Fascia training: important, sensible and healthy!
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| Optimally build muscles, define your figure and prevent injuries |
Why is fascia training so important? Training the fasciae can relieve tension and bring the connective tissue into top form. Because the fascia pervades the body as a universal building material. From a biological point of view, they have many forms of appearance and functions; anatomically, they divide the body into different positions and levels.
What are fascia? A universal building material
According to new findings, the fascia of the musculoskeletal system in particular form a continuous network that connects body parts and extremities via long chains and is subject to mechanical forces. But nerve impulses and stimuli are also passed on within this network, so that injuries, scarring or changes in the body can affect other organs and body levels via the fascial connections. Connective tissue, which is not part of the musculoskeletal system, but lies around organs or cushions the tissue under the skin, also functions as a stimulus transmission system and network.
Since countless nerve endings and sensors run through it and their stimuli are passed on to the brain, scientists today see the connective tissue as part of the nervous system, especially the autonomic nervous system. The fascia is considered to be one of our richest sense organs because of the many sensors they contain.
That is why fascia training is so important - the superlatives
Muscles could neither work nor maintain their shape without fascia sheaths, which is why regular fascia training is very important.
The number of sensors in the fascia exceeds the number of sensors in the muscles many times over. Fasciae are one of our richest sense organs, even larger in area than the skin.
- Fascia are the crucial organ for the inner body perception.
- They store strength and transmit strength. They are essentially involved in muscle function - without fascia there is no strength.
- Fascia form the body-wide tension network that ensures posture and movement.
Everything stays in shape with fascia training
How fasciae keep the whole body in shape can be compared to a grapefruit. Its pulp is enclosed in small sections by white skins and once again surrounded on the outside by a firm white skin that lies close to the skin.
It is the same with fascia in the human body
Just looking at the connective tissue , without meat and completely without bones, one could roughly see what the person looks like. This does not apply to the pure skeleton, for example. If, on the other hand, you treat firm muscle meat with an enzyme that dissolves all collagenous elements, then all that remains of the previously firm meat is sauce. In other words: Without the many fascial pouches, our muscles would have the consistency of maple syrup.
How muscles and fascia work together
Muscle and fascia are a unit , as we saw in the section on muscles. The fascia sheaths around the muscles and muscle fiber bundles have three very special tasks in addition to their basic functions:
What is the role of fascia?
- ... ensure gliding ability so that the muscle fiber bundles can be moved against each other.
- ... store strength.
- ... transmit power.
With the help of fascial tissue, every muscle is connected to the skeleton - via tendons and other fascial tissue. Tendons are tight fascia tissue made of a lot of solid collagen with a reduced water content. The transition between bone and tendon is fluid: from bone to cartilage to tendon and from there into the muscle, also via specialized connective tissue in the transition between tendon and muscle.
Fascia as a cover and link
Most muscle fibers end in such transitional tissue or in fascial sheaths. This creates a continuum of fascial elements that pass on the mechanical strength of the muscle and ensure perfect adhesion. In addition to the tendons and the bone membranes to which they are attached, the epimysia are particularly involved, i.e. the fascia covering around the muscle fiber bundles. The epimysium, the skin of the muscles, is directly connected to the radiating tendon ends.
The basic functions of the fascia
Fasciae have so many functions in the body that they have to be described on different anatomical, functional and physiological levels. But they also have similarities that occur with a different focus or mixed in all types of connective tissue. A rough classification differentiates between four functional groups, which come into play differently depending on the organ and part of the body. Loose connective tissue in the abdomen supports and cushions organs such as the intestines, liver and spleen, for example, under the skin it separates the dermis from the muscle layer and contains supply vessels, countless sensors and blood vessels.
In joints and at the transition to the muscles, important movement sensors are located in fascial tissue such as capsules and tendons; the muscular fasciae in the musculoskeletal system have many other functions that are summarized under "moving".
The four main functions of fascia
SHAPES: envelop, cushion, protect, support, give structure
MOVING: Transferring and storing force, maintaining tension, stretching
SUPPLY: metabolism, fluid transport, food
COMMUNICATE: Receive and transmit stimuli and information
We see these four basic functions as a continuum and therefore like to represent them in a circle symbol. They usually appear in a mixture in different proportions, complement one another and condition one another. These four basic functions also include four training principles of fascia training that we have developed at the Fascial Fitness Association. There are special movements and aspects of movement that target the fasciae and the four basic functions.
Plan strength training properly
Strength training takes place in different phases and cycles in which the units are repeated and the load changes. Repetition is important.
Strength training needs to be well planned. Therefore, at the beginning of every training session , including conventional training, there is usually a clear definition of the goals: What does the athlete or fitness client want to achieve? This is followed by the important determination of the current situation: How fit are muscles and connective tissue, how well trained is the circulatory system , what individual weak points are there, such as pain, old injuries or local stiffness? Of course, age, size and gender must be taken into account, as well as the type of connective tissue for fascial training.
Fascia training for beginners
Someone who trains with old injuries and wants to overcome pain has a different approach than someone who wants to improve certain movements for a certain sport or the performance of specific muscle groups. In fitness, rehabilitation or health sports, different goals apply than in competitive sports. Anyone who starts from scratch with strength training should be checked out by their family doctor or a sports doctor anyway. We also urgently recommend beginners to complete a conventional training program on equipment for at least three to six months prior to panther training - if you are new to equipment, you should first gain some experience with it and with the unfamiliar muscle work.
How often should you do fascia training?
The knowledge of these important individual factors and the adaptation to the goal are known in sports science as training principles. It is worthwhile to look up the topic in a good textbook when you have the opportunity, such as are available for trainers, trainers, but also therapists. Successful training takes a while - the body needs time to adapt. He also needs breaks, cycles of repetitions, recovery time.
All of this is particularly true of collagen tissue, as we know. Trainers and sports scientists therefore work for the long term - the key word here is »periodization« among professionals. This technical term describes the different phases and cycles of training. They go over a certain period of time, usually it is a year, but at least several months or in competitive sports over a competitive season. "Linear" means that the load increases continuously and regularly in a cycle. That relates to the weights, the intensity and the number of sets.
Periodization in fascia training
Here, too, the discussion is intense and quite controversial, you can read about it in the literature. There you may come across different fronts under the headings "linear versus non-linear periodization". We have decided on one of the forms of fascia training or fascia strength training: the so-called linear periodization. But there are many other perspectives and methods of periodization that are used in competitive sports.
From our point of view, linear periodization is currently doing best in scientific studies. Beginners will find that in the course of such a training plan the weights that they set on the machines increase. You also work in different sets with a varying number of repetitions and at different speeds.
Fascia training: the principles
In training science, a distinction is made between up to ten principles according to which training should be organized. Here we introduce you to the most important ones.
The right amount of stress and relaxation
The body needs a certain amount of time to regenerate after each fascia training load : no training effect without breaks.
Increase the load
Stimuli of the same intensity during exercises or weights do not get you any further. If you want more strength or endurance , you have to increase the load.
The stimulus threshold law
It has to be the right stimuli - strong enough to stimulate growth. A weak stimulus has no effect, low stimuli maintain the level reached, medium to strong stimuli increase it, and excessive stimuli damage the system. The threshold value differs from athlete to athlete, the level of training and in some cases also the genes determine it.
Not always the same: varying loads
Intensity, content, types of movement, breaks and methods should be varied.
Repeat and stick with it
Fascia training must also be carried out regularly and permanently. Only then does the body adapt. Muscles and fasciae need weeks to months, and certain parts of the fascia system even years, until they change as desired.
Vote individually
The training must suit the athlete, his condition and his needs. Factors include resilience, age, previous training experience and training status, as well as psychological factors such as motivation, gender, genetic requirements, including constitutional type, size and, in fascia training, the innate connective tissue type.
Fascia training with a system - example of a training plan
We will show you briefly and schematically how training in linear periodization with increasing weights can look like. The goals are strength gains and greater muscle volume. Different phases alternate in which different forms of strength are trained, and it works according to the following principles:
Strength endurance: lighter weights, high repetitions
Maximum strength training: high weights, few repetitions
Hypertrophy training for muscle growth: medium weights with medium repetitions
The number of sets in an exercise, the number of repetitions, and the speed at which the exercise is performed change per phase. The length of the breaks is also specified.
Definitely also exciting: running and fascia training
Cycle 1:
Strength endurance: 8 weeks
Maximum strength: 4 weeks
Hypertrophy: 6 weeks
Strength endurance: 4 weeks
Cycle 2 with higher weight
Maximum strength higher weight: 4 weeks
Hypertrophy of higher weight: 6 weeks
Strength endurance: 2 weeks
If you work out according to system in a good gym , your trainer will work with you to develop a plan of this type or a similar one with exact weights, number of repetitions and sets.
We also create cycles and plans for our panther training - you can find them in Chapter 5 after the exercise descriptions here in the book!
As an example, here is a detailed plan with details of all sizes and factors in a classic training for muscle growth: Weight increases and number of sets alternate.
Source: German Journal for Sports Medicine, Volume 60, No. 10 (2009)
