Improving Rolling Patterns

by Jared Woolever

Rolling patterns are one of our absolute favorite exercises to add into a corrective strategy or warm up.  These patterns do a great job of getting your inner core to fire quickly to promote stability…and with good stability comes improved performance.  I had a great question about rolling from one of our interns, and after thinking about it…I knew I had a resource for him to help give him answers.  For a couple of years we did a monthly inservice for Elite Training Mentorship.  I dug through some archives and pulled out this gem that we performed regarding rolling patterns for the mentorship.

In this in-service, we dive into upper and lower body rolling patterns. We’ll show you common mistakes your clients will make and and give corrective strategies to help fix them. If you don’t want to watch the video, here are some of the highlights:

As we begin losing the ability to roll properly, you’ll notice the primer movers tend to move first so it’s important to always check the timing of the soft core muscles. The push up is a perfect example; if your client has a little hitch on the way up, it’s a good idea to check out his or her rolling patterns. Rolling patterns also serve as a great assessment tool for this reason too.

Here are a few ways to tell if your clients need work on their rolling patterns:

• They’re using momentum to try and fling themselves over
• They get “stuck” as they try to roll
• They’re using other muscles to get the job done

You can quickly check for other compensations by placing your feet underneath theirs as they roll. This allows you to see if they’re digging into the ground for stability.

Here are a couple tips we often use to help our clients:

1. Kick a Leg: This one’s quick and easy. We can tap the heel to of the long leg to help engage the core as the client rolls.
2. Resistance Band Assistance: Place a band around the down leg and shoulder. Start with a 1-inch band to give your client assistance and ween him/her off from there. This one is great for a group setting because a client can do it on his own.
3. Cook Band Assisted: Add a cook band to the long leg side to help increase stability. This is one of my favorites but is probably a little better in a personal training since you’ll have to hold the band at about a 45° angle.
4. Add Props: Use a yoga mat, Airex pad, etc under one side of the body to shorten the range of motion your client has to roll. Eventually you can begin weaning him off by lowering the elevation.
5. Targets: Using small targets like your hand, a ball, or a nearby object can help influence reaching and the separation we’re looking for.  This is a great external cue and gives them a visual object to chase after.

We use rolling patterns daily in our gym to improve push-ups and rotary stability but to also prevent future injuries. I know that’s a lot of info to digest so be sure to check out the video and feel free to save it for later.