| Author | Message | ||
     Julie |
Tom you're going to think I'm totally nuts now, but this could be helpful for people wanting to develop the muscles quicker. The last 2 days I've started experimenting with the SE using soft ankle weights. I have an immediate improvement in the horizontal lines on my face. I was also using the weights for working my eyebrows (facial exercises), but I'm actually very suspicious that the improvments are from doing the SE. I've been trying a couple of things so far. Putting the weight on top of my head while standing, and doing the SE that way (you can steady your hand on the weight) - take care with your neck that your standing straight of course.... When you do it this way you can also focus on moving the scalp back and forth, or should I say, using the scalp to move the weight back and forth. You can also try and inhibit the movement with your hand, but this requires co-ordination! I'm also doing the movement separately - ie - the first part or raising eyebrows/scalp moving forward, and even holding that longer..... doing a number of reps, and then doing the same thing with the occipitalis/scalp moves backward movement to help strengthen and isolate, and then put the movement together. I also tried doing this lying down with head on pillow, and putting the weight on of my forehead. This is quite cool, too, and it will probably help even more with people worried about getting forehead lines because you're placing resistence on the forehead when raising the eyebrows. When contracting the occipitalis, with the weight on the forehead you really feel the movement in the back of the head pushing into the pillow, almost making the head bounce! Of course someone like you, Tom, doesn't need to do that cos your muscles are very developed, but I think it can help speed that up for newbies and people where the muscles just seem weak. Of course I have a twofold purpose because I want to firm up my forehead as quickly as possible, the lines had been getting worse, even when I had taken a break from doing the SE, so it wasn't the SE. I started doing the SE again and I saw a minute improvement. I certainly wasn't expecting the more dramatic overnight improvement in the lines that I've been seeing since yesterday.... My forehead feels SOOO relaxed afterward, the usual tension there is gone, and I can feel the circulation in the scalp area really nicely. So I'm going to keep experimenting. Wild, huh. Okay, I'm finished - now you can tell me how crazy I am now, Tom.... Cheers Julie | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Julie: I like it. I put my hands very firmly on the top of my head and did the exercise. This is a workout! When people have good scalp muscles and a flexible galea, there is no room for horizontal lines on the forehead. Your favorite person in the White House has deep lines in his forehead. Maybe I'll send him my video. I'm sure the secret service guys would check out the package well before he opened it. "My forehead feels SOOO relaxed afterward, the usual tension there is gone, and I can feel the circulation in the scalp area really nicely. So I'm going to keep experimenting." People like you, Terri, and Naqi are really stirring things up with novel ideas. You're right - it is wild. | ||
| Ear Wiggler |
Julie: I love this concept! Usually I never get much scalp movement, and I am left only really getting movement, and bloodflow witht he advanced exercise. I don't even feel bloodflow at the back of my head much. I just hold two fingers for my two eyebrows, and I got bloodflow everywhere. THANKS for a great idea! | ||
| Ear Wiggler |
Julie: I love this concept! Usually I never get much scalp movement, and I am left only really getting movement, and bloodflow witht he advanced exercise. I don't even feel bloodflow at the back of my head much. I just hold two fingers for my two eyebrows, and I got bloodflow everywhere. THANKS for a great idea! | ||
| Julie |
Glad it's not just me that likes it, and earwiggler I'm glad it's helpful for you! Maybe I'm not so crazy after all, LOL! I think I know why my forehead lines are tighening up literally overnight - I think it's like getting the botox effect without the botox. ie - I've been aware for a long time that my forehead is usually in a constant state of tension - hence the lines. Doing the SE this way relaxes the muscles after working them out, botox relaxes muscles by paralysing them. This way is much cheaper and healthier. It feels great to feel that absence of tension there, and my upper face looks much more relaxed, too! Well, keep us all posted with any further results or insights from this. Julie PS - I think if that president did your video he might find himself relaxing so much that he calls off the war. Either that or he resigns.... | ||
| Julie |
Hey earwiggler - do you mean that you're placing a finger on each eyebrow when you're doing it? | ||
| Ear Wiggler |
Just above it, kind of. I kind of experiment where I put it too. I don't actually use a weight, but I think it's basically the same idea. | ||
| terri |
Hi Tom, Julie & Others, Ive been doing SE with weights too. Julie & I got the idea from this sharp cookie on the flex board who uses weights for facial exercise. She posted some before/after pics, and her upper eyelid area has opened up a lot too since using the weights on her forehead. Originally she was only doing the eyebrow lift with weights, like part I of SE. She complained about her hair thinning, and I told her to check out your site! Recently she posted that she's been doing the SE. I guess she figured out how to do it without you're video Tom. | ||
| Fernando |
Interesting. I've been doing a similar thing for the past 6 months. I place both palms, (the heel of the palms) above my eyebrows and push down. The I do the frontalis exercise, (so I don't have to wrinkle up) I do the occipitalis next. I also do it while lying down. I will try the ankle weights and check that out. | ||
| Julie |
Just reporting in - the weights have been giving me great results in strengthening the muscle. There's still a long way to go, but when I began my scalp was sooooo tight, so the occipitalis movement was very small. I notice now, especially when lying on a pillow, that it's a lot stronger, and the scalp is much looser/flexible than it was. I'm also learning what it feels like to have a relaxed forehead - still a way to go on it, but a new feeling all the same (remember, I'm one of those with the forehead horizontal worry lines so I've been storing a lot of tension there). Before using the weights everything was so tight that I couldn't do the SE for very long before losing the co-ordination. I'm now able to do it for a lot longer without losing co-ordination. The next challenge is to be able to breath more easily while doing it. That's much better than it used to be also. I highly recommend using weights as a great way to help develop the muscles for people who are just beginning. I can't speak for the pros, as I'm not at that level. But it's really made it easier for me than it had been without them, and I'm sure it's helped me progress past that difficult early learning curve a lot quicker than had I not been using them, and I'm sure I'll continue to use them. | ||
| Anthony |
Sounds intriguing, Julie. Glad to hear you're getting results. I may add the weights as a way to "take it up a notch". Question: have you tried the advanced exercises? | ||
| Regina |
Hi Tom and Julie, I started using weights about 6 months ago on my forehead. I have 2 ankle weights by Reebok called Ironwear - FlexMetal Technology which are soft and pliable and about 3 by 8 inches maybe. I put them across my forehead, each is 2.5#, and then I place my 10# dumbbell so bells are near temple (worked up to this weight and I always make sure my neck is supported well before weight is put on - if you have neck problems/issues be careful and check with doctor and be careful anyway). I do this lying on my back and lift my eyebrows straight up with the weight on them. I often do 100 reps until my forehead muscles feel frozen - then take them off and do it again after the muscles have returned to normal. Sometimes I do much fewer reps by pressing down on the weight which increases the resistance and then after about 12-20 reps my forehead muscles are very tired - I think the first probably streamlines the muscles more and the latter probably helps to add bulk - I need bulk because I lost a lot of weight and am filling out that skin. Streamlining the muscle with more weight I believe gives longer-term strength/stamina and bulking gives power -- any weightlifters - am I correct in this assumption? Both I think are good for the muscles - or seem to be for me personally. When I'm doing this I often try to carry the contraction up into scalp and back down into occipitalis. Now I have very good muscle control and the muscle development all across my brow has probably doubled or tripled... also along my hairline I have a lot of new small hairs and even am getting back a point in my widows peak. I think the eyebrow lifting exercise with weights has helped me to get those muscles back into shape ... now if we all had as good of frontalis-occipitalis muscle development like Tom we wouldn't need any weights--but we weren't smart like him and started in our 20's! So as Julie described, the weights also helped me develop those muscles which has now led to me being able to manipulate my scalp all sorts of ways. Thanks Tom for even having this site and even giving me the glimmer of the idea I could even do any of this! Regina |
