Every muscle in your body is enclosed in a bag of tough connective tissue known as fascia. Fascia is important for holding your muscles in their proper place in your body.

But your fascia may also be holding back your muscle growth. Think for a moment about your muscles. You train them and feed them properly. They want to grow and will grow but something is holding them back. They have no room to grow!

Because fascia is so tough, it doesn’t allow muscle room to expand. It is like stuffing a large pillow into a small pillowcase. The size of muscle won’t change regardless of how hard you train or how well you eat because connective tissue around your muscles is constricting muscles within.

The best example of this is calf muscle. The lower leg is riddled with fascia because of its tremendous weight-bearing duties in body. It is because of this fascia that many trainers have great difficulty developing their calves.

The solution: stretching.

Using pillowcase example from above, imagine you can expand size of pillowcase by stretching it. Suddenly, pillow within has more room and will expand to fill that new space.

By stretching your muscles under specific conditions, you can actually stretch your fascia and give your muscles more room to grow.

The key to effective fascial stretching is pump. The best time to stretch to expand bags that are holding in your muscles is when your muscles are pumped up full of blood.

The primary ingredient in fat burners is herb ephedra, also known as ma huang, or it’s manufactured version ephedrine. It has been used in Chinese herbal medicine quite safely and effectively for thousands of years. It is often combined with synthetic or herbal versions of caffeine (e.g. guarana, yerba mate or kola nut) and aspirin (e.g. white willow bark).

But does it burn fat?

The answer to that question is yes. Ephedra does effectively help body to preferentially burn fat for energy. But, according to medical studies, there can be side effects, some of which are quite serious.

Ephedra works to burn fat through several means.

-Its chemical makeup increases breakdown of fatty tissue for fuel. -Its stimulatory properties help to increase resting metabolism. This process is known as thermogenesis, which is essentially excess heat production. You body burns more calories simply by producing more body heat. -When ephedra is combined with caffeine and aspirin, it may have appetite suppressant effects. -The nervous system stimulation you get can help you maintain your energy levels, which can aid you in your exercise program.