MAT Demonstration On News Channel 12 (NJ)

 

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Want to see a basic overview of the MAT process in action?  Check out the video below to see Ken Freiberg explaining Muscle Activation Techniques™ on News Channel 12 in New Jersey.

What 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? 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!

Rethinking Functional Fitness

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“How functional are your functional exercises if they cause dysfunction within the body?”

– Charlie McMillin

“Functional” is one of the biggest buzzwords in the fitness world today. But do people really know what it means or are they just throwing it around to falsely justify their choice of exercise?

The commonly held view…

In the fitness world, an exercise is generally considered functional if the trainer and/or client can think of a way the exercise would be useful in making everyday life easier. Often these exercises are ones that look like the life activities they are designed to make easier by using movement patterns that are the same or as similar as possible to the life activities. “Functional fitness” may also be comprised of bodyweight or free-weight exercises, and most likely are done standing or with one’s balance challenged. In other words, “functional fitness” is believed to be anything that mimics a real life movement.

Is this an accurate idea of what truly makes an exercise functional?

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If this were the case, wouldn’t the best and unquestionably most functional form of training simply be living life? Can doing dumbbell curls to presses really mimic putting a carry-on bag in the overhead compartment on an airplane more closely than, say, practicing lifting a carry-on bag over your head? If you are trying to get as “functional” as possible, why even go to the gym in the first place? It’s not like at the gym there are grocery bags to carry around, couches to practice standing up from, or buses you need to run to catch and then keep your balance on during the ride. Wouldn’t it be more functional (as close to the real life activity as possible) to just do all of the real life activities for sets and reps?

So what really is “functional”? And is mimicry truly the best way to train someone to function better relative to their goal(s)?

The truth…

A high level of mimicry does not make an exercise functional; appropriately providing a stimulus that creates adaptations that transfer into a greater ability to achieve one's goal does!!!

In other words, regardless of what the choreography of an exercise looks like when it is performed, the only way it should be considered functional is if the changes that happen within the body after doing that exercise improve an individual’s ability to achieve their goal.

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If a doing an isometric knee extension on a machine has a greater transfer than barbell squats to a person’s ability to get up out of a chair and the person wants to be able to get out of chairs better, in this case for this person, the machine isometric knee extension is more functional than the squat!!!

By simply focusing on the mimicry of an exercise, rather than its transfer into achieving someone's goal, many potentially valuable exercises, such as those performed on machines, are often completely avoided. For more information on the benefits of machines, click here.

Summary: Mimicry does not inherently make an exercise functional, nor does unrestricted motion, unstable surfaces, choice of equipment (or lack thereof), or training environment (within a gym vs. outside, etc). An exercise that appropriately stimulates the body, providing the opportunity for adaptations to occur that improve one's ability to achieve their goal(s) is what makes an exercise functional.

Have any thoughts after reading this blog post? Drop them below!

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!

Mindfulness In Plain English

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“We could say that meditation doesn't have a reason or doesn't have a purpose. In this respect it's unlike almost all other things we do except perhaps making music and dancing. When we make music we don't do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition… Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in a journey. When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we play music the playing itself is the point. And exactly the same thing is true in meditation. Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment.” – Alan Watts

This month’s book review is on Bhante Gunaratana’s Mindfulness In Plain English. Since 1982, Gunaratana has been president of the Bhavana Society, a monastery and retreat center located in the woods of West Virginia, where he ordains and trains monks and nuns, and offers retreats to the general public. His book Mindfulness In Plain English teaches the basic approach toward, practice of, and benefits from meditating. The type of meditation described in the book is vipassana, or awareness, meditation. It is designed to allow you to become more aware of yourself, your thoughts and feelings, and the world around you.

I chose to read this book because I have always been interested in the benefits of meditation and visualization. I found out there are numerous benefits of vipassana meditation. Some of these include an improved sense of mental awareness, improved mental clarity, improved energy, and an increased ability to sense other people’s feelings and thoughts. Since I started about six weeks ago, I have noticed significant increases in energy, improved productivity, and feeling calmer throughout the day.

Try this exercise for a brief and simple experience meditating:

1)   Sit up straight and tall, eyes closed or unfocused, and completely relaxed.

2)   Breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose, focusing on the air moving past the nostrils thinking, “I 

breathe in.”

3)   Then allow yourself to exhale through your nose thinking, “I breathe out.”

4)   Take a brief pause and count “1”.

5)   Repeat the exercise until you count up to a number between 5 and 15.

Notice the feeling of ease and relaxation after you finish. Repeat this exercise in the morning, at night, and whenever else you feel is necessary. Just this short exercise will lead to numerous improvements in how you feel.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about meditation. If you tried the above exercise and enjoyed it, definitely consider reading this book for more information. It describes the basics of meditation including how to sit, when to do it, and what to focus your mind on, all in an easy to understand writing style.

Finally, in the infamous words of Todd Durkin, “Get your mind right.”

Enjoy this review? Get a copy of Mindfulness In Plain English in the Self Made® Book Store!

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 3)

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Part 1  Part 2

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I came to you because my shoulder is bothering me.  Why are you looking at my feet?

Sometimes the area of discomfort is not the root cause of the discomfort, but rather just a symptom of the cause.  This is why the initial range of motion exam will almost always cover the entire body regardless of what your initial complaint is.  Speaking from both a mechanical and neurological perspective, it is very plausible that by getting the muscles in your foot (or other area of the body) contracting properly other tissues in completely different areas of the body will begin to contract better, as well.  This, in part, leads to the difficulty of answering the question "How long will this take?" as there are numerous mechanical, neurological, biochemical, and physiological factors to take into consideration with each session.

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Is there anything I can do on my own to help speed up the process?
Yes.  When you are asked to take time off from exercise and movement in general, oblige.

As the sessions progress, "homework" will be given for you to do between sessions.  These will be various exercises that you can add in to your current exercise and daily routines.  Consider these like tutoring sessions for specific muscles that may have been inhibited for a while.  They are trying to catch back up with the rest of the class and therefore need a little (keyword little) extra attention until they do.

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We are scheduled for a 60-minute session.  Why are you stopping it after 40 minutes?

There may come a time when a session has to end earlier than expected.  This is always done in your best interest.  If it appears you are no longer responding to the cross-friction palpations or the graded-intensity isometrics, that is often a sign that a threshold has been crossed and it is best to end there rather than continuing to push forward and risk a potentially very serious condition.  In these cases where a response to the stimulation seems to be diminishing it will almost always be recommended that you take the rest of the day to just rest and relax.  You will certainly want to avoid stressful situations and stimuli.

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!

Purple Cow

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Self Made® Book Store

"Is your product the best at anything worth measuring?" -- Seth Godin

Looking at the marketplace today, there are very few items or services that are truly remarkable.  Most companies tend to release products that gravitate towards the middle of the continuum of what is palatable to the masses as opposed to playing on the fringes.  In doing so, consumers are left with boring products and companies are afraid to break outside of this norm.

In Seth Godin's Purple Cow, Godin explains the dangers that are imposed upon a company by only providing mundane products and services.  While these companies feel they are playing it safe by staying within the social norms, in reality they are creating an environment that is unable to stimulate massive growth and increases in revenue.  His suggestion?  Create a Purple Cow.

What is a Purple Cow?  Godin describes a family vacation in France, during which numerous healthy and strong brown-spotted cows were grazing in picturesque fields.  While this new sight was intriguing at first, it quickly become mundane and boring.  All the cows began to look the same and nothing was interesting enough to keep his attention.  Godin theorized that if there was something new and exciting to see, such as a Purple Cow, it would have stolen his attention and interest for a bit.  With all of the boring products out there, you may think that companies would be dying to find something that sets them apart from everybody else.  Godin argues against this, saying all most companies really want to do is fit in.

In order to create something remarkable, in order to create a Purple Cow, you have to be wiling to play at the extremes of what is measurable.  You have to be willing to take the risk that you may offend some people or that your product will not be perfectly suitable for everybody.  By narrowing down your target demographic, you can reach the few "sneezers" within that demographic--people who have a very strong interest or otaku in the area of service you are providing as well as the initiative to tell many, many other people about your product or service.  By reaching these sneezers, you can expand your customer base very quickly, leading to rapid revenue growth.

Two important things to understand about a Purple Cow are (1) it absolutely has to be remarkable and (2) it does not last forever.  In order for it to be noticed by the sneezers, it has to stand out like a sore thumb.  Think about a field that you are truly passionate about.  Would you waste your time telling others about something that is pretty similar to everything else in that field?  Probably not.  This is the same with the sneezers of your industry.  Unless you completely wow them with something remarkable, it will not be worth their time to spread the word about you.

Along those same lines, if you do not consistently create a new Purple Cow, what was once remarkable will begin to seem mundane as people are exposed to it over and over again.

I recommend this book for anyone who is looking to expand their business or make an impact in their market.  Additionally, if you are wanting a different perspective on marketing and product design, I would strongly suggest reading this book.

What actions are you currently taking to deliver remarkable products, or are you more of a fan of playing it "safe" and providing spin-offs of what is already out there?

Your body.  Your training.

Enjoy this review? Get a copy of Purple Cow in the Self Made® Book Store!

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!