Check out this awesome testimonial from one of Julie’s amazing MAT™ clients, Sadie!  Sadie had been suffering from an IT band issue as well as a knee issue for a year and a half before she found Julie.  She had tried everything she could find to help with her issue, but it wasn’t until she tried MAT™ that she noticed significant improvement.  Now she is back to running over three miles and is running faster than ever!


“Hi, my name is Sadie!  I am a physical education teacher and I have been dealing with chronic IT band problems and kind of like an arthritic ache in my knee.  It was recommended to me by a colleague to check out Muscle Activation Techniques™ [MAT™] as a possible way to help my issues.

“I am sure many of you are saying the same thing I did when I heard about it, which is, “What is Muscle Activation Techniques™?”  I even live in a world where I teach movement and am around coaches, physical therapists, and athletic trainers.  No one exactly knew what Muscle Activation Techniques™ was.

“In my research is where I came across Muscle Activation Schaumburg.  I gave them a call and I had a very long conversation with Julie about Muscle Activation Techniques™ because I had spent the last year and a half trying to do every therapy known to man to fix my problem.  I had done physical therapy, acupuncture, ART, strength training–you know name it, I had done it.  So I was very blunt with Julie that if any of this [that was done at Muscle Activation Schaumburg] was anything like what I had done before, Muscle Activation Techniques™ was probably not going to work for me.

“She assured me that it wasn’t like anything in any of the therapies I had done before so we set up my initial consultation.  During the consultation, she tested my body to see how it was functioning.  It was obvious from some of the initial tests that she did that it wasn’t functioning properly.  So we discussed how we were going to set forth with trying to progress to get my issues better.

“I can tell you that after two sessions I could definitely feel a change in my body.  By no means was I cured, but I could definitely tell that it was functioning differently that it had been after any other therapy.

“I am thrilled to say that, after working with Julie for a few weeks, two days ago I was able to finish my first three-mile run, which I haven’t been able to do in over a year and a half.  And, not only did I finish it, it was at a faster pace than I had done before.

“I highly recommend that if you have any issues, chronic problems, or injuries that you need to figure out what is going on to try Muscle Activation Techniques™ and check out Muscle Activation Schaumburg to see if they can help you as much as they have helped me.”

Interested in learning more about the personal training and Muscle Activation Techniques™ experience at Muscle Activation Schaumburg?  Contact us and connect with us on Facebook!

Did you enjoy this post?  Give it a share below and subscribe to our mailing list to receive our most popular posts every week 🙂


Julie Cates

Julie Cates is an experienced, certified, and insured National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Certified Personal Trainer and mastery level Muscle Activation Techniques® (MAT®) Rx Specialist (MATRx). She is one of 88 certified mastery level Resistance Training Specialists® (RTSm) in the world. This combination makes her style of training impactful and still preventative and restorative of joint and muscle issues and pain that are common with exercise. Julie specializes working with women 50 and over. Specifically, her main focus is working with women with bone density loss, muscle loss, Osteopenia, and Osteoporosis. Julie has incredible experience working with brand new exercisers. Very specific types and styles of exercises are needed for restoring and maintaining bone density, and Julie guides her clients through these in a pain-free way. She is also well experienced in helping women exercise even with various joint, bone, systemic, and neurological diagnoses. Julie is definitely your go-to personal trainer for women with Osteoporosis! Julie graduated cum laude from the University of Florida. She earned her degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology with a specialization in Exercise Physiology. Julie is the co-owner of Muscle Activation Schaumburg in Schaumburg, IL. She is a wife and mother of two. Julie can be reached via e-mail at julie@matschaumburg.com. Follow her on Instagram at @julcates!