Foam rolling for warm up

[Joe Hart]

So I was perusing the forum and saw a few people that use foam rolling as part of thier warm up. Do you use just a foam roller or tennis ball or both? The other question is how does that work for colder days / climate? I live in MN and am planning for the future.

Thanks

[Allen Yeh]

I use both but lightly if I'm doing pre-workout. ~10-20 seconds per bodypart/area.

[Justin Algera]

I use Joe DeFranco's "Agile 8" for my warm-up as it has a little bit of everything

http://www.defrancostraining.com/ask..._08-10-03.html (wfs)

Scroll down to the end of the page and its there with videos of the mobility drills he recommends.

[Blair Lowe]

I basically only foam roll my back to get the cracks out which are typically thorasic area. Loosening this up seems to loosen up my lumber area as well which with some windshield wipers, leg swings and bar swings makes me feel pretty limber.

[Derek Simonds]

I do this foam rolling routine from Eric Cressey pretty much every workout I have access to a foam roller. As far as when it is cold man I don't know living here in the sunshine state I have rolled pretty much every week for a couple of years no matter the temp. Seriously after a quick warm up of some type I think it probably would be ok.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8caF1Keg2XU

Add in your additional mobility drills and you are good to go.

[Arden Cogar Jr.]

Before every workout and before every competition, I roll my entire body - back, shoulders, lower back, glutes, quads, hammys, calves, biceps, and triceps. Then I take a pinky ball to my arm pits (lots of good stuff in there). Then I take the same pinky ball to my hip flexors (lots of good stuff in there too). Then I use a stick on my forearms (have had a few buddha like experiences when others have sticked my forearms in the past). That whole process takes about 12 to 15 minutes. Then I do about 15 minutes of yoga. Then the iron or the wood awaits.

I also roll post event training. Basically same as above. Hell, got a roller in my office right now. Might hit it when I'm done with a project.

I truly believe that rolling and all this self myofascial release stuff has not only increased the blood flow to my muscles, but has helped me recover a helluva lot better than I did in the past. I'm making more progress at near 40 than I did when I was a lot younger. That said, I know how to train better now and how to eat (which I did not when I was younger). So it's all part of the learning curve.

All the best,
Arden