When you think of creating margin within your life, what areas come to mind? Perhaps you would like to create more of a financial margin for yourself. Or maybe you would like to create a greater margin with your time. You may also want to create more of a margin with your responsibilities, delegating some of those to others so you can create more peace of mind.
When you think of margin, how you define it? What does having a margin allow you? It creates a buffer between what is required and what is available, or between what you need and what you have.
With this in mind, have you ever considered creating a margin for your health? What habits would you develop to help you build your body up and create abundant health? You might do this through proper nutrition, consistently exercising, and engaging in stress management techniques.
Now, what about creating margin for your muscular system? This is something that you may not have thought of, but it may be the foundational principle that allows you to build abundant health and the life you want to live. But, what would this look like?
Creating margin for your muscular system means that you will be able to use your muscles however and whenever you please. Want to go for a run? No problem. Time to hit the links for a round of golf? Easy. Grandkids wanting you to chase them in the yard? You have this covered.
Basically, it means that your muscles are always capable of doing more than what you are requiring of them. It means your ability to move and feel strong is not a limiting factor in your decision to participate in the activities you want to do. It means that doing the activities you enjoy most doesn’t leave you feeling beat up, achy, or sore. And it means that you can keep doing the activities that bring you the most joy for as long as you want to do them.
Creating margin for your muscular system, while not often discussed, is essential to your overall health and wellbeing for three reasons. First, muscle-related issues are a huge concern in our society. This includes both traumatic and chronic muscle-related issues. A traumatic muscle-related issue may be something like throwing out your back, spraining your ankle, or pulling your hamstring. A chronic muscle-related issue may be something like plantar fasciitis, tight shoulder or neck muscles, and constantly feeling achy or sore. By creating more margin for your muscular system, you may minimize the likelihood that you experience these traumatic or chronic issues.
Second, creating margin for your muscular system is important because it will allow you to keep doing the activities you enjoy most without interruption. How many people do you know who used to exercise, but then got hurt at some point in time, and have since stopped exercising? Or do you know anybody who used to enjoy going for walks in the evening, but has had to stop doing that because of various aches and pains? How about somebody who was always busy and active around the house – doing laundry, working in the yard, chasing kids around – but has had to cut back on all of that because of how easily they get fatigued? Creating more margin for your muscular system can help keep you feeling energized, strong, and excited about doing the activities you enjoy most.
Finally, creating margin for your muscular system will help you to build resiliency to everyday stresses. Have has somebody ever told you, “I can’t lie down for more than three hours before my back starts to tighten up,”? Or how about, “Every time I sit to work at my computer, my neck and shoulders start bugging me,”? These are indications that they may need to build more margin for their muscular system.
At Muscle Activation Schaumburg, we help our clients build this margin through strategically designed internally-focused resistance training and Muscle Activation Techniques® (MAT®). If you are unfamiliar with what the difference may be, check out this post. We specialize in assessing our clients’ muscular system to figure out where there may be issues or inefficiencies, and then creating customized exercise from the ground up to help address their needs and improve upon their abilities. By figuring out where our clients’ muscles are not working well, improving their function, and boosting their performance, we are able to build them a greater buffer between what is required of their body and what their body is capable of.
If you are interested in finding out more about this, we would love to connect with you. If you are not in the Schaumburg, IL area but are interested in finding somebody for MAT®, you can see a directory of all the certified specialists here. And, if you would like to start applying some of these exercise principles on your own, you can find out how to do that with our free ebook here.
It has been said that margin may be the truest form of wealth. Create an abundance of wealth within your life by creating more margin for your health and muscular system.