Julie Cates

3 Ways Muscle Activation Techniques Helps Women In Their 50s

Ladies–one of the biggest concerns I hear from women in their 50s and beyond is how their body will hold up as the years go by.

How their muscle strength and bone strength will fair.

How flexible they will stay.

How well they will be able to avoid common pains and injuries such as frozen shoulder, plantar fasciitis, rounding of the spine, and joint pain in the knees and hips.

While many women see these issues as an inevitable reality, the truth is that there is A LOT that can be done to stay feeling strong, mobile, and injury-free.

Many magazines and news reports will bring up strength training and walking as important activities for women. There are certainly benefits to these, but there is one thing that is never brought up by the mainstream media that I have found to be a HUGE benefit to women in their 50s and beyond, and that is Muscle Activation Techniques®, or MAT®.

You may have heard of certain “activation exercises” for your glutes, your pelvic floor, and your core, but MAT® is completely different from those.

Using muscle testing and manual pressure, the MAT® process is able to determine precisely which muscles are putting you most at risk for injuries, pain, and tightness; which muscles are causing you to feel stiff and inflexible; and which muscles are leading to you feeling weak and uncoordinated.

Then, we are able to construct a plan to address these muscles directly and rebuild the strength of your muscles that need it the most.

For my female clients who are 50 and over, there are three big benefits I have seen for them when they consistently do MAT®.

First, they are able to keep their muscles feeling strong and not feel like they are getting weaker with age. Not only does this have profound effects on what they are able to do throughout their day, their workouts become much more effective as well.

They are actually able to build the muscle strength they want when they lift weights.

They are able to build the strength and density of their bones because they are able to safely lift heavy enough to make a difference.

But most importantly, they are able to live every day of their lives feeling like the strong and powerful women they are.

Second, my clients are able to keep their joints mobile and their muscles flexible with MAT®.

When your muscles contract better, your joints move better, and there isn’t a better process out there for getting muscles contracting better than Muscle Activation Techniques®.

This carries over into so many aspects of their lives, too. They can get up off the ground easier after playing with their grandkids. They can put things away on the top shelf without issue. They can reach down to look at something in their gardens without feeling tweaked.

Having the joint mobility you need to enjoy your life is a critical part of staying well, and MAT® helps my clients do just that.

Third, my clients are able to live every day without the aches and pains their friends experience and they are able to recover faster from what would otherwise be serious injury.

I have had more than one client tell me that she could believe how old her friends were getting in recent years because of how much their bodies hurt just doing regular daily stuff. She, on the other hand, felt as strong and mobile as she did in her 30s, showing absolutely no signs of her age slowing her down.

Another client recently told me that she was walking down the sidewalk, not paying attention, when she tripped and fell on her hip. As a woman in her late 60s, this can be a very serious situation.

However, she had the strength and mobility to not only get up easily from that fall, but afterwards reported to me that there was absolutely no sign of injury from the incident.

Your muscle and bone strength, your mobility, and your aches and pains do not have to get  worse with every passing year. Muscle Activation Techniques® can help you stay feeling strong, mobile, and pain-free for decades to come.

If you would like to have your muscles assessed with MAT®, you can find a time in my schedule to come into our private studio–Muscle Activation Schaumburg–by clicking here.

I can’t wait to see all the things you are able to do once your muscles get working great with MAT®!

In strength and health,

Julie

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Julie Cates

Julie Cates is an experienced, certified, and insured National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Certified Personal Trainer and mastery level Muscle Activation Techniques® (MAT®) Rx Specialist (MATRx). She is one of 88 certified mastery level Resistance Training Specialists® (RTSm) in the world. This combination makes her style of training impactful and still preventative and restorative of joint and muscle issues and pain that are common with exercise. Julie specializes working with women 50 and over. Specifically, her main focus is working with women with bone density loss, muscle loss, Osteopenia, and Osteoporosis. Julie has incredible experience working with brand new exercisers. Very specific types and styles of exercises are needed for restoring and maintaining bone density, and Julie guides her clients through these in a pain-free way. She is also well experienced in helping women exercise even with various joint, bone, systemic, and neurological diagnoses. Julie is definitely your go-to personal trainer for women with Osteoporosis! Julie graduated cum laude from the University of Florida. She earned her degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology with a specialization in Exercise Physiology. Julie is the co-owner of Muscle Activation Schaumburg in Schaumburg, IL. She is a wife and mother of two. Julie can be reached via e-mail at julie@matschaumburg.com. Follow her on Instagram at @julcates!

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Julie Cates