Fascia for Toning and Sculpting: GST Conscious Conditioning

“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”― Michelangelo

Once again, fascia shows us a different, more evolved, and healthier way of getting what we want.  As part of our fitness pursuits, we all would like to have more tone, strength, and definition in our muscles, especially as we age. Muscles and fascia, although deeply integrated in our physiology, work very differently. One big difference is that muscles contract and shorten to get strong, toned, and defined, while fascia tractions and lengthens to get all that and more.

When it comes to working on the physique, the traditional way to tone and define a muscle- no matter how light the weights or how many reps- is to tighten and contract a muscle so that it shortens there by creating a small or large bulge in the belly of a muscle. This shorting at the ends increases the “volume” of the muscle so that it lifts and raises through the skin. The success of this approach greatly depends on someone's body fat percentage for how much definition is actually achieved.  This works similarly to the way the medium of clay works with sculpting, which adds mass to the sculpture form to reveal shape and definition.

Fascia, on the other hand, allows us to define musculature by lengthening and tractioning muscles.  Fascia contours the shape of a muscle by how it runs force through its fibers. Very similar to how a river contours a hillside during a rainstorm, the fascia pulls and pushes force through its fibers in patterns called fascial currents. It's possible to control the “fascia force flow”, aka currents, by learning GST’s fascia flux technology (how to contract fascia the way you know how to flex a muscle). The success of this approach provides far superior results in all body types but also gives additional body benefits listed below. 

Using fascial flux animation:

• Increases overall body metabolism by having more tissue animation 
• Works fascia longer, increasing the distance that muscle tissues have to stretch. This is like running around a longer race track- “more miles” burns more calories  
• Removes unnecessary tissues, making the mass of the muscle leaner and more obvious 
• Refines the muscle bundle boundaries (using the fascial envelope) 
• Improves blood and lymph circulation, so you lose excess water and toxins related to weight gain. Losing this type of weight helps to reveal more of the muscle shape and tone. 

Sculpting, toning, and defining muscles with fascia works more like sculpting with the medium of stone. It “chisels away the superfluous material,” revealing only the essential elements of beautifully defined, toned, and functional muscles.  

Working with fascia as the primary medium for your aesthetic ambitions not only leaves you with a beautiful form, but also enhances your body’s overall holistic functionality. This is not the case with muscle training.  

• Watch this video to learn more about fascia flux.
• Take your traditional weights and try this. 
• Better yet- try our GST Body Bar Collection- including our Body Bar, Micro Bars, and Mini Bar- to start getting the results you want while taking care of your whole body holistically. 

It's time to not only try to look good, but also feel the best you ever have!