If I’m honest, I have a love hate relationship with the foam roller, and that’s mainly from my personal point of view! On a serious note, focussing on using my foam roller more contributed to my recovery from my injury sustained in Brighton Marathon 2014 and allowed me to run The Wall Ultramarathon 11 weeks later. I can also tell some athletes (regardless of fitness levels) don’t like the pain it produces, or don’t have the strength in the upper body, or just don’t want to do it. This prompted me to do these videos to make the foam roller more effective so you can get the benefits rather than aimlessly moving up and down along this bit of foam or being unable to do it.

Below is a video where I instruct 2 different stretches, one for the groin muscles (more distal aspect) and the inside knee. Muscle that will be targeted include VMO (inside quad muscle, very important for running), Sartorius, Gracilis and Adductor Longus & Magnus.

As briefly mentioned on the video, it’s easy to target quads, glutes calves etc when casually foam rolling. Making it more effective with the time you have will reap rewards, especially in the areas where you think you are invincible or don’t use! This is a great quick flexibility drill for runners who are training regularly, or those who play in multidirectional sports such as Rugby, Badminton, Football, Netball and the rest! A handy tip on this drill is to try and relax your hips to get more bodyweight onto the foam roller, and keep breathing!

Thanks for spending the time to read this short blog post, I will be creating new posts with more videos in the near future which will focus on injury prevention for those brave enough to me marathon training in the arctic conditions!