Muscle Activation Techniques

The Most Commonly Skipped Form of Exercise

When you think of exercise, what is the first thought that comes to mind?  It may be a specific activity, such as running or lifting weights.  It may be a physical feeling, like fatigue, soreness, or strength.  It may be a goal, such as weight loss or completing a marathon.  It may be an emotion, such as excitement, happiness, or possibly dread.  But, when you think of exercise, is the first thing you think of “health”?  Likely not, and unfortunately this disconnect between exercise being an activity you do for the sake of the activity instead of something you do for your health is contributing to you skipping a vital form of exercise.

(more…)

By Charlie Cates, ago

Pro Athletes – What’s the biggest difference between them and you?

At Muscle Activation Schaumburg, we see a wide variety of clients for Muscle Activation Techniques® (MAT®).  We see clients who are younger and older, clients who are more physically fit and those who are not, and clients who are highly athletic as well as those whose athleticism may be lacking.  But, despite this variety, there is a consistency that we see regarding the differences between our clients who are professional athletes and those who are not.

(more…)

By Charlie Cates, ago

Looking to optimize your health and function? MAT® may be the answer.

At Muscle Activation Schaumburg, we generally have three categories of clients that come to see us for Muscle Activation Techniques® (MAT®).  The first category we call progressors.  These are people who have a health, function, or fitness goal that they are trying to reach and we help progress their body to being able to do so.  The second category is called the maintainers.  These clients are happy with their current health, function, and fitness and just want to maintain where they are at.  They may come in less frequently than the progressor group (every 4-6 weeks) but are very consistent with their muscle system tune-ups.

(more…)

By Charlie Cates, ago

3 Ways MAT® Helps Maintain Your Health and Function

When clients come to us for Muscle Activation Techniques®, they typically fall into one of three categories.  The first group is what we call the Progressors, which is made up of clients who have a health, function, or fitness goal that we get to help progress them towards. Another group is call the Optimizers.  These are clients whose body is already working pretty well but they are wanting to optimize their health and function for that last little edge.  The third group is called the Maintainers.  This group is made up of clients who are able to do the things they want to do and they want to make sure they are able to continue to do those activities for the foreseeable future.

Which group would you fall into?  You can take this short quiz here to find out.

(more…)

By Charlie Cates, ago

Stay safe during your ski trip with these exercise tips!

Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays where we are talking about one exercise topic for two minutes and giving you three reasons why you should follow our advice.  Now this week, we are talking to those of you who have a ski trip coming up.  Hey, ski season is in full swing.  How can you prepare your body to make sure that you not only enjoy your trip, but stay safe while you are skiing?

(more…)

By Team MAS, ago

3 Ways MAT® Helps to Boost Your Performance

Oftentimes, when we think of performance we think of athletes, musicians, actors and actresses, or anybody else that we may see on stage or on screen.  But, the truth of the matter is that each of us has to perform every single day.  We have to wake up and perform the various roles and responsibilities of our daily life.  We need to exercise, take care of our family, attend to our tasks at work, and fulfill social obligations.  From the boardroom to the ballfield, we all need to be able to perform, but we may often feel as if we are only surviving instead of thriving.  Fortunately, Muscle Activation Techniques® (MAT®) can help us boost our physical performance so we can do the things we love to do as well as we would like to do them for the foreseeable future.  Here’s how.

(more…)

By Charlie Cates, ago

How muscles saved me from blowing out my knee

When I was 24 years old, I thought I had blown out my knee.  I was playing in a basketball game in a rec league at DePaul University.  During one play, I went up to dunk the ball and got hit in the chest by a defender.  I reached to grab the rib to regain my balance, but the hit knocked me hard enough that I couldn’t hang on.  I slipped, fell backwards, and stuck my leg out to land.  The problem was that I stuck my leg out completely straight and my body was falling overtop of it at a weird angle.

(more…)

By Charlie Cates, ago