Foam Rolling. You Gotta Try it!

What I am about to write will seem so obvious to some, and for others it will be a game changer. Foam rolling – you gotta try it.

Foam rolling is something I’ve heard about for years, but I never tried it until two months ago. I am now officially sold on it. If you try it think it’ll help put you in touch with your muscles, alleviate pains, prevent injury, and help keep your muscle pliable and ready to jump.

Short synopsis for those who don’t want to read the whole article: After reading Tom Brady’s book “The TB12 Method” I began integrating foam rolling into my workout regime. I immediately experienced result, and I think you will too. If you’d like to try foam rolling, you can get a foam roller on Amazon for as little as $10. I’ve also included foam rolling videos in this post as well as links to other foam rolling products on Amazon that I recommend.

Now the long version: Since I started doing Parkour in 2006, I have constantly experimented with new training approaches, ideas, techniques and the like. When exploring a new training idea I have a general philosophy that goes something like this:

The body adapts quickly, so if I don’t see results quickly, then I don’t consider the approach useful, and I discard it.

Whether or not you agree with this approach, I can say that foam rolling is the best example of quick results that I have ever seen.

In the spring of 2022 I had the impulse to read Tom Brady’s book “The TB12 Method,” and in late September I finally pulled it from my bookshelf. I was expecting to read about all sorts of exercises and techniques that Tom Brady does to keep his body preforming so well, but throughout the book Brady almost exclusively about on thing: gaining muscle pliability through aggressive foam rolling. Of course, since he was so sold on it, I had to give it a try.

A week later I walked into the gym for a workout and my right knee felt tight/sore/pinched/unstable. I have had this off and on for a year or two, and I can’t usually get it to go away unless I spend 30-45 minutes doing targeted exercises on my abductors and IT band. it’s bothersome and sometimes 30 minutes of targeted work doesn’t even help.

The rest of the class had started doing their warmup, but the thought him me, “How about I just foam roll it. Why not?!” I quickly grabbed a foam roller and rolled the outside of my leg back for about 20 seconds. I then stood up to join the class, and, I kid you not, the tightness was gone. Absolutely gone. It has never come back since (but I also keep foam rolling it).

That was enough to sell me on the foam-rolling idea. But then something else happened that sold me even more.

Two and half months prior to my first foam rolling experience, I injured my wrist at gymnastics. For weeks after the injury it was popping out of joint on and off, but once that stopped it was still super sore, and even two months later I could barely pick things up with my left hand. I was sure, and still am, that I must have town a tendon or ligament.

Encouraged by my impromptu foam rolling experience a couple days before, I had the idea, “Why don’t I try to foam roll my wrist too?” So right before my next workout I pulled out a foam roller and rolled my forearm. Low and behold, I kid you not, my wrist felt better during the following workout than it had since my injury, and it felt so good afterwards I barely noticed it for the next two days.

After this experience, I was officially sold, and I began foam rolling my whole body after every workout. Originally I took the Tom Brady TB12 book with me to the gym and followed his instructions page by page. Then once I got a hang of it, I was able to proceed without the instructions and make it my own. I bought my own foam roller from Amazon (it only cost $10). It now takes me about 15 minutes to roll all my major muscle groups, and I love it. My muscles feel good in a way they haven’t before, and I recommend to anyone giving it a try and seeing if it works for you.

I bought a foam roller from Amazon (it only cost $10) it takes me about 15 minutes to roll all my major muscle groups, and I love it. My muscles feel good in a way they haven’t before.

How To Foam Roll (this is my approach, modified from Tom Brady’s book)

1. Find a generic foam roller (you can buy one on Amazon for as little as $10. Click HERE to see the one I bought).
2. Position yourself so that a muscle band (quad, forearm, hamstring, foot arch area) is directly on top of the roller, and put as much weight on top of it as you can.
3. Roll your weight back and forth over the roller while rolling through the full length of the muscle (from insertion point to insertion point)
4. When rolling towards your heart, continuously flex and relax the muscle as best you can. When rolling away from your heart, keep your muscles flexed.
5. If you can’t flex the muscle that well during the rolling don’t worry about it and just roll back and forth.

Experiment and see whta works for you. Also check out the videos at the end of this article for other ideas.

When to foam roll

Per Tom Brady’s book, and per my experience, you can foam roll anytime. But he and I both do it in coordination with training. Tom Brady explains that he does it before and after his workouts. I usually foam roll after my workout, but for my wrist (which still isn’t 100%), I roll in before, after, and sometimes during a workout if I start to feel it tense up.

Benefits to Foam Rolling

Tom Brady talks about foam rolling aiding in injury prevention, muscle pliability, recovery, and “100% muscle pump function.” Videos at the bottom of this article explain other benefits. I won’t comment on these since that’s not my area of expertise. What I can comment on is on two things that I experienced right away and which I think you will experience too.

1. Your muscles will start feeling better. As far as I can tell, foam rolling is like a self massage, and it will relax your muscles and help push out lactic acid. You’ll feel the difference.
2. You’ll immediately receive important feedback on your muscles because the foam rolling process will show you which muscles are tight and which ones aren’t. Frequently one side of your body (e.g. your right quad) will feel relaxed and supple, while the other side (e.g. your left quad) will actually be painful to roll! For me, this insight is invaluable, and I remember and compare for my training and in the following days. After you foam roll for a few weeks you may find that all the noticeable tightness that was in your muscles when you started foam rolling is completely gone. That’s what I experienced.

I am not an expert on foam rolling, but my experience has convinced me that you don’t have to be to both start doing it and to receive the benefits. Or maybe I am an expert? Frankly, it’s super easy lol. I hope my experience with foam rolling has inspired you to give it a try and incorporate it into your Parkour & Freerunning training.

Good luck and happy training!

Here are some foam rollers on Amazon that I recommend.

This is the $10 foam roller I purchased. I initially wanted to go big and order an expensive vibrating roller like Tom Brady recommends, but I thought I’d ease into it and see how I like it. For $10 I figured I couldn’t go wrong! Click HERE to see it on Amazon.

This is a foam rolling set that I almost bought. It’s $30 at the time of publishing this article. I considered getting a roller that has ridges because that’ll dig into the muscles in a different way. I am still considering purchasing something like this. Click HERE to see it on Amazon.

This is another foam roller set I was considering purchasing. It’s a slightly different set up, and it’s $26. Click HERE to view it on Amazon.

And last but not least, this is the vibrating foam roller. I allllllmost purchased this one. If you’re looking to go all-in on the concept, well, this is probably the one. It’s $100. Click HERE to view on Amazon.

And last but not least, the grandaddy of foam rolling – this is the vibrating one from the TB12 company. Out of thankfulness to Tom Brady and his book, I am still considering purchasing this one. I like supporting people who have given value to me, so the $160 price tag is something that doesn’t deter me even though I’m generally a bargain shopper. Click HERE to view it on Amazon.

Here are some videos that explain foam rolling, how to do it, its benefits and more.

This video shows foam rolling in 18 seconds. This is exactly what I did in the story I explained above, where I rolled my outer thigh and all the discomfort went away. It can be that quick.

This video gives a thorough explanation of foam rolling, how to do it, and its benefits. It also talks about others ways to use a foam roller that I didn’t go into.

This is a video that shows a 10 minute foam rolling routine. This is super similiar to the routine I do. Check it out and follow along.

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