Who's The Real Master of Your Work Out

You may think you and your trainer  are in charge of your work outs. Or maybe you think it's your muscles. Really the true master in charge of your work outs and for that matter your every day functional movement is your Fascia.

For decades now fascia has been on the back burner when it comes to discussing how the body functions. Some of the leading instructors in the world of body work have been over looked for the important information they have to offer to the wellness industry because their fascial information was largely not understood. The science behind fascia was slow to reveal itself.

Now the science is here and fascia is set to revolutionize health care. You can't speak about any aspect of the human being without speaking about its connection to fascia. Fascia is in every cell of the human body. Fascia is the bridge, the inter/intra-connector of every structure/matter within the body.  It also creates and applies the tension and compression  to every structure it  weaves with.

Fascia is the reason your skeleton stays erect and your organs don't flap out of your stomach onto the ground. It is what helps your blood clot and begin your wound healing. The webbing of fascia is the telephone lines for your nerves to communicate information from your brain to cause your body to function.

Your fascia is the best net -worker you will ever meet. It can in an instance respond to the slightest movement from the tilt of your head to view your text message to the tip of your big toe as you move your foot without thinking while responding to the text. It is the mover and shaker of your world, knowing everyone and everything that goes on with this world (so to speak).

My go to person when it comes to information and research on fascia is Thomas Myers, the author of Anatomy Trains. Tom defines fascia as, "the extracelluar matrix of fibers 'glue' and water surrounding all your cells and wrapping like plastic wrap around muscles fibers, muscles, muscles groups, organs, bones, blood vessels and nerves." Another way of saying this is fascia is both a solid and a liquid capable of moving, causing movement or preventing movement from occurring. Seeing fascia in this manner we begin to understand why it is the master in charge of our work outs.

As with all things in our body, some areas are healthier than others and this is true of fascia. When fascia is in its healthiest state it moves and functions most like a fluid, gently embracing and supporting the body as a whole. On the flip side it can be in a hyper-defensive mode acting like a straight jacket locking everything down. When fascia claps down on muscles and other structures it can also trap fat causing areas to appear clumped, chunky and/or cellulite ridden. Ever feel like you work out hard, eat all the right, healthy foods but still have chunky areas and cellulite? This may be due to the fact you have not been paying attention to how to care for your fascia.

Defensive fascia also creates areas of stagnation. This is like a traffic back up on the free way and emergency vehicles trying to get through. It can be done but with much difficulty and very slowly. In the body this means areas where the brain can't signal the muscles properly. This translates to the appearance of weak muscles  even though you have been working out for weeks. In truth your work out potential is not dependent on your muscles but on your fascia. You won't really know what your muscles are truly cable of until you allow the full, free and healthy functioning of your fascia.

Here are a few things, according to Tom Myers, we currently know about fascia:

1. Unlike what has been thought and taught, most injuries are connective tissue not muscular injuries
2. There are 10x as many sensory nerve endings in your fascia than in your muscles
3. Due to the misunderstanding regarding the body's  functional movement traditional anatomy texts       are inaccurate.

 According to Tom Myers,  here are some ideas to help fascia health and thus overall body health?
1. Enhance the elasticity of the fascia by engaging in full body slow, sustained, multi- plane, multi- directional stretching which will help prevent adhesions from forming
2. Give fascia plenty of water. The fascia has what is called GAG= glycoaminoglycans these are water absorbing proteins. These proteins allow the fascia to lengthen which is what we see as a stretch
3. Connective tissue/ fascia responds best to opposing muscle repetitive motion exercise such as walking, running and bouncing
4. Avoid jerky, abrupt changes in direction during your work outs
5. I can't stress enough how important it is to move slowly when it comes to fascia. It might take
6 -24 months to train fascia so be patient
6. Fascia requires variety in angle, tempo and load this is where cross training comes into play
7. Go for whole body movements that require constant adaptation i.e. constantly challenge your body in new ways. For example, instead of just walking on smooth flat trails and the same trail in the same direction every day, vary your trail, have level changes and texture changes, and direction
8. Avoid repetitive movement  within a work out. You want to have very easy to very hard in the same task. You want to vary your load as you go as well.
9. Proprioception and  kinestheasia are primarily fascial in nature not muscular. Due to the fact that fascia has 10 x more sensory nerves your muscles can't move without the fascia moving first. Play around with feather touch to sense your fascial responses. Slow elegant movement is best.
10. Unlike muscles, with fascia you want to think in chains. When you think about working your pectoral muscles you must also think about working your second finger because of the fascial strap extending from one to the other down the arm.
11. Rest is important!  Fascia goes through a cycle of becoming weak immediately after a heavy work out to gaining more strength the day after. You want to rest between events and you must have total rest days. The new rule of thumb  for rest periods during work outs is 5 mins of rest for every 25 mins of work out. For total rest days that means no working out at all; no aerobics, no yoga; nothing other than normal daily actives like walking to the car or around the house to get from one place to the other. A total rest day should be about pampering. You want to soak in the tub, take naps, mediate or just be a couch potato guilt free!

Hydration for your fascia:
A couple signs that your fascia is lacking water would be the appearance of wrinkles, the change in focal length of the iris in the eye.

The body is made up of between 75-95% water.  The baseline hydration for a healthy functioning person is half (1/2) the body weight in ounces (oz) of plain water each day. This is roughly 8-10 eight oz glasses of plain water.

How to calculate your baseline plain water intake:
Take your body weight 120 lb divide by 2 = 60 convert the 60 to ounces
Take  60 divide by 8 ounces = 7.5
7.5 is the # of 8 ounce glasses of plain water you should drink per day.


I keep saying plain water ,why? Because tea or something like sugared, fruit juice may not be a hydrating fluid. Some teas will cause you to increase urination. Increased urination will lead to dehydration. Sugared fruit juice (meaning juice with added sugar) will make the body work harder to process the synthetic sugar which can lead to dehydration.

Some of you might be thinking but there are times when I drink plain water all day long and I still feel thirsty. This could be due to your body for some reason not being able to get the water from the spaces surrounding the tissue  inside the cell. If water doesn't get into the cell so it can be used you will just eliminate it in the urine.

Now you ask, how can I get my 7.5 glasses of water into my cells? You need to bind it to a mineral. This is where electrolyte water comes into play. The most natural and most medicinal electrolyte water is out of a fresh, green coconut. Coconut water is the same make up as your blood plasma. It contains all the mineral, amino acids etc your body needs for functional hydration.

Hold on, I don't like the taste of coconut water, for that matter I don't like the taste of plain water. What can I do? Now we turn to fruits and vegetables. The most water filled fruits and vegetables are, watermelon, pears,grapes, cucumbers, and spinach. Other foods to help bind the plain water and get it into the cell are lemons and vinegar. And another way to add an electrolyte to your water is to add real/natural salt. Natural salt doesn't have anything added or taken out of it and it usually has a color (brown, pink or black). There can be up to 60 trace mineral in natural salt. Celtic sea salt, Himalayan salt, and Redmond real salt would be the types to add to your water.

How to make your own electrolyte water:

1. Get a pitcher of water,
2. Cut up one or more of the fruits and vegetables listed above
3. Get a pinch or two of the salt listed
4. If you need a bit of sweet then a teaspoon of raw honey or Xylitol  will be good
5. Combine it all in the pitcher
6. For the best results allow the water to combine with everything for at least 30 mins
7. Drink and enjoy

Another way to get your water into your cells is through movement. Gentle pumping, rolling and or compression of the tissues can move the water from out side to inside a cell. Finally you have truly and completely hydrated your body and your fascia.

We can't leave a discussion about hydration and fascia without speaking about the abdomen. We must have a healthy, functioning stomach and digestive system to have good absorption of water once we have finished drinking our 7.5 glasses. If the stomach, small intestine and large intestine are not breaking down food well and taking up the water into our tissue we will not see any results from our hydration attempts. One way to enhance the health of the abdomen is through  abdominal massage. When abdominal massage is performed you will have your skin, muscles, internal organs as well as your stomach and intestines worked out. This form of massage helps digestion, elimination, stimulates the lymphatic system, improves the circulatory system and immune system. It can also helps with posture, chronic neck, pack, pelvis, feet and shoulder issues. The respiratory system, and reproductive systems are greatly, positively affected by this technique as well.

To bring it back to working out what are we looking at when we want to exercise our fascia? When thinking about your work out and fascia the main things to remember are variety, hydration, rest and smooth, gentle flow.

If you are doing a weight work out, it might look something like:
Start with no weight at all, use only your body weight and do isometric contractions.  Then move to a couple repetitions with a theraband/rope. Transition to machines and vary the weight of each machine you do going from very easy weight to your max. Remember 5 mins of rest for every 25 mins of working out. So take 2-3 mins to shake out your muscles between each transition. Take a sip of water and breath as you go from one area to the other.

To bring the idea of variety into your work out week. Try exercising outside one day by walking or running (remember bicycling is not the best  fascial type work out). Use a mini-trampoline playing with height and what you do on it  (walk, run, swing your arms). If you haven't done Tai Chi or yoga look into these forms of exercise. Take a dance class one night a week. When you do this, you are doing more than just working your muscles and you can see how the master of your work out will revolutionize your being.

I hope this was helpful information and has given you something new to think about while you work out. I also hope by incorporating some of the tips you will decrease your body aches and pains.

As always remember to speak with your medical provider before changing your diet or exercise program.