Hi all! Have any of you ever done Pilates and used the foam roller? It's amazing! I'm a huge foam roller fan. Currently I do Pilates at home with or without a video guiding my exercise but I did invest in a foam roller which I learned how to use when I attended classes. We used the roller in a variety of ways. One of my least favorite things to do in the beginning was to roll out my IT Band. The Illiotibial band is a tough group of fibers that run along the outside of the thigh connected by the butt muscles and knee. It can get irritated from overuse (especially for runners) and needs to be stretched out, that's where the foam roller comes in! Basically you lie sideways with the roller under the side of your thigh and you roll back and forth. For some (for me!) it can be quite painful in the beginning if you have never or rarely target the IT band. But after a few roller sessions you will notice that it no longer hurts and you feel loosened up.
In addition, the roller can be used to massage your shoulders and back by laying on it and rolling certain ways (see websites with examples).
Definitely check out the foam roller! You can find it for $20 or less. I bet if you did more internet research you could find a lot of uses for it too. Then share them with us!
Here's a site about using the roller with pilates:
http://www.healthnews.com/blogs/jennifer-gianni/fitness-exercise/exercise-equipment/pilates-foam-roller-2684.html
This site has more information about using the roller to stretch before or after exercise:
http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=9911
2 comments:
Bee - what DVD can I start with? Any recc's?
I used Amazon to find my pilates DVDs. I have one that incorporates cardio so you are burning more calories while doing pilates. You do mat work then stand up and do "bursts" of cardio. It's pretty fun. I bet the kids would enjoy the jumping and twirling too...Maybe it would make nap time a little easier!! It's called "Weight Loss Pilates with Kristin McGee"
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