fitness

The Physiological and Mechanical Tradeoff

Check out this snippet from Charlie’s most recent post on FitnessProfessionalOnline.com, titled “The Physiological and Mechanical Tradeoff“!

“As a personal trainer, one of the difficulties I often run into is trying to balance what a client can do with what they want to do.  Often times these situations will look like this:

Client: “I want to build my glutes.”

Me: “Okay, let’s add in some lunges today.”

Client: (During the first set) “Ouch, this is bothering my knee.”

I call this dilemma the physiological/mechanical tradeoff.  It’s a tradeoff because, as personal trainers, we know how we want to challenge our clients’ physiology, but we need to be able to do so within the mechanical parameters that are presented. (more…)

By Charlie Cates, ago

Client Testimonial – Liz Goodchild

Check out this awesome testimonial from Julie and Charlie’s client, Liz!  Liz describes her experience doing personal training with Julie and Muscle Activation Techniques™ with Charlie.  She talks about how what she has learned with Julie and Charlie has far outweighed everything she learned the previous 20 years of exercising regularly, as well as her body’s transformation over the past three months.

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By Team MAS, ago

3 Must-Do’s To Exercise For Quality

Exercising for quality is difficult.  As a personal trainer and Muscle Activation Techniques™ practitioner in Schaumburg, this is an issue I run into on a daily basis.  Exercising for quantity, on the other hand, is much easier.  This tends to be the default most people fall back on when they start exercising.  It is completely understandable because, as mentioned, it is far easier to exercise for quantity than it is to exercise for quality.  But there is a way to change that, and it is simpler than you may think.

First, though, what is exercising for quality versus exercising for quantity? (more…)

By Charlie Cates, ago

Supercharge Your Stretching With This One Simple Change

I used to stretch all the time growing up.  I would stretch before I worked out.  I would stretch after I worked out.  I would stretch in the mornings.  I would stretch in the evenings.  I would stretch all the time because I wanted to improve my joint mobility and make sure that my body was prepared for my workouts.  For over a decade, stretching was a staple in my workout routine.

Despite all of that stretching, I never got to the point where I felt really flexible.  I would always feel stiff and achy.  My muscles felt chronically tight.  This persisted until I made one change to how I was doing my “stretching”. (more…)

By Charlie Cates, ago