Fascial Fitness and Its Role in Athletic Performance

Is Your Fitness Training Plan Missing a Key Component?

Whether you are training for a marathon, a CrossFit aficionado, or simply a couch potato hoping to get into better shape, you know that success requires starting with a sound training plan. Just as a new runner should not expect to have marathon endurance, any fitness goal must first start with the building blocks of healthy, safe, intentional, and progressive training plans.

While you can find all kinds of workouts, targeting training systems, and theories on best practice, all the effort in the world will be less effective if you miss one key element to a truly functional body—your fascial fitness.

Fascial fitness and sports medicine are inextricably intertwined, and to understand the importance of your fascial fitness, you need a better grasp of how your body works. We all know that our muscles, bones, tendons, and organs make up the complex system of our bodies. However, these systems are held together by your fascia, which is a network of connective tissue holding your body together. A healthy fascial system helps your body work in alignment, have fluidity of movement, contribute to flexibility, and generally work the way it’s intended to function. However, sometimes, we can develop aberrations in our fascial tissue, where sections become thick and fibrous. As a result, your body is gradually pulled out of alignment, which contributes to poor form, decreased range of motion, chronic pain, and an inability to progress in your training goals.

So, how can you work on your fascial fitness and thereby advance your fitness goals?

A fascial fitness trainer can help. For example, in Santa Monica and the greater Los Angeles area, Certified Advanced Rolfer® Bob Alonzi works with people of all fitness levels to improve their fascial fitness through the practice of Rolfing®. This series of deep tissue body work corrects fascial aberrations and brings the body back into proper alignment. As you continue your wellness journey, contact Bob’s office for a consultation and learn more about how his practice can help you achieve true fascial fitness.