Tummy Table

I’m not creating new science.
I’m finally translating the science I had to fight through into language that actually makes sense to normal people.
I started as the fat consumer trying to figure out my own body.
Then came personal training.
Exercise science.
Massage therapy.
Corrective exercise.
Trying to get into PT school.
Chiropractic school.
And years of working on real bodies.
A lot of that education was me reading something, rereading it, hunting down videos, testing it, then finally saying:
“Oh… THAT’S what they mean.”
That’s why I’m doing these 101 posts.
Before I show people how I use the Tummy Table, Recovery Series, SMR, breathing, movement, and Fluid Integrity…
I want them to understand the fundamentals first.
Because I’m not interested in sounding complicated.
I’m interested in making complicated things simple enough to use.

Breathing 101:
Breathing is so automatic that most people never think about the muscles actually doing the work.
For inhalation, the diaphragm is the prime mover. It contracts downward, the rib cage expands, pressure changes, and air moves in.
But when that system isn’t working efficiently, the body starts borrowing help.
Neck muscles.
Chest muscles.
Upper ribs.
Anything that can help get the job done.
And just like posture, the body can get very good at repeating the compensation.
That’s why I look at breathing as movement, not just oxygen.
Better diaphragm participation can change rib-cage mechanics, trunk pressure, nervous-system input, and how the rest of the body organizes itself.
That thinking became a major part of Bailey Breath—taking something everyone does roughly 20,000 times a day and teaching people to actually participate in it.
Start with the fundamentals.
Breathe better. Move better. Then build from there.
Bailey Breath is available through Amazon KDP.

Posture & Movement 101:
Posture isn’t just how you look standing still.
It’s how your body is organizing load.
If one area isn’t moving well, another area usually picks up the slack.
Tight hips?
The pelvis may compensate.
Weak glutes?
The knees or low back may take more work.
Rounded shoulders?
The neck and upper back may start doing jobs they weren’t meant to do all day.
That’s the idea behind corrective exercise:
Inhibit what’s overworking.
Lengthen what’s restricted.
Activate what’s underworking.
Integrate it back into movement.
The goal isn’t “perfect posture.”
The goal is giving your body more options so it doesn’t have to keep solving every problem the same way.
Because posture is only a snapshot.
Movement tells the whole story.

Path of Least Resistance 101:
Your body is efficient by design.
If it can complete a task with less effort, less muscle activity, and less energy, it will usually find that route.
Your brain does the same thing. Seth Godin often talks about the “lizard brain”—the part of us that prefers safety, familiarity, and the easier path.
The problem?
Modern life gives that system way too many easy options.
Sit instead of stand.
Scroll instead of move.
Drive instead of walk.
Use the same posture for hours.
And your fascia, muscles, joints, and nervous system start adapting to whatever you repeatedly ask them to do.
Fascia isn’t trying to ruin your posture.
It’s trying to help you become more efficient at the position you keep choosing.
Do it long enough and the easiest position can eventually become the one that hurts.
That’s why I keep coming back to one simple word:
MOVE.
Give your body more options before it gets too good at choosing only one.
.

Fascia 101:
Most people understand a kink in the system. Compression. Traffic jam. Backup.
But the other side matters too: hyperextension.
When a joint gets pushed too far — like an armbar cranking past the elbow’s normal range — the problem isn’t just the joint. The fascia web gets pulled tight with it.
Fascia is the body’s tension network. It wraps, connects, and helps transfer force from one area to another. So when a joint is stretched too far, that web gets overloaded. Ligaments strain. Joint capsule gets irritated. Muscles guard. Nerves complain. Fluid can build. Bruising and inflammation can follow.
So a hyperextended joint is like a water hose stretched too thin:
not just blocked…
over-pulled, stressed, and losing its normal function.
That’s why I talk about more than muscles.
More than pain.
More than “just stretch it.”
Fascia remembers force. Fascia carries tension. Fascia tells the rest of the body something just went wrong.

Fascia 101, Part 2: meet hyaluronic acid.

If fascia is the body’s connective web, think of hyaluronic acid (HA) as part of the water-loving gel that lives between those fibers.

HA helps:

Hold water.
Reduce friction.
Let tissue layers glide past each other.
Distribute pressure and mechanical load.
Create a better environment for nerves, vessels, and cells moving through the tissue.

So fascia isn’t just collagen “wrapping.”

It’s collagen + elastin + cells + fluid-rich ground substance all working together.

And this is where movement starts to matter.

When we move, load tissue, breathe, change positions, and apply appropriate pressure, we continually change the mechanical environment those layers live in.

That’s one reason I don’t look at recovery as simply “stretch the muscle.”

I’m thinking:

Can the layers move?
Can they glide?
Can fluid move through the environment?
Can the tissue adapt to load?

That foundation is important for understanding everything I’ll eventually teach with SMR, Body Calibration, and the Tummy Table.

First understand the tissue. Then understand why we’re applying the tool.

I’ve realized I may have been skipping a step.
I talk a lot about tools, recovery, inversion, SMR, leverage, and Fluid Integrity — but I’ve been assuming people already understand the basics of the body I’m trying to work on.
So I want to start closer to the beginning.
Fascia 101:
Fascia is connective tissue that runs throughout the body. It surrounds and connects muscles, nerves, blood vessels, organs, and other structures.
Think of it less like plastic wrap… and more like a living support network.
It helps tissues glide.
It helps distribute force.
It contains sensory nerves.
It adapts to movement, pressure, injury, and load.
And because it connects so much, a restriction in one area can influence how another area moves or feels.
That foundation matters.
Because when my tools and curriculum start becoming available, I don’t just want people copying where I put something.
I want them to understand why I’m putting it there.
Start with the body.
Then understand the tool.

The foam-rolling industry isn’t a ghost town because nobody buys foam rollers.
It’s a ghost town because everybody keeps building another saloon on the same street.
More texture.
More density.
More k***s.
More vibration.
Different color.
Still a cylinder. Still roll back and forth.
And somewhere along the way, self-myofascial release became synonymous with foam rolling.
That’s backwards.
Foam rolling is one way to perform SMR.
SMR is the bigger idea.
Even the research talks about foam rollers, massage rollers, balls, and other tools under that larger umbrella.
I’ve spent years using all of it—soft rollers, PVC, balls, dumbbells, kettlebells, whatever gave me the pressure, position, and leverage I needed.
And that’s what keeps bothering me:
Why did we keep redesigning the roller instead of expanding what self-myofascial release could be?
Getting onto the floor. Changing positions. Supporting your weight. Creating leverage. Getting back up. Reassessing movement.
That alone makes SMR more than just lying there holding a pretty stretch for Instagram.
I’m not saying stretching or yoga are useless.
I’m saying movement is bigger than a pose, and SMR is bigger than a foam roller.
Forty years of cylinders was enough to prove the concept.
Now I want to see where the concept can actually go.
The market isn’t dead.
The imagination got comfortable.