What are we exactly doing when we “roll out”? While muscles are best known to support our bones and give our bodies firm definition and tone, there are other elements to our body’s structure and shape that are just as important to mobilize and support our systems. Elements like specialized connective tissue come in many forms. Those that are considered “fascia” create intricate nettings, paddings and matrixes of sorts, surrounding our muscles, nerves, blood vessels, organs and so much more!
This is important to know when you are thinking about your recovery from, and even preparation for, exercise. When we roll out our muscles, for example, after a high intensity interval training session, we are actually rolling out the fascia as well. Rolling out before a workout enables maximal mobility to encourage our systems to work as they should. Rolling out afterwards evens our tissues out to encourage hydration and efficient recovery.
Fascia creates little compartments throughout our body by surrounding muscles, groups of muscles and even organs. It also runs along our entire body, linking our hands to our shoulders, our lower back to our legs, our feet to our glutes, and so on. So much of this fascia creates the “in between” layers of our body; we hear of joints, ligaments, tendons and such, but it’s the fascia that surrounds these systems that we should also heavily consider in fitness and in our general physiology. Certain fascia actually allows muscles to glide over one another and are crucial in the body’s mobility. When knots and adhesions in our fascia occur, they lead to discomfort, stiffness and decreased mobility.
When our necks and backs are stiff, there’s a good chance that it’s the congested fascia in the area that needs to be released and ironed out. Sometimes, rolling out fascia in the neck and shoulders will alleviate a headache. In addition, you will be surprised at how rolling out IT bands, glutes and legs will alleviate lower back tension! It’s pretty neat how these nettings really influence parts of the body that seem far away from one another.
Rolling out using a foam roller or specialized therapy balls stretches the fascia out over the muscles, smoothing over the various nettings. When we get certain types of massage, the same phenomenon happens. The kneading motion in rolling out or in massage rehydrates all tissues, muscles and fascia alike. We have the chance to reset the length of the muscles by detangling knots that may be there from intense activity, stress or general imbalances in alignment.
In a perfect world, we would roll out our tissues for two minutes before we start a workout and roll out for 5-7 minutes after, incorporating this into our daily fitness routine. Try it the next time you train. I promise you will start your session feeling more limber and in turn decrease the recovery time after so you can enjoy your fitness to its fullest!
