3 Ways Understanding Fascia Makes Your Workouts Smarter
2024-09-16
I always believe there is SO much to learn about the body that it can get so overwhelming so focusing on things that actually make a big impact are those ideas we should spend the most time understanding. That is why I believe learning about fascia is really important for fitness pro and non-fitness pro alike. Just anyone that wants to get better results from their training should discover why fascia is important to their training.
Without going into a super deep dive, if you have never heard of fascia before, fascia can be thought of as most simply connective tissue. However, this connective tissue has several forms, some of the are designed to hold your organs in place, other types of fascia as encapsulate your individual muscles which helps with how much force they can produce, and then there is fascia that acts kinda like a big web for your body.
Think of your favorite sweater and when a strong starts to pop out. You don’t like to pull on the string because while it looks small, you know it can impact your whole sweater. Fascia can also be like this and the reason is because it is connecting the entire body through this web. That really abbreviated explanation of fascia will help us understand three key ways understanding fascia can help your training.
Helps Us Load The Body Better
The majority of fitness pros, strength coaches, and gym goers don’t every really think about how they load the body. They pick a tool and just put it on their body or hold it in whatever way they are most accustomed to doing. While people may often think there is nothing wrong with that because it often leads to them holding some large weights, they don’t realize they are missing out on some great opportunities to make their training better.
When I created our DVRT system in 2004, I had already known about fascia for several years and wanted it to be a consideration in our programming. However, no one else was really doing this so I had to think about how to create variables of overload that would allow us to achieve the goal of benefitting from what using fascia as a concept could do to our training.
One of the first was when we didn’t just focus on a tool like the barbell, we had more opportunities to load the body. When you look at dumbbells, kettlebells, and Ultimate Sandbags, we have tools available that provide us more options in how we load the body, therefore we can get more targeted in what we are achieving with our training.
View this post on Instagram
That is why when you often see our squat progressions, we aren’t just manipulating how much weight we are using or how many repetitions we are performing, we are changing how we use weight on our body. You notice at first we start with loading our body in very stable positions to help make us stronger and more stable via fascia better. Then we move to less stable loading positions like using two different size kettlebells, holding an Ultimate Sandbag upon the shoulder to challenge the fascial chains to work at higher levels.
This also goes to how we progress drills like single arm presses, rows, and even deadlifts. Understanding these fascia chains are used in diagonal patterns helps us understand how to develop better upper body strength and shoulder stability by optimizing these fascia connections.
View this post on Instagram
Use Different Body Positions
One of the big reasons that our body uses diagonal patterns is that it helps every day movement (especially things like walking) more efficient. Our bodies are always looking for greater efficiency and this is why you see our opposite arm and leg move. It makes sense then that using only very stable positions to lift weights (like machines, only working in bilateral positions, or even using tools like barbells in classic ways) doesn’t come close to taking advantage of the full opportunity of making our bodies stronger, more resilient, and efficient.
View this post on Instagram
Just like we want to pay attention to concepts like how we load the body, a foundational DVRT concept we had from the beginning is also being aware of the position we stand in when we perform an exercise. Most people really don’t think too much about this either often making the jump from being two legged, or using two arms at the same time to unilateral movements way too aggressive.
This often leads to people struggling to perform more advanced movements because their body hasn’t built the strength to resist movements that are trying to push the body out of position when you move to more unstable stances. Unlike unstable surfaces, unstable stances have been shown to be a very beneficial way of building strength while also increasing stability (1).
You can see some ways we progress body position in familiar exercises to optimize this idea.
View this post on Instagram
How The Weight Moves Itself
Of the three concepts we are discussing today (there are more) THIS one is probably the MOST unfamiliar to people. That is because the gym that most people are familiar with (notice I didn’t say the classic gym) has machines, barbells, and dumbbells as the major part of the tools you can use. These tools largely only get used in moving in one plane of motion (typically up and down).
Since this the most stable position to move, most people don’t see an issue with it because they can lift the greatest amount of weight due to the stability. However, when people think this is the best way to build muscle or strength, this isn’t supported by the research (2,3). This is a good example of what we want to be true versus what research has showed over and over again to actually be true.
One of the most exciting things I discovered when I was first using our Ultimate Sandbags with my clients to develop our system, was that the Ultimate Sandbag could move in directions and patterns that were really difficult or impossible (or just unsafe) to do with any other tool. When the weight moves in a different way than the direction we are going we can build great strength and stability at the same time through these fascia systems (as well as all the muscles that become active).
That is why drills like our MAX lunges, deadlifts, and so forth are so amazingly effective for performance, strength, and cosmetic goals. However, I do have to add in a word of caution. I was ALWAYS very cautious about the risk factors of more advanced drills like this and if you notice, most of the time the weight (especially upon lowering) is staying close to our body. I see people tossing all sorts of tools away from the body in all different directions. This can REALLY increase the risk of injury and why we want to be progressive and smart about using these ideas.
View this post on Instagram
I hope you see the bigger and better world of training that opens up for us when we see why and how fascia plays a role in how we create more effective workout programs.
Don’t miss our FREE fascia training webinar this Thursday at 2pm EST HERE. Save 20% all throughout DVRT with code “save20” HERE
Featured in
© 2024 Ultimate Sandbag Training. Site by Jennifer Web Design.