Carole Maggio Facercise
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free skin care · Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:25 pm

I bought this book over a year ago and used some of the excercises in it that applied to things I personally wanted to change about my face. Has anyone else been using this or something similar? I have read conflicting opinions about facercise techniques. Some people say that it will age your face instead of enhance it. There is a technique in Carole's book where she claims that you can widen your face and contour your cheekbones. Those are the ones I've basically been using. I sort of thought I saw a slight result. It also helped my TMJ disorder a bit.

I would like to hear from the rest of you and you get your input on this. I'm 25. I don't know if I should continue using these or stop. I definitely don't want premature aging on my face.

free skin care · Wed Aug 26, 2009 4:18 pm

There are threads on facial exercise in the other forum DYI...lots of posts on Carol there

free skin care · Sat Aug 29, 2009 6:35 pm

Dear Bella,

You are very young and it's great that you are starting to exercise your face at an early age!Honestly it's the best beauty treatment you can give yourself! I certainly wish I began earlier. I am an avid Facerciser. Started the program when I was 41 and am now 53. Great results ~ little time investment. I've always had a very thin face. After having my first & only child at age 41 and losing the last 10 lbs. from my pregnancy, my face looked extremeley aged to me. I was depressed beyond belief! I found Carole's program, and never looked back. YES you can widen a narrow face, plump up your cheeks, firm your jawline, shorten and narrow a long nose, diminish those nasal labial folds, plump up your lips, turn up your mouth corners, and basically give yourself a non-surgical facelift!! All of this in just 10 mins. a day, twice a day when you first start. After that, you can move onto a maintenance program or just spot treat the areas of your face that you feel need help. If you like, you can go to my blog page to see my photos throughout the years. http://aprilevesblog.blogspot.com you may need to cut & paste this link ~ not sure. To me, Carole Maggio's program is simply the best!!! Smile

All the best, Aprile

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:42 am

Why would an ordinary person's blog have links "To Order" from CM's site? Lots of gushing reviews and heavy peddling of product sounds like spam to me. Sorry if it offends, but you see this all over the internet. It actually cheapens the product's reputation, rather than promoting it.

Surely you'd let the photos speak for themselves and let the reader decide if they want to investigate further?

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:47 am

Hi Bella!

I had very good results from Facercise, except that it wasn't enough to address my issues with my cheeks. I really need to build a lot of muscle in my cheeks to make up for my cheek hollows and thin face, and Facercise wasn't enough for me in this particular area. But in all the rest of my areas of my face, I got great results from it!

I have tried a lot of facial exercise programs, and I now do almost entirely FlexEffect and like the cheek exercises from that program the best. But I still use Facercise's Nose Shortner exercise all the time. I think Carole was absolute genius in developing her nose exercise, which I think is brilliant for shortening and de-emphasizing the nose. And I also enjoy her Forehead Lift (get good contractions from that, and it lifts my eyebrows well) and her Lip Shaper Exercise (develops more of the inner rings around the mouth and less of the outer rings, reducing chimp mouth), and do those fairly often, too.

Any facial exercise program should bring you some results eventually, but there are large differences in technique, training schedules, muscles target, the amount of volume you can restore to the face, etc.

HTH Smile

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:50 am

Awwww... Aprile, you look so pretty, youthful, and glowing! You can totally see that Facercise stopped the facial aging process for you. Thanks so much for being brave to share. Hugs Smile

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 10:48 am

I do like how Carole incorporated energy work into her exercises (and its something that I tend to teach a lot of FE with similar visualisations) as they do have a major impact on them, but I noticed that this is also what some people struggle with at first. I don't do facercise, but I'm always impressed with how Carole really puts herself out there about her programs which is admirable and people do get results from them - so its all good in my opinion.

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 4:17 pm

ljk wrote:

Why would an ordinary person's blog have links "To Order" from CM's site? Lots of gushing reviews and heavy peddling of product sounds like spam to me. Sorry if it offends, but you see this all over the internet. It actually cheapens the product's reputation, rather than promoting it.
Surely you'd let the photos speak for themselves and let the reader decide if they want to investigate further?

Sorry if I have offended Louise Hmmm.... perhaps I AM a bit over the top with my enthusiasm! I put the links there so that those who are very interested can just click to her site. Perhaps I got a little carried away once I learned how to add the different elements to my blog. I truly I felt a bit technologically challenged at first! I hope it doesn't detract, because I'm not peddling anything, just happy to share my story, experience & results. I also want to offer others hope because Carole offered me hope when I felt truly hopeless!! Smile

Best wishes, Aprile

free skin care · Sun Aug 30, 2009 4:20 pm

Hi CM5597 ~ Thanks so much for your kind compliment. I know that you are very well versed in facial exercise programs and value your opinion! I wish for others to experience success with whatever program they choose, it's just that this one worked for me. Hugs back at you!! Smile

Aprile

Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:00 am

Hi Aprile,
Your pictures look great! I'm very new to this forum, but have already read through every message w/in EDS regarding facial exercises. It's overwhelming, but promising. I currently have the Ageless if You Dare book and Carole Maggio's DVDs, and I am considering Carolyn's Facial Fitness as well. I'm starting with Facercise because I personally think it will be easier for me to follow since I have the DVDs already, and I *think* that I'm already noticing a difference in my eye area w/in a week. However, I am having difficulty following the nasal labial smoother exercise. Are you supposed to wrinkle the nose and smile--holding that pose for 30 secs. Or are you supposed to smile and do the nose wrinkle and release 30 times. Any info would be helpful. Thank you. ---Rachel

Sat Sep 05, 2009 8:29 pm

Has anyone tried Baby Quasar and Nuface. If so, of the two which one gave the best results. It seems that they both produce the same results. I'm really need some help deciding which one to pick. My main focus is to increase collagen production and skin tightening.
Thanks....

free skin care · Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:06 pm

Goodskin - You will do well to use the SEARCH feature to check out the reviews on the products you mention. They are not a part of this thread - it is about Carole Maggio facercise.

I will tell you that these products are very different. From what I know you may want to research the anti-aging lightstim or the Prolight Platinum and forget the nuface.

Good luck!

free skin care · Sun Sep 06, 2009 2:53 pm

Can anyone tell me how Flex Effect and Facercise differ? I'm thinking about getting the Flex Effect...although it's currently not in stock on Amazon.com.

free skin care · Sun Sep 06, 2009 3:18 pm

Flexeffect can be ordered from this link
http://www.flexeffect.com/product.htm

free skin care · Sun Sep 06, 2009 5:10 pm

Hi BellaKai!

There are several great past thread on facial exercise programs.

But briefly,

Facercise has 14 exercises in its standard routine (it is a fixed routine program), which hits about half of the voluntary muscles of the face. It consists largely of toning and isometric exercises, so it has the potential to eliminate sag and bring a toned, youthful look to the face, but it does not have the potential to restore a lot of volume to the face to correct for age-associated volume loss. My personal experience was that it does an amazing job on the nose; a great job on the forehead area; a good job on the eye area, lips, jaw, and neck; and a so-so job on the cheeks. My main problem with it is that wasn't enough to restore the volume I lost from my face.

FlexEffect has 40+ exercises, targeting all 26 voluntary muscles of the face. There is no set routine, and the idea is that over time, on your own or with help from a trainer, you develop your own routine. Unlike Facerise, it is a resistance-training program, so it has the potential to restore lost volume to the face. I like the FlexEffect exercises virtually all the most, especially those for the cheeks, which are fantastic! Relative to Facercise, I think FlexEffect is strongest in the areas of the cheeks, eyes, neck, and some parts of the jaw.

FlexEffect is my favorite facial exercise program, but I still like many aspects of Facercise.

If you do a search on Facercise and FlexEffect, there is a wealth of information on people's varied experiences and the pros and cons of each. HTH Smile

free skin care · Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:46 pm

Diega36 wrote:

I am having difficulty following the nasal labial smoother exercise. Are you supposed to wrinkle the nose and smile--holding that pose for 30 secs. Or are you supposed to smile and do the nose wrinkle and release 30 times. Any info would be helpful. Thank you. ---Rachel

Hi Rachel,

Thanks for your sweet compliment. I am going to try & explain the nasal labial smoother exercise. Please note that a part of this exercise is visualizing energy flow. I like to perform this exercise lying down. Open your mouth, forming a long "O' or oval with your mouth. Keep your upper lip pressed down against your teeth. Try and visualize two dots in the upper & lower lips and keep them as far apart as you can!! Now take the index fingers of both your hands and move them up and then down along your nasal labial folds. At the same time, tilt your head foward & then tilt it back (keeping your head flat on the bed or floor). Visualize the energy flowing up and down until you feel the burn in the nasal labial line. When you feel the burn, pull your fingers away from your face & pulse them up and down quickly for the count of thirty. Now blow out between your lips to release the lactic acid and relax the muscles of the face. I hope this helps & you can understand my directions! Let me know if you need further help! All the best, Aprile

free skin care · Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:02 pm

goodskin wrote:

Has anyone tried Baby Quasar and Nuface. If so, of the two which one gave the best results. It seems that they both produce the same results. I'm really need some help deciding which one to pick. My main focus is to increase collagen production and skin tightening.
Thanks....

goodskin - I have ProLight Red & Amber, and NuFace. I use my ProLights regularly, however Nuface is a waste of money.

free skin care · Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:12 pm

cm5597 wrote:

FlexEffect has 40+ exercises, targeting all 26 voluntary muscles of the face. There is no set routine, and the idea is that over time, on your own or with help from a trainer, you develop your own routine. )

I have done FE for over a year and read their forum quite a bit in the beginning and I never once got the idea that over time you were to develop your own routine. On the contrary my impression was that they were quite emphatic about trying to do all 40 exercises (which I did in the beginning - except for the TMJ-related ones). I eventually (with guidance from a few in the know) put together my own routine but still do about 32 of the original 40 regularly plus adding in some exercises from other routines that i felt did a better job - for me anyway.

I'd love to know what others impressions are of of this. Even Sean told me he does all 40.

I also enjoy a few of the CM exercises - and wish I knew more of them - I do the nose exercise daily and thank you Aprile - for the explanation of the one you just wrote out.

free skin care · Mon Sep 07, 2009 7:38 pm

Hey Sister... The tweaking of the program has really been a development that has happened, en masse, gradually over the last several years. And really only spoken about in the last year or so. At least that's how it feels.

Many people do in fact do the whole 40... using the CD, or just on their own.

But the fact is, we've always told people to do what you can and what you're comfortable with. We've helped people since the beginning tweak their programs to their own face, and personal needs.

The notion that you have to sit down and log an hour a day has been a little myth that just won't go away. You will see it everywhere you go, on any forum. It's usually the reason people choose a "short program". They just don't have the time for it.

The DVD as it stands is a "complete program". And it's only 14 or so exercises. It works every area of the face. It shows the grasps and such... And no matter how many times we say it... we still get back to... "I just can't do 40 exercises a day..." We say, split the exercises... whatever... but nope, it's a virtual mental block...LOL!

I also think, you run into the hard core Flexers on our forum who DO the 40 at least 5 days a week. And it's what they tend to preach. I would liken them to body builders that could probably compete if they wanted. You've seen those people at the gym, the ones that never leave.

FE has it's roots in bodybuilding, and is really still very similar. No body builder would say that you have to do every exercise possible for a muscle every day... Although with the face you CAN, if you WANT. Because facial muscles don't endure the same amount of tear down, from FE, that a body muscle gets from graduated weight increase, they don't need same time of recovery.

Hope that helps...

free skin care · Mon Sep 07, 2009 8:21 pm

sister sweets wrote:

I have done FE for over a year and read their forum quite a bit in the beginning and I never once got the idea that over time you were to develop your own routine. On the contrary my impression was that they were quite emphatic about trying to do all 40 exercises (which I did in the beginning - except for the TMJ-related ones). I eventually (with guidance from a few in the know) put together my own routine but still do about 32 of the original 40 regularly plus adding in some exercises from other routines that i felt did a better job - for me anyway.

I'd love to know what others impressions are of of this. Even Sean told me he does all 40.

Hey Sister Sweets!

Thanks for bringing this issue up! I think it is a really important issue. When I first joined the FlexEffect forum (1.5 years ago), I got the same impression: that newbies were told they should do all 40 exercises every day (or 5 days a week). I think that the recent message of "do all 40" has softened over the past year, with the recognition that many people (including me Smile

) weren't willing to do that every day. The advice now seems to be to start with the 14-exercise sample routine on the FlexEffect DVD, unless you have the motivation to do all 40. However, there are two caveats: (1) to be fair, the trainers have always said that if you experience overbuild, to back off an exercise--which I consider to be equivalent to the idea that some tailoring is important, and (2) posts on the FlexEffect forum from several years back emphasize much more tailoring. I suspect that the message in recent years veered towards the recommendation of doing very little tailoring because so many people were over-tailoring and spot training, which can get people into trouble fast--an understandable concern. But if you consider the net history of the forum posts over the past decade, it seems to me that tailoring is encouraged, even though more recently, tailoring has been more discouraged than encouraged. Perhaps I was being a little sloppy in my word choice (sorry!!) in saying that you *design* your own routine, but my point is that FlexEffect at least recognizes that one-size does not fit all (c.f., the majority of programs out there). Hope this clarifies what I meant! Smile

Please feel free to argue the opposite if you disagree--I'm curious what you think Smile

ClaudiaFE wrote:

No body builder would say that you have to do every exercise possible for a muscle every day...

I totally agree!

ClaudiaFE wrote:

though with the face you CAN, if you WANT. Because facial muscles don't endure the same amount of tear down, from FE, that a body muscle gets from graduated weight increase, they don't need same time of recovery.

Hey Claudia!

I have to be honest and confess that I have never quite understood this particular point. For example, even when training the body, one can do body-weight type exercises with high variable resistance and build muscle, just like we do with facial exercises. So there doesn't seem to me to be any concrete difference between training body and facial muscles.

To give a concrete example, if I only do 1 set until failure (or almost failure) for say my biceps, I know I could train every day. But I wouldn't build as much muscle as if I did 3 sets til failure for my biceps, but exercised them every 2 or 3 days. Wouldn't the same thing apply to the face? And if the facial muscles don't tear down as much after 1 set of say 10 reps and I could do this every day, doesn't that mean that I should just do more sets (plus more subsequent rest) so they tear down more and hence build up even larger than if I were training them every day? This is just something I've always been confused about.

Thanks so much in advance for your help!! Smile

free skin care · Mon Sep 07, 2009 8:43 pm

P.S. Claudia, if you won't mind posting your answer in the facial exercises progress thread (where there are more posts on this and my duplicate post), that would be great Smile

Thanks

Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:17 pm

mpstat wrote:

goodskin wrote:

Has anyone tried Baby Quasar and Nuface. If so, of the two which one gave the best results. It seems that they both produce the same results. I'm really need some help deciding which one to pick. My main focus is to increase collagen production and skin tightening.
Thanks....

goodskin - I have ProLight Red & Amber, and NuFace. I use my ProLights regularly, however Nuface is a waste of money.

Thank You so much for the valuable info. It has saved me about 300.00, the cost of Nuface. I keep you posted with an update on another forum.

free skin care · Tue Sep 08, 2009 5:31 am

I think if your ordering from Amazon you mean the Flex Away which is a little gadget that you put in your mouth and do exercises with.

Flex Effect is a system of facial exercises that I see others have detailed for you already - just wanted to clear that up.

BellaKai wrote:

Can anyone tell me how Flex Effect and Facercise differ? I'm thinking about getting the Flex Effect...although it's currently not in stock on Amazon.com.

free skin care · Tue Sep 08, 2009 5:50 am

sister sweets wrote:

I have done FE for over a year and read their forum quite a bit in the beginning and I never once got the idea that over time you were to develop your own routine. On the contrary my impression was that they were quite emphatic about trying to do all 40 exercises (which I did in the beginning - except for the TMJ-related ones). I eventually (with guidance from a few in the know) put together my own routine but still do about 32 of the original 40 regularly plus adding in some exercises from other routines that i felt did a better job - for me anyway.

I'd love to know what others impressions are of of this. Even Sean told me he does all 40.

I also enjoy a few of the CM exercises - and wish I knew more of them - I do the nose exercise daily and thank you Aprile - for the explanation of the one you just wrote out.

I think its pretty tough (and overwhelming and time consuming) trying to do all 40 in the beginning for anyone, as your literally learning a new skill and so you need to take your time, and also your not confident in the beginning either, as it’s a very new process to most people. I still to this day do all 40, plus I do massage daily without fail (but hey I was trained in facial massage before I started flexing and that’s one of the reasons I have always been very pro massage in my messages).

cm5597 wrote:

Hey Sister Sweets!

Thanks for bringing this issue up! I think it is a really important issue. When I first joined the FlexEffect forum (1.5 years ago), I got the same impression: that newbies were told they should do all 40 exercises every day (or 5 days a week). I think that the recent message of "do all 40" has softened over the past year, with the recognition that many people (including me Smile

) weren't willing to do that every day. The advice now seems to be to start with the 14-exercise sample routine on the FlexEffect DVD, unless you have the motivation to do all 40. However, there are two caveats: (1) to be fair, the trainers have always said that if you experience overbuild, to back off an exercise--which I consider to be equivalent to the idea that some tailoring is important, and (2) posts on the FlexEffect forum from several years back emphasize much more tailoring. I suspect that the message in recent years veered towards the recommendation of doing very little tailoring because so many people were over-tailoring and spot training, which can get people into trouble fast--an understandable concern. But if you consider the net history of the forum posts over the past decade, it seems to me that tailoring is encouraged, even though more recently, tailoring has been more discouraged than encouraged. Perhaps I was being a little sloppy in my word choice (sorry!!) in saying that you *design* your own routine, but my point is that FlexEffect at least recognizes that one-size does not fit all (c.f., the majority of programs out there). Hope this clarifies what I meant! Smile

Please feel free to argue the opposite if you disagree--I'm curious what you think Smile

Re doing all 40, it’s a goal we say to work towards to ensure people have and get a healthy foundation. Many people are though willing to do all the exercises going once they have learned them – and I do think that if people are serious about wanting results then they should be willing to put the time in though but everyone starts from different places and has different goals/lifestyles so we have to incorporate that. What has been happening though frequently is people will do FlexEffect with say another program (or even two or three) and then starts getting overbuild in places without realising that what has happened is that a stronger muscle has crept in on all their workouts to overcompensate for weaker ones and starts to give a funky build effect.

In the past, I had messages from people who had such results and it wasn’t until really looking into the changes that had taken place and their workout that we were able to pinpoint it was the combination of programs on the current strength level of facial muscles that contributed to the results.

I have no problem with people designing their own program, and am all for it, but so often I see a newbie who is persuaded to try several different exercise programs, and gets unusual results and then writes off facial exercises based on that. Its not working out smartly its just over working the poor facial muscles whereas had they consulted someone who had trained others, they could have been guided more specifically to tailoring a program to their individual needs. So often a person sees a more experienced trainees post about modifying their workout and jumps on the same bandwagon and then gets undesirable results simply because their facial structure isn’t yet used to being worked out, or challenged and stimulated as much. The same thing used to happen with Cheek Bootcamp. I lost count of how many newbies would try it, and then report that they had strange results – and sure enough when they go back to the suggested routine and then try the bootcamp 6 months later – their muscles are used to (a) holding the extra circulation, (b) being challenged in that way and (c) have sufficient resources to recuperate from the workout.

Re your question about body muscles and facial muscles – I don’t have time to answer completely, but the answer would be near enough a book. There are vast differences between the body muscles and facial muscles and also when you work out the facial muscles, your not going to challenge them the rest of the day by using the facial muscles whole muscle fibres (even if you make an expression your using only partial muscle not full muscle bodies), and when working out your facial muscles your never going to be able to engage 100% of the facial muscle fibre no matter how hard you try (and believe me I have been there and many times tried to). Even with using microcurrent devices, there is no guarantee that you can stimulate 100% of the muscle fibre either although the microcurrent is supposed to be able to search out weaker fibres (but that’s a whole essay in itself).

One size doesn’t fit all in the long run (but I don’t think there is anything out there that does) and tailoring is necessary for some individuals but the goal of building a strong foundation is easy when the hard work has already been done for people. When I teach, I teach people to do all 40 exercises and the massage, and generally don’t have to modify a person’s workout until their year is out, but you bet at the end of that year there is some modification necessary to help them get the best and help them achieve their goals.

Sean

free skin care · Tue Sep 08, 2009 9:33 am

SeanySeanUK wrote:

when working out your facial muscles your never going to be able to engage 100% of the facial muscle fibre no matter how hard you try (and believe me I have been there and many times tried to).

Interesting!! I hadn't heard that before! Would love to learn more at some point Smile

Thanks, Sean!

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