Why you need a foam roller in your life

We’ve all been there, after an hour or two at the gym or a gruelling long distance run, the next day your muscles seize up so badly you can barely get down the stairs. So, before you move another step, get yourself a foam roller and roll away the pain.

A foam roller is a piece of equipment that varies in softness depending on your abilities and injury. You can find rollers at most gyms and they can also be used easily at home. Their main job is to massage tender muscles before or after a workout by placing the roller under the middle of the muscle and using your body to apply pressure, while gently rolling back and forth. We recommend pausing on tender areas for about 20 seconds, then relaxing. They are designed to reduce muscle tension and discomfort in the body, however you may feel some initial discomfort using the roller before achieving pain-free limbs. No pain, no gain!

We recommend using a foam roller regularly to see results, especially if you are recovering from an injury. This will continuously strengthen surrounding tissue to speed up recovery and prevent delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). You’ll be back training again in no time. The main areas you could work on are your calves, bottom, quads, upper back and IT band.

Lee Constantinou, bodybuilding.com UK ambassador (@leeconstantinou), shares seven reasons why you need to roll:

It increases blood flow to the muscles, improving the delivery of oxygen during exercise

This prepares the muscles for exercise by allowing nutrient delivery, helping to prevent injury. Releasing tightness within muscles also allows for a bigger range of movement, which prevents muscles from pulling.

After exercise, it makes the recovery process shorter and reduces muscle pain

Similar to foam rolling before exercising, performing it after exercise allows more blood flow and nutrient delivery to the fatigued muscles. They can accelerate the rate of recovery, as nutrients such as protein can get into the muscles and begin the repairing process.

You can focus on ‘problem areas’

Foam rolling is great for targeting particularly tight areas, this means you can really pinpoint and take the time to loosen these areas before working out. The most common areas are the lower back, glutes, quads, hamstrings and the IT band (tendon). These muscles tend to get the tightest.

It will stretch out and lengthen the muscles, enabling you to become a little more flexible

Foam rolling can increase your range of motion, which will allow you to better isolate and recruit all the muscle fibres within a muscle to perform an exercise. This will mean better development, strength and power.

Many athletes believe it to be far more effective than traditional stretching post-exercise

Sports professionals have recognised that foam rolling can dramatically reduce their recovery time and have emphasised this to be a part of their recovery regime. They’re focused on training more frequently and foam rolling allows you to recover faster so you can train sooner.

It can eliminate toxins from the body, reducing the appearance of cellulite

An increase in blood flow to stubborn areas of fat means more nutrients will be delivered and toxins taken away. Typical areas are the back of the legs and bum.

Your chance of injury through sports can be dramatically reduced when using foam rolling regularly

Foam rolling prior to and after playing sport can reduce your chance of injury and increase your performance, as it allows muscles to be thoroughly warmed up and then cooled down, preventing any stiffness or tightness.

To get your hands on a foam roller, visit bodybuilding.com for an array of choices.