Beyond Fascia: Why Athletic Performance Demands More Than Just Elastic Tissues

In today’s performance training world, it’s hard to ignore the rising conversation around fascia — and rightly so. Over the past two decades, thanks to researchers like Thomas Myers (Anatomy Trains) and Robert Schleip, we’ve come to appreciate that fascia is not just passive wrapping around muscle; it is an active, adaptable tissue involved in force transmission, proprioception, and even elastic energy storage.

At Ground Force Strength and Conditioning, we embrace the importance of fascial systems — especially fascial slings — in developing well-rounded, high-performing athletes.

However, we also believe it’s essential to keep fascia’s role in context and not fall for oversimplified claims that fascia alone drives athletic performance.

Yes, fascia connects muscles across kinetic chains, contributing to efficient movement and elastic recoil. The posterior oblique sling (latissimus dorsi–thoracolumbar fascia–gluteus maximus) and the anterior oblique sling (external oblique–adductor) are great examples of integrated fascial systems helping transfer force between upper and lower body.

But fascia does not contract on its own.

It does not generate force like muscle tissue.

It does not initiate movement without neural signals.

Performance is ultimately a neuromuscular event:

• The brain issues a command.

• The motor units within muscle fibers activate.

• The muscle-tendon units produce force.

• The fascia, as part of the connective network, transmits and distributes that force across the body.

This means fascia supports movement efficiency, but it does not replace the fundamental need for muscular strength, neural drive, or tendon stiffness. Athletes cannot “fascial-train” their way to elite performance without addressing these other systems.

Some fascia-driven marketing suggests that heavy lifting — like trap bar deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, or Olympic lifts — is outdated because it targets isolated muscles and creates stiffness.

This is misleading.

Heavy strength work does multiple things:

• Improves neural recruitment, allowing the brain to access more high-threshold motor units.

• Increases muscle cross-sectional area (hypertrophy), giving athletes more raw tissue capacity.

• Increases tendon stiffness, allowing for faster force transmission during explosive actions.

• Builds robustness in joint systems, helping tolerate unpredictable game stresses (e.g., awkward landings, collisions).

Fascia simply cannot deliver these adaptations alone. If fascia were the only priority, then maximal force production, deceleration capacity, and injury resilience would be capped.

It’s true that fascia operates like a spring, storing and releasing energy during stretch-shortening cycles. Plyometrics, rebounding drills, and oscillatory movements all take advantage of these elastic properties.

However, an elastic system without an underlying strength base is vulnerable.

Without sufficient muscular force and tendon stiffness, the fascial system cannot withstand high-load deceleration, change of direction, or repetitive high-speed actions without breaking down.

For example:

• A soccer player who’s bouncy and elastic but lacks eccentric strength may struggle to decelerate quickly or resist knee valgus under pressure.

• An athlete with great fascial spring but weak muscle-tendon systems may be prone to hamstring strains, groin pulls, or Achilles overuse injuries.

Elasticity enhances performance, but strength ensures durability.

Rather than debating muscle vs. fascia, smart programming recognizes that athletes need both:

• Strength training to increase raw force capacity and neural efficiency.

• Plyometric and elastic work to refine the stretch-shortening cycle and optimize fascial contribution.

• Mobility and movement preparation to maintain fascial glide and health.

In the Ground Force system, we balance these demands by integrating:

• Trap bar and unilateral strength patterns to help with force production.

• Sprint drills, bounding, and plyometrics (for elastic power).

• Movement prep and mobility drills targeting fascial chains (for freedom and coordination).

This approach ensures our athletes develop complete systems, not just isolated adaptations.

When you see programs marketed as “fascia-only,” “muscle-free movement,” or “ditch the weights for elastic power,” take a step back. These programs often rest on partial truths exaggerated into absolutes.

Fascia matters — but so does muscle.

Elasticity matters — but so does strength.

Fluidity matters — but so does stiffness in the right tissues.

Let’s go into this a little further and why athletes, especially soccer players should be lifting heavy in our humble opinion…

Force generated by the athlete (internally) has to interact with external forces (like ground reaction forces, or GRFs) efficiently.

In soccer:

• Every sprint, cut, deceleration, or jump imposes multi-directional forces — vertical, horizontal, lateral, and rotational.

• These forces must be absorbed, redistributed, and re-applied through the kinetic chain.

• The fascia plays a distributive role, spreading force across tissues, but muscles and tendons handle the active load-bearing.

If an athlete has insufficient maximal strength, they cannot adequately:

• Absorb force during high-speed deceleration.

• Redistribute load when changing direction on a fixed plane (like grass or turf).

• Re-apply force in the opposite or new direction.

Heavy strength training increases muscle stiffness and tendon capacity, improving how well the system resists deformation under load — meaning the athlete can control their own movement better under intense, reactive conditions.

Without adequate strength, especially under heavy loading, players:

• Compensate with soft tissue structures (overloading fascia, ligaments).

• Exhibit poor neuromuscular control when cutting or planting.

• Show inefficient force coupling (losing power when transitioning direction).

Heavy lifting improves the body’s anti-deformation capacity: the ability to resist collapsing or yielding under the large forces produced when interacting with rigid, planar surfaces.

While fascia is critical for:

• Storing elastic energy.

• Distributing forces across multiple joints.

• Acting as a force amplifier through tensioned lines (like the spiral line, lateral line, superficial back line).

It cannot replace the role of contractile muscle tissue in producing or absorbing high-magnitude forces.

Without strong muscles:

• The fascia becomes overstressed, leading to dysfunction or overuse.

• The athlete lacks the raw horsepower to generate or withstand the demands of elite movement.

• Neuromuscular adaptations (strength, stiffness, coordination) remain underdeveloped.

Also, we would like to be clear that we emphasize strong muscles , not big muscles. There is a difference.

The body is an integrated, multi-system machine. No single tissue holds all the keys to performance.

If you’re a soccer athlete looking to train smarter, recover better, and elevate your performance, explore our Perform First app. We’ve designed every program with integrated systems thinking — balancing fascial work, strength, speed, and resilience.

Ready to train beyond trends? Join us inside Perform First, our flagship app that allows us to help coach you no matter where you are.

Want more information visit our website for online coaching.