Coach and mobility expert Kelly Starret’s blog is a wealth of information. He has years of experience as an athlete, a trainer, and as a doctor of physical therapy. He puts out a ton of great information for free (and his blog is linked to on this blog!).
His most recent article deals with something he refers to as ‘fuzz’. You know how you feel stiff in the morning after waking up? That’s fuzz. Or when you step out of a car after a long ride and it’s hard to move? That’s fuzz. Or after you injure a joint and do your best to not let it move, and then a week later you try and use it and it feels like it’s rusted and won’t work? That’s fuzz.
So what is this fuzz, specifically? Fuzz is the build up of adhesive junk between the sliding surfaces of your muscles and joints. When a joint/muscle is kept immobile, fuzz builds up. The more fuzz that accumulates over time, the more inhibitions are created in that muscle/joint.
Think about the movement issues that you have right now: maybe you have shoulder issues. What position do you find yourself in most often? Could it be that you are hunched over a desk using a computer, studying, reading, eating, or doing something with your hands? Look at your shoulder position; is it good positioning for athletic, functional movement? If not, is that where you want your shoulder to get stuck? If you have been very sedentary, when was the last time that you moved your hands over your head? Did it feel hard to lift your hands and arms up? Part of this is muscular weakness, but it is also part fuzz accumulation.
How about your hips? What is the range of motion like in your hips? Can you swing your legs from side to side comfortably? Front to back? What happens when you get into full squat depth? How about your knees and ankles? Are they being punished by poor hip mobility?
The good thing about exercising is that when you exercise properly and move through the full range of motion, you help clear out some fuzz. What will help you clear out the fuzz even more? Stretching. Watch the fuzz video and think about animals: the first thing they do upon waking up is stretching. How many of you stumble out of bed only to go and sit down on the couch? Get out of bed and start moving around a bit. Don’t aggressively stretch at this point, just move around and try to ‘melt’ the fuzz as Dr. Gil Hedley says. Stretch regularly during the day and after training to help break down the accumulated fuzz you have in your joints. If Dr. Gil were to open you up and to look at your fuzz, would he be able to melt your fuzz with his finger, or would he need the scalpel to go through the thick membranous layers of fuzz that you’ve been packing on over the last couple of decades?
Move. It does your body good.
Coach ‘say no to fuzz’ A
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