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A new perspective on pain free movement

8/16/2018

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This week I continue to think about the changes I have made in my training since completing the Muscle Activation Technique Specialist training.  I said it last week and I’ll say it again….I am so grateful that I am no longer limited by my client’s limitations!


Pain, strain, tightness, limited range of motion are no longer a reason to avoid working out or even to avoid certain exercises.


Today I will talk about range of motion (ROM).  So many of my clients, and likely many of you, have positions that you avoid because something hurts: deep squats? Lunges? Deltoid flies?  But here’s the thing: you can do that exercise…you can develop strength in the related muscles….you just need to think about the range within which you are working.

This is best illuminated by a real-life example.  I have a client who’s has early stage arthritis in her knees.  Not a good recipe for lunges or squats, two great exercises for developing glute and quad strength, and two exercises that she really wants to do.

Picture this: I get her into position for a stationary lunge - one foot forward, one foot back.  I ask her to slooooowly drop down into a stationary lunge, stopping just before she knows she will feel  pain.

Stop there!

Hold that.

Keep holding that.

Maybe do small pulses up and down within that range.  Maybe hold it isometrically while pushing into your rear toe and your forward heel.

No, it is not glamorous.  She’s not grunting through walking lunges down and back in the studio.  But what she is doing is getting those muscles firing.  You can bet she is feeling the work.  Trying holding a stationary lunge with total focus for 60-90 seconds.  You will feel that work.

​Being thoughtful about the range of motion your body has available to it can make your exercises much less frustrating and more fruitful.  And the added bonus is that it requires you become more in tune with your body, something that we all need a little more of.
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I continue to evolve....

8/13/2018

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So much of my approach to personal training has changed since I began and completed my Muscle Activation Technique certification, not least of which is how I see pain and tightness in my clients’ bodies.


A good example of this came last week when one of my clients arrived complaining of pain in his right hip whenever he took a step forward.  He even showed me how he could walk backwards with no pain at all…but when he walked forward he experienced a sharp stabbing sensation in the side of his glute.



Before my MAT training, I might have encouraged him to rest, ice, stretch.  I might have had him roll it.  I likely would have avoided working that part of his body during out session together, so concerned would I have been about making it worse.



But now my mind works differently.



MAT encourages me to think about the story a body is telling me.  It also encourages me to consider the tightness and pain that my clients experience as secondary to the neuromuscular weakness that it might be indicating.    



In other words, it could very well be that the pain he was experiencing in his right glute was, in fact, not the result of a malfunction in his right glute; but rather his right glute might be protecting him from fully flexing his hip (stepping forward) because his brain knew that his hip flexor did not have the neuromuscular connection to contract on demand.



​Perhaps his brain knew that one or more of his hip flexors was asleep on the job.  And if one or more of his hip flexors is not ready to contract (thus protecting the hip joint) then more serious problems could occur.



To explore this hypothesis, I put him on the table and tested the muscles responsible for flexing the hip and, sure enough, two of them were unable to contract on demand.  As the MAT saying goes, the battery cables were weak.  I am still new enough to this process that I almost got giddy when I was able to identify the “weak” muscles (meaning: limited ability to communicate with the central nervous system), treat them, and see them come back strong.


Will this work for everyone who walks through the door?  Obviously not.  But having a tool like Muscle Activation Technique in my toolbox when training clients means that pain or tightness or injury doesn’t require that I work around their limitations, but rather I can work with their body as it presents itself.
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    Visit my blog to find common sense tips and food for thought about how to jump on - and STAY on - the road to physical and mental health!

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