Thursday, April 22, 2010

Two Words....Fuzz

Look. You've got to take care of your tissues. This is probably second in importance only to the universal "protect your crotch" law. Stretching or mobilizing your tight business is always a good idea, but in reality as about as sexy as laundry and taxes.
But, really, who cares if your performance suffers, or you get pulled into terribly technique poor positioning, or are really weak at the end ranges of your range of motion, or you are wearing out your joint surfaces?

Enter the Fuzz Concept.

Maybe, you will start stretching because you just don't like the concept of "fuzz" accumulating in your tissues. Fuzz you ask? I have a fuzz problem? What the fuzz? Gil Hedley, rockstar anatomist, makes an excellent case and presents a compelling hypothesis for internal muscular resistance. You can think of muscular "stiffness" as a measure of how well the muscle tissue (and other connective tissues) slide past one another. The more stiffness, the greater the internal resistance of the system. Increased internal resistance means decreased efficiency and lost power output. (We actually talk about this at the Movement and Mobility Seminar.) Dr. Hedley describes the formation of fuzz as secondary to immobility (like sleeping). As an aside, Leopards do stretch by the way, and you aren't a leopard--so quit using the "leopard defense" to rationalize your stiff/tight self. Know what makes even more fuzz accumulate in your body? Muscle damage. That's right. Working out.

Go ahead, say something witty you fuzz collector.
Now watch the man himself describe the fuzz epidemic.

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See. Aren't you embarrassed that you are so fuzzy and you didn't even know it?

Gross.


K-banishthefuzz-star

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I prefer when you banish my fuzz. The lacrosse ball just isn't the same.

Gracewanderer said...

Fascinating. I didn't think it was actual, literal fuzz you were talking about.

This has inspired me to reconsider taking up some kind of serious stretching practice, especially for my consistent hip mobility issues.

Hollis said...

GROSS

chris said...

Did anyone else get the willies from that guy?? I was trying to listen to what he said but I was severly distracted by his dancing in front of a dead body.
Would it be wrong to ask KStarr to banish my fuzz? Does that sound to dirty?

Founder said...

Just like chicken.

Unknown said...

Dr. Hedley seems to me to be the Captain Jack Sparrow of Anatomists.

boomgoesthedynamite said...

is fuzz paleo?

Kristy A. said...

Wow, pretty disturbing in so many ways. I kept thinking "just think of it as beef" but then I started thinking about that bacon-wrapped, fuzz-free, grass-fed eye of round roast I have cooking and that made it worse, so I stopped thinking.

The fuzz is pretty terrifying. I think the scare tactic is working because I am fidgeting right now and going to go and stretch. Or "not stretch." Whatever. :)

Thank you for another amazing and mind-blowing post! More! More!

Person said...

The classic comment on this sort of thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6rSRNVXKZc

at ~3:04

Andy Grant said...

OK, I'm buying what fidgety Dr. Gil is selling.

The fascia really is a pretty fascinating thing...