Poor Driving Conditions

Image courtesy of boston.com

This past weekend I had the pleasure of being out in Denver for the Muscle Activation Techniques™ Mastery Trunk and Spine course taught by Kevin Dunn.  On Saturday evening as I was driving to the airport, the roads were pretty slick from the snowstorm that was happening.  Despite the poor driving conditions, I did my best to make my way down the interstate in my little rental car.

Now, if you have ever driven through a snow storm or on slick roads, you know that it is definitely different than driving on a clear day with dry pavement.  The driving conditions affect almost every decision you make while operating the car, from driving speed to how close you are to the car in front of you to how and when you change lanes.  To me, there were many aspects of this snowy drive that I feel relate very well to MAT™.  The effects of the driving conditions were three-fold:

1) I tightened up my grip on the steering wheel in order to feel like I had better control of the vehicle.
2) I slowed down the speed I was driving in order to minimize the likelihood of being in an accident.
3) It was in my best interest to get off of the roads and spend as little time driving as possible to decrease the opportunity of being involved in an accident.

1) My roommate for the weekend, Scott McWilliam, was riding shotgun and pointed out that I was gripping the steering wheel noticeably tight.  I responded that gripping the wheel that way made me feel safer, like I had better control of the car on the slippery roads.

Because of the poor driving conditions, my car felt like it was liable to slip and slide all over the road at any moment should I have not maintained precise control over the steering wheel.  In order to maintain this control, I instinctively tightened my grip on the wheel.

Think of this concept in terms of your body.  Your muscles are in place to control your joints.  If some muscles are unable to contract efficiently--potentially because of inflammation from stress, trauma, or overuse of those muscles--you will naturally have less control over the joints they cross.

In terms of the car, friction between the tires and the road and your steering (among other things) help to keep the car on the road.  Poor contractile efficiency of some of the muscles controlling a joint would be analogous to there being a lower coefficient of friction between the tires and the road because of the snow.  As a response to this, your body may tighten up other muscles that cross that joint in an attempt to maintain as much control over the joint as it can.

2) Because of the poor traction on the roads, the car would not be able to perform the desired task (transporting us to the airport) as well if I had driven as fast as I normally would have on dry pavement.  Relating this again to the body, think of of this task as the exercise or daily activity for the car.

Similar to the point above where lack of control by some of the muscles may cause other muscles to tighten up in order to maintain control, not having optimal neuromuscular control (driving conditions) of the joint may not allow you to do the things you enjoy doing as well as you normally could.

Whether you regularly or rarely participate in sports, traditional exercise, group fitness, or even just your regular everyday activities, if your muscles are not working as well as they could your ability to efficiently perform these activities decreases.

3) Due to the condition of the road, it was wise to not drive any more than was absolutely necessary in order to minimize the risk of getting in an accident.  In exercise terms, if your muscles are providing poor driving conditions for your joints, the more you challenge that situation the greater the likelihood may be that injury occurs.

On the flip side of this, the better the driving conditions, the longer you may be able to drive without getting into an accident.  Likewise, the better your muscles are able to control your joints, the longer you may be able to enjoy the activities you love throughout your life while minimizing the damage to your joints.

Sticking with this metaphor, what Muscle Activation Techniques™ attempts to do is clear as much of the snow off of the road as possible in order to allow you to drive your car however you please for as long as you want.  Quite simply, MAT™ provides the opportunity for your muscles to work better, potentially allowing you to do whatever activities you love to do more efficiently and for longer periods of time.

What activities do you use your muscles for?  Are you giving yourself the best opportunity to do them efficiently, or are you trying to "drive through a snow storm" every day?

Inter­ested in set­ting up an assess­ment time or dis­cussing this sub­ject fur­ther? E-mail Char­lie at charlie@selfmadefitness.com.

Your body.  Your training.

Want to use this arti­cle in your blog, newslet­ter, or other plat­form? You may, but be sure to include all of the bio­graph­i­cal infor­ma­tion found below!