Foam rolling is a waste of time. Change my mind

vision1 said:
Are you confident in that statement?
I've always thought foam rolling / stretching / cooldowns for reduced DOMS was a bunch of baloney
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I'm 100% confident. its like day and night. I would not be able to survive training in Thailand at Yokkao Saenchai's gym (2 sessions, 6 days a week for 3 weeks) without foam rolling / massage therapy. My legs would cramp up if I didn't keep up with the myofascial release.
 
xnhojx said:
I'm 100% confident. its like day and night. I would not be able to survive training in Thailand at Yokkao Saenchai's gym (2 sessions, 6 days a week for 3 weeks) without foam rolling / massage therapy. My legs would cramp up if I didn't keep up with the myofascial release.
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But how do you know rolling led to reduced soreness? I'm not saying you're wrong but how do you know? Soreness generally reduces when your body becomes accustomed to the training stimulus. Soreness and cramping are also much different beasts.
 
vision1 said:
But how do you know rolling led to reduced soreness? I'm not saying you're wrong but how do you know? Soreness generally reduces when your body becomes accustomed to the training stimulus. Soreness and cramping are also much different beasts.
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Because when I skip foam rolling / massage, I'm a lot more sore the next day and I start to cramp up. I've been training for a long time and can absolutely tell the difference. When I was in Thailand, I also noticed Saenchai would also get a 20-30 min massage before training by his trainers / training partners. I'm pretty sure Saenchai knows what he is doing and isn't wasting his precious time with these massages if they didn't do shit, I feel like anyone who has been training for a long time knows these things. I mean professionals from physical therapists to pro-fighters acknowledge that they work, so I'm not sure why someone on Sherdog thinks they got it figured out with no science to back it.
 
xnhojx said:
Because when I skip foam rolling / massage, I'm a lot more sore the next day and I start to cramp up. I've been training for a long time and can absolutely tell the difference. When I was in Thailand, I also noticed Saenchai would also get a 20-30 min massage before training by his trainers / training partners. I'm pretty sure Saenchai knows what he is doing and isn't wasting his precious time with these massages if they didn't do shit, I feel like anyone who has been training for a long time knows these things. I mean professionals from physical therapists to pro-fighters acknowledge that they work, so I'm not sure why someone on Sherdog thinks they got it figured out with no science to back it.
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Why are you putting the onus on me? Do you have any studies to support foam rolling reduces soreness? No need to get defensive, we're just having a convo. There are plenty of benefits to massage, I however have never noticed any effect on reducing DOMS. I don't know who Saenchai is, are you sure his reason for massages was to reduce DOMS? I doubt it.
 
vision1 said:
Why are you putting the onus on me? Do you have any studies to support foam rolling reduces soreness? No need to get defensive, we're just having a convo. There are plenty of benefits to massage, I however have never noticed any effect on reducing DOMS. I don't know who Saenchai is, are you sure his reason for massages was to reduce DOMS? I doubt it.
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We're on a public forum and you asked the question bro. Ima just leave it at this:



Ps. Dont take things so personally, we're on Sherdog afterall
 
xnhojx said:
We're on a public forum and you asked the question bro. Ima just leave it at this:



Ps. Dont take things so personally, we're on Sherdog afterall
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Even Kelly used the word "Maybe"
 
vision1 said:
But how do you know rolling led to reduced soreness? I'm not saying you're wrong but how do you know? Soreness generally reduces when your body becomes accustomed to the training stimulus. Soreness and cramping are also much different beasts.
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I think pain perception has to do with a lot of factors, including things like expectation, mood, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if someone reported reduced pain from any treatment that causes pleasing sensations or positive expectations. The questions I'd ask are: does foam rolling produce a better response than other similar "treatments"? Is it consistently better than a random placebo type treatment? Does it produce any long term changes or enhance performance long term? My guess based on what I've seen would be no. With that said, if massage or foam rolling feels good, then have at it. Hell, I have one of the damn things and it feels good too (haven't used it in years though). What I wouldn't do is make claims about "releasing tissue", "activating" or making any long term structural changes to the muscles, all these claims seem to be bunk.

Being aware of this stops you from spending $300 on an unnecessary massage gun, or paying a chiropractor $100/h and feeling like these things do anything special form a physical POV compared to simpler options. Most of the claims about "trigger points" ,"releasing" and "activation" seem to be theoretical bullshit with little evidence and shaky definitions. Foam rolling seems like one of the least harmful modalities in that it doesn't cost a bunch of money or someone bullshitting you in order to feel good. The only risk would be wasting some time, but if you don't mind that, it's probably fine. Just don't feel like you need to do any of these things to perform well, so you don't generate some weird dependence on them.
 
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I only use it when I am in pain. With that said, I should really stretch more
 
GolovKing said:
Unless you're an athlete or someone who has no other responsibilities during the day and can invest as much time as you want to your body, foam rolling rolling is not effective enough to be a good investment of your time. For the average person who works and has only a few hours a day to dedicate towards exercise you are better served by incorporating more physical therapy type exercises and stretches rather than foam rolling.
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You seems to dedicate a lot of your free time posting on sherdog....

I don't think finding some time for body tension relief/mobility is a waste of time in comparaison.

There are also specific ways to use foam rolling. Most people think they know what they do, but they don't.
 
i dont see the purpose of one. are they for people with back problems?
 
freakroor said:
i dont see the purpose of one. are they for people with back problems?
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Poor mans myofascial release mostly, but can be used for some specific exercises.
If you know how to use your own hands and do self release, or want to pay someone for it/massage, then no need for foam roll/tennis balls etc, though these can make targeting some areas easier if you intend on doing it yourself.
 
Badger67 said:
Poor mans myofascial release mostly, but can be used for some specific exercises.
If you know how to use your own hands and do self release, or want to pay someone for it/massage, then no need for foam roll/tennis balls etc, though these can make targeting some areas easier if you intend on doing it yourself.
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release of what? ive never foam rolled and ive had 2 massages in my life. can you explain the benefits in layman’s term? i dont see the point. I train almost everyday and i’m fine as is.
 
freakroor said:
very convincing. see my edit.
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Depends on individual, some may have neuro tonal issues where in massage techniques (myofascial, foam roll, tennis ball etc), can assist with, for others it can simply be a matter of assisting blood flow/lymphatic drainage. If you yourself dont need it, great. Many others may.
 
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