If you're
not familiar with fascia, it's the tough connective
tissue "pillowcase" that surrounds your
muscles to help keep them in place. Without fascia,
your muscles couldn't function...they'd flop around
all over the place.
So fascia,
while being essential for muscle function, is NOT
always conducive to increased muscle growth.
The reason
is this...
Tight fascia
means in order to grow, your muscles have to actively
push out against that fascia and expand it from the
inside out. If you have tight fascia, that's going
to be extremely tough to do and, to be honest, I believe
it's one of the major factors that people are "hardgainers"
and experience slow muscle growth.
If your
muscles have nowhere to expand to, they're not going
to expand.
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I
like to compare this tight fascia and fasical
stretching to pulling a pair of tight jeans
out of the laundry...
What's the first
thing you do when you trying to get a pair of
tight jeans to feel more comfortable? You squat
down a few times to stretch out the material.
When you squat
down, your legs exert pressure against the material
of the jeans, expanding it a bit so it stretches
out.
And this is EXACTLY
what we're going to do with the fasical sheathes
that surround your muscles.
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This picture is here
solely to illustrate my point about tight fascia
inhibiting muscle growth... ;) |
I believe
this is also one of the primary mechanism behind the
phenomenon of "muscle memory," which
is where when you stop training for awhile then come
back to it, your muscles seem to grow at a much faster
rate.
My theory
is that since the fasica is ALREADY stretched out
(it doesn't contract when your muscles shrink), there
is very little resistance to that growth when you
start training again.
Your muscles
are then able to grow at the rate they SHOULD be able
to grow, since there's nothing restricting their physical
expansion.
So now that you know WHY fascial
stretching is good, how do you do it?
That's
where this unique style of training comes in...
I call
it Extended Stretch-Pause Training and it's
going to be very, very uncomfortable (I won't lie
to you).
It's also
going be INCREDIBLY effective at stretching
out and expanding that fascia so your muscles have
more room to grow.
This style
of training is very challenging (and I'll use chest
as the example here)...it's a 6 part set where you'll
alternate between a compound exercise (bench press)
and a stretch-position isolation exercise (flyes).
You'll
be going back and forth between each exercise 3 times,
with basically zero rest (only as much as time as
it takes to get to the other exercise and set up).
Here's
the structure:
Set
1 - barbell bench press - go for 15 to 20+ reps
using a moderate weight, fast rep speed and a powerful
press. Get as many reps as you can but don't push
to complete failure. This will force a lot of blood
into the chest.
Set
2 - dumbell flyes - perform 3 to 5 reps, holding
the stretch position for at least 5 seconds on each
rep. The first set of bench press pumps the muscles
full of blood...this exercise uses resistance to actively
STRETCH the fascia against that ballooned-up muscle,
forcing it to expand (and yeah, this is the uncomfortable
part).
Now we
go back to the bench press...
Set
3 - barbell bench press - aim for 6 to 8 reps
on this set. Use very strict form, focusing on squeezing
the pecs on each rep (try to push your hands together
on the bar). This set is all about developing tension
in the pecs to the highest degree possible, further
forcing more blood in the pecs.
Set
4 - dumbell flyes - 3 to 5 reps again, holding
the stretch for 5 seconds.
Set
5 - barbell bench press - 1 to 3 reps. This going
is going to be a tough set...go for power on this
one, not necessarily tension. At the top of the last
rep, do a static hold for as long as you can...THAT
is when you'll work on developing tension. When you
start to feel the bar drop a bit, rerack it and end
the set.
Set
6 - dumbell flye - last one! Lower the dumbells
to the bottom and just hold the stretch for as long
as you can stand it.
Now you're
done!
This is
not a short set and you don't need many of them to
get the job done (one run-through is probably going
to be fine...twice at the most).
You'll
first fill the muscle with blood, then stretch it,
then fill it a bit more, then stretch it, then fill
it a bit more and squeeze, then one final stretch.
Once you've had a chance to try this
technique and see what it's all about, the next step
is to put this in the context of an overall program.
And, like
I mentioned at the top, my Muscle
Explosion program integrates this style of
training directly into the program where it's going
to be MOST effective...you'll do it after a massive
week of overload training when your muscles are packed
full of water and glycogen.
This will
maximize the internal expansion forces you'll be able
to put on that fascia.
To
put it blunty, if you currently think of yourself
as a "hardgainer" this will help you not
be one anymore.
And if
you have any bodyparts that you find tough to grow
and develop, this will help them not be tough to grow.
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The
Muscle
Explosion program uses this fascial stretching
concept, along with FOUR other Mass Principles,
to allow to achieve MASSIVE increases in strength
and muscle in very short periods of time.
Your
genetic limitations may not be genetic...they
could be the results of how you train and how
you eat eat.
And
there are physiological factors that you can
CHANGE through training and eating to blow through
those limitations.
The
Muscle
Explosion program is designed from the ground
up, to work ALL of these factors in a structured
28-day "attack" on your body.
It
works and it works FAST.
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