Basketball Players–there is one thing you can do for your body that will make everything about the game easier.
You will be able to move better.
You will be able to withstand more physical contact.
You will become more resilient to aches, pains, and injuries.
You will be able to endure the physicality of the game, day after day, all season long.
What is this one thing?
Getting stronger.
There are two primary components to getting stronger:
- Getting mechanically stronger
- Getting neurologically stronger
The problem for most players is that they are only taught to get stronger the first way, i.e. through lifting weights, to directly build the strength of their muscles. Lifting weights is absolutely necessary. There’s no doubt about it.
You cannot have a car with a ton of horsepower if it doesn’t have a big engine. But, mechanical strength is not the only piece of the puzzle.
The other part of strength has to do with your nervous system. Specifically, you need to make sure your nervous system is able to send sufficient amounts of signal to your muscles to tell them to contract.
This is like having a strong signal from your battery to your engine. If your battery is dead or the battery cables are loose, it does not matter how big of an engine you have, it won’t be able to move the car. Unfortunately, there are many things that can disrupt this signal in your body.
If you have ever had an injury, even a minor tweak or sprain; if you have every overworked your body; if you have ever felt like your body was lethargic or more tired than normal; if you have ever not given yourself enough rest and recovery between workouts, practices, or games; chances are that there are muscles that are not receiving enough signal from your nervous system.
So, because this signal is necessary for your optimal performance, and because it is also likely disrupted at some level within your body, the question is, “How can this signal be restored and what can be done to make it less likely that it gets disrupted?”
Hands down, the best way to do this is with Muscle Activation Techniques®. Having been an MAT® practitioner for over 13 years now, I can say with confidence that there is nothing that even comes close to how effective MAT® is at restoring this signal to muscles. You can do all the “activation exercises” in the world, but if your muscles aren’t receiving enough signal to begin with, you will only be furthering your compensations and making your situation worse.
MAT® is the thing that bridges the gap between your muscles not receiving enough signal to work well and you being able to play, compete, perform, and recover at a high level all season long.
Making sure your muscles are getting sufficient signal from your nervous system to be able to fully utilize the strength you are building in the weight room is key to maintaining a strong and resilient body throughout the entire season. The MAT® process helps you do that better than anything else out there.
If you haven’t tried MAT® before, now is the time. It will be a game change for everything you do.
You can click here to schedule your initial MAT® assessment with me if you are in the Chicagoland area. If you aren’t in Chicago but want to get to work with MAT®, send me a DM on Instagram @CharlieCates and we’ll figure out a way to make it happen.
Charlie
