Myofascial Training: Intelligent Movement for Mobility, Performance, and Recovery

by Ester Albini

Overview

Perform your best and feel your best by keeping your body flexible, strong, and mobile.

Myofascial Training: Intelligent Movement for Mobility, Performance, and Recovery will show you how to reset your network of fascia, the connective tissues that support and protect the muscles and bones that facilitate every move you make. The result? A toned, balanced, relaxed, and coordinated body.

Following five fundamental strategies—feel, mobilize, stretch, move, and release—you will learn specific exercises for the fascia throughout your body. The movements are simple, and most require only your own bodyweight. Expert instruction will lead you through sequences to improve function, enhance performance, recover from injury, and release tension. More than 600 color photos show the correct starting position and technique for each movement to ensure optimal results.

In addition, you’ll find dedicated sequences and programs for specific situations and conditions. Constantly working at a computer? Focus on relief for the shoulders and neck or for carpal tunnel syndrome. Standing all day? Try a program for healthy feet. Looking to improve a personal best? Employ techniques to help improve running form.

Whether you want to improve your functional daily living or enhance athletic performance, the benefits of mobilizing the fascia network are significant. With Myofascial Training, you will learn to truly listen to and feel how your body moves as a functional unit and how to incorporate the right training exercises to feel your absolute best.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492594703
Publisher:	Human Kinetics Publishers
Publication date:	03/03/2020
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,039,649
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ester Albini is the owner of Ester Albini Pilates Academy and cofounder of the Functional Training School (FTS). She is a personal trainer and fitness instructor and has a diploma in fitness from the Swiss Confederation. Her professional training includes an impressive list of credentials, such as Anatomy Trains Levels I and II, IKFF Certified Kettlebell Trainer Level I, TRX Level II, Reebok Master Trainer, Polestar, Balanced Body, Gyrotonic Teacher Level 1, and Posturologa Mézières and Bricot. She has been a lecturer for several international schools, including FTS, the Italian Fitness Federation (FIF), Reebok, and the Swiss Academy of Fitness and Sports (SAFS). Albini is the creator of the Woodpole method, Body Ball Relaxing, and Fascial Real Emotion (FReE). She is also the author of several books and DVDs.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. What Is Fascia?
Chapter 2. Myofascial Lines
Chapter 3. FReE: Fascial Real Emotion
Chapter 4. FEEL IT: Perception and Activation
Chapter 5. MOBILITY: Functional Mobility
Chapter 6. STRETCH: Fascial Stretching and Shape
Chapter 7. ENERGY: Movement as Elastic Energy
Chapter 8. RELEASE: Fascial Release
Chapter 9. Training Programs

 

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Joanie Holst, MS, BCTMB, CNMT (Northwestern Health Sciences University)
Description: According to the author, this first edition book is written to teach readers how to "reset" their fascial system to result in a more toned and balanced body. The first chapter provides a fairly detailed explanation of the fascial system and the second chapter shares the myofascial meridian concept as taught by Tom Myers, one of the leaders in the field of myofascia and fascial therapy. Chapters 3 through 8 focus on the author's system, which she calls FReE - Fascial Real Emotion. The final chapter provides a well-organized overview of each of the programs outlined in the previous chapters. This chapter could also serve as a handy, quick reference guide for the user during their individual trainings.
Purpose: The purpose of this book is to share and teach readers the author's program, FReE: Fascial Real Emotion. The FReE method is based on five strategies, each having a different effect on the myofascial tissue. The program incorporates different types of movements and exercises to train, or re-train, the fascial system. The end result or goal is to improve the vitality and functionality of the fascial system. As a fascial therapist, I would support the concept of the importance of the fascial system and its overall role in our health and movement. Without experiencing the program itself, I can't speak to its actual effectiveness, but the concept behind it is certainly one I support.
Audience: This book is written for anyone interested in making the commitment to follow the author's system of movements and exercises to "reset" their fascial system. The author claims this reset will result in a more toned, balanced, flexible body, thereby improving or at least possibly improving, functionality and performance in daily life. I like the approach being focused on daily life because, to me, that means anyone can achieve this result if they have the dedication and commitment to do so. The author has 30 years of experience in the world of fitness and movement including as both an instructor and personal trainer. After learning about the fascial system, she used her knowledge and experience of movement to create this program.
Features: Each chapter begins with a description of the particular strategy outlined in that chapter. Each chapter also contains well-done color photographs as well as detailed verbal descriptions of the position and/or movements being taught. Each movement is broken down to help the learners with specific strategies, movements, what to focus on, and what to work on. There is also a discussion box that notes pieces of information for additional clarity and insight. When it comes to the practical application of this program, I do believe the last chapter, chapter 9: Training Programs is well thought out and presented. The author steps the readers through choosing the area of focus (or purpose) and choosing the training program most suited to the user. Each program then lists each step in a verbal description and includes a photo of each step/position. Of added benefit is the inclusion of incorporating the programs to integrate into Pilates and functional training.
Assessment: Depending upon the readers' background and training, it is possible that much of the initial information in this book may not be new to them from the perspective of the actual stretches, exercises, or activities. However, the perspective that I do believe might be new is the presentation of these movements aligning with the inner focus of the participant in using and directing the movements to address the fascial system, thereby possibly creating the change or, as the authors calls it, resetting the fascial system. I also see the author's emphasis labeled as "focus on" and "work on" to be key, especially for movements we do out of habit and sometimes forget why we are doing them. Lastly, especially for those in the field of personal training, I think the suggestions for integration into Pilates and functional training could have much to offer.

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