| Author | Message | ||
     Anonymous |
Hello, I am wondering if anybody else has had any similar experience. I only tried the wink exercise on the left side of my face, exercise 1. However, after a week I noticed that my face on the left side has sagged a little more. I tried to wink by contracting the muscle that is connected to the corner of my lip. When I contract the muscle and I can feel with my finger that the contraction can be felt on the upper cheek, and also there is some connection to an area behind my left ear, and I could feel the contraction there too. At the same time, I also feel a small contraction on the back of my neck. I thought I was on the right track and unfortunately, after a week or so I noticed my left side of face kind of sagged a little bit more instead of improvements. I tried not to be aggressive, because I had strained a muscle on the right side of my face while practicing one of the flexeffect sample exercises last year. However, I am not sure what happened to the left side of my face. After I noticed the change, I stopped winking. I think it is a little bit better now. Do you think that I might have strained the muscles or it is just I practiced one exercise for a week or so and not a variety of facial exercises. Anyway, I thought to post the above question to see if anybody else had any similar experience. Thank you C. | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 79 Registered: 05-2006 |
Anonymous: You wrote, "I only tried the wink exercise on the left side of my face, exercise 1. However, after a week I noticed that my face on the left side has sagged a little more." Why did you just do Exercise One for the left side of your face? I don't think it's wise to exercise just one side of your face because it probably will produce a lack of symmetry. But even if you are doing some facial exercise the wrong way or even the right way, you will not see negative or positive results in only a week. No matter what you read in the advertising of some facial exercise programs, you do not see dramatic results, or any results, in a few weeks. "I tried to wink by contracting the muscle that is connected to the corner of my lip." I wonder what muscle that is. Are you really saying that there is a muscle at the corner of you lip that enables you to wink. That's weird.  "Do you think that I might have strained the muscles or it is just I practiced one exercise for a week or so and not a variety of facial exercises." I never heard of anyone "straining" the facial muscles by doing exercise. I suppose it's possible though. Now it is possible to strain the neck muscles. When doing exercises for the neck you have to be careful not to stretch the muscles too far until they are completely toned-up. If you strain your neck muscles, it can take weeks before the pain is gone. I think it's a good idea to do a variety of facial exercises (for both sides of the face). Don't go to extremes with any one exercise. The important thing is to do the exercises at least five times a week and have a long-term perspective. It takes time before the exercises improve your muscle tone and skin health. | ||
| C New member Username: Tealeh Post Number: 1 Registered: 07-2008 |
Hi, Well, I only wanted to exercise the left side of my face and keep the right side as the control. I had a bad experience with one of the flexeffect exercises last year while I was exercising the right side of my face. I did not want to take a chance again. You said that "I wonder what muscle that is. Are you really saying that there is a muscle at the corner of you lip that enables you to wink. That's weird. :-)" Well, I am not sure if I am wired weirdly or it is just what I see in the mirror. When I have been working on the wink exercise, and I tried to focus on the corner of my lip and tried to lift it up. It moved at a 45 degree angle upward. I am not sure what muscles are actually involved in the entire process, maybe modiolos and zygomatic muscles, spelling errors.. Anyway, when I moved up the lip corner, I could feel and see that my cheek moved. I also feel there is an area in the back of my ear, which contracted a little bit. I also felt that the back of my neck also contracted a bit. There was also a slight contraction on the muscle on the back of my head. Somehow, a simple wink engaged all the muscles together. I thought I was on the right track but when I noticed the sag, I thought that was not a good idea for me. Regarding straining a facial muscle, I am not sure if it is possible for everyone, but it could be for hornplayer http://hornplayer.net/archive/a312.html. Anyway, thank you for your comments. Cheers, C | ||
| C M New member Username: Ceeme Post Number: 72 Registered: 06-2007 |
Hi C: I'm not sure I understand why you're using so much of your face to wink. I don't know much about the muscles of the face (Coz I'm too lazy to bother learning them all, plus from experience I've realized that when I think an exercises is using a certain muscle, it actually involves more than I realize so that doubling up on an exercise may not really be a smart thing coz you may not get the results you expect, so why bother. Plus I guess I've been lucky to come across good programs that when I trust and do as directly, seem to work for me). But I assumed that the wink exercise is performed using only the muscles that go around the eye. I do know that doing exercises the wrong way could lead to problems which is why Tom emphasizes good form. When I started his program, I could barely keep the other eye open while I winked one. But I focused on just getting proper form down pat...not necessarily looking like Tom the vet when I do it, and I'm happy to report, my other eye opens up wider now. I'm sorry you had a bad experience but I can't help but wonder if the sag you mention wasn't caused by engaging the muscles of your face the wrong way? If you look at any exercise program, the teachers either explain the muscles that are being worked or demonstrate by tracing the muscle what area you will feel the contraction. There seems to be a science to the madness so that for instance, when working the eyes, they relax the rest of the face and focus on just the muscles that need toning to improve the outward appearance. The other thing I'd like to mention is I don't think any good comes from doing part of a program. I believe every exercise program is designed to be complete and all the exercise necessary to make it effective. For instance, suppose you wanted to build biceps, you risk injury if you don't work your triceps as well. Could it be that you notice sag more because you've got tone in some of the muscles and not others and the weak ones pull on the toned ones in ways that look unattractive? Also maybe your face looks saggy coz you stopped exercising? I know if you stop any exercise, you body returns to how it might've been had you never exercised, so could it be you're just seeing what you're not used to? Do others notice? We can be extremely critical of ourselves sometimes. I imagine if you could send Tom before and after photos of what you're talking about...maybe even a photo of how you look doing the exercises, he might better help you figure out what's going on. Sorry you're having problems.  | ||
| Thomas Hagerty Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 80 Registered: 05-2006 |
C: That thread you linked to - Hornplayer - made me rethink my ideas about injury to facial muscles. "In any muscle strengthening, microscopic tears occur." This is especially true about people who play any kind of horn professionally. Did you ever watch the bebop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie doing his solos? His cheeks puffed out like he had tennis balls in them. There must have been great damage in his lower facial muscles. The exercises I recommend never put an exaggerated strain on any facial muscle. You don't need massive exertion in order to tone up and build facial muscles. "When I have been working on the wink exercise, and I tried to focus on the corner of my lip and tried to lift it up. It moved at a 45 degree angle upward." Now I see what you mean. The outer corner of your mouth does angle upward when you are doing exercise number one. Maybe this exercise uses more muscles than I thought. I'm always revising my ideas about facial exercise. If I were a politician, I would be accused of flip-flopping. CM has some helpful ideas about facial exercise. I'm glad she responded to your message. Thanks, CM. |
