Do your muscles need some extra “tutoring”?
In school, students do tutoring to help themselves get a better understanding of certain subjects. They may be really strong in math, but need some extra help with history, so they do additional studying and learning specific to their needs to help them meet the standards for their history class.
As a result, their overall GPA goes up along with their success in school.
What many students want to do is just focus on the subjects they already excel in and neglect the ones they find less interesting. Unfortunately, doing better in math won’t help students get better grades in history, so once they max out the grading scale for math, doing better in math won’t help their GPA at all.
Your muscles work in similar ways.
When you do an exercise, your body will default to using your muscles that are already working well and that it knows how to use while neglecting your muscles that aren’t working well. This is like a student only studying harder at math when they are already really good at math.
If the goal is to become the best mathematician ever, then awesome; but if the goal is to increase the overall GPA, there are issues with this strategy.
Likewise, if the goal for your strength training is to strengthen the muscles that are already strong and working well, great! But, if you want to develop a stronger balance within your muscles without creating compensations and injuries, a different approach needs to be taken.
This is where Muscle Activation Techniques® comes into play.
Muscle Activation Techniques®, or MAT®, is a systematic process by which underactive muscles are identified and strengthened directly, so when you go to workout, your body no longer has to compensate around them and can strengthen your body in a more balanced way.
MAT® is the metaphorical tutoring session for your muscles, figuring out which ones are lagging behind and then giving those ones extra care and attention to get them back up to speed.
By getting your muscles working well with MAT®, not only will you have more balanced strength throughout your body; but when you use your body during a workout or throughout daily life, you will be less likely to have to compensate for underactive muscles.
Overall, this means you get to have better workouts with faster results and less chance of injuries or imbalances.
If you are interested in getting your muscles “tutored” with Muscle Activation Techniques®, we’d love to see you on our MAT® table. Just click here to get started with your initial MAT® consultation and assessment.
We have been trained in the highest levels of MAT®–including MATRx, MATRx Stim, and MAT® Athlete–and are the most highly-trained practitioners in the Chicagoland area.
We can’t wait to see you soon!
In strength and health,
Julie & Charlie