How to Use a Foam Roller

 

This one piece of equipment helps stretch tight muscles and relieve pain. Ahh. Master Trainer Monica Vazquez's got the lowdown on a few easy foam roller exercises.

[MUSIC] Here I'm going to show you a couple of ways to use a foam roller. The first way that I'm going to show you is how to roll your IT Band. You'll take the bottom leg and straighten it out and bring the foam roller just under your hip joint, keeping that bottom let straight. Cross the top leg over, and slowly roll down your leg. You want to hold onto tender spots for about 20 seconds before moving onto the next spot. You don't want to roll completely back and forth because you want to give your body a moment to relax into that. Next, we will talk about the hamstring. You want to bring it right under your hip and you may even want to stretch into it to really dig into that hamstring. Sometimes people don't think they feel it because they're leaning back too much. Finally, we'll talk about how to foam roll your quad. Put the side of the foam roller right towards the center of your body. You'll take the other leg, keep it out of the way, and then you can roll it down towards your knee. And those are just a couple of ways to use a foam roller. [MUSIC]