Hip Hop Yoga and Foam Rolling

Happy Sunday everyone and welcome to my new readers!

Last Wednesday I tried out a new class that I wanted to tell you all about. I bought a Living Social deal for a local Yoga studio and while perusing the class schedule, I saw a listing for Hip-Hop Yoga. I just had to see what the class was all about. I got to the class a little late but at the beginning we were just going through various Yoga poses. The instructor had a R&B, Pop, Rap mix playing in the background so that was the first thing that was different. It definitely gave the class a more upbeat vibe. As we progressed, we still did poses but instead we were now holding them for shorter periods of time. We would get into a stretch and alternate between two different positions. There were a couple of finger snaps and "hands in the air" thrown in there and the poses were slowed down versions of popular hip hop dance moves. The class ended with a long savasana. Overall I liked the class and I will go back (I have four more classes left in the deal that I bought). It kept my interest and got my heart rate up quite a bit during some of the moves. There was just one problem...

The next day my legs hurt soooo bad. Now, this class seemed very harmless; as I said before, my heart rate increased, I got my sweat on a little but nothing seemed super challenging or painful so why on earth were my calves and hamstrings DONE the following day? I mean, I was doing some cardio and I was hurting so bad I was praying for the DVD to be done. The only reason I didn't quit was that I was too determined to finish it. I followed that cardio session up with a date with this bad boy:

My Foam Roller

I bought this foam roller a few months ago and had never used it until last week. I went to You Tube to look up some exercises for calves and hamstrings and then threw in the IT band exercise for good measure. I cannot tell you how much this helped. I mean I was dang near crying while I was rolling out the different muscle groups (especially my IT band which I didn't even know was tight) but the next day I was good to go and had minimal pain. After a second session, I am now pain free. This foam roller is truly like having a masseur/masseuse on hand- I think we will become great friends.

Learn more about Foam Rolling or Self Myofascial Release here.

Have you tried or considered using a foam roller? Have you been to a Hip-Hop Yoga class? Please share your experience below.