8 Benefits of Foam Rolling

We always start every single EXOS training session, whether for a hockey player, soccer player, bodybuilder, football player, heck even a chess player? with pillar prep. EXOS is a performance system, used by many top, elite athletes and normal, everyday people looking to improve their quality of life and performance.

EXOS describes Pillar Preparation as:

Your pillar, which consists of your hips, torso, and shoulders, is the foundation for all movement. When these areas are trained properly, you can transfer energy throughout your body more effectively, so you'll produce more strength and power with less fatigue. Pillar Preparation primes these critical areas to prepare your body for the work ahead, helping to protect you from injury and boosting performance.

How to Perform Pillar Prep and Movement Prep For Strength Training

Basically pillar prep is the beginning of all training and performance. It gets you ready for the challenges ahead. Also, one of the main parts of Regen, or recovery days, involves foam rolling.

So it helps you get ready for training and competition and it also helps speed recovery from training and life in general according to some of the top experts in rehab, prehab and performance. These are huge applications, and ones we definitely should not take lightly and do half-heartedly or even worse, not do them at all.

In this article, we will go over the top benefits of foam rolling, why you should foam roll, and also provide some applications for it. This article just might be your ticket to less pain, better performance and a better mindset. Read on to find out why.

Foam Rolling Benefits

First, a normal foam roller is not good enough. You need something harder. I recommend our Recoveroller, that I personally use, found here.

#1 - Increase Range of Motion in Your Fascia

Fascia is a thin sheath of fibrous tissue enclosing a muscle or another organ. This tissue can bond together to cause knots, thickness and decrease range of motion. The thing about fascia is that it is malleable, meaning it can be "worked out."

Where a foam roller fits in is by using the foam roller, finding the area that is tight and painful, and laying on it and applying pressure. Foam rolling will loosen you up so to speak, allowing an improved range of motion and decreased risk of injury.

#2 - Increased Mobility

By breaking up this tension, you will have less restriction on the muscle, hence more mobility. More mobility provides for better range of motion such as deeper squats or more leg explosion in your tennis serves. This leads to better performance and a decreased risk of injury.

#3 - Break up Scar Tissue

Whether from an old injury, new injury or just living a normal life, scar tissue can build up for multiple reasons. The benefits of foam rolling allows you to break up this scar tissue.

Scar tissue is very stiff, not malleable at all, and can lead to pain, lack of mobility and an increased risk of injury. Foam rolling can help this immensely.

#4 - Pillar Prep for Movement

As discussed, this acts as a warm-up for any activity. I recommend rolling the entire body but focusing on what you're working that day.

If training lateral speed, do a lot of hip and IT band rolling. If doing back weight training, roll the lats and SI Joint in the back out.

• For a complete list of foam rolling and some pin rolling, see this video.
• For even more complete descriptions, see this with some athletic acceleration training.

#5 - Mobility for Improved Performance on the Field and in the Weight Room

Better agility, faster turns around first base, deeper squats, better deadlift form. The foam roller will help with all of these critical needs.

#6 - Mental Prep for Training

When I perform my pillar prep and movement prep, it gets me in the zone, gets me mentally in touch with my muscles and warms me up. Mental is the most important thing in all we do in life.

One of the benefits of foam rolling is believe it or not, is mental prep.

#7 - Regen aka RECOVERY

Foam rolling improves blood flow and aid in the breaking up of scar tissue. The goal is to get back to 100% as fast as possible.

One of the benefits of foam rolling is speeding recovery, getting you back onto the field at 120%, not just 100%, much faster.

#8 - Life

A lot of us are stuck in a chair all day. By foam rolling before and after each training day, we can relieve the pressure that's been built up so we can live a more pain-free life.

Humans are not meant to sit inactive all day. Foam rolling helps to mitigate this unhealthy practice.

There you have it. 20 minutes a day is all it takes. With all of these benefits of foam rolling, why wouldn't you do it? Because 20 minutes to alleviating pain and improving quality of life, that's not a game!