| Author | Message | ||
     Anonymous |
Hello everybody First of all, I have been really impressed by facial exercises. I have found these five exercises as the best for begginer, but actually I have had difficulty in it, as well. Despite of this, I have been doing scalp exercise for over than 1 month and I actually really do notice that it has effect for my whole forehead. Mouth exercise seems to be really good as well as chin exercise. I haven't found much information about eye exercise. It was explained as plain and simple, by giving more information about scalp exercise(though I have found scalp exercise pretty easy since i've been doing it automatically from my childhood, because I'm used to use it when I smile). The eye exercise is really pain for me.. So I will try to explain the current situation. I've started doing this exercise 1 month ago, and I think I have formed many horizontal/vertical lines under my eyes.. In fact it didn't help at all for my eye to progress, and I have no idea why.. I do not scrunch up skin in crows-feet area, but my under eye condition seems to be really bad after all.. I have been doing your eye exercise only for one week, because I just couldn't do that. It was too difficult to keep 1 eye opened, and too difficult to not scrunch up skin, it was actually impossible for me, especially not to scrunch up in under eye area. So I have been doing 3 other weeks other exercises, and almost all for 1 week, because they all didn't work. So more about it, I have 3-4 lines(they are pretty small, and noticable only in lights) under my eye, which I would like to get rid of. In fact, my under eye area is VERY THIN. I have this feature from my mother. The skin is SO THIN that even blood-vessels are noticable really well, so no surprise that with such thin skin I have few lines, which are under progress, when I age. So what I would like to ask.. I don't even know. I don't know whether it helps or not, I'm doing now other exercises, for especially under eye area. Seems like I can contract my upper eye muscle(upper eyelid), but contract of under eye - causes definite wrinkles in inner corner, and outer corner of eye(especially inner), and this one thing causes oblique wrinkles from inner corner of eye, they are small now, but I can notice them, and I'm very afraid of fact, that it can get worse. So I think your eye exercise is not possible to do for me. Because contracting of under eye area, probably means a 'squint up', and this 'squint' scrunches up that area. Though, I have been doing this and I continue, with a hope that it will help. Recently, I have discovered 'facercise' program, the author is Carole Maggio(not sure about her name), and her under eye exercise seems to be acceptable for me. It is squint up, with placing two fingers on inner and outer corner of eyes. Can you please check it out on this website, and tell me what you think ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbvSbBZPxrM I dont know really what to do, I dont know whether im ruining everything or making it better. I've read on your website forum, that wrinkle may appear bigger when you do exercises. But seems like 1 month has passed and its getting worse. So to sum up, I have been doing eye exercises for 1 month(with other exercises I have no problems). And problem is that, I have very thin skin under eye, and under eye problem is really big for me. I tried to do many exercises: Tom's, then some to close eyes and look up and down(but it doesnt affect under eye muscle at all i guess), then to pull skin down from under eye and squint up, and now I'm doing C.Maggio exercise, to place two fingers and squint up. These exercises haven't made my under eye skin better. I don't know, maybe, maybe the blood vessels are less visable, but maybe I notice it because I get enough sleep. In fact it caused, and is still causing some small, tiny wrinkles from that move of 'squint up'. I tried to contract under eye muscle in some other ways, but it is merely impossible, I tried to squint very hardly.. Seems like I'm discovering eye exercises for myself. I tried to do something else from C.Maggio because it actually doesn't help me maybe too. I place 3 fingers, under my eye, and it completely covers under eye area and crows-feet area, and then I squint up. But im really not sure whether it helps, and who knows, maybe it will form some new lines as well.. I just don't know what to do, and don't know you understand me or not. But I just made under eye condition worse, than it was, and I still continue on doing these exercises, because I just have a hope that strengthened muscle will make them clear.. By the way, by using that C.Maggio exercise I also contract muscle at the back of my head, just in case I hope it helps to reach better contraction. And I contract nassalis muscles not when I do eye exercise. I do those nose muscles exercises separately. So that's probably all I wanted to say, I had much to say, and had no idea how to categorize everything, I hope you understand what I want to say here. Thanks, and Ill read all responds. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 52 Registered: 05-2006 |
Anonymous (I love that name): I'd like to know four things about you: (1) How old are you? (2) Are you the proper weight for your height? (3) Do you eat nutritious foods and avoid junk foods? (4) Do you have sun-damaged skin? Age, proper weight, excellent diet, and healthy skin are important factors in keeping your face in good shape. For example, if you are overweight, gravity will tend to pull down on the soft tissue of your face, adding a premature aging effect. You wrote, "In fact, my under eye area is VERY THIN." As I wrote in Exercise One, the skin around the eyes is the thinnest and most delicate of the whole body. It is usual for small blood vessels to be visible in this area. But what makes this area of the face look bad is loose and sagging orbicularis oculi muscles. If these muscles around the eyes start to lose their tone, the skin over these muscles starts to sag. The eye exercise that you find difficult will keep these orbicularis muscles toned up. You asked many good questions and made intelligent comments. I don't have time to answer all your questions now but I'll get back to this thread later, perhaps tomorrow. By the way, are you an actor? Several television actors have found my program beneficial for their careers. I looked at the video of Carole Maggio several times. Thanks for giving us the link to it. Carole says that her exercise program will, "Change your face in three days..." This must be one good program. You won't see any real results from my program for many months. I wish I could promise you the moon but I'm not in the business of writing pop tunes. | ||
| Anonymous |
Thank you for quick answer Tom ! Okay, I will answer questions. I'm only near 19. I'm tall, and quite thin, but my weight is proper for my height though. I'm 190, my weight is 73-75, my BMI is around 20-21, it is kinda normal. My eating habits are normal. I eat vegetables, fruits, everything is normal with it. And I do avoid eating junk foods, though I like chocolate and other delicious things, but of course I eat it sensibly. I dont think I have sun-damaged skin. Maybe I had, but my face is okay now(except under eyes area), I don't like tanning, and I have never been doing it. However I was living pretty unhealthy life few years ago, and I was only a teenager. I was smoking, drinking, though I really did care of my skin in other ways. I've totally given up smoking 5 months ago, drinking as well. I think some signs on my skin was exactly caused of this 'active life'. Despite of fact that I'm young, I really have wrinkles under my eyes, which aren't very good looking, and I really want to get rid of them, or at least hide them, and to protect myself from their gross developing. No I'm not an actor, but I'm about to start working a part-time job, which is related to my appearance, and I have to keep my face good looking, these exercises, I thought, is the solution.. So that's all about me. I think that your exercise helps, but I just don't know what I'm doing wrong, that under eye skin is scrunching up. When I squint, whole under eye area scrunches from inner corner of eye, and I have no idea how to make my muscles underneath my eyes to work, with no scrunching up, and I have noticed that maybe it is not difficulty, but almost impossibility. So I was trying to find some solutions. Like now I'm putting three fingers under each eye, and I cover that area, and then I squint and contract under-eye muscle. But seems like muscle doesn't contracts as much as without these fingers put on, but if not, then it scrunches up. And Im not even really sure, whether it can helps, or not, or even damage it. So eventually Im doing the nassalis muscles exercise separately from eye exercise, as well as upper eyelid exercise separately, and Im trying to do under eye exercise separately too. I have one more question by the way, does the orbicularis oculi muscle(upper one) contracts when I close my eye and I'm just strongly closing it when it's closed? It makes upper eyelid to contract, but does it make also to orbiculari oculi muscles to contract as well ? I think I have too many questions... Thank you that you updated your message about C.Maggio video. Well I don't know you probably said it with a sense of humour, because it made me laugh when I read 'that must be a good one'. I dont beleave and I think it is not possible to see any results in 3-5 days. But Im kinda interested in her exercise, the one for under eye area, because it is exactly my problem.. Do you think it can help ? Yes I understand that real results are seen after around 6 months of doing exercises. But does it really have to form some small tiny lines, before result is seen. That's what I'm afraid of.. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 53 Registered: 05-2006 |
Anonymous: "I've totally given up smoking 5 months ago..." Here's what Paula Begoun says about smoking as it relates to skin care: Smoking is, at the very least equal to the sun in the direct damage it causes to the skin's surface. In actuality, smoking is probably even more insidious than sun exposure when it comes to damaging healthy skin. Not only does smoking cause serious free-radical damage and block the body's ability to utilize oxygen, it also creates necrotic (dead) skin tissue that cannot be repaired. Even more unattractive is the breakdown of elastic fibers of the skin, which gives rise to yellow, irregularly thickened skin. In other words, smoking can really mess up your skin causing wrinkles and lines around the eyes and lip area. You were wise to give up this habit. I know you have questions about how to do the eye exercise correctly. It's really hard to write descriptions of these exercises. Soon I'll update the page on this exercise, making it clearer. Right now I just don't have the time to do it. "I have one more question by the way, does the orbicularis oculi muscle(upper one) contracts when I close my eye and I'm just strongly closing it when it's closed? It makes upper eyelid to contract, but does it make also to orbiculari oculi muscles to contract as well?" The muscles of the face are all attached to one another. The muscles around the eyes are especially complex. The orbicularis oculi has several parts, two of which are the orbital and palpebral parts. One is the muscles that circle the eyes, and the other is the muscles that govern the eyelids. Since they are all connected, when you work the area (Exercise number one) all the muscles are brought into play. | ||
| Anonymous |
Okay, thank you very much. I will be waiting for update. I really have many questions. For example when I close my eye strongly, not only upper eyelid works, but also I feel maybe slight, maybe decent contraction of under eye area as well, maybe it is enough for my eye, though actually I'm not doing anything with lower eyelid. But when I look at your photo concerning exercise 1, I see that you squint with your under eye area, and I'm not sure you move your eyebrow deliberately, or not really. Still I'm doing this exercise separately. Nassalis muscles exercise 50 times, then strongly closing eye(hope it works for whole two upper parts) 30 times, and then as C.Maggio says "place two fingers toward inner and outer corner of eyes, and squint, and release) 30 times as well. Recently I've noticed that when I strongly close my upper eyelid(close it strongly) crows-feet area scrunches up a bit, so I started placing one finger toward it firmly, I hope it helps from further developing of these lines. Well, I still continue on doing it. I do hope it will help. This is strange but I think my eye muscles got stronger in this month and few days. For instance I've noticed one thing, that before these exercises when something unpredictable happened, my eyes were closing in a very weak way. And now, when there is danger for 'eyes', it closes much stronger than it was used to. Does it mean that muscles are maybe stronger ? Though I have formed some tiny wrinkles in outer corner of eye. I hope it will disappeared one day, after muscles are strong enough to push out some wrinkles(I hope that fingers placing on inner and outer corner of eyes helps from further formation of these lines also). So I will be waiting for further explanation, I'm now trying to prepare myself for your eyes exercise, since I really found your other exercises very helpful for face and neck. I'm trying somehow to be able to close one eye at the moment, so that it would be easier if I somehow realized how to do it completely. Thank you very much again for your answers. | ||
| Paul W New member Username: Foogjunk Post Number: 5 Registered: 01-2008 |
I looked briefly into the Facercise stuff, to see what people were saying about it. For what it's worth, I don't see many trustworthy-looking reviews that say results occurred within days. However, many of the more trustworthy-looking reviews did say it worked, but often resulted in some strange side-effects with new lines being formed and certain parts of the face actually looking overly toned in comparison to others... that sort of thing. That's what I found; don't feel like taking my word for it, though. | ||
| Anonymous |
I don't really think her exercises can help too, maybe when they are all done. So, I have stopped doing that 'squint up and release' exercise. I'm now doing Tom's eye exercise, since I found his rest 4 exercises helpful, I suppose this one must be beneficial for face too. But I face a lot of problems. Yesterday I was trying to think how to do it, and today I think I understood that I have to kinda contract one's eye orbicularis oculi muscles immediately, I mean I have to exactly WINK. Yesterday I thought that I have first to close eye, and then contract it somehow, but I just couldn't. Well, at any case I don't know whether I'm doing it correctly or not. I find it difficult definitely. When I contract that eye muscles, it seems like my face looks like Tom's face in exercise 1 picture. Eyebrow comes down a bit. But I cannot avoid scrunching up in crows feet area, and on my upper eyelid appear many wrinkles as well, I'm very afraid of this. And still my under eye problem ruins everything here. When I contract my one eye, I kinda 'squint', at least a bit, so my under eye area scrunches up a lot too. I haven't got on under eye area fine lines, but I do have 3 little lines, and actually skin there looks like scrunched up all the time. Also from squint up I can notice some vertical lines forming on inner corner of under eye, and this is the worst part of this. I have formed many tiny lines there, like dozens of them, and when I contract my lower muscle(when I squint) I see that this move actually pulls my whole under eye area's skin UP, and by this movement, skin under eye which always looks scrunched up, scrunches up EVEN more, and I think it has been developing some lines as well. So to sum up I think I kinda understood how to do exercise. But I find it impossible not to do any harm to my skin. Same with crows feet areas, I havent ever had crow's feet areas, since when I smile it is not used in my face. But facial exercises have shown first signs of crows feet, because eye muscles contract shows small lines there, I try to hold them somehow, I hope it will help not to form them, and push them out when muscle is strong enough. Same I try to do with putting finger on inner corner of eye, where squint up causes many vertical lines. When I look at Tom's photo on exercise 1 page, I see that he doesn't avoid wrinkling up as well.. I see one wrinkle under eye when he contracts it, and I see one coming toward crows feet from upper eyelid. That line coming toward crows feet area I think is worse-looking on my face as well, it is more and more near the crows feet area. So I just don't know what to do. I think I look at my face too much every day, I'm just like running in every 30 minutes or hour and looking and trying to beleave that it is getting smaller, it is disappearing, but I would say that it isn't disappearing. Small lines are forming, old ones getting bigger, skin is more and more scrunched up. Im trying to force to think that it is because of that I'm ill now, or because I can't get enough sleep, but I'm not sure.. I know it sounds ridiculous, and you may think that I'm stupid, but I really feel pretty depressed about this, I couldn't sleep one night because of this, I was stressing and thinking about it. I know I'm too sensitive, but I think you understand, to see that one area of your face looks totally differently from your whole face, and hair, like giving you plus 10 or 15 years when it is seen. And this really makes me sad. I still hope that somehow I will learn to do everything correctly, that it isn't impossible, that at any case strenghtened muscles will be bigger and push out these wrinkles. But I begin to doubt, though I really don't want to shrink.. | ||
| C M New member Username: Ceeme Post Number: 40 Registered: 06-2007 |
Hey Anonymous: I do not think you're being silly or overly emotional at all, so do not apologize or feel bad about sharing how you feel. May I make a suggestion? How about taking a step back. One of the things I've learned about exercise over the years, face or body, is many times we will see pros do an exercise one way and try to emulate that when our bodies aren't quite ready for it. For instance, the first time I saw crunches done, the instructor would raise shoulders and shoulder blades clear off the floor. His stomach was strong enough to do that. I honestly believed that unless I did that, I would not achieve washboard abs so I tried to do the same. What that ended up doing was giving me a firm protruding stomach. I could have sworn I did everything right. I held my tummy in, and tried not to pull on my neck with my hands. I came up as high as I could--maybe not to his level--but I was close. I could never understand why I wasn't getting the same results as everyone I saw do crunches. Needless to say, I went through a mad search like you, for an ab workout that would work. I came across another instructor with a variation of the crunches I was doing. Only this time, the instructions suggested focusing on pulling in the area of the stomach below the navel and holding it in using ab muscles. Not holding your breath, not trying to keep the whole abdominal area held in, but just that area. That was the MOST IMPORTANT thing to do. You were to concentrate on that above all else. The other thing this version suggested was to focus not on how high you could raise your head and shoulders but more on shortening the length between ribs and hip bones while that area I just mentioned was pulled in. The movement was ever so slight that a spectator may not have had a clue how deep one was working. But that method gave me the best ab workout I ever had. Why? Because I didn't attempt to make a muscle that wasn't strong enough yet contract and lift me up as high as way pros were able to. Rather, I focused on proper form: keeping my abs in was the most important step. Not contracting the whole ab area as hard as possible but making sure that the small vital things were first in place and that I could do them so well that they became second nature. The problem with my previous attempt at doing crunches was that in an attempt to come up high like the pros, I'd relax my abs instead of keeping them in. So I ended up firming a protruding stomach. So with that in mind, let's go back to the drawing table with Tom's eye exercise. I just tried to do it two ways: one way, I contracted as much as I could, squeezing the closed eyelids as tightly as I could; the other way was to focus on not wrinkling my face at all, but rather letting my upper eyelid literally drop like a doll's down to the lower. In the first instance, I saw the lines of which you speak: vertical ones near corner, crows feet area and below, and under the eyes. The second method seemed so useless, but I decided to give it some time. I would pause after each lid close as if trying to see how firmly I can close the eye. Not trying to see how tight I can close it, but rather studying how it closed as if trying to make sure I cannot see through it. I also didn't worry so much about the other eye being wide open. Just made sure it was open, however slightly. One other detail I had to watch for is that I didn't wrinkle my forehead by inadvertently raising my eyebrows. It took a lot of concentration to stay relaxed, but it looked good in the mirror. Face looked relaxed and no wrinkles formed anywhere on my face. It felt like a very lazy way to do an exercise, but I remembered something about exercise. If you have to do 5 push-ups, you might find them child's play if you do them with good form and slowly; but do 20 and you begin to appreciate how hard the exercise is. So I did 20 reps of the eye exercise with a pause each time to make sure eye is closed not tightly but completely closed, as if doubting myself. After 20 reps, my eyes felt the way you feel after a good workout. I had no doubt that I worked my orbicularis! So I am guessing that beginners need to focus on getting proper form, not so much the contraction and feeling it. I believe that as you get stronger, you will be able to do the exercise as Tom does with contraction but without the wrinkling. The other thing I want to suggest is you do only Tom's program. Not because I don't believe in Maggio's or any other out there, but I really believe that because face muscles are attached to other muscles and because each program designer has tried to set up the exercises so that they work muscles in ways that agree and give a uniform lift, doing one exercise from here and one from there instead of full programs could lead to an uneven build. So give this a program a shot just as it is. Remember, the reason your cheeks and every other part of your face may already be feeling the effects of the exercises may be because they were stronger from other exercises you do without thinking about them. Like chewing, or looking over your shoulder when driving. But have you ever squinted without wrinkling your whole face? Probably not. Ever winked without wrinkling eyes? Probably not. Isolating the orbicularis is not an easy thing. You've probably never done it until now. Perhaps Carole Maggio's upward squint exercise involves part of the cheeks, while Tom's isolates the eye muscle so that doing Carole's raises cheeks up as well making the skin wrinkle? I don't know for sure, but it would make sense. But as long as you're doing something that doesn't come naturally, it will be hard to do it right the first time. So baby steps first. Don't try to do it like Tom. Try first to achieve the no wrinkle/no scrunching goal. If that means doing it lazily, then so be it. Do more reps if you have to. Don't worry if after 40, you still don't feel it. Trust that every little helps, and do it again tomorrow the very same way. And again the next day. In time, you will see the fruits of your effort. The good thing about doing it w/o letting any wrinkles form, ie doing it lazily is, no wrinkles are being created as you do it, so what harm could there be in that? None I can think of. So at the end of the day, if all that lazy work was useless, then at least you didn't get lines where you didn't have any before. So nothing lost, right? But I doubt that your effort will be futile. I really believe that after a time, you will feel the contraction...and then you will see it and everything Tom says about the exercise will begin to happen for you. Best wishes, CM | ||
| Anonymous |
Thank you very much for your answer ! I think I begin to understand something about exercises. Probably I was pushing myself too much. You made me to think about it considerably, and I think I will step back definitely. So what I have noticed now, when I close my one eye I feel like slight shaking in lower and upper eyelids, but hardly any contraction. At any case, I will go from beggining now definitely, and I will let you know if you wish how it's going on. Thank you very much for your suggestion CM ! | ||
| C M New member Username: Ceeme Post Number: 41 Registered: 06-2007 |
You're very welcome, Anonymous. I believe that that shaking is the muscle working so stick with it. I hope you're not seeing any wrinkling as you do it. I believe that as the muscles get stronger, you will start to feel the contraction. Then in time, I believe, you will be able to contract as hard as you were trying to do before only this time you will be able to do it without any wrinkling just like Tom does. Baby steps will get you there. Slow but sure wins the race. Yes please! Do keep us posted on how you're doing. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 55 Registered: 05-2006 |
Anonymous: You wrote, "I know it sounds ridiculous, and you may think that I'm stupid, but I really feel pretty depressed about this, I couldn't sleep one night because of this, I was stressing and thinking about it." I don't think that looking at your face every 30 minutes or every hour to see that it's OK is good for your personality or your mental health. You probably don't like this obsessive need to do this inspection. It's hard to get on with your life if you continue to worry about how you look. But we all know that how a person looks is important. CM certainly knows this and works to improve her appearance - good abdominal muscles, good skin, good face. She thinks constructively about how to achieve these things but I'm almost sure she does not obsess over how she looks 24 hours a day. This is just a personal observation; not some pronouncement from a Dr. Phil type guru. I've known some women and men who are intensely preoccupied with the way they look. This intense preoccupation is often registered in their faces. It's not a pleasant look. You've asked some great questions though. It would take many pages to answer them all. I want to focus on just one: the exercise for the muscle under the eye. CM was right in advising you to concentrate on form and to be patient in learning how to do the exercise correctly. It takes time to gain sufficient muscle tone and strength in the muscles around the eyes. It takes many months to do the eye exercise the way it should be done. I do the eye exercise and others too before I shave in the morning. Before I do each set, I splash water on my face as a lubricant. Oil would be OK too but I prefer water. You will not notice much improvement in the entire area around your eyes till you are able to do the exercise as you contract the occipitalis muscle at the same time. This is important. Keep the occipitalis muscle contracted while you are doing the twenty or thirty repetitions of the eye exercise - Exercise One. I usually do three or four sets of 50 reps. But as CM says, "Baby steps will get you there." Don't try to get there all at once. Of course I was 19 myself a long time ago. I'd be doing the same thing as you are trying to do. I was extremely impatient. It's too bad impatience doesn't often produce the desired results. CM's story of doing crunches for her abdominal muscles is a good example of how it takes time to do an exercise right. "Slow but sure wins the race." | ||
| Anonymous |
Hello again, I write here so much, but there are still some things which aren't clear enough. (I hope I don't fuss you) So I have been doing a few days that 'exercise'(if I can call it like that), to just close one eye at the moment. But what I understood, that it wasn't contraction actually, it was more as respond of eye to open again. I do feel this 'respond' usually when I go sleep everyday when I turn lights off, and close my eyes, then eyes are not used to this, and start opening automatically. So I guess this wasn't a contraction, but that 'shaking' was stirring of eye, when it has to open up again, and I'm keeping it closed down. Though, I have learnt not to lift up automatically my right eyebrow when I close my left eye. Though again, eye is just a little bit opened, and I cant really see through mirror my other eye, and to notice - am I wrinkling up my eye's skin while doing this exercise, or not. But with full effort, I saw that this one eye closing at the moment wrinkles eye, but just a bit(and very slightly compared to what I was doing before). It is like tiny 'squint', so slight wrinkles appear beside inner corner of eye. I don't know this is good or not, but I eventually I can't avoid it though and at least this is the most unharmful exercise. And all I want to ask is this is good ? I mean, this eye-close-at the moment doesnt do anything to muscle I guess, or if so, then I have been doing it for my whole life before I go to sleep, because eye is shaking with the same load. I tried to contract a bit these muscles, just a bit, and as I saw, I'm definitely wrinkling up face again(also slightly compared than I was wrinkling up before, but still wrinkling). Now I feel like I'm doing slight damage for face, but not training muscles at all, so this may sound as bad as I was doing everything before. And I still can't get. Eye exercise is to 'wink' one eye, or close one eye at the moment, and then while it's closed, contract eye muscles ? The second version sounds impossible actually. I don't know how is it supposed to train orbicularis both muscles(the eyelids, and one which circles eye). As CM said: "After 20 reps, my eyes felt the way you feel after a good workout. I had no doubt that I worked my orbicularis! " Actually, I haven't noticed contraction yet. All I feel after 50-70 reps I close one eye at the moment(I also use muscle at back of the head contracted as well), I don't feel any contraction, maybe my eye is tired, but I don't think it has anything related to eye's muscles. All I felt is maybe very very slight warmth in eye, and maybe something around. | ||
| C M New member Username: Ceeme Post Number: 42 Registered: 06-2007 |
OK Anonymous, I don't have an answer for you, but I just wanted to mention that I managed to keep my face toned for years by doing something we do all the time: smiling. But I did that with control, moving my muscles slowly and with control and holding each grimace for a count. I believe that while it may have seemed like I was doing the same thing I did all the time, the isolation of the muscles and control so only a few are working at a time, made the difference. As I stated before, perhaps my suggestion is not going to make a difference to your face, but one thing I do know is it will not make it worse. You think you are doing what you always do when you wake up but the fact that you are having trouble opening one eye means you're doing something different. Something that doesn't come naturally. Again, I'm no expert but if I had a choice between contracting so hard that I see new lines or just doing it as casually as possible trying to see if with time I can increase the squeeze while maintaining few wrinkles, then I'd go with the latter. Less risk, and if "slow but sure" is the way to go, then I would trust that there will come a time when contraction will be just as easy as it is for Tom. I suspect that the reason one might see lines when one contracts hard is because the orbicularis are not strong enough to do the squeeze without calling into play a small part of the cheek muscles which causes the skin to wrinkle. I don't know for sure. I'm just guessing. I have noticed a lot of people with forehead lines are people who are into the habit of raising eyebrows for no reason at all. They do not know the art of relaxing the muscles of the face. It's what I'm trying to master: how to do one thing (like wink) without making a face or raising eyebrows. As I do the wink exercise, I watch my face to see what other muscles I bring into play. and try to see if I can avoid involving them. You said your eyes felt tired. Well, unless you were staring hard at something, I imagine they got tired because your eye muscles were exercised hard. (Tom correct me if I'm wrong.) Perhaps we are both talking about the same thing? The warmth you felt may have been increased circulation of blood which is good for bringing nourishment to the muscles and taking toxins away. I suggest you give the exercise a chance. Perhaps do it one way for a week and see how you like it. Then another way for another week. You may just be the person to tell us how to make this exercise work the best. Many people who started face exercises started from a point of feeling that an exercise they were doing did not address a concern. Then in that need for a solution, they designed new ideas and new programs were born. If it's any consolation, looking at Tom's face, it does seem like perseverance will pay off. Perhaps Tom will shed more light and correct us where we're off. Sorry I can't be anymore helpful. | ||
| Rachel New member Username: Pleasant_prospect Post Number: 6 Registered: 03-2008 |
Need some clarification on the chin exercise...once the bottom lip is elevated and contraction held for 1 second, do you then have to relax this contraction before pulling chin downward? Cos it seems impossible to do both at same time. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 58 Registered: 05-2006 |
Rachel: I don't think you have to consciously relax the contraction before you pull your chin downward. When you pull your chin downward, the previously contracted muscle relaxes automatically. One thing that is important about the chin exercise, though, is to have sufficient lubrication of the skin in the chin area. This will prevent a small horizontal line from forming. Of course you should use sufficient lubrication when doing any of the facial exercises. I don't do as much work on the chin (repetitions, sets) as I do on other areas of the face. The muscles of the chin don't lose tone as fast as other facial muscles do. At least this has been my experience. |
