Flexible Warrior Volume 5.0: Foam Roll, Stretch and Recover

This DVD has three parts: Sun Salute (22 minutes), Core Stability (20 minutes) and Foam Roll, Stretch and Recover (55 minutes). This review is for the Foam Roll, Stretch and Recover segment.

Karen Dubs leads a small class in a yoga studio through a series of rolling and stretching exercises for the entire body. The format is to roll the body part first to loosen the muscle and the fascia, then stretch the muscle group with more traditional stretches. You will need a foam roller and a mat for the workout.

Karen hits all the body parts, starting with lower body (glutes, quads, periformis, hip flexor, shins), then moves up to back, shoulders and triceps. She doesn't give specific form pointers for the rolling other than suggestions like lingering on a tight area. Her cues for the more traditional stretches (pigeon pose, seated spinal twist) are clear. She does not necessarily mirror-cue or cue right-left, but instead instructs like "cross one leg over the other, then roll onto the underneath hip" so you know which direction to move.

Some of the camera work could be better. It seems as if this was lifted from a video broadcast, because there are a couple of places where the picture goes in a funny slow motion (hard to explain, but when you're Skype-ing and someone waves, you sometimes see the wave in slow motion and a shadow of where their hand was. That happens here). Also, Karen wears black capris against a black foam roller, so it's not always clear when she's, say, on her hip versus on her glutes. Ninety-five percent of the time the camera is at the front of the class, and only occasionally does the camera move up to catch a side view of a participant. Alternate views are very much needed when rolling the shins, triceps or shoulders, and aren't always provided. I had to stop and start a few times before I felt like I was targeting the correct muscle, since the image of Karen wasn't helpful.

At the end of this workout I felt decently rolled out and stretched. You will not get sweaty but you will get warm as your muscles relax.