Approved Fascial Fitness Trainer

Tracey Mellor is the 1st Pilates Fascial Fitness Trainer approved by FFA

Yesterday I was told that I had been "approved as certified Fascial Fitness Trainer" awarded by the Fascial Fitness Association which includes Robert Schleip and Tom Myers. There are only 4 FFT's so far and I am the first Pilates based trainer in the World!.

What does the certification mean?
When I told my news to this morning's class they were worried that I would be changing the way I teach and/or putting my prices up -worry not, neither will be happening.
In reality I have been teaching within the Fascial Fitness principals for quite a long time. I have studied Fascia and been on many Fascia related courses over the last 8 years. The Fascial Fitness principals fit in quite neatly with teaching Pilates on the machines, I have already introduced the Fascial Fitness language into the classes, and smile when my clients start talking 'Fascia Fitness' amongst themselves. More importantly I can see, and my clients can testify that their bodies are changing very slowly ( it is a slow process) because of the change in emphasis. One client said this morning that even if her mind couldn't remember the exercises her body did- I couldn't have put it better myself.

What happens next?
We are being encouraged to conduct FF workshops. This is an exciting prospect and it will need some careful thought. There are some Fascia workshops already planned by at least one of the FFT's.
The reason for the hesitation?
The world of Fascia is continuously changing as more research is undertaken. This means that FF principals will need continuous maintenance. To teach the Fascia Fitness principals involves teaching their incorporation into existing exercise systems. This means that a complete new way of approaching fitness has to be encouraged and adopted. It isn't just another set of exercises to be taught, it's a different way of thinking. There will be resistance, as there is with anything new, and the current ideas will need to be revised to take account of new findings and reactions, but in the end I hope that adoption of the FF principals can transform the way we approach the health and well-being of our bodies and minds.

Congratulations to Jo Avison, Carrie Gaynor and Sol Petersen the other new FFT's


Tracey Mellor
(c) May 2012

Orange Fascia video

Orange Fascia Video- Vancouver 2012

This is a video that Jo Avison and I made in Vancouver. We realised that the words used to describe the ways muscles and bones move were not always appropriate for fascia so this video explored a new language.

The orange is often used to explain fascia and how it holds and divides space within the body.

Jo has done a great job in this video, I have attached the whole video clip unedited. It was our second attempt as I had my finger over the microphone on the phone for the first one!- so we had to buy some more oranges and start again, I have one silent movie and one with sound, we may play about with the clips and add voice overs but for now enjoy this one. It is very much of the moment, post congress and inspired by a need to find a language to describe how fascia works in the body.

Tracey ( the camera or more accurately the phone woman)