THE TOOL THAT WILL TRANSFORM YOUR BODY

Is our neglected fascia the secret to long, lean muscles? Emma Strenner swaps the treadmill for an unassuming foam roller

Got a spare $10? Here’s how you can look longer, leaner and, yes, younger, without breaking a sweat.

Let me just get it out there: I’m a fitness purist. I believe in the simple equation that your energy intake must be equal to your energy output. Hard work gets results. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve come to this conclusion after years of dabbling with faddy promises. Cleanses that claim to drop five kilos in five days? Been there. Wrapping myself up in cling film before a big event in the futile hope that it might shed the last few millimetres? Done that. Unfortunately, I’ve also spent most of my life hating my legs; their shape, their length (or lack thereof). In my former career as a magazine editor, I would gaze wistfully at colleagues (always in the fashion department) with long, lithe limbs and suddenly that cleanse didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

But I’m wiser now, and to be honest, I’ve tried enough health trends (call it an occupational hazard) to know that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So my scepticism is high when I get a call to

road-test the new book Taller, Slimmer, Younger:

21 Days To A Foam Roller Physique, penned by “fascia and alignment expert” and Goop’s go-to foam-rolling aficionado Lauren Roxburgh. Her three-week program involves just a few minutes per day of foam-rolling exercises. No dieting, no intense cardio. I’ve already cleared space for the book, right next to my cling film...

I start with a call to my dear friend and A-list trainer to Jennifer Lawrence, Dalton Wong. He doesn’t hesitate: “The benefits are endless – from reducing muscle soreness and improving posture, to increasing lean muscle and burning more fat, allowing your body to perform better,” he says. Wong is my fitness guru, and if it’s good enough for Jlaw and her impossibly toned, youthful form, it’ll just have to do for me, too.

The first time I came across a foam roller was when I was training regularly with Wong at his London gym. We would start and end most sessions with the tool. “Foam rolling is just as important as

good nutrition and rest,” he says. “When a muscle is not restricted due to tension, it moves with a greater range of motion and works optimally, allowing you to tone and strengthen more efficiently.”

While I’ve always been an advocate of combining my training (yoga with running), Roxburgh’s book states from the outset that you’re only to follow her exercises for the 21 days as the tensions and toxins locked within the fascia (the connective tissue that wraps around muscles and organs) will release and therefore lead to effective toning, weight loss and elongation. Yes, all that without breaking a sweat. Roxburgh herself found that in spite of being at the peak of her physical fitness, she couldn’t quite shed those last few inches through traditional exercise methods. And so her rolling journey began, and she swears that the humble piece of foam was in fact the secret to achieving her perfectly slim, toned limbs.

The first week is a surprising mental challenge – I underestimated how “blah” I would feel reducing my weekly exercise from five to six hours to just 70 minutes over seven days. There’s no satisfying post-run sweat or the accompanying rush of endorphins – and no mind-clearing savasana, either. But by week two I’m appreciating the efficiency of a 10-minute session – no wonder Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan.

The exercises awakened me to aches and pains I never knew I had. Rolling out tensions that have undoubtedly been mounting in my muscles and organs for months, or probably years, hurt like hell. But at the heart of every day’s sequence of movements is attention to breathing and engaging the core. The spine must be comfortably neutral – a position you find by lying with the foam roller placed vertically beneath your back, and allowing your arms to drop alongside your body while your knees are comfortably bent and feet placed flat on the floor. It’s amazing how this position alone awakens the tensions around my spine. Each day focuses on a different area: upper body, arms, legs and core, all the while using slow, mindful movements to engage the various muscles.

Throughout the entire program, each chapter begins with a focus on rethinking how your body naturally holds itself. For example, when embarking on the “strong legs” sequence early on, Roxburgh asks you to realign your feet so that they’re facing forwards, not turned slightly out or in as they naturally would, with weight spread evenly across both, allowing you to activate the leg muscles to elongate and tone. It’s a position you never think about... but suddenly your spine feels longer and your legs stronger, though you’re simply standing in one spot.

These small and seemingly insignificant tweaks to simple, everyday motions are the biggest contributors to the “taller” promise of the book title. Alignment is where the foam rolling really comes into its own and the simplicity of the tool is genius.

As for working with fascia and relieving muscle tension in these areas, this is not an entirely new concept. Yin yoga, for example, has been working on the premise of releasing toxins for years. Similarly, personal trainers have worked with clients and athletes suffering from injury, using the foam roller to release scar tissue and effectively get the muscle into an optimal and ultimately stronger, more pliable state. Roxburgh’s hope, though, is that by giving your fascia a bit of TLC as part of your normal fitness regimen, you will prevent injuries from occurring in the first place.

As for the promises of a “slimmer, younger” form, I have to admit – I feel better than when I started. To be fair, I haven’t entirely adhered to the rules of “no cardio” for the whole program, sneaking in a few cathartic runs and swims. But I must give credit where credit is due: I do feel younger – my body is no longer the creaky broken vessel it’s been for the past 15 months since the birth of my daughter. I can jump out of bed, and my feet, back and shoulders don’t hurt as much. That’s youth, right? As for slimmer, I relished a beautiful Self-portrait dress paired with a brand-new pair of hot-pink Aquazzura Wild Thing fringed stilettos, purchased in Florence as I headed to a wedding in a Tuscan palazzo. My pins were on show and for the first time in a long time, I was really proud of them. I felt great – taller, slimmer, younger great – which is the best outcome to any fitness equation.