Running and My Feet, Back, and Shoulder

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**Disclaimer:  There are many potential explanations to why my body feels the way it does when I run.  This is just one possibility that may or may not actually be taking place, but I thought it was interesting to work through the mechanical relationships.

Last week I went for a run.  Or I should say I started to.  I lasted about five minutes before my feet were saying stop and I was starting to get a dull tightness on the left side of my lower back as well as around my left shoulder blade.  Now, what I've come to realize is I don't think this feeling is necessarily new to me when I run, but rather I think I see it in a different light after learning more about the human body.  I think my body has always felt kind of not great while running, but before I just figured it came with the territory.  But now that I think I have a better understanding of what these sensations may be indicating, I stop when I start to feel this way because I know there are ways for me to exercise without feeling that type of discomfort.

Mastering Details

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While attending the Muscle Activation Techniques™ mastery level Advanced Foot Function course this past weekend, a huge emphasis was placed on the details.  Or at least that was how it appeared to me.  How exactly are you applying force?  How exactly are you setting somebody up?  How exactly are you passively stressing them to see how well they move?  How exact are you?

When I attended the course this past September, there were still plenty of details discussed, but it seemed to be less detail-oriented.  I do believe the information was presented differently this past weekend, but I would say most of this focus on the details came from my own ability to better comprehend the bigger picture stuff as well as having a greater understanding what little details to look for that I was wanting and needing to pick up on.

In RTS™ it is said that, "Mastery is in the details," and I think this concept held true throughout this past weekend.  To truly have mastered something you need to know all of the ins and outs of what you do and be able to control for as well as strategically manipulate those variables.  There is also an aspect of being able to reproduce what you do in as much as you are able to appropriately account for all of the little variables time after time.

After having spent the past four and a half months re-viewing the Advanced Foot Function manual every day as well as practicing the skill set multiple times per week, I felt confident in my ability to keep up with what was going to be presented when I went back to the course for this second time.  And while the mechanics discussions felt very comfortable for me, the small details that I was able to pick up on during the practice of the hands-on skill set clearly showed me the flaws in what I was doing before as well as gave me a very good idea as to where to direct my effort and focus with my daily studies.

In RTS™ it is brought up that mastery is not a level to be achieved as much as it is a continual life-long process to go through of questioning and re-evaluating and constantly trying to improve what you do and believe you understand.  With this in mind, it is clear that mastering all of the possible details will not happen over the course of one weekend nor with the additional practice of a few months, but rather to commit yourself to mastering something is to wholly commit yourself for the long haul with the understanding that there are always going to be more details to master.

What skill or information are you trying to master?  How neurotic are you in ensuring that all of the little details are correct each and every time you study, practice, or apply the information?

Inter­ested in find­ing out more? Check out the “Mus­cle Acti­va­tion Tech­niques™” page.

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 in the yellow box below!

Asking a Higher Quantity of Quality Questions

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Over the last six or so weeks I have started spending a lot more time with each client going through different CAMs before I dive into the AMC&S tests and then the PICs or DFAMATs.  And part of this increase in time is due to performing more CAMs, or asking a higher quantity of questions, and part of it is the amount of time I try to spend setting up each CAM to make sure I have an apples to apples comparison, or asking a higher quality of questions.  Ultimately, this has lead to a reduction in the amount of time I have needed to spend doing the PICs or DFAMATs.

I think if we want the body to point us in a direction of quality answers, we need to be asking quality questions.  Additionally, if we are looking for answers that are potentially closer to some type of possible source, we need to continue to ask quality questions over and over again.  Just like if you are interviewing a potential client and you ask them why they are looking for a personal trainer, do you accept their first answer of, "Because I want to lose weight," and be done with your questions, or do you keep digging and asking "Why?" and keep trying to find other possible reasons as to why they have come to you?

The CAMs are something that I used to definitely not take as much time with.  Part of this was due to a lack of a developed thought process--I'm not sure I would have known what to do with the extra info had I actually had it.  Part of this was due to me seeing that time as somewhat less important than the PICs or the DFAMATs.  I would still go through some CAMs and try to piece together a mechanical relationship, but I know I was not setting them up to compare apples to apples.  I'm not even sure if I still am 100% of the time, but I am certainly trying to more and it is now in the forefront of my mind when I am with a client.

It really wasn't until I realized that, much as in life or conversation, asking quality questions is a skill that needs to be practiced in order to be done really well.  Furthermore, stringing together a series of quality questions to make for a substantial dialogue is even more of a skill.

So that's what I've been spending a lot of time with as of late, trying to asking a higher quantity of quality questions by trying to be meticulous in setting up apples to apples comparisons.  I've been looking at things such as active hip and knee flexion before setting up a 90/90 hip external rotation CAM, pelvic position while supine on the table, and even trying to work through in my head how/if differently-shaped medial arches between the right and left foot would change how I set up different CAMs for the lower leg and foot and how that might affect everything else.

This process is by no means even remotely complete, or correct for that matter, but I think there is something to be said about if you are wanting better answers, you may need to start by asking better questions, and continue to ask better questions at that.

Are you getting the answers you are looking for?  Perhaps you need to start your pursuit by asking better questions.

Inter­ested in find­ing out more? Check out the “Mus­cle Acti­va­tion Tech­niques™” page.

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 in the yellow box below!

MAT on Baseball Tonight

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Check out this video from Baseball Tonight on ESPN showing Mark Teixeira's use of Muscle Activation Techniques™ in his training!

Inter­ested in find­ing out more? Check out the “Mus­cle Acti­va­tion Tech­niques™” page.

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

Your body.  Your training.

Raising The Set Point

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In last Monday's post I brought up the term "set point" in regards to a potentially intended outcome of Muscle Activation Techniques™ sessions being to raise it.  I never really explained what the term "set point" means, though.

Set point is an idea that I was first introduced to during the MAT lower body mastery course back in November.  Essentially, it was explained as more or less the current maximum level of force that can be applied to a contractile tissue and not have that tissue's contractile efficiency decrease.  An example of exceeding the set point would be if somebody had a passing AMC&S test for the straight head of rectus femoris and then they performed seated knee extensions, only to retest that position and then no longer be able to hold it.  However much force the tissue had to handle between the two tests exceeded that tissue's set point level and subsequently the person was unable to maintain the corresponding testing position.

As I discussed last week, MAT is part of an exercise process of stimulation and potential response, ideally leading to desired adaptation.  One of these adaptations may be the ability of the tissue to tolerate greater and greater levels of force without diminishing its contractile efficiency, i.e. raising its set point.  In fact, this is one of the most common week by week changes I see in clients.  In terms of where a client is on any given day, a lot more goes into this than whether or not we met the previous week, but in general, from one session to the next I have tended to see upward trends of clients being able to have greater quantities force applied to them and still be able to hold the AMC&S testing positions.

Side note:  By greater quantities of force I am talking about both in terms of magnitude and duration of application.  The tissue's ability to tolerate inertial effects as well as different levels of positive and negative acceleration should also be included in this.

Compare this to a tissue's maximum threshold, which, as explained to me by Greg Mack, is more indicative of the material qualities of the tissue rather than it's contractile efficiency.  In other words, exceeding a tissue's threshold for force tolerance ends in rupture of that tissue.  Tissue threshold will more than likely always be greater than or equal to the tissue's set point, simply because if the tissue itself ruptures, it is highly unlikely that it would still be able to contract efficiently if more force was applied.  Quite frankly I'm not sure how that would be measured anyways, so I guess unless I find out otherwise I'll say that threshold will always be greater than or equal to set point.  That being said, both values can be raised through appropriate force application and not necessarily raised in a linear fashion or by relatively equal amounts, either.

So, why is this important?  For one, whether you are a regular exerciser, competitive athlete, weekend warrior, wanting to get back into exercise, or just need your muscles to help you get through your everyday life, having somewhat of an objective marker of what your neuromuscular system can actually tolerate at this moment in terms of force can be valuable information.  Do you really want varying levels of discomfort, illness, and lethargy to be your only indicators that what you are doing might be too much for you right now?

Second, by establishing a baseline of where you are at now, you can a) plan your workouts and life accordingly so you aren't constantly playing a game of digging yourself into a hole and then scrambling to get out before it is time to start digging again, and b) have a positive marker by which to measure improvement and progress.  In other words, instead of noting that you are experiencing less of a negative (soreness, fatigue, being worn down, etc), you will be able to put things in terms of a positive (able to hold more positions, able to tolerate greater magnitudes of force and for greater durations without compromising contractile efficiency) at a frequency that may be greater than your ability to notice increases in gross torque production capabilities or changes in appearance or improved conditioning levels, etc.

Third, having a means by which to potentially raise the set point of your contractile tissues means you potentially have a greater ability to do what you want to do, when you want to do it at more frequent intervals and higher levels of performance.  Plain and simple.  Whether you enjoy running, gardening, recreational sports, walking your dogs, home improvement projects, or whatever else you can imagine using your muscles for, this is a way to potentially improve your ability to do that as well as do that later and later into your life.

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What activities do you enjoy doing?  Do you want to be able to do those better?  Do you want to be able to do those as you continue to age?

Inter­ested in find­ing out more? Check out the “Mus­cle Acti­va­tion Tech­niques™” page.

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 can, but be sure to include all of the bio­graph­i­cal infor­ma­tion found in the yel­low box below!

The Importance of Timing

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People's understanding of what MAT provides the opportunity for tends to lend itself towards improving the ability of muscle fibers to contract and generate tension.  While this is often true, I think it is important to point out that it is not just the ability to generate more tension that is improved, but also the ability to generate that tension the moment an external stimulus is imposed.


It does not matter how much tension can be generated by the muscles that control the knee.  If they are unable to generate the exact amount of tension you need them to at the exact moment in time you need it to be generated, that could be the difference between rupturing your ACL and walking away injury-free.

A great example of this happened to me this past Spring.  I was playing in a city league basketball game and went up for a dunk along the baseline.  An opposing player put his body into my chest when I was in mid-air and I had to grab onto the rim to protect myself.  The problem was, because of the contact I didn't get up as high as I had expected and I slipped off of the rim.  I fell backwards and landed straight-legged on my right leg with that hip externally rotated.  I felt my body continue to travel backwards and laterally over that leg as my foot stayed planted to the ground, and then I felt an immense pressure on the medial aspect of my knee.

It was right at that moment that I caught myself with my left leg and hopped up.  I was a little shaken because I thought I was on the verge of seriously injuring myself, but I didn't have any pain at all.

Two weeks prior I began scheduling regular MAT sessions.  I am thoroughly convinced that had I not begun those sessions when I did, I would not have walked off that court that day and the entire course of events between then and now would have been dramatically altered.

The next day I went back in for another MAT session and had my hips worked on.  I have not experienced any pain, swelling, or sign of injury in general from that incident, and I have MAT to thank because of that.

Even a genetically superior being like Derrick Rose had issues with the timing of tension generation. Do you really think you aren't susceptible?
Image courtesy of fansaloon.com

 

You may be strong and healthy and lift a lot of weight and feel great and that's awesome, but understand if the timing of your muscles' ability to generate tension isn't there, if that orchestration of joint management is off in any way, you are leaving yourself very susceptible to injury.

And quite frankly there isn't any faster way to not get to where you want to go than to be out of the game completely because of some preventable injury.

Weight lifting can't guarantee that timing.  Neither can plyometrics.  Or yoga.  Or Pilates.  Or running.  Or swimming.  All of these other things will simply improve the ability of the guys that are already working well, but it is the guys who aren't doing their job that will be your downfall.

With all of the time and energy you are investing in building a bigger, stronger, more powerful, or more efficient and well-running body, what are you doing to make sure that investment is insured?

Inter­ested in find­ing out more? Check out the “Mus­cle Acti­va­tion Tech­niques™” page.

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 can, but be sure to include all of the bio­graph­i­cal infor­ma­tion found in the yel­low box below!

FAQs about MAT (Part 1)

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How does MAT dif­fer from tra­di­tional exer­cise or other forms of therapy?

MAT is not a form of ther­apy; it is a form of exer­cise.  This is crit­i­cal to under­stand.  Tra­di­tion­ally, phys­i­cal ther­apy focuses on the big, macro view of reha­bil­i­ta­tion whereas MAT takes a very zoomed-in approach.  In fact, while phys­i­cal ther­apy will often con­cern itself with big move­ments of joints, MAT is con­cerned with spe­cific mus­cle fibers.  Phys­i­cal ther­apy is often there to relieve the pain, dis­com­fort, or other symp­toms of an injury whereas MAT treats nei­ther pain nor symp­toms, but rather attacks the root cause of what may be lead­ing to said pain and symptoms.

With tra­di­tional exer­cise, you are weaker when you fin­ish your train­ing or work­out than when you began it.  How­ever, with MAT, you fin­ish stronger than when you started, as is demon­strated by the MAT posi­tion tests used through­out the ses­sion.  This makes MAT a great pre­cur­sor to both exer­cise and ther­apy as you will be more pre­pared for, and there­fore will receive greater ben­e­fit from, both expe­ri­ences after an MAT session.

How is MAT different from**:

--Chiropractic work?

MAT is a great adjunct to chiropractic work.  Depending on the doctor, chiropractic work may focus on more of the mobilization of joints, specifically the spinal facets.  Comparatively, MAT focuses on stabilizing joints via improving the contractile capabilities of the muscle fibers that control the joints.  From the MAT viewpoint, once stabilization of a joint is achieved via improved muscular contraction and control/management of the joint, mobility of that joint may improve, as well.

--Massage?

Depending on the type of massage, this modality tends to lean towards relieving muscle tightness by pushing through the belly of the muscles fibers (right through the middle).  The MAT thought process is that muscle tightness is secondary to muscle weakness, which means we believe once the tension producing capabilities are restored to the muscle fibers, the feeling of tightness felt elsewhere in the body may dissipate.  We believe muscle tightness is a specifically orchestrated event put in place by the brain in order to intentionally limit a joint's range of motion in order to protect yourself from injury.  Additionally, with MAT we are pressing right where the muscle fibers insert into the bones.  This means we are not feeling for tightness or tissue quality but rather for the bone itself.

--Passive stretching?

Passive stretching tends to force a limb to move further around a joint than it could move on its own.  Essentially, this is having somebody else impose their will onto your body under the notion that whatever your brain has decided was enough range of motion for you at that joint is incorrect and needs to be "fixed".  Comparatively, MAT simply provides the brain with additional options than it currently has to complete a task.  Your brain decides whether it wants to use those specific muscles to control the joint.  Nothing is forced upon your body.

--ART?

Granted, I do not know much at all about ART, but from what I have gathered from others as well an insinuated from the name, it seems that this modality is attempting to release adhesions between (or within? I'm not sure) the muscle(s), that may or may not be there in the first place but allegedly can be felt by the practitioner.  It is attempting to release over-active tissue whereas MAT is attempting to stimulate under-active tissue.

**Note:  All of these modalities may be perfectly appropriate for an individual given their current setting, goals, and structural and neuromuscular capabilities.  I am by no means trying in insinuate that one modality is better or worse than another, but rather just trying to give a comparison between them given my limited knowledge of most other modalities.

How long does the process take?

This is completely specific to the individual.  Lifestyle factors and medical history need to be thoroughly taken into consideration throughout the process.  Even then, figuring out what is actually causing the muscular inhibition is often very challenging.  Is it a pec muscle that is causing the dysfunction in the hip?  Is it a nerve-root issue where muscles that are innervated by the same spinal level are causing each other to become inhibited?  Is it the shoes you are wearing?  Your diet?  Your stress at work?  Did you fall on your wrist a few years back and forget to put that on your client intake because it didn't require any medical attention but now your knee is bugging you because of that?  All of these questions and more need to be looked at and thought through throughout the process.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of FAQ's about MAT!

What other questions do you have about Muscle Activation Techniques™?  Drop a comment below so I can address them in future posts!

Inter­ested in find­ing out more? Check out the “Mus­cle Acti­va­tion Tech­niques™” page.
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 can, but be sure to include all of the bio­graph­i­cal infor­ma­tion found in the yel­low box below!

EMG Reading After MAT Treatment

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Check out this video from Active Edge MAT to see the before and after effects of EMG readings from an MAT treatment of the rectus femoris.

EMG on Rectus Femoris after Muscle Activation Techniques applied from Momentus Studios on Vimeo.

Inter­ested in find­ing out more? Check out the “Mus­cle Acti­va­tion Tech­niques™” page.

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

Your body.  Your training.