Our body is enervated by fascia. If we look closely, it is actually quite difficult to define where the fascia blends into our connective tissue, like the tendons and ligaments connecting the bones and muscles that together define our physical structure.
Fascia has viscoelastic characteristics that allow it to create stability, but also permit it to deform and move quite freely. With intentional preparation we can cultivate these qualities and enhance our ability to run, jump, sprint, flip, stretch, balance, etc.
When our connective tissue is hydrated and warm, it moves freely and glides against itself smoothly. Elevating our body temperature is an effective strategy to achieve this hydration is one of the first and foremost priorities in a good warm up. Working on a treadmill or stationary bike works, but moving through a wide range of positions that elevates your heart rate while accessing larger ranges of motion is going to create a more holistic effect every time.
Going beyond heat, fascia facilitates the transfer of force. In fact fascia can transfer force incredibly quickly. Faster than electrical signals can travel down our nerves. Because of this, we can use rebounding and bouncing to cultivate fast elasticity in our movement.
A very cool side effect of this rebounding is that this rebounding action also increases proprioception. So movements requiring fine motor coordination, balance, timing, and sequencing will all work better when the characteristics of your fascia are fully accessed.
There’s more to the fascia than this, but better freedom in movement combined with improved proprioception and elasticity in our movement is enough to make me take the 10-15 minutes of time to get my body prepared every session when I train.
If you have my app, you can access Myofascial Middle Splits, a program built around these principles and taking advantage of the increased elasticity and fascial glide to allow for better access to deeper ranges in the stretches towards the end of the session. Once you start to access the fascia effectively, you won’t want to do any training without going through a proper preparation sequence to get your body feeling loose and primed to perform.