A Better Way to Foam Roll

If you’re anything like me, you train hard and heavy on a regular basis.

After all, that’s how I maintain my Bigger Than Kap status.

But, with all the heavy training, I tend to get a little sore.

Ok…I get a lotta sore.

And, for whatever reason, I tend to get extra sore in my Hamstrings, Glutes, and Adductors.

And, like any well-read gym-goer, I knew that I had to use a Foam Roller to alleviate these symptoms.

So I did…

See, I did it just like the Internet told me to (and the Internet never lies, right Justin DeMara?).

But no matter how much I rolled, I’d still be sore for days after a lower body focused training session.

That is until now…

Before I get into the solution, I want to dig deeper into the problem.

Take another gander at the pictures above.

Now answer this true and false question.

T/F– Generally speaking, a massage that uses more pressure will be more effective at addressing issues deeper in the muscle?

…come on, I can even answer that and, at best, I have half a brain!

So I decided to take some measurements to get a better idea of why the Foam Rolling techniques above may not be the best.

Here’s what I did:

I placed my forearms or hands on a scale while using each of the 3 rolling methods above to see how much weight I was applying.

To find the percentage of weight I was actually using to massage my muscles I factored my bodyweight (a monstrous 170 pounds). I then subtracted the amount of weight I was applying to the scale for each exercise.

Here are the results:

% of weight actually used during Hamstring rolling- 59.1% (170 pounds-69.6 pounds on scale= 100.4 pounds on foam roller).

% of weight actually used during Glute rolling- 66.9% (56.2 pounds on scale).

% of weight actually used during Adductor rolling- 50.8% (83.6 pounds on scale).

Shocking, I know!

So, I thought to myself, “DickFarm, how can you better use that mammoth frame you’ve built over the years of hard training?”

And here’s what I came up with:

Do you see how I only need to use my hands and feet to balance while rolling?

Can you imagine how much more weight I’m able to use to allow a massage implement to dig into deeper knots?

So there you go! I hope you this trick helps you to recover faster from brutal squat sessions.

If you have any tips that you’ve found helpful over the years, share them with everyone by commenting below!