Fascial Stretch Training Principles

Introduction To Fascia

What Are Fascia?

Fascia are layers of thin, fibrous tissues that surround muscles, groups of muscles, blood vessels, and nerves. Their purpose is to hold these structures together and enable them to move fluidly together. They are very dense structures designed to oppose the force of movement, thereby transferring the force of muscle contractions to bones, which enables movement. It's important to note that these structures are very flexible as they are made of collagen, much like tendons or ligaments.

Because fascia encase muscles and muscle groups, many exercise scientists have entertained the notion that stretching these fibers out creates more space for muscle to grow, providing larger more full-looking muscles. Research has been done on taking advantage of fascial flexibility to encourage muscle growth and definition and I want to share with you what was discovered.

J. Antonio and his research team published research in the Journal of Applied Physiology claiming that progressive stretch training of skeletal muscles (muscles that enable movement) induces hypertrophy (growth in size of muscle fibers) and, eventually, hyperplasia (growth in number of muscle fibers). While the research is not conclusive, it has been tried in practice for many years now and some of the great bodybuilders of our generation use fascial stretch training religiously.

Fascial Stretch Training Principles 

The Pump

Most weightlifters know right away what is meant when you reference "the pump." It's that full and swollen feeling you get after your muscles fill up with blood. In the "old school" of volume training, bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger would lift for several sets in order to get "the pump," because it was believed that it would increase muscle size and fullness. There wasn't any research, however, explaining why that would work or how.

In the 1980s and 90s, however, volume training was going out of style and the new generation of bodybuilders were using high-intensity training principles, or HIT, which encourages maximal effort on a minimum of sets. Typically you would do one or a couple "working sets" that were to exhaustion. The belief was that growth would occur from gains in strength. Interestingly, however, that generation of bodybuilders didn't quite reach the size of Arnold's, in general.

That's why some bodybuilders and trainers have returned, if only in part, to some of the old principles. Henry Rambod, for example, created the FST-7 training program based on both HIT principles and a belief that engorging your muscle with blood (the pump) promotes fascial stretching and muscle gains. His star pupil is Phil Heath, a 2x Mr. Olympia.

The program, in short, consists of a few high-intensity sets on your lifts, followed by a volume exercise in which you perform 7 sets to get "pumped," thereby stretching the fascia and encouraging muscle growth. 

Progressive Overload Stretching

Another popular new training style is called Doggcrapp, which was created by Dante Trudel. Similar to the FST-7 program, Doggcrapp is a high-intensity program that promotes fascial stretching. It does so differently, however. Rather than adding 7 sets to stretch the fascia with "the pump," extreme stretching is used to stretch your muscles after you're done working them. The goals are the same, but the methods are different.

Incorporating These Principles Into A Program

So what we have now are two ways of stretching the fascia to promote growth from two of the more popular training styles right now. There's really no reason "the pump" and progressive stretching can't live in the same program.

In my program, I'm going to begin incorporating both principles immediately. What I'm going to do is my normal workouts, followed by 7 sets for each muscle group to get "swole," then perform the fascial stretches while I have the pump.

I'm not 100% sure which stretches I'll be doing, it depends on what works for me and how my body feels the stretches, but this article from bodybuilding.com has some good ideas. There's also some stretches explained in Dante Trudel's Doggcrapp training guides, which you can find here. I'll probably use a mix until I find what works for me.

If nothing else, a little more stretching may simply help with my injuries. I'll keep you posted!