  We consider a fully dynamical origin for the masses of weak gauge bosons and
heavy quarks of the Standard Model. Electroweak symmetry breaking and the gauge
boson masses arise from new strong dynamics, which leads to the appearance of a
composite scalar in the spectrum of excitations. In order to generate mass for
the Standard Model fermions, we consider extended gauge dynamics, effectively
represented by four fermion interactions at presently accessible energies. By
systematically treating these interactions, we show that they lead to a large
reduction of the mass of the scalar resonance. Therefore, interpreting the
scalar as the recently observed 125 GeV state, implies that the mass
originating solely from new strong dynamics can be much heavier, {\em {\em
i.e.}} of the order of 1 TeV. In addition to reducing the mass of the scalar
resonance, we show that the four-fermion interactions allow for contributions
to the oblique corrections in agreement with the experimental constraints. The
couplings of the scalar resonance with the Standard Model gauge bosons and
fermions are evaluated, and found to be compatible with the current LHC
results. Additional new resonances are expected to be heavy, with masses of the
order of a few TeVs, and hence accessible in future experiments.
