program Director of Optimal Performance Training. He specializes in athletic performance enhancement, corrective exercise, and physique alteration. Jason is committed to optimizing your results. He has helped a countless number of individuals and athletes look, feel, and perform at optimal levels, through his system of scientific results oriented programming.

Jason Zaretzky is Rockland County's go to fat loss expert and owner of Optimal Performance Training Center located in Rockland County NY. For a FREE 1-week trial to his Rockland County Bootcamps, to experience the best fat loss training in Rockland County please visit RocklandCountyBootCamps.com

For more information on the bootcamp solution, visit www.optimalfitnessexpress.com and see how a real results based bootcamp type workout is properly conducted. Jason Zaretzky has developed the fitness bootcamp antidote - the Optimal Fitness Express! The fastest, most efficient way to look, feel, and perform your best.