Basketball Players – I have written a lot about the importance of muscle function for strength.
Without question, when your muscles function better, your strength increases. But, that’s not all that happens.
A short list of equally important outcomes of increasing muscle function includes:
- Your joints move better
- Your joints, discs, ligaments, cartilage, fascia, and other tissues become more protected from injury
- Your system overall becomes more resilient to stress
- Your movements become more coordinated and fluid
- You have less of a need to compensate around dysfunctional muscles
- Your tight and overactive muscles relax
In other words, improving your muscle function is arguably the most impactful thing you can do for your performance, your athleticism, how well you feel, and your health overall.
Unfortunately, the flip side is also true, where having dysfunctional and inhibited muscles can have some of the most profound negative effects on your performance and health.
This means that, as a high-level athlete, making sure your muscles are working as well as they can should be of the utmost importance to you both during your offseason training and during the grind of your inseason work, as well.
In my professional experience over the last 13 years, I have not seen anything more effective at improving muscle function than Muscle Activation Techniques®.
Muscle Activation Techniques®, also known as MAT®, is a systematic process of identifying dysfunctional or inhibited muscles and addressing those muscles directly so they are stronger and function properly.
It is done on a massage table with a trained MAT® practitioner and the results are immediate.
Yes, you read that correctly.
- Immediate increases in strength.
- Immediate improvements in joint mobility
- Immediate increased protection from injury
- Immediate increase in resilience to stress
- Immediate improvement in coordination
- Immediate reduction in compensation
- Immediate relaxation of tight and overactive muscles
If you have never tried MAT® before, it can be difficult to believe the impact that this process can have on your health and performance, but so many high-level athletes are now seeing the benefits of doing MAT® on a regular basis.
If you would like to try MAT® for yourself and get your body assessed so you know where you are most vulnerable to injuries and compensations, you can click here to see my availability and schedule your initial MAT® consultation and assessment.
Whether you want to move easier, feel stronger, perform better, reduce your chance of injury, recover faster, or feel better overall, MAT® needs to be part of your training and recovery plan.
There’s nothing else that can even come close to comparing to it.
Charlie
Charlie Cates is the leading consultant to high-level professional, college, and high school basketball players in the Chicagoland area for injury prevention, recovery, and muscle performance.
As one of Chicago’s most sought-after Muscle Activation Techniques® practitioners, he is certified in the highest levels of MAT®, including MATRx, MATRx Stim, and MAT® Athlete.
A former college basketball player, he uses his personal experience and understanding of the game and player demands to create customized exercise options for his clients to recover faster and perform their best.
He sees clients in-studio at Muscle Activation Schaumburg as well as in-home.
You can schedule your MAT® assessment with him by clicking here, and be sure to follow him on Instagram at @CharlieCates!
