Fitness Friday: Thai yoga, myofascial release therapy

CHICAGO (WLS) -- February is coming to a close and we hope we've helped you keep your New Year's resolution with Fitness Fridays.

This week, we'll wrap things up with a lesson in self-care as part of your fitness routine.

I'm going to remember this month for all of the new workouts that I tried - and all of the aches and pains they left me with.

Muscle soreness isn't a bad thing. It means you're challenging your body in new ways. But it is so important to relieve tight muscles. I found two ways that you can try.

Listen, I get it. You'd rather do the hokey pokey than to Namaste-ay in a circle breathing deeply with people you don't know. But consider giving Thai yoga a shot.

"They call it the lazy man's yoga because you sit there and do nothing and somebody works on you," said Wade Gotwals, yoga instructor.

Gotwals teaches partners - or in this case, strangers - to stretch each other out. It doesn't take much skill. Just clean feet and a good sense of humor.

The stretches are deeper because a partner is helping you into them and the poses feel free because you have someone propping you up.

"We go through our days without feeling supported or touched and today when you experience that you get this deep sense of overall health and happiness, you know?" Gotwals said.

Now that is something to cheer about.

At East Bank Club, they take a different approach to easing sore muscles. You can practice myofascial release therapy wherever, whenever.

"It doesn't have to be a lot. Maybe it is just taking a tennis ball and rolling it on the bottoms of their feet as they brush their teeth in the morning," said Nancy Fudacz, East Bank Club Master Performance Coach.

These rollers get the job done too. The wince says it all. It really does hurt so good. Believe it or not - it also helps you to work out harder.

"If you have some adhesions or you're not working in the full range of motion because you're too stiff or you feel like you don't have the mobility you need, you're not going to be able to get the optimal workout," Fudacz said.

It really does work. I have chronically tight shoulders and I could move them more freely after rolling them out.