Single vs Multi-Dimensional Thinking

Muscular anatomy is commonly described as being organized into prime mover or agonist muscles, which are responsible for producing a movement at a joint, and antagonistic muscles, which work to restrict the joint motion caused by the agonists. For example, during a knee-extension exercise the quadriceps muscles on the front of the thigh are described as the agonists because they create open-chain knee extension, and the hamstring muscles located on the back of the thigh are considered antagonists because in an open-chain environment (i.e., with the foot not on the ground) they work to move the knee into flexion in the opposite direction.

While both of these axioms, which have long been taught in the fitness industry as being the only way that muscles work, are are not wrong, they are incomplete. If you are studying human anatomy from a static perspective, with the body lying flat, the concepts of muscles performing only a single type of contraction or working as opposing pairs makes sense. However, during upright movement, the myofascial network has to organize and control forces entering the body, and a single muscle can have some fascicles that are lengthening while other fascicles are shortening (Schleip et al., 2012; Myers, 2011; Ingber, 2003).Source

A singular focus on muscle leaves a lot to be desired when your goal is optimal health and performance. Now because fascia operates as a three dimensional matrix we know the human body is not simply just one dimensional muscle. There are multiple layers of fascia all sliding upon each other during all movement. There are tendons, ligaments, muscles, and neurons all working in unison. This means any injury or performance problem is a multi-dimensional problem.

How do you think trying to treat a multi-dimensional problem with one dimensional thinking will go? It creates unintended problems. This goes back to what I always say: "Half-truths lead to full lies".

A major example of this is the Sliding Filament Theory.

For many years, exercise science has also focused on describing movement as a function of how the contractile element influences a particular joint. The sliding filament theory of actin-myosin cross-bridging describes how the contractile element of muscle functions to produce movement. As the actin and myosin slide across one another, this shortens the sarcomeres of a particular myofibril; when a number of myofibrils shorten at the same time it causes the distal end of a muscle to move closer to the proximal attachment.

As a result it has been thought that the contractile element has the greatest impact on creating human movement. [This approach traces its roots back to the early cadaver dissections to study the human body, which perceived the connective tissue as mere packing material and was immediately removed in an effort to study how the contractile element of skeletal muscle attached to the skeleton (Myers, 2009).]

In turn, this approach led to the methodology of training the body as a number of separate individual parts as opposed to one single system, which led to the overwhelming number of machines in the typical health club. It turns out that this approach might be misguided and that the non-contractile connective tissue is more responsible for organizing human movement than originally thought.Source

In an attempt to not get too technical, this theory basically says that muscle cells are the drivers of movement and serves as an explanation for how muscles contract to produce force. Now obviouslty if you ask any conventional physical therapist, sports scientist, or strength coach this is well accepted. This theory further entrenches one-dimensional muscle-based thinking.

With that said remember that one, it is only a theory, and two, it all functions off a key assumption that fascia is inert tissue that has no intrinsic purpose besides acting as "stuffing". This is how incomplete information can lead to whole fields of misguided thinking. For the longest time, researchers merely tossed out fascia when studying cadavers thinking muscle and nerves was all that mattered. They were to focused on the parts and not the whole. A theme we see ever-present nowadays.

Conventional sports training emphasizes adequate training of muscle fibres, of cardiovascular conditioning and/or neuromuscular coordination. Most sports-associated overload injuries however occur within elements of the body wide fascial net, which are then loaded beyond their prepared capacity. This tensional network of fibrous tissues includes dense sheets such as muscle envelopes, aponeuroses, as well as specific local adaptations, such as ligaments or tendons.Source

If you focus where the pain is then you are ignoring what's causing the pain. Look to the whole and not the parts.

The Fascial Web

Strolling under the Skin

Please click to watch

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🐎 So what is this white stuff covering everything in our body? The infinite wisdom of nature would not just bother to cover our whole body with white stuff that solely functions as a covering. Probably the most important function of fascia is that it is a sensory organ loaded with mechanoreceptors and proprioceptors. Every single muscle fiber in our body is covered by fascia.

Many muscles originate and insert into fascia, not to mention the intramuscular fascia. Whenever a muscle is stretched or contracts the surrounding fascia must be stretched. The muscle spindle cell should be called the fascial spindle cell since they are located in the fascia. As soon as a muscle is activated, spindle cells immediately report back to the CNS the status of the muscle such as its tone, position and movement.Source

If I use the comparison of a spider web, you can understand how something very thin and weak can come together to create something strong, yet flexible. You could visualize how pulling on one part of the web would create movement that impacts the whole spider web. And you could imagine how damage to one area could affect the strength and integrity of the whole web.

Though each strand of web is inherently thin and weak and incredibly stretchy, yet when tied together in an every-which-way intricacy of connections, the web has structure and mobile strength, and the spider is protected against rain, predators, and wind...even the wind generated by going down the highway at 70 miles per hour!

From the smallest cell to the biggest organ, everything in our body is supported by fascia! Fascia even forms the spaces where interstitial fluid is allowed to flow, and bathe every cell of our body as an intricate part of cellular health. Look at the spider web above, and imagine it is the fascial web holding protective space for a nerve or blood vessel to freely glide and move in your arm, while not getting crushed or over-stretched by the muscular action going on around it.

Or speaking of muscles, visualize this web as the sheath around a single muscle fiber, surrounded by hundreds of other fibers, which are then bunched together by fascia into a muscle bundle, which is then bound with hundreds of other muscle bundles to form a muscle. A muscle isn't even a muscle until it is given structure by the fascia! Source]

"If I use the comparison of a spider web, you can understand how something very thin and weak can come together to create something strong, yet flexible. You could visualize how pulling on one part of the web would create movement that impacts the whole spider web. And you could imagine how damage to one area could affect the strength and integrity of the whole web.

Though each strand of web is inherently thin and weak and incredibly stretchy, yet when tied together in an every-which-way intricacy of connections, the web has structure and mobile strength, and the spider is protected against rain, predators, and wind...even the wind generated by going down the highway at 70 miles per hour!

From the smallest cell to the biggest organ, everything in our body is supported by fascia! Fascia even forms the spaces where interstitial fluid is allowed to flow, and bathe every cell of our body as an intricate part of cellular health. Look at the spider web above, and imagine it is the fascial web holding protective space for a nerve or blood vessel to freely glide and move in your arm, while not getting crushed or over-stretched by the muscular action going on around it.

Or speaking of muscles, visualize this web as the sheath around a single muscle fiber, surrounded by hundreds of other fibers, which are then bunched together by fascia into a muscle bundle, which is then bound with hundreds of other muscle bundles to form a muscle. A muscle isn't even a muscle until it is given structure by the fascia!" Source

Muscles merely operate within the fascial web. You can think of muscles inside fascial compartments. There's one giant web of fascia while muscles only exist within pockets of it.

Muscles simply follow orders from the brain and thus the fascial network which wraps around and connects everything in the body. The brain only knows movement patterns not muscles.

The picture below illustrates well how muscles really are inside fascial compartments and not separate parts. I've now come to view muscles as the "boosters" and fascia as the "engine" of the human body.

🐎 FASCIAL COMPARTMENTS

Posterior view of the pelvic region reveals interesting fascial links from thorax to pelvis to lower extremity.

This view is much closer to reality that many “muscle only” pictures.

The concept of named muscles is a manifestation of isolationist dissectors of years past who likely equated their findings on a dissection table to that of a butcher.

Protein “cuts” seemed to take shape and were named as muscles. However, this illustration shows the real anatomy which is an interconnected web of connective tissue that happens to have “compartments” that house contractile protein bundles.

The left side shows the fascial compartments for the glute max, semimembranosus and biceps femoris. On the right the compartment for the quadratus femoris is shown with the muscle protein removed.

One can easily see how muscle chains are the true reality as no muscle is isolated but is in fact just compartments along a much larger fascial system.

This concept can change the clinician’s approach to myofascial therapy or acupuncture. The best therapeutic effects may come from targeting fascial lines or chains rather than individual muscles only. Always think links.

@physioosteogram

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The above is a useful exhibit showing how the same motion can be executed by two different levels of function. One muscle-driven utilizing ATP and another based on the elasticity of fascia which doesn't waste energy like muscle.

Below is a very good example of muscle vs fascia distribution that makes it more obvious so you can understand the nuance in us humans. You see the lower leg is lean and stringy with huge tendons and while you travel up to the torso there is more muscle. In these gazelles I will liken where both pairs of their legs meet the torso as the lats and glutes, respectively, equivalents in the human body. Watch below.

The Gerenuk! These long necked antelopes are native to east Africa! Only the males have horns.

The lower extremities are designed in way to leverage fascia more than bulky muscle.

Muscle Driven vs Fascia Driven

So now that we've cleared up the relationship between muscle and fascia, let's talk more about driving movement and athleticism.

Now, muscle dominance creates constant muscle tension in a body. The muscle will stay contracted and will be unable to shut off which is vital for optimal movement and recovery. The muscle does this because the fascia is dysfunctional. The body tries to compensate by having the muscle stiffen and perform the role of tension in the fascial system. The fascial system is what's supposed to have tension like a finely tuned string instrument or the web idea we discussed above.

That fascial tension is what allows the muscles to relax and increase slack which increases the potential for retraction. This is why you see the best athletes with such relaxed muscles because their fascial tension is so high. This allows their muscle to relax better allowing for a higher potential contraction. A higher contraction/relaxation relationship equals greater power, strength, speed, etc.

Resting muscle tone, theoretically, may be significantly influenced by changes in fascial stiffness, being additive to the long-understood role of muscle influencing fascial tone.Source

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Muscle Dominance

In my metaphor above as the human body like a car with the muscles being the boosters and the fascia being the engine, being muscle-driven is like having the boosters doing the work of the engine. That creates an extremely inefficient body which will likely succumb to injury quite soon...

The body intrinsically uses muscle to drive movement as opposed to fascia. Why would it doing that? There's many reasons: lifestyle, too much sitting, weightlifting, injuries, surgery, childhood, modern shoes, etc...

Signs of Muscle Dominance

• Big quads and underdeveloped VMO
• Constantly injured
• Poor recovery and body control (proprioception)
• You feel like your body is constantly breaking down as opposed to evolving.
• Your touch gets rusty with only a few days of not training.
• You don't feel glutes or abs when you run, jump, or kick a football.
• You feel calves, quads, groin, or hip flexor while running, jumping, and kicking the football

🐎Many athletes have huge quads but very small VMO -> sign of inefficies and incorrect muscle patterns -> strive for muscle symmetry

• Ryan Flaherty

Best running animals in the world have long tendons. Why? A larger recovery of free energy when they stride. Deep squatting will change the structure of the tendons. Not going as low in the squat would be better. Large juicy quads are sign of dysfunction in the body. You will jump higher and run faster when your quads get smaller.

• Cal Dietz

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When you go too far down that maximal strength pipeline, you often will create governors and limiters on your brain, where for survival’s sake, to protect your joints the brain will rewire the way you contract the muscle.

• Matt Cooper

A sign of overtraining is when muscle tone increases from small muscle tone to high or medium . The adrenaline receptor has been overstimulated and desensitized. Adrenaline increases muscle tone. Cortisol will increase the conversion of noadrenaline to adrenaline.

Anything that will lower cortisol will lower adrenaline. Lower volume, lower intensity, lower psychological stress, lower neurological demands, lower density, lower competiveness to lower cortisol. Carbs lower cortisol. If you have a low baseline level of adrenaline, you might not want carbs before you play because it will lower your adrenaline even further

• Christian Thibaudeau

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If you are born with the big muscles, it’s very different than if you had to pump up to build the muscles (from a fascia perspective).

• David Weck

I'll add here that "big muscles" on a Natural are intrinsically different than "big muscles" built in the gym. This is core to the idea of being built different. The foot shows the truth.

A lack of fascial tension in the ankle can lead you to favoring muscle over fascia as the brain will step in and do this unconsciously if you can't keep the ankle stiff enough.

Fascia Dominance

Stiffness is a requirement for movement efficiency

The stiffer your foot & ankle are upon contact the quicker you will be able to load and unload the potential energy contained within these impact forces. In fact research has shown that it is foot and ankle stiffness that actually translates to running speed. A 2002 study by Brett et al. found that sprinters who could generate the greatest stiffness had the fastest acceleration.

So how do we create this stiffness needed upon foot contact?

The answer lies within the integrated relationship between our muscles and fascia.

Myofascial Tensioning = StiffnessSource

All of our muscles contain a deep interconnected myofascial web that is continuous with the surrounding tendons and ligaments.  This myofascial web runs from around the muscle as a whole (epimysium) to around the muscle fascicles (perimysium) and finally around the individual muscle fibers (endomysium).

Each of these individual facial layers have muscle fibers inserting onto them making their relationship dynamic – as well as one that is necessary for movement efficiency.

The way our body creates stiffness is through isometric contractions.  Isometric contracts create tension through this myofascial web – especially through the perimysium.    Why the perimysium is important to stiffness and energy transfer is that studies have shown that it is this layer of facia that contains the highest concentration of myofibroblasts.  Myofibroblasts are the cells that contain the contractile potential for elastic energy transfer.

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All of our muscles contain a deep interconnected myofascial web that is continuous with the surrounding tendons and ligaments.  This myofascial web runs from around the muscle as a whole (epimysium) to around the muscle fascicles (perimysium) and finally around the individual muscle fibers (endomysium).

Each of these individual facial layers have muscle fibers inserting onto them making their relationship dynamic – as well as one that is necessary for movement efficiency.

The way our body creates stiffness is through isometric contractions.  Isometric contracts create tension through this myofascial web – especially through the perimysium.    Why the perimysium is important to stiffness and energy transfer is that studies have shown that it is this layer of facia that contains the highest concentration of myofibroblasts.  Myofibroblasts are the cells that contain the contractile potential for elastic energy transfer.

Now all this stiffness in the foot creates the fascial molding we see in top footballers here as evident by the curled toes and prominent tendons. This is primarily developed from birth as everyone is supposed to have this function in the foot, but unfortunately modern lifestyles and shoes leave this function understimulated and lost unless you can consciously redevelop it.

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Now a major stumbling block to this idea of fascia dominance is the thought that fascia has no contractile properties and is merely "stuffing" in the body. The mainstream teaches that muscle can only be the drive of movement as we discussed above. Let's talk about that because we know in real life it's not true.

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Force transmission

Studying the attachment points of the contractile element on a static human cadaver lying in the supine position led these early anatomists to theorize that, if a muscle has two attachment points and crosses a joint, then it must work only to move that joint. However, when the human body is alive, upright and moving, it must account for the competing bottom-up forces of ground reaction and top-down forces from gravity; as a result, the myofascial network becomes the primary system for controlling these forces.

Whereas the central nervous system (CNS) sends signals via electrical impulses, the fascia and connective tissue create a system that communicates by transferring forces from one section of the myofascial network to another (Schleip et al., 2012; Myers, 2009; Vogel, 2006; Ingber, 2003). Through mechano-transduction, which is the transmission of mechanical forces through fascia and connective tissue to initiate a biochemical response, it is estimated that mechanical vibrations transiting the myofascial network move three times faster than the signals sent by the CNS (Schleip et al., 2012; Vogel, 2006; Ingber, 2004).

On the macro level, mechano-transduction is effective at transferring force from one segment of muscle or connective tissue to another, while on the micro level it initiates chemical reactions that change the structure and biophysical properties of individual cells (Langevin, 2006; Vogel, 2006; Ingber, 2004, 2003).Source

Myofascial force transmission. Conventionally, skeletal muscles have been considered as primarily transmitting force to their osseous insertions through the myotendinous junction. However, in situ experiments in animals and imaging studies in humans have shown that intermuscular and extramuscular fascial tissues also provide a pathway for force transmission.

Research on Fascia possessing contractile properties

Fascia is usually considered to be a passive force transmitter in musculoskeletal dynamics. Nevertheless the literature mentions indications for an active contractility of fascia due to the presence of contractile intrafascial cells(1, 2, 3).This study for the first time shows clear evidence, that human fascia is able to actively contract and thereby may influence biomechanical behavior.

These results suggest, that fascia is a contractile organ, due to the presence of myofibroblasts. This ability is expressed on the one hand in chronic tissue contractures which include tissue remodeling; and on the other hand in smooth muscle-like cellular contractions over a timeframe of minutes to hours, which can be strong enough to influence low back stability and other aspects of human biomechanics.

This offers future implications for the understanding and clinical management of pathologies which go along with increased or decreased myofascial stiffness (such as low back pain, tension headache, spinal instability, or fibromyalgia). It also offers new insights for treatments directed at fascia, such as osteopathy, the Rolfing method of myofascial release, or acupuncture. Further research on fascial contractility is indicated and promising.Source

Dense connective tissue sheets, commonly known as fascia, play an important role as force transmitters in human posture and movement regulation. Fascia is usually seen as having a passive role, transmitting mechanical tension which is generated by muscle activity or external forces. However, there is some evidence to suggest that fascia may be able to actively contract in a smooth muscle-like manner and consequently influence musculoskeletal dynamics. Source

Contractile cells do exist in fascia. When you become fascia driven, your movement quality goes up and your body becomes more efficient at using energy and thus your stamina goes up. Source 1 Source 2

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In emergency, this fascia web matrix contracts within nanoseconds and standing forces up to 2000 lb per square inch

This though is all dependent on the level of your fascial fitness. Understand though on the pitch, everything that happens will be unconscious or automatic. There is no room on the pitch for how the body would consciously work in the gym under load. We need to work the unconscious to create transformation. "Timing is impossible to consciously train in terms of muscle, joint, full body activation. It has to become unconscious." - Joel Smith

During dynamic movements, as fascia is lengthened it stores mechanical, potential energy that is released during the shortening phase of muscle action. It is estimated that fascia can return approximately 90% of energy during many movement patterns (Earls, 2014).

As there are two components of muscle, contractile and non-contractile fibers, there are two specific components of fascia: (1) the individual protein fibers of collagen and elastin; and (2) the extracellular matrix (ECM) containing fibroblasts, which are individual cells of fibrous connective tissue and ground substance (a gel-like substance in the extracellular space that contains all the components of the extracellular matrix except for fibrous materials such as collagen and elastin) where proteoglycans hold on to water. All cells are formed within this fluid, which plays an integral role in creating the structure of the body. The ECM surrounds individual muscle and fascia fibers like a soft, coarse mesh that contains nerve endings, sensory neurons and glands responsible for producing specific hormones (Schleip, 2017).Source

It is concluded that tension of myofascial tissue is actively regulated by myofibroblasts with the potential to impact active musculoskeletal dynamics. Source

What changes in the body when you become more fascial-driven?

Fascial biotensegrity creates effortless athleticism. The proprioceptive qualities covered before create elite skill, agility, touch, skill, and coordination. Stamina as well sees huge upgrades because the fascia creates free energy in each step through the elastic vibrational feedback.

Fascia consumes very little oxygen unlike the muscle driven athlete. Relying on muscle consumes oxygen much faster than fascia. Fascia-driven people gain energy over the game where muscle-drive tire quickly. Glutes-dominant can be called fascia-driven because glutes are 70% fascia. Fascia does more than just force production. It has a part to play in health, immune support, gut health, basic movement.

Being fascia-driven regenerates you while muscle driven is a constant battle of building up and breaking down tissue. This has to do with lactic acid in the muscle being built up while relying more on fascia turns fibroblasts into myofibroblasts which actively heals the tissue in real time. That's a topic we'll cover more in-depth in the future.

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Elite Athleticism

Now by no means is any of this easy to achieve, but the potential is there nonetheless. The path is there. Time becomes the only factor.

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Muscles slack and relaxed

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See how Zlatan's quad muscles are contracted strong on the left and then supple and slack on the right? This duality is what we want. We want the fascia strong, smooth, and tense while the muscle is relaxed and soft until it's needed on the pich. You don't want to burn out your "boosters" and have a dysfunctional "engine".

🐎The ability to have a massive contraction in a split second and then the muscle to go fully slack. That is an elite athlete.

The weightroom teaches long massive contractions. The bar doesn't move faster than a meter or two a second. Too slow.

• Famous Track Coach Tony Holler

One muscle can only contract as much as the opposing muscles can relax. Lifting heavy loads is ruining this dynamic by creating constant contraction under heavy loads.

• The Endless Web pg. 104

Relaxation and contraction are proportional. You will only be able to contract as much as you can relax. Maximal weight lifting works against this.

• Nick Curson

Muscles inability to relax while the opposite muscle contracts will limit speed.

• Mark Wetzel