TriggerPoint Grid Foam Roller

The TriggerPoint Grid foam roller has just recently come on to my radar and I have been diligently spending time on it each day to try and loosen up my IT band and my quads.  Cyclists are notorious for having tight IT bands and quads (with relatively weaker hammies).

The first 3-4 times using this were rather painful but it finally feels like things are loosening up and there appears to be some progress in working out the sore spots.  The idea is you isolate a muscle group and then roll through until you find a 'hot spot' or a spot where you feel pain and then you stop on that particular spot until it stops hurting and then move to the next one.  This can take around a minute or so for each trigger point.  I have been using this on the IT bands and quads and have noticed marked improvement.  The first couple of times took a while to work through the IT bands as I had to 'stop' a lot on many locations.  It was not exactly the most pleasant experience considering the pain but in a way it felt good because it was a means to an end.

What I like about the design of this particular foam roller is that it won't lose its shape.  The way it is designed pretty much guarantees it will maintain its shape and firmness.  It is built with a plastic tube on the inside with a layer of foam molded onto the plastic.

This all helps in giving it a pretty firm feel.  The nice thing about this firmness is that when you first start it feels too firm but you realize that you can off-set that by taking weight off the area you are working.  You basically use the leg you are not 'working' to take weight off so that you can find the happy medium.

The hard part is disciplining yourself to do it.  It takes about 30 minutes to go through the IT bands and quads followed but a couple of stretches but I think the benefit far outweighs those 30 minutes.  It is one of those things that you don't really notice that you need to stretch until something tightens up and then it is too late and you are starting from behind...sort of like hydrating...by the time you feel thirsty, it is too late as you are most likely already dehydrated....ohhh deep thoughts....