Foam Roller Workout

You read that title correctly, a workout using a foam roller. I already talked about the benefits of foam rolling after workouts to keep muscles loose, but this is different. You will actually be using that foam roller as a piece of exercise equipment. Added bonus, you can finish the workout with a great roll out session!

Warm up with a 5-10 minute warm-up on the cardio equipment of your choice. You will perform 3 sets of this workout as a circuit. One exercise followed directly by the next, minimizing resting times to 15 seconds or less.

Lunges with Rotation: Hold the foam roller straight out in front of you, one hand on each end, at shoulder level. Relax shoulders, drawing them back and down. Lunge forward with your right foot, lowering knee almost to floor, keeping knee behind toes. Once lowerd into lunge position, rotate all the way to the right, then left, then right and finally left again. Return to starting position and repeat with left leg, rotating to each side twice before returning to starting position. That is one rep, repeat 10 times (so 10 reps per leg, a total of 20 lunges).

Chest Fly on Roller: Grab 8-12 pound weights. Lye on foam roller with it running along your spine, knees bent, feet flat on floor, arms extended out to sides, a weight in each hand. Contract chest and bring arms to meet directly above chest, until hands almost meet, but don't bang weights together. Lower arms back towards floor. Repeat 8-10 times.

Side Lunge with Row: Hold foam roller straight out in front of you at shoulder level, shoulders relaxed and drawn back and down. Step out to the right, lowering into a side lunge, toes pointing straight ahead. Once in lowered lunge position, pull foam roller towards your body, retracting your shoulder blades and really squeezing them together. Push off of right foot, extend arms straight out again and return to starting position. Repeat with left leg, then return to start. That is one rep, repeat for 10 reps, or a total of 20 lunges.

Push-ups with Lateral Rotation on Roller: Set up for a normal push-up, with arms on roller instead of floor, roller perpendicular to your body. Perform a push-up, then rotate, lifting right arm towards ceiling, rotating body away/perpendicular to floor. Return to start. Perform m another push-up, then rotate lifting left arm towards ceiling. that's one rep, perform 10 reps total.

Wall Sit with Arm Extensions: Position roller on wall, in line with your spine. Perform a wall sit, with spine against roller. As you are in the squat position, alternate reaching one arm at a time above head and tapping the wall. Hold for 30 - 60 seconds, 60 if you are able!

Biceps Curl on Roller: Stand on foam roller, with roller parallel to feet, holding a weight in each hand, resting down, palms facing forward. Contract core for stability and perform biceps curls, for a total of 10-12 reps. If this is too difficult, you can practice just standing on the foam roller and balancing. This will still activate and work your core!

Cool down with 5-10 minutes of cardio. Then stretch! You can use that foam roller you were just working out with to roll out all of those tired muscles!