Hello and Welcome back to another Blog shared on how you have the power to take control of your Health, Wellness, Quality & Comfort of Living. Today, we are going to talk about how to Foam roll your Feet.
I won’t be diving into what happens during foam rolling, and why it has such a positive impact on Recovery, Performance, Posture, and otherwise (I’ll save that for another time). Instead, I’ll get right down to business and just show you HOW to do it, as well as drop in snippets of what is happening sprinkled in. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below!
So when you’re rolling out the bottom of your foot like share a few things to focus on so you can get the most out of benefit and the time invested while doing some self myofascial release on the planter fascia and the muscles of the tissues that are on the bottom of your foot. It’s important to take your time, pausing in tight spots while rolling across the bottom of your foot rather than trying to roll quickly back and forth.
Going nice and slow and applying the appropriate amount of pressure allows you to focus on what is happening and how to interpret the signals you are receiving and be able to feel the spots in your feet that may be holding on to more tension or stiffness; maybe it’s closer towards the inside edge if your heel, or on the muscles just around the big toe knuckle, or even behind your pinky toe side of the bottom of your feet.
Your two wittle feet, the same ones you’ve been using for all of these years, are used (and sometimes abused) all day everyday to stand walk step and support our weights the muscles on the bottom of the feet are extremely used and need to be released and opened up with massage (such this SMR exercise) since they are constantly ‘ON’ throughout the day without a break or much love.
In the video above, you will see me rolling across the bottom of my foot SLOWLY… just like a steamroller moving across fresh pavement, and going across the bottom of my foot pausing for brief few moments longer in any spots that feel a particularly bit more sticky or stuck or tight. You should invest anywhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes per foot – depending on how intense your activities have been lately and also how frequently you’re staying on top of your soft tissue care. The more frequently you do it, the less time you need to invest in her session since you accumulate more exposure to the healthy stimulus time over the course of the weeks and months, and the benefits resonate LONGER (like a financial investment, this one pays off LARGE dividends right off the bat).
The majority of the time invested in my session is spent on the trigger points along the bottom of the foot; the middle arch of your foot, behind the big toe mound, the base of my heel, and the outer edge under my pinky toe. Investing time paused, letting the golf ball work into the fascia does a more complete job of decreasing stiffness of the muscles when compared to rolling around back and forth for the same amount of time.
Once I feel I’ve done enough time there, the next mission on the list is to go into some free rolls on the bottom of the foot. This free-and-easy rolling method is a great follow up to the deep trigger point release, as this helps move around & get rid of the “junk” that was just there. A light stimulation to the entire foot helps increase your awareness of your foot, leading to increased balance, proprioception, strength, Your foot strikes the ground pretty frequently with walking, running and other exercise activities, even while wearing cushioned shoes (but maybe those non-human foot shaped shoes are the reason your heel hurts in the first place… hmm; side thought). The bottom of the Achilles and muscles and tissues that are on the base of your heel can get very stiff and and worked as well, so it’s important to make sure that you are stretching and mobilizing that area of your body.
Why exactly? So that you can have your ankle and your foot and your knee and your hips work as better feet, ankles, knees, and hips. The ability of your joint being able to move optimally is directly related to the health and mobility of the muscles, ligaments, fascia, and cartilage in the surrounding area. This means if your knee feels stiff, it could have less to do about your knee and more to do with the muscles that influence how the knee moves.
Staying on top of your soft tissue care is not just for rolling out your back, your legs and your calves (although those places are important too, and you can read about how I recommend to foam roll those by clicking here) and it also comes into play making sure you’re taking care of the bottoms of your feet as well. Without strong roots you cannot grow strong branches, so keep that in mind when it comes into how you are investing time with your workouts. Going straight for the weights or main workout set is important for progress and longevity, but I am willing to argue that recovery, mobility, and soft tissue care is just as important and should be a part of every training session if you want to truly obtain lasting results that fuel a Lifestyle that gets Better Every Day.
RECAP:
- It’s important to take your time, pausing in tight spots while rolling across the bottom of your foot rather than trying to roll quickly back and forth.
- You should invest anywhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes per foot
- The more frequently you do it, the less time you need to invest in her session since you accumulate more exposure to the healthy stimulus time over the course of the weeks and months, and the benefits resonate LONGER
- The bottom of the Achilles and muscles and tissues that are on the base of your heel can get very stiff and and worked as well, so it’s important to make sure that you are stretching and mobilizing that area of your body.
- Without strong roots you cannot grow strong branches – LOVE THY FEET
Thank you for reading, I appreciate your time and energy invested in learning how to help yourself Live Better!
Peace & Love,
Coach Sean
Thank you for your time and energy today, I hope this can be of service to you… If you liked what you read, PLEASE share it with someone in your life who may need a little nudge to begin (or continue) their own transformation…aren’t we all!?
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