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Without getting too in-depth about all the chemistry of what these exercises will do, the main reason to do these is based on a principle called myofacial release. With myofacial release you are basically stretching your muscles, but at the same time working out some of the soft tissue damage that you may have. An example of this would be if you were doing one of these exercises I am going to talk about and you felt a little bit of pressure or pain on your muscle. This is a sign that you have some of that damage to your soft tissue. The best part about it though is that you can get rid of that pain just by working out your muscles on your exercise roller over time.
What exercises are there?
Hamgstring and Glute Muscles-
The first exercise is the exercise for your Hamgstrings and glutes. This is a fairly easy exercise. You just want to sit on your roller and rock back on forth on your hamstring and glute muscles. To really get a get stretch with this workout, you may even want to roll more to one side at a time so you get that really deep massage that comes from your roller.
Quadricep Muscle-
The next workout you may want to consider is the quadricep workout with the exercise roller. You have already worked the back of your legs, so now you can work the front out. You would simply put the front of your legs on the roller while you are in a push up position and roll back and forth on the roller. You just want to really get a good stretch and if you feel any of these kind of tender or sensitive spots, stay on them longer until you feel them kind of give way.
What are some other exercise roller exercises?
Calf Muscle-
The next exercise I would recommend would be the calf exercise. In this you simply do what you did for the glute and hamstring muscles stretch, except this time you put the roller down by your calves. For runners this a great exercise as all the stress can go to the calf muscle. To really make this an effective exercise you can place one of your legs over your other leg and get the really deep massage and stretch, then alternate to your other leg.
The arms and lats--
These can be some of the most complicated muscles to stretch. You really have to get a feel for the muscles and where you want them to be stretched. Again just focus on any tenderness and work those areas. The best way to do this stretch is to lay sideways on your roller and just roll up and down with your arm outstretched. Alternate this on both sides of your body so you can really get your arms and lats.
The upper back--
This muscle group is very important to stretch especially if you get stressed out. Much of the stress that you have can go straight to this area of your body. Shoulder and upper back tightness can be very painful as well. To stretch this out just lay on the roller with your legs bent and stabilize yourself with your arms. As you are in this position just roll up and down on your upper back and feel the release of that stress and tension. Make sure that you keep these movements very slow so you can get that full relaxation on all the muscles in the upper back.
There are other exercise roller exercises that you can do, but these are the basic ones that can really have an impact on how you feel. A good exercise programs are ones you enjoy doing on a daily basis. These can help you get past some of those soft tissue injuries that could have happened from many of the movements that we do in life. Do these at your own pace and make sure you don't push yourself too hard.
