The body has functional units which in turn communicate with each other in a continuum of interconnected impulses and reactions.

In this perspective, a single movement, even an undemanding gesture, becomes an impulse that activates various areas, all connected.

It goes without saying that a functional movement involves awareness. In other words, if I am stretching a leg I cannot think that this movement does not have important consequences also on the rectus abdominis and on the stabilizing muscles of the hips.

Knowing the main muscle belts is the best way to understand what we are doing when we engage in any physical activity and train the body.

What are muscle belts 

Muscle belts are myofascial chains that connect the limbs and are called into question in any movement.

We must imagine them as real elastic chains designed to contract and relax in succession. We think of the concept first in statics and then in dynamics.

Try to imagine a person with the classic “hump” at the cervical level and the face protruding forward while the pectorals are flaccid. If we imagine the situation at the level of the muscle belts we must understand that these are segments out of place as a function of which the muscles are in static positions: in the back of the neck they are stretched by eccentric load while on the anterior side the muscles are locked and grouped by concentric load. In summary, these are lines of tension inside the muscular envelope that surrounds the bones. 

We take the belt of the abdominal muscles . First of all, when we talk about abdominals we are referring to a specific complex closed at the top by the diaphragm (which separates it from the thoracic cavity) and continuous down to the pelvic cavity.

If you only imagine the so-called tortoise shell you are very mistaken as in the abdominal girdle there are bundles relating to the chains of the trunk and hip.

Rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, external and internal oblique, square of the loins, iliacus, large and small psoas are all part of the abdominal girdle which is obviously also in contact with the insertions of the posterior leg lodge and other stabilizing muscles of the hips.

What are the myofascial meridians

The movement that feeds myofascial chains

A very useful exercise to retrace and re-enable all the muscle chains is to retrace the progressive sequence from the lying to the standing position. It starts from the lying position.

Head, chest, pelvis heavy on the ground. Then she goes on all fours thanks to the four appendicular limbs, she feels all the support. You experience the increasing precision in balance, as if it were the first time you get up from the ground.

The following phases are: get on your knees, get back on the second foot. Defy gravity. Once you reach the erect position, only after having listened to all the effort of each muscle chain to get to your feet, you remain with your eyes closed and the perception estetsa for the whole body.

The standing position is the product of many stages of evolution, both on a phylogenetic and ontogenetic level, and retracing this process is of vital importance.

Even self- massage , especially after a walk or various types of physical activity, is an excellent stimulus for all muscle chains, as important as dedicating the right time to stretching .