Muscle Activation Techniques
What is MAT?
MAT™ is a very specific, non-medical process with a narrow application to the assessment, improvement and maintenance of a targeted aspect of human motor control: muscle contractile efficiency!!!
MAT™ seeks to clarify, via ongoing research, the individual conditions that lend themselves to MAT’s process in identifying and restoring the losses in musculo-skeletal performance that restrict or deny an individual’s participation, and the attainment of the health benefits found in regular exercise.
Who is MAT for?
MAT™ is effective for EVERYONE from elite athletes to rehabilitation patients, and anyone in between. MAT™ has been successfully implemented with professional athletes (NFL, NBA, NHL, CFL, PGA, etc.) in clinical rehabilitative, personal training environments, and countless other settings.
What causes muscle weakness?
A multitude of factors such as trauma, stress, or overuse can contribute to muscle weakness. When you exercise, there is a period of exertion and then recovery. It is normal to feel fatigue. When there is trauma, stress or overuse, the muscle may not recover until properly rested. If this is habitual, (i.e. sitting at the computer for hours per day, over the course of many years) then the result can be muscle weakness. The central nervous system detects various forms of stress and as a defense mechanism, inhibits the ability of muscles to contract. When a particular set of muscles contract or shorten, the opposing or antagonist muscles lengthen. In contrast, the lengenthing muscles may lose their ability to lengthen because the opposite muscles cannot contract. Your body produces a protection mechanism to keep the body from moving into a position of weakness or vulnerability. A sudden trauma to the body may also cause a muscle to become weakened, such as slipping on ice and moving into an extreme range of motion suddenly. Our goal is to eliminate this "tightness" by simply restoring your muscle’s ability to contract. At MAT™ we say, "Muscle tightness is secondary to muscle weakness." If you can correct the weakness, then most times you can eliminate the tightness.
