Add one simple tool – the foam roller – to your sculpting routine to loosen and strengthen your muscles like never before.
Add one simple tool – the foam roller – to your sculpting routine to loosen and strengthen your muscles like never before.
FIT FASHION
Lululemon Fast as Light Muscle Tank (lululemon.com). Chichi Active tights (similar styles at chichiactive.com). Exercise pages: Varley Terri Crop (carbon38.com). Terez Marble Performance Capri (carbon38.com). Nike Air Max 2016 sneakers (nike.com).
To get more power and play from your muscles, add foam to your strength routine. “As muscles get stronger, they often lose flexibility,” says Dr Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine doctor at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City and the author of Dr Jordan Metzl’s Workout Prescription.
“The best way to make – and keep – muscles more pliable is by using a foam roller.” Flexy muscles give more flow to your kinetic chain, the interrelated group of muscles, bones and connective tissue that runs from head to toe. That’s why Dr Metzl created this workout, which pairs a rolling move with compound body-weight exercises.
When you roll muscles across the tube, you’re loading pressure points on the muscle to relax it (called myofascial release). The strengtheners incorporate oppositional movements. “This helps to even out muscle groups by distributing the work equally,” he says – and hitting fibres you may have missed.
The combo of self-massage and sculpting will make you feel better instantly and for long after. “Think of this as fortifying your body so all the other things you do – hiking, swimming, HIIT – don’t hurt as much,” Dr Metzl says. And because you’ll begin to move more fluidly and with better form, you’ll start to go farther and faster and get stronger, he says.
YOUR WORKOUT
Do the foam-rolling and strengthening moves in the order indicated. Complete this routine 2 to 3 times a week on alternate days.
YOU’LL NEED
A foam roller wide enough to accommodate your shoulders. A mat is optional.
CORE
After lower-back roll, the 8 classic burpees and 8 oppositional burpees together make 1 set. Do 3.
1 LOWER-BACK ROLL
Start face up on floor with foam roller under your midback, legs bent, feet flat and arms out to sides with palms flat. Press into palms and raise hips off floor. Move backwards until roller reaches lower back [shown], then reverse the movement. Continue, rolling slowly along your lower back for 1 minute.
2 CLASSIC BURPEE
Works shoulders, chest, abs, butt, quads
Stand with feet hip-width apart. Crouch, plant hands on floor [A], jump into a plank, and lower chest and thighs to floor [B]. Push up to plank, hop feet towards hands, then jump up [C]. That’s 1 rep. Do 8.
3 OPPOSITIONAL BURPEE
Works shoulders, chest, abs, butt, quads
Stand with feet hip-width apart. Crouch, plant hands on floor, jump into a plank. Lift right arm forward at shoulder height as you lift left leg straight back at hip height [shown]. Pause and return to a plank. Do 1 push-up. Switch sides and repeat (do include the push-up), hop feet towards hands, then jump up. That’s 1 rep. Do 8.
BUTT
After glutes roll, the 8 oppositional squat jumps and 8 prisoner squat jumps together make 1 set. Do 3.
1 GLUTES ROLL
Sit on foam roller with knees bent, feet flat and hands on floor behind hips with fingertips facing away from you. Cross right ankle over left leg above knee, shifting body slightly towards right so roller is on back of right thigh, just below glutes [shown]. Move forward until roller reaches your lower back, then reverse the movement. Continue, rolling slowly along right glute for 1 minute. Switch sides and repeat.
2 OPPOSITIONAL SQUAT JUMP
Works abs, butt, quads, hamstrings WorStand on left leg with arms by sides to start. Bend left knee, send butt backwards, and reach right hand down to touch left toes as you extend right leg forward and left arm out to side [A]. Jump up, landing softly at start [B]. That’s 1 rep. Do 8. Switch sides and repeat.
Speed up your fat melt Do the exercises (not the rolling moves) as quickly as you can, and cut out any rest between sets.
3 PRISONER SQUAT JUMP
Works abs, butt, quads, hamstrings Stand with feet hip-width apart and hands behind head, with arms bent out to sides. Squat to start [A]. Jump up [B], landing softly in start. That’s 1 rep. Do 8.
LEGS
After IT-Band roll, the 8 mountain climbers and 8 leg lifts together make 1 set. Do 3.
1 IT-BAND ROLL
Lie on floor on right side with foam roller under your right hip, feet stacked, left hand on left hip, right forearm on floor perpendicular to body. Cross left leg over right to plant ball of foot on floor in front of right leg, then press into right forearm to lift torso off floor to start. Move forward until roller reaches your knee [shown], then reverse movement. Continue, rolling slowly along the outside of your right thigh for 1 minute. Switch sides and repeat.
2 MOUNTAIN CLIMBER
Works shoulders, abs, butt, quads, calves Start on floor in plank on palms. Powerfully pull left leg towards chest [shown]. Immediately switch sides and repeat. That’s 1 rep. Continue, quickly alternating sides for 8 reps.
3 LEG LIFT
Works abs, quads
Lie face up with legs extended and arms on floor along sides. Lift legs to hover about 5cm off floor to start [A]. Slowly lift straight legs up and back until hips and lower back rise off floor [B]. Return to start. That’s 1 rep. Do 8.
SHOULDERS
After shoulder blades roll, the 8 side-plank rotations and 8 push-ups together make 1 set. Do 3.
1 SHOULDER BLADES ROLL
Lie face up on floor with foam roller under upper back at tops of shoulder blades, legs bent, feet flat and arms crossed over chest. Press into roller and raise hips off floor to start [shown]. Move backwards until roller reaches midback, then reverse the movement. Continue, rolling slowly along upper back, shoulder blades and midback for 1 minute.
2 SIDE-PLANK ROTATION
Works shoulders, abs, obliques Start on floor in a side plank on right palm, with feet stacked and left arm reaching up [A]. Rotate body towards floor to come into a plank on palms [B]. That’s 1 rep. Do 8. Switch sides and repeat.
3 PUSH-UP
Works shoulders, chest, abs, butt, quads
Start on floor in plank on palms. Bend elbows back to lower straight body until chest grazes floor [shown]. Push up to start. That’s 1 rep. Do 8.
TEXT: JACLYN EMERICK PHOTOS: CHRIS FANNING HAIR: CASEY GEREN/BA-REPS.COM FOR KEVIN MURPHY MAKEUP: JESSI BUTTERFIELD/EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS FOR CHANEL ROUGE ALLURE.
