It started with tightness in my hip flexors that no amount of stretching could relieve. I followed the next logical steps, like reducing my running and cardio workouts, practiced more yoga, and even increased the number of rest days, but no, it wouldn’t go away.
Fast-forward two months. My lower back would be stiff, like a rock in the mornings: it hurt and took pretty long to loosen itself. Soon, my hamstrings followed behaving the same way, getting taut and would hurt when I bent down to tie my sneakers. I especially felt this in the mornings Till I couldn’t take anymore of it.
Let me tell you that I have always been an athlete, certainly all thru my adult years. I like to indulge in anything that makes me sweat. I adore running and biking. I’ve taught spinning classes since spinning began. I should add here that I have had no formal training, yet I completed triathlons and half-marathons, just for fun. I just would get up, felt like going for a race and joined others, just like that.
Or at least I used to. I get irked by physical limitations. I’m only 45 years old, for criminy sakes (and 45 is the new 29, right?).
My husband (who I met at a 5K road race by the way) would also want me to mention that my personality tightened as well as my hamstrings. Hope you get it, on missing my regular workouts, the whole family suffers.
As luck would have it, or should I say by His grace, I came to know of the foam roller exercises conducted in New York by a notable teacher named Susan Hitzmann; the owner of Longevity Fitness Inc.. She is the conductor of a program called M.E.L.T., meaning Myofascial Energetic Length Technique. Now, foam roller stretches is all I want to use.
It just so happened that I was there in one of her workshops that she conducts on fascia and tells you how to manage that. She employs tools , many on the foam roller for adding length and thus easing muscular uneasiness. That made me realize that it just wasn’t muscles that were tight, but I was being disturbed by the surrounding sheath of fascia that was causing me problems.
Now, now, what’s fascia? Imagine having a wet suit that comfortably and warmly sits on your muscles, as if a net or a web Some have it more than others.
She educated us on how to roll on a foam roller to re-hydrate the body to bring forth a sense of length, space and release. Man! It was a profound release too; like unbuttoning your jeans after a big meal.
I was totally hooked after one workshop. I rushed to get a foam roller that has the looks of a yoga mat, though a little bigger with foam in it, and got rid of pain quickly.
My muscles were softened that caused my lower back to loosen up, which in turn was helpful in getting a better sleep. In turn, I woke up feeling not only more rested, but more flexible. I could start again with my daily cardio routine and strength training. End of the day, my moods started getting back to normal. I was nicer to my husband and kids, and in essence, I got my life back.
