Last Updated: 11/3/24
When we consider what is required for healthy aging, a number of obvious factors such as eating a well-balanced diet, engaging in regular resistance training, and getting adequate sleep come to mind. However, an often-overlooked factor is maintaining tissue pliability. The purpose of this FPOW is to describe tissue pliability, and then offer training tips about how to unlock restricted tissue and train it for optimal resiliency.
What is tissue pliability?
Tissue pliability allows your muscles to be long, resilient, and move without restriction, enabling them to absorb and create force. To illustrate what pliability feels like, think back to when you were a kid. You could spend the whole night sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag and wake up feeling like a million bucks! Imagine how you would feel now. Do the words stiff, achy, and tight come to mind? The problem that evolves as we age is a decrease in muscle pliability, caused by chronic inflammation, overuse, poor posture, and physical trauma (i.e. sports injuries). Over time, the affected tissue contracts and tightens, often remaining in the contracted state. When tissue no longer moves fluidly, you will notice restriction with functional movements such as squatting, lunging, reaching, etc. In severe cases, you can experience chronic pain. Fortunately, tissue pliability can be restored no matter how far down the scale you find yourself.
How can I improve my tissue pliability?
In the simplest terms, the tissue deep in your muscle must be stretched and strengthened three dimensionally. This can be accomplished with self-myofascial release techniques and 3D Matrix Training.
Self-myofascial release with a foam roller
The foam roller utilizes a gliding technique to loosen up soft tissue. Gliding is excellent for decreasing central nervous system activity, rehydrating the fascia and increasing blood flow to the area. For these reasons, foam rolling is best used before engaging in a stretch practice or a strenuous workout. While the foam roller is excellent for the aforementioned reasons, pressure-based myofascial release is preferred when seeking to impact tissue pliability and create lasting change.
Self-myofascial release with a Gumdrop
The Gumdrop differs from the foam roller by focusing on pressure-based myofascial release. Its unique design allows for direct pressure deep into restricted tissue allowing you to access areas that you would have difficulty finding with a foam roller. After applying pressure to the affected tissue, many experience freedom to move better, thus setting the stage for effective 3D matrix training.
3D Matrix Training
After removing soft tissue restrictions with self-myofascial release, 3D matrix training is the best next step for restoring tissue pliability. By challenging movement in various directions and angles, soft tissue adapts to allow for greater range of motion and increased strength within that range of motion. 3D matrix training delivers adaptations that you otherwise cannot achieve with traditional exercise methods. Ultimately, your stiffness and likelihood of experiencing pain/injury decrease.
We can’t turn back the clock and feel like we did when we were kids. However, we can drastically decrease stiffness and improve our overall functionality with purposeful pliability strategies. Speak with a One on One team member to create a plan to improve your pliability today!
