Skin Brushing
What is that? What am I talking about? Painting maybe? Nah …
Frankly, that was my initial reaction too. I was part of an 8-hour interview marathon that Jon Benson did a few months back, and out of the blue he asked me what I thought of skin brushing. Sorry, I’d never even heard of it until he asked me that, so I obviously had no opinion at all.
Once the call was over, I started looking for some information though, being inquisitive; and I found a site or two explaining that you needed a brush with natural bristles, that you should brush in counter-clock-wise circular movements with the dry brush, starting at the ankles and up to the shoulders, that the exception was the stomach area where you use clock-wise movements. Of course, you follow this brushing by a shower; because the dead skin-cells are loosened by the brushing and you look pretty white and flaky as a result.
My problem was that I couldn’t locate a brush with natural bristles! I had never thought this would be a problem, figuring a pharmacy or a beauty-store would surely carry a few each, right? Wrong. The only thing I found with natural bristles was – get this – a nail-brush! Nice, but a tad small to use on the entire body, I got nothing out of that at all.
As I mentioned this on a forum two weeks ago, another member said to look at “The Body Shop” because they have natural bristles brushes. Internet search for store locations found me one 20 minutes away (by car) which wasn’t too bad but I had to wait for a weekend to have a car available to go there. The Body Shop had long-handled back-scrubber brushes with natural bristles – cactus fibre actually – but that long handle would be in the way, so I kept looking and found a round brush called … “Round Body Brush” (duh J).
The instructions on the label that was hanging from this brush said, among other things: “A daily once-over will help get your circulation pumping, your skin glowing and your toxins looking for the nearest exit.” because, toxins are also eliminated through the skin, not just the lungs, kidneys and liver (etc). The skin is our largest organ after all, and many people totally neglect it – other than maybe the face, neck and hands, and some sunscreen all over in summer.
One reason this practice was even mentioned in the interview, was in connection with how much and how fast the skin tightens when you drop larger amounts of bodyfat. This is a concern for many fat or obese people who successfully change their lifestyles and burn and discard excess fat. “Will/ when will my skin look tight again?” is a question I get regularly. It’s a question that has been on my mind a few times as well to be honest with you (and I am, right!?)
I mentioned this to a couple of fitness ladies, who both said that no, skin brushing won’t magically tighten the skin; but yes it can help. Help, because it gets the circulation and toxin elimination going! Here is what Leigh Peele told me:
As you lose fat it is the worse time for your skin. Fat cells are stored right underneath. They are always there, they will always be there.
However they were filled and now, they are not.
What is left is a void. Over time this void "closes" if you will but not before it gets saggy or filled with water. You can store 5 pound of water easy in your fat cells and never see a change in scale or the way you look. There is where, to some degree, the hinky shit can come in.
For example, brushing. Brushing stimulates cell regrowth on the extra cellular part of the skin and is helpful for drawing water out and can be taken in through osmosis. Will it cause you to lose fat or rid yourself of "cellulite" no. Will it help your skin feel a little tight, yeah a little bit.
Time and lifting are skins best friend after fat loss. However, little things like that can help.
Leigh Peele
Avidity Fitness
You have seen what I said about Leigh’s program here on my blog, right? If you missed it, go to http://www.atozfitness.com/sarahsblog/fat-loss-trouble-shoot-reviewed/
OK, so here I am with this brand new, round brush with natural bristles and a wood base. Pretty, in a simple, natural-looking way. Monday, I used it first thing in the morning. It’s a little rough on the skin, but flaked off more dead skin cells than I thought I had J. From there I jumped in the shower using a shower-gel from Yves Rocher with monoi-oil which both smells nice and does a lot of good for the skin – it’s an oil from Polynesia, and we all envy the “vahinés” their glowing skin and beautiful hair, so I use and abuse of this oil whenever I can. As I dried off, I was surprised to note how silky smooth my skin felt, more so than after a shower with no skin brushing preceding it. A really nice feeling.
Of course, two days of skin brushing won’t tell me how much this helps or not as far as tightening the skin after fat-burning, but even if it doesn’t do it directly, it probably will help in the overall “snapping” of the skin back to a size that fits the lean(er) body, and it’s certainly good for helping the skin clear away toxins. Is it my imagination, or does my stomach seem a tad … if not tighter, shall I say less “un-tight”? Believing is seeing, which will also help the process of course.
Back-brushing? Well, it’s a lot easier if you have someone do that part of your anatomy, but if you’re alone just twist and stretch to get as much of your back covered as you can.
I, for one, am convinced after just 2 days, that this is something that’s very much worth the few extra minutes added to my morning routine, and I urge you all to at least give it a go for a week. I’m sure you’ll stick with it after that J The price of my brush, in Canadian $, was around 15,- with the taxes.
Sarah, CPT
(PS, my prices for on-line training will go up shortly, you can still get my help at the old price if you act fast!