3 Do’s & Don’ts of Muscle Activation Techniques®

Whenever we start with a new client for Muscle Activation Techniques® (MAT), we always spend time upfront going over their expectations and what they want to accomplish with their sessions.

Sometimes a client’s goals have to do with resolving a specific pain or symptom, such as tightness in the low back, pain in the shoulder, or achiness in the knees.

Sometimes the goals are centered around performance, like being able to run a 5K or golf all year without issues.

And sometimes the goals are more focused on overall wellness and maintaining their current activities and abilities.

Regardless of what the goals are, there are three big do’s and don’ts that we like to cover with each client that help them get the most out of their MAT sessions with us.

1. DO Expect To Come In Every Week For At Least The First Six Weeks – It takes about six weeks of consistent exposure to something for your nervous system to fully adopt the changes that are being asked of it. We have seen throughout our careers that getting at least one MAT session per week for the first six weeks gives many clients significant progress towards achieving their goals. For some clients, depending on how long their issues have been going on for, weekly sessions for longer than six weeks are necessary in order to give them the best chance of reaching their goals.
2. DO NOT Expect This To Be A Miracle “One And Done” Treatment – Muscle Activation Techniques® is a process, and consistency with this process is key to having long-term success. The number of times a client has been completely better after one session and not needing any more sessions after are so few that they can almost only be chalked up to dumb luck. However, when a client commits to coming in consistently for MAT for anywhere from six to twelve months, it is almost 100% guaranteed that they reach their desired goals.
3. DO Expect That You Will Have To Put In Work Outside Of Our Sessions – As your body starts functioning better through the Muscle Activation Techniques® process, there will be additional work that we may ask you to do outside of our sessions together, especially as the frequency of your sessions decreases. Specifically, you may need to start doing strength training on a regular basis (2-3 times per week) if you aren’t already. Also, we may assign you specific homework exercises to do every day to reinforce the work we are doing together.

Muscle Activation Techniques® is the most powerful thing we have ever come across to change somebody’s strength, mobility, and feelings of pain and tightness. However, MAT is not a one-and-done quick fix and it often requires clients to do some strength training and/or homework exercises outside of their sessions in order to get the best results.

If you would like to experience MAT for yourself, we would love to see you at our studio, Muscle Activation Schaumburg, in Chicago’s northwest suburbs.

At Muscle Activation Schaumburg, we have been trained in the highest levels of MAT–including MATRx, MATRx2, MATRx Stim, MAT Athlete, and MAT Athlete2–and are the most highly-trained practitioners in the Chicagoland area.

To try out Muscle Activation Techniques® for yourself, click here to schedule your initial consultation and assessment.

We can’t wait to see you on our MAT table soon!

In strength and health,

Julie & Charlie