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Foam rolling, as well as other myofascial release techniques, have been apart of my recovery routine for a while now.

I refer to these techniques quite a lot in my writing and while I do give general instructions on how to execute them, I figured a post just about THE HOW part would serve as a good guideline for all the techniques used. 

Some recommended tools include:

• a foam roller (for beginner to intermediate experience)

• firm massage balls (mostly intermediate experience, also good for smaller muscle groups)

• PVC pipe (an excellent upgrade to a foam roller if you’re experienced)

• a friend’s bodyweight (having a friend step on a tight spot and hold their bodyweight there is very effective and great motivation to sit through it)

These are a few of the most important principles that deserve consideration before each time you decide to roll out or release an area of your body.

Roll Against the Muscle Fiber, Slowly

Rather than go up and down the muscle fiber, you should look to roll across it with slow, high quality pressures. This will help you actually catch and pin each adhesion in the fascia so you can roll it against your bone (I know, sounds gross) to force it to unglue your muscle tissue.

When you are rolling along the muscle fiber, you are rolling over multiple adhesions instead of focusing on one and you are not pinning that adhesion to anything, so it will not feel the pressure to change.

This needs to be done slowly. I notice that most people look like they are foam rolling in a hurry and that’s not the point of it at all.

You need to slowly identify and pin those adhesions and feel for those “clunks” that sometimes happen when you roll a tight knot over a bone. A clunk means you need to work on eliminating that spot.

Focus on the Spots that Actually Hurt

When trying to release some tight muscle tissue or fascia, it does you no good to roll over spots that don’t clearly hurt.

You want to seek out the spots that are painful because those are the areas that you actually have the potential to change. Healthy fascia will not hurt when pressure is applied, unhealthy fascia will though.

Hold it on the Tender Spots

Stay on those tender spots until you can feel the change being made. Some people will say that you should not even move from a particular spot until you’ve eliminated all the pain there (meaning the fascia is healthy again).

I have trouble sitting through the pain for long periods of time and sometimes I just want to make sure I get my whole leg done rather than just one or two spots so I’m not the greatest example here.

The rule of thumb is to spend no less than 10 minutes on each leg (if that’s what you’re trying to release) and depending on your level of commitment, don’t move from a spot until you clear out all the pain.

Contract and Relax

When you find a tight area that needs to be released, it’s important to go through phases of contracting and relaxing that muscle while you are applying the pressure to it.

So if I was rolling out my calf, I would find a tender spot and flex my calf (by pulling my toes back) and then relax it (by pointing my toes) both while I am applying a lot of pressure.

When you relax the muscle, you should feel the affected tissue sinking deeper into the tool you’re using each time. Each of these should be done for about 5-10 seconds. 

Use a Tool that Will Make Change

To get into the deeper layers of muscle tissue, you need to create a lot of focused pressure on one spot for a short period of time.

If you’re new to myofascial release, then you should start with a quality foam roller because it can be very intense.

But with more experience, you should start to try other tools like firm massage balls, PVC pipes, or have someone step on you with their bodyweight.

Make sure to start with the most forgiving option first though because you can always increase the intensity later but you don’t want to overdo it.