It’s no secret that exercise can’t save you from the ill effects of prolonged sitting. But did you know that sitting actually damages your exercise?
It’s true. Your butt isn’t designed to be a load-bearing surface. That prolonged pressure on
It’s no secret that exercise can’t save you from the ill effects of prolonged sitting. But did you know that sitting actually damages your exercise?
It’s true. Your butt isn’t designed to be a load-bearing surface. That prolonged pressure on your backside causes myofascial adhesion – tissue effects that damage your running posture and mobility.
Your Body the Cheeseburger
From bone to skin, the tissue of your body is stacked in layers. You’re probably already aware that those layers include muscles, ligaments, tendons, circulatory system components, and fat.
You can think of all these layers stacked up like a big double cheeseburger with bacon. I believe this analogy originated from the prolific Kelly Starrett.
But what many people don’t know, is that there’s also a layer called fascia, a thin, tough, fibrous yet elastic layer of connective tissue.
And most of what we typically describe as “muscle knots” are actually sticking points, or “adhesions”, between the fascia layer and the muscle. Your body is designed for all layers to easily slide relative to one another with no sticking. When fascia sticks to muscle (called a myofascial adhesion), bad stuff happens.
How Myofascial Adhesions Occur
You can stick your fascia to your muscle with two easy steps. First, be absolutely sedentary (at least in a local area). Second, add pressure perpendicular to the interface plane. Sitting hits both of these checkpoints hard along your glutes and hamstrings.
Hence, our favorite new maxim:
Sitting is the anti-massage.
These myofascial adhesions don’t just hurt (in weird remote places too), they also ke