How long should my Foam Rolling sessions be?
- 5-20 minutes
From rolling is an amazing way to relax, relieve muscle tension, and to heal trigger points. Many people wonder, how long should I foam roll for? That is a very good question, and there is no “correct” answer, as it all depends on different factors.
The amount of time you spend using your foam roller each day depends on how tense your muscles are and how much pain you are in. You should aim for sessions that are at least 5 minutes long, but probably not longer than 20 minutes.
Keep in mind that if your muscles are extremely tense, it will probably be extremely painful to roll. Foam rolling is often painful, but this doesn’t mean that the more pain you put yourself through the more results you get. Give yourself time to relax into the roll and let your muscles release their tension, but also take it easy and remember that the purpose of this is for relaxation.
How long should you hold pressure on sensitive areas?
- 20-30 seconds for general highness
- 60-90 seconds for really tight areas
When swaying back and forth on a foam roller, you may notice that you come across very sensitive areas in your muscles. Typically, these tender areas are due to common myofascial trigger points in the muscles and are very tender to the touch. The way to get rid of these tight areas (trigger points) is to apply direct pressure and massage to these areas. A foam roller is perfect for this.
How to foam roll to effectively eliminate muscle tightness
- Sway back and forth on the foam roller.
- You notice a tender spot
- You stop swaying back and forth and hold your body over the foam roller
- Hold this for 20-30 seconds
- This puts direct pressure on the tight muscle areas and trigger points
Typically you want to hold pressure on your tight areas with the foam roller and your body weight for around 20 to 30 seconds. You can also hold it until you feel the muscle tension release and the muscle begins to relax.
Once you have done that for 20 to 30 seconds or until your muscle tension has released, keep rolling until you find another tender spot. Then repeat that same process over and over, holding your foam roller position for 20 to 30 seconds until all your muscles and tender spots have been targeted.
What about really sensitive areas?
You may need to apply pressure for 60-90 seconds for really tight areas, and you may also need to perform several sets until you have released that tightness in the muscle.
Oftentimes if you have really bad trigger points, it will be very tender and it will be pretty painful to apply pressure on the tender spot. After all foam rolling uses your bodyweight and can apply too much pressure to certain areas.
In this case you can actually lighten up on the pressure by using your arms or other legs to support yourself. You would basically slightly lift yourself up so that you are not putting so much body weight on that tender area. Then you want to actually hold it for a longer duration, something like 60-90 seconds. This way you can target those very tender areas without feeling like you to endure such pain.
Why are you supposed to hold pressure on tight spots?
The whole point of foam rolling is to reduce muscle tension and release trigger points. Trigger points have been shown to release with some sort of physical interaction – such as massage or applied pressure.
Many people have very tight muscles, and depending on your habits and activities, some areas in your body will be much more tender than others.
For example, some people have very tight gluteus muscles and IT bands. When you’re working on especially tight areas, try to relax and breathe so that you are consciously aiding in the relaxation of these muscle areas.