Are Your Muscles Ready?

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What activities do you like to do?  Are your muscles ready for those activities?

What does your daily life consist of?  Are your muscles ready for those events?

What do you have in store for today's workout?  Are your muscles ready to take on that challenge?

How do you know??

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If you didn't sleep completely well, ate something that your body doesn't totally agree with, have some kind of mental/emotional stress going on, or any of a number of other factors, your muscles may not be absolutely ready to do what you want to do or do what you are asking or requiring them to do.

Muscle Activation Techniques™ can check in on your muscles and nervous system and assess that.

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This is one of the greatest benefits of MAT and one that I utilize with all of my clients before we get into the meat of their workout for the day.  Similar to what I discussed last week, performing CAMs and AMC&S tests before we head to the fitness floor gives me an idea of the state of their system at that moment in time.  And this feedback isn't always the same as the verbal feedback I receive from them regarding how they are feeling, which, to me, makes it a vital aspect to keep tabs on.

Think of it kind of like a diagnostics check for your car.  A brief assessment can unveil if something you were planning on doing should be momentarily put on pause because your body just isn't quite ready at this point in time.  While that's not always pleasing to hear, it certainly is more enjoyable than suffering an injury because you didn't take the time to check things out beforehand.

Additionally, you may not be receiving the full benefit of your physical activity if everything isn't up to par before you begin.  How much more could you achieve if your body was completely ready for what you were going to do?

While I check in on my clients' muscles every time we meet, having an assessment done every other week or even once a month can still be of great benefit.  This little bit of time spent asking some questions can turn up some very powerful answers that may lead to a huge boost in the results you are currently getting through your exercise as well how you feel during your everyday chores and activities.

Are your muscles ready for your life?

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!

Pre-exercise MAT

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All of my personal training clients start on the MAT table so I can get an overview of how their body is doing at that moment in time.  While I ask for verbal feedback regarding how they are feeling that day, many of my clients are unable to provide an accurate assessment of themselves.

A great example of this is when clients come in and their responses to my questions of, "How are you feeling today?  How did you feel after our last training session?  Did you have any soreness or any discomfort after?" are, "Fine.  Fine.  No."  Perhaps they want to move on to the "workout" as quickly as possible or perhaps I haven't effectively communicated to them the importance of providing me with an accurate assessment, or maybe to them that is an accurate assessment of themselves.  Regardless, the bottom line is I'm not getting much information from them at those moments in time.

So we head to the table and there are some asymmetries that show up in the range of motion assessment.  We move into testing different positions and then to stimulating specific muscle fibers or groups of muscle fibers, in this case it is usually through positional isoangular contractions as it is before they are about to workout.  We go back to the positional tests and they are unable to hold the position.  I retest the position and they are still unable to hold it.  Maybe I move on to another position to see if they can hold that one in hopes that by improving the contractile capabilities of fibers that share a mechanical ability relative to the range of motion assessed the contractile capabilities of the fibers that were unable to hold the previous position will improve.  Maybe I DFAMAT the attachments of the fibers in question.  Regardless, the outcome is the same:  they are unable to hold the testing positions even after treatment.

Now it is very plausible that my tests were not performed properly and therefore I was getting false negatives.  But, for the sake of my point, let's say that everything was on point on my end but they just weren't responding as expected to the stimuli.  I start to question them a little further and find out that they didn't sleep well the night before or they were out drinking or have been very stressed, etc.  Essentially, the response I received at the beginning when they walked in that they were doing "fine" was not even remotely indicative of the state of their neuromuscular system.  Because of the results from the table, anything I may have considered doing with them that day in terms of applying forces to their body will more than likely change in some regard.

This is a great aspect of MAT that can really differentiate it from other modalities.  The tests can give you immediate feedback about the state of a person's neuromuscular system, which you can use to dictate their exercise program for that day.  All the positions seem to be holding?  They can probably handle more stress on that day.  Positions not holding so well?  Maybe you take it easier or not try to stress out that tissue further during their workout by training predominantly upper body instead of lower body, for example.

Additionally, I bring my clients back to the table after the session to see the effect the collective exercises had on them that day.  Sometimes I test positions in between sets or exercises, but to be honest I haven't really gotten into the habit of doing this or having this on my mind while I am training them so this option hasn't been as used to the extent of the other two (before and after their resistance training session).

Takeaways:

1. The verbal feedback from your clients about themselves may not be completely accurate.  You may need additional assessments in order to effectively apply force to their body that day.
2. MAT delivers immediate feedback regarding the state of a person's neuromuscular system, which can and should be used to dictate their training for that day.
3. MAT can also be used to assess the effect of an individual rep/set/exercise or their entire workout on their neuromuscular system.  This information can be used to dictate future training sessions and exercises.

What assessment tools do you use to gather information about your clients?

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!