Foam Rolling.

As part of any warm up, you should be doing (at a bare minimum) some foam rolling followed by some stretching. I've put together some images of foam roll drills below, you can split these into upper body one day lower body the next, but to maintain flexibility and mobility you need to be doing this before every workout. Foam rolling basically "irons" the knots out of your muscles before you stretch them. Think of a towel or elastic band with knots in it, how well does it stretch with this knots in it? Not very well, but if we remove the knots you can then stretch the muscle a lot more effectively. Most of you will experience quite a bit of pain when foam rolling, this should give you an idea as to how many knots or "trigger points" you posses. This pain is perfectly fine and natural, we just want to work you to a point where you can do it pain free (hence having no knots). You want to roll back and forwards on the roller for a couple of minutes at a slow pace, focusing on the areas that are the most painful, pausing on those areas to really let the roller get in there. You also want to use the black rollers at CBD, these are the most dense and hence the most likely to get rid of those kinks.

Calf:

Quad:

ITB:

 

Glute: 

 

Upper back: 

 

Lat: 

 

These are some basic foam roll drills to start with, obviously there are more that get into more specific areas, but for now, if you can manage to do these drills twice per week (1 lower body day, 1 upper) you should start to notice general aches and pains (coupled with stretching of course) start to dissipate. As mentioned, always foam roll before you stretch, you will notice the difference immediately.

Studies

Curran P.F., Fiore R.D., Crisco J.J., (2008). A comparison of the pressure exerted on soft tissue by 2 myofascial rollers. Journal of Sport Rhabilitation. 17(4):432-42.

Esenyel M., Caglar N., Aldemir T., (2000). Treatment of myofascial pain. American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 79(1):48-52.
Micklewright D., (2009). The effect of soft tissue release on delayed onset muscle soreness: a pilot study. Physical Therapy in Sport.