Now we are going to have fun with the foam roller. This is one of my favorite tools of all time. And you don’t have to have a long one for what we’re doing today.

So if you happen to have one that’s this big, no big deal. I like to break things down into categories to make it easy to understand and easy to remember. So what we’re going to be working right now is our lateral body.

That’s the side of your body. And there’s five stops. The underarm, the ribs, the waistline, the outer hip, and the IT band, which is this area right across the outside of your leg.

So you’re going to come into a side lying position with the roller in your underarm. Now, just like everything else, we’re all different. So you might have to make some adjustments to make this work for you.

If I hold my head up like this the whole time, this part of my neck is going to get really tired. So I highly recommend you rest your head on your shoulder as if you were taking a nap. Now, your underarm is like a little cave.

And you want to think about getting to the back of the cave. That’s where your lats, this big muscle that goes down the side of your rib cage, and your triceps overlap. You’re going to get right in that area by rolling forward and back.

Notice that the roller is not actually moving. Let your head rest on your shoulder and breathe. You might have to make little adjustments to really get it in there.

Now, come to the back of the underarm and feel that tenderness. With your head resting, make small circles. You might even move the arm forward and back.

You can play around with turning your hand as if you were holding a big doorknob and turning it forward and then back. Also, a 90 degree angle in your arm and bringing your hand down and up while rolling can help you get into that area. Just like everything else with the foam roller, if it hurts, you’re doing it right.

And I know that can seem like bad news, but you’re actually flushing out the soreness and the inflammation from the muscle so you’re experiencing the pain when you’re doing it. And then when you stop, it feels really good. So you have to be excited about the outcome.

Now we’re on the rib cage. Immediately place your head in your hand. The rib cages can be a little fragile, especially in the lower ribs.

And so you just want to be careful. You wouldn’t want to get a running start and land on this area. Notice that I’m rolling forward and back, focusing on the breath, allowing the head to go back, supporting that head.

Inhale and exhale. This is really good for the lymph nodes in this area, a muscle called the serratus anterior that weaves into your rib cage like a basket. And also the intercostal muscles that are the muscles that are actually in between your ribs.

The next one, just like the ribs, you have to be extra careful. It goes in your waistline and immediately your head goes into your hand. You’re now on your lowest ribs, which are floating ribs, which means they’re only connected at one end.

You wouldn’t want to press on them without supporting your head in your hand. Think of this as the inward curve of your waistline. You might even be in contact with the upper portion of your pelvis.

Rolling forward and back. You can go back really far if it feels safe and good to you. And you can come forward, even massaging into your organs.

Take your time and breathe. And if you happen to find a sweet spot, hang out there and rock on it gently to release it. The next stop is the outer hip.

Now we could go on and on about the anatomy of this area. There’s many, many layers of muscle. So just to keep things simple, I like to call this the right side of the moon.

So you’re going to roll out the full surface of the moon. You want to get down to the bottom, out to the side, towards the middle, and really feel your bony landmarks. So you have your sits bone at the bottom.

Its real name is ischial tuberosity. You have your SI joint, which is your sacroiliac at the top. You have your outer hip where you could really feel the actual joint.

You want to feel the soft tissue in between those bony landmarks and sort of pin it down until you feel a tender spot. And then work that area. Once you’re right in the middle of the moon, aka your butt cheek, take your ankle of whichever side you’re on and cross it onto your knee.

Remember to dorsiflex your foot. And then move around on that glute until you find some tender spots in the middle. This area is a lot like an onion, layers and layers.

And you want to soften the outer layers to get deeper into some of the rotator muscles of your hip, such as the piriformis. That tends to be a pretty grumpy muscle in most people’s bodies. Also, we’re addressing the sciatic nerve pathway.

You’ve probably heard of that. It’s the largest nerve in your body that goes down the back of your leg. Last but not least, and definitely not forgettable, is your IT band.

That stands for iliotibial tract because it connects your ilium, which is your pelvis, to your tibia. We nickname this one the tearjerker in the foam roller class because it is very intense and you want to roll like this, up and down. Now, in the beginning, you might find this to be too intense.

So I highly recommend you place your foot on the floor in front, which braces some of your body weight. Now, once you get the hang of it and you’ve learned how to like that feeling, you can turn your bottom toes up and roll on the back of your IT band. Then you can turn your foot to neutral or parallel and roll right on your IT band.

Then you can turn your toes towards the floor and roll right along the front of the IT band. When you do this for about three or four minutes on one side and stand up, you’ll feel that your body is much more flexible on this side than this side. So obviously you do both sides, but you might do a little side bending in between to really feel the benefit.

So just to remind you, the five stops on the lateral body, underarm, rib cage, waistline, hip, IT band. If you make that a regular part of your practice, you’re going to have a lot more lift in your body, help eliminate the effects of shrinking and compression that come from all of our time we spend sitting in chairs.