Here at Reviber we’re really excited to be gearing up towards launching a new product.
We’ve been working on our own vibrating foam roller for a while now. We’ve worked long and hard at the quality of the roller and its vibrating functions. We’ve developed a sequence of exercises you can do on it, made a film for you to follow and an exercise poster to use as a guide while you roll on the Reviber Vibrating Foam Roller.
But hang on, what is a vibrating foam roller?
Foam rollers are in many gyms now - but not everyone knows what to do with them. Here’s Reviber’s simple guide to rolling and getting to the muscles you need to focus on.
Lots of runners and gym goers have heard of and use foam rollers. But lots of people - and that includes myself - are unsure what to do when it comes to exercising on them.
Should I Be Using A Roller?
Foam Rollers, when used can reduce tension and tightness between the muscles and across the fascia. The fascia surrounds the muscles and is called a connective tissue.
Wait A Minute, What’s Fascia?
Fascia is the body’s connective tissue. It is a head to toe, inside to out and interwoven system of fibrous connective tissue found throughout the body. Your fascia provides a framework that helps support and protect individual muscle groups, organs, and the entire body as a unit.
Gross, how does Fascia affect me?
Fascia provides the protective sheath around our whole body. It surrounds each organ and muscle for protection from outside impacts and damage. Our fascia is also an important supportive part of the musculoskeletal system. It enables us to perform functional activities like going from sitting to standing and being able to walk, jump and run. Blood, nerves and muscles are all covered by fascia. It allows your muscles and organs to work smoothly alongside each other. When you suffer fascia damage, this can cause poor blood flow, weaker nerve impulses, limited flexibility and a loss of range of motion, and a host of other physical problems.
Sore muscles are often caused by repetitive use of the muscles - think sore legs from running or working the same muscle group out lifting weights. Foam rolling, like stretching can give increased flexibility, greater range of movement. This can give you less chance of getting an injury while making you stronger. Rolling, stretching and working the Fascia gives you a greater efficiency of the use of your whole body.
The idea behind rolling is to use your own body weight, so if it hurts to roll, you can use other parts of your body to support some of your weight elsewhere. You can add more of your weight as the muscle responds to the rolling.
Is it good for all muscles?
Not for all muscles. There quite a lot of different information out there on foam rolling, that’s why we have our fitness specialists Marlene and Sinead who work closely with us in the development of our products to create safe workouts that are suitable for all. Our fitness consultants at Reviber have devised a rolling programme that is perfect for beginners like me and for more experienced athletes -unlike me. The areas they instruct to use are the feet, calfs, hamstrings, quads, glutes, lats, triceps and biceps.
Take a look at the workout video here to see the Reviber Vibrating Foam Roller in action!
Is it supposed to feel like that!?
The truth is, it does feel pretty intense at first. I’ve been rolling for a while now and am beginning to enjoy some parts more than others. I find it a pleasure to roll my legs, but further up the body, especially across the lats I find it hard going. But this is a short term pain to having happier muscles and faster recovery from my workouts.
We’ll be releasing more information on the Reviber Vibrating Foam Roller over the coming weeks as we get closer to launching it.