15 Min. Foam Rolling Routine For Recovery | Lower Body Release | Follow Along

This is an excellent foam rolling/recovery routine from Julia Reppel. There are actually 2 versions of this workout. The exact same workout but one with voice over and one with just music/no talking. If you are doing the voice over version not only does Julia give you form pointers but gives other options that are not shown in the video. For this routine you are not just using a foam roller, you are also using hard yoga balls to really dig deeper into the muscles. I really liked that. I used my rumble roller, which is short foam roller with knobs on it to dig in deeper than a regular foam roller, and two sizes of yoga balls. This did a great job working the knots out of my muscles. Especially my calves and quads. I actually did this workout on Sunday after completing Julia’s Primal X Animal Style mobility workout, which warmed up lower body up very nicely for this.

This workout is done interval style; 60 seconds of work followed by a 10 second transition. There is a timer in the lower left hand side of the screen counting down the intervals and transitions. During the transition Julia previews the next exercise. There is a progress bar in the upper right hand corner of the screen counting down the workout time as a percentage. If you do the voice over version like I did, Julia walks you through each move giving form pointers.

15 Min. Foam Rolling Routine for Recovery is 16:33 minutes. Equipment: foam roller, yoga massage ball and fitness mat.

1. Plantar fascia (stand and hold onto something for balance if you need to, place massage ball under one foot, slowly roll the ball up and down the length of the sole your foot)
2. Repeat #1 on other foot
3. Sit on mat and place foam roller under one calf, other foot is on floor and hands are on mat beside hips, lift glutes off mat and roll back and forth slowly over calf; turn to the side so you are resting on one knee and roll the inner calf slowly over foam roller
4. Repeat #3 on other calf
5. Get into straight arm side plank except outside of shin of bottom leg is resting on foam roller and top leg is bent and in front of you with foot on floor, slowly roll back and forth on shin
6. Repeat #5 on other leg
7. Sit on mat and place massage ball under hamstrings, hands are on mat just behind hips, lift glutes slightly off mat and slowly roll ball along hamstrings
8. Repeat #7 on other leg
9. Get into a modified forearm plank position with one quad on roller and other knee on floor, slowly roll foam roller along quad
10. Repeat #9 on other leg
11. Sit on mat w/ knees bent and feet on mat, place massage ball under one glute and with hands on mat behind you, roll ball slowly around glutes
12. Repeat #11 on other glute
13. Tensor fasciae latae (this muscle is in the hip flexor area and she shows an anatomy picture on screen with the muscle group highlighted so you know where to place the massage ball; she tells you to find your iliac bone on the front of the hip, come into modified forearm plank with the massage ball under this bone/muscle and slowly roll the ball along this area)
14. Repeat #13 on other side of body

For more info on Julia Reppel and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.