One of the most overlooked aspects of a well balanced fitness program is the maintenance of quality soft-tissue*. It may not sound sexy and it certainly doesn’t sell magazines, but it will ensure the longevity of your joints and the quality of your workouts. Looking to improve lean muscle mass? Lose body fat? Increase power? Whatever your goals, you better have good quality soft-tissue, because without it, you are likely to find yourself on the sidelines with an injury….where all of your fitness goals come to a screeching halt.
There are a lot of crazy exercise programs out there (ah hem…CrossFit) that quickly and irresponsibly impose an insane amount of stress on the joints. Sure, you’ll leave your workout feeling gassed and proud because you “felt the burn,” but if said workout ultimately leaves you injured (and it will,) how effective is it really? Unfortunately for the athlete, the wear and tear of an un-balanced exercise program does not show up right away, or it would be easy to identify and correct. The body is resilient, and will put up with a lot…to a point. Once the muscles and joints have been sufficiently improperly hammered, inflammation will appear in the form of sore ankles, knees, shoulders or hips, or worse.
A responsible fitness program emphasizes quality of nutrition, movement and soft-tissue: a sure-fire formula for success. Because it doesn’t get the play it deserves, today we are focusing on soft-tissue, but alas, a quick shout-out to the others.
Nutrition: You will not lose fat unless you give your body fewer calories than it needs. Period. But in order to keep your metabolism from plummeting, you must give it the nutrients it wants, so focus on those foods that show up and bring a lot of bang for their buck (high in nutrients, low in calories).
Movement: An intelligently designed program puts a premium on quality of movement above all else and is highly metabolic by design. Getting the most out of movement requires healthy joints that are well balanced. Prolonged steady state low-intensity cardio is to be avoided as it nets a low metabolic disturbance and contributes to unnecessary wear on your joints.
Tissue: The best insurance policy you can take out on your joints is maintaining the quality of your soft-tissue. An athlete gets stronger as tissue is rebuilt. If you are constantly breaking it down, you aren’t making any progress. Obviously, proper rest is part of maintaining healthy tissue and improving performance. But rest alone is not enough – mobility, stretching and soft-tissue restoration are three necessary components.
At the risk of losing a few people here, I am going to throw in a little background on the kinetic chain to highlight the importance of tissue quality in a highly functioning athlete (a conversation non-starter for most people, I realize….). The kinetic chain envelopes the entire body’s movement system. It is made up of the soft-tissue system, the neural system (central nervous system) and the articular system (joints). All three systems work together to form an integrated functional unit. If one is not operating efficiently, the others must compensate, leading to tissue overload, faulty movement patterns and ultimately, injury. The kinetic chain is the motor behind our finely tuned system and it can take a little know-how to keep it running optimally.
Every workout should start with some mobility work as part of a well-balanced dynamic warm-up. With these exercises, you are working the nervous system and soft-tissue in order to teach a muscle to turn on or relax at the right time. This ensures the added range of motion you are getting is coming from the right place and not the spots that warrant stability (i.e.: lumbar spine). The most important areas to mobilize before training are the ankles, hips, thoracic spine and shoulders. Workouts should end with a few key stretches as well. None of which take long when you know what to do, but the payback is huge.
Quite possibly the biggest player in tissue restoration is myofascial release (MFR). Put simply, muscles and their fibers (consisting of spindles) are akin to bundles of pasta. Ideally the spindles are soft and subtle – receptive to blood flow and healthy movement. As a muscle is taxed or over-used, its spindles stick together and form adhesions, interfering with proper function, and often limiting the range of motion at the nearest joint by reflexively shortening (tightening!) the muscle tissue. This can lead to poor movement patterns, premature fatigue and injury. This is where MFR comes in. MFR is a technique (manual or often with a foam roller) that applies gentle sustained pressure to muscle or connective tissue restrictions in order to eliminate pain and recover proper movement. MFR breaks up adhesions in soft-tissue thereby restoring the normal length-tension relationship (flexibility) in a muscle, decreasing pain and improving overall function, which in turn improves muscular balance, joint function and performance.
Myofascial release can be done on your own with a foam roller, a tennis ball, or other such instrument, or through massage. As a practical matter, I prefer self myofascial release. It is an important skill to learn as it can be an extremely effective way to warm-up a muscle before a workout as well.
With a little more attention to flexibility, the addition of some mobility work and some quality time spent with a foam roller, you and your soft-tissue will be back on the fast track to reaching your fitness goals. It certainly isn’t rocket science, but focusing on the quality of your tissue will enhance the longevity, comfort and quality of your training. So while it didn’t sound so sexy before, hopefully you have learned to put a premium on healthy soft-tissue and you’ll integrate some of these practices into your workout. Your tissue depends on it.
*The soft-tissue system refers to muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia.