Foam rolling is so much more painful than I remember it being when I was younger. I never did it frequently but when I did it it, I do not remember the rather intense discomfort I feel now. But I guess that is a good thing? It is massaging and releasing that tight and knotted fascia and muscles. As you can guess by my intro, this was a very uncomfortable foam rolling workout. But effective I think. I am no foam rolling expert. Tom isn’t of the philosophy of holding poses, he has you rolling the entire time. My calves and hamstrings are very sore from Friday’s stability ball hamstring fun so I really felt the rolling on those muscle groups. I used my rumble roller for most of the rolling and omg did it dig into the muscles. Even some of the stretching at the end was more uncomfortable than feel good! But I guess this is what my body needs after abusing it with strength work all week. Tom gives lots of good instruction on properly rolling out different muscle groups and I definitely felt it.
Full Body Foam Roll with Stretching is 26:46 minutes; approximately 17 minutes of foam rolling and approximately 9:30 minutes of stretching. Equipment: foam roller and fitness mat.
- Sit on mat with hands on mat behind hips, place one calf on foam roller, lift hips and roll the lower calf and Achilles, if you need more pressure to feel it then cross the other ankle on top of the leg being rolled out
- Same position as #1, but roll out the upper calf muscle
- Same position as #1 but place hamstring on roller and roll out hamstring
- Sit on roller, cross one ankle over other knee, place hand on mat and roll onto one hip, hold the foot that is crossed over knee and roll out your piriformis
- Place foam roller under low back, with feet on mat, lift glutes off mat and roll out your lower spine
- Same position as #5 but roll out your upper spine
- Same position as #6, roll torso to side and raise arm, roll out your lats
- Lay on side with foam roller under your arm, roll out your upper arm/shoulder
- Turn over and place the shin of one leg on roller, roll back and forth over shin (Tom starts in a modified side elbow plank then crosses other ankle on top of leg on foam roller for more pressure)
- In forearm plank with roller under quads, lift feet off mat and roll out quads
- Lay on stomach on mat, one leg is bent and pulled up to side, place roller under thigh and roll out inner thigh
- In plank, place foam roller under pelvis and roll out hip flexors
- Lay on side and place tricep on roller, roll out tricep
- In kneeling lunge, shift forward to stretch hip flexors; grab ankle and pull foot into glutes to stretch the quad (Tom places his foam roller on one end and uses it for stability/balance)
- Reclining pigeon/figure 4 stretch
- Kneel on mat with legs as wide as possible, reach arms in front of you on mat then push glutes back toward heels (child’s pose variation); reach arms to one side
- Get into kneeling lunge, extend front leg to stretch out out hamstring, shift back and forth, bending and straightening knee (Tom uses his foam roller for stability again)
For more info on Tom Peto and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
