Remove Pain With Foam Roller Exercises

It all started with a tautness in my hip flexors and all the stretching I did, failed to bring any positive results. I took the obvious measures in the form of reduced running and cardio exercises, spent more time for yoga and finally cut down the number of days for workouts, yet no relief seemed to be coming my way.

Fast-forward two months. My lower back would be stiff, like a rock in the mornings: it hurt and took pretty long to loosen itself. Next were the hamstrings they were so reluctant to loosen up that I could feel them when I bent over to tie my sneakers. I especially felt this in the mornings Till I couldn’t take anymore of it.

I like to think I’ve always been athletic, at least throughout my adulthood.  I simply adore an activity that causes me to sweat. I adore running and biking. I have to my experience teaching of spinning classes for a number of years. I’ve completed triathlons and half-marathons, all for kicks, and mostly with no foundation of training. I just would get up, felt like going for a race and joined others, just like that.

Well, I used to be, to say the least. I have no patience for these nagging physical limitations. I’m 45years of age, but new norms make it 29!.

My husband (who I met at a 5K road race by the way) would also want me to mention that my personality tightened as well as my hamstrings. Hope you get it, on missing my regular workouts, the whole family suffers.

I do believe in divine intervention though and about this time I discovered the foam roller exercises through a fabulous New York City teacher, Susan Hitzmann, owner of Longevity Fitness, Inc. I certainly believe in divine intervention and thru His grace happened to learn of the foam roller exercises through a remarkable New York City teacher named Susan Hitzmann; the owner of   Longevity Fitness Inc.. She is the conductor of a program called M.E.L.T., meaning Myofascial Energetic Length Technique. Now, foam roller exercises is all I want to use.      

I coincidentally ended up in one of her many workshops about fascia and what to do about it.   She employs tools , many on the foam roller  for adding length and thus easing muscular uneasiness. That made me realize that it just wasn’t muscles that were tight, but I was being disturbed by the surrounding sheath of fascia that was causing me problems.   

What’s fascia? Think of it like a wet suit that fits snugly over your muscles, like a web or a net  Some have it more than others.

She educated us on how to roll on a foam roller to re-hydrate the body to bring forth a sense of length, space and release. God! What an intense release; like loosening your belt at the end of a heavy meal.

I was totally hooked after one workshop. I was prompted to purchase an exercising foam roller, akin to a yoga mat with foam in it and slightly bigger.

My muscles began to lose their stiffness, causing my lower back to loosen up and that encouraged a more comfortable sleep. As a result I would wake up feeling more rested and flexible.  I could start again with my daily cardio routine and strength training. To cut the story short, I began having better moods. Finally, I retained all my good old affection for my family and life got normal for everybody in the family.

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