Truth be told, MAT affects more than just your muscles and joints; it also affects your nervous system including the balance of your sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) systems as well as your brain.
Because of MAT’s strong influence on the nervous system, its effects can be widespread and powerful for many issues.
Here are three profound yet uncommon reasons why many people do MAT:
1. Help with recovery from daily activities and life
If your daily life feels like it is taking a toll on your muscles, joints, and energy, MAT can help. We often see that when people feel “zapped” by the end of their day, their nervous system has had to take on more stress than what it can currently tolerate.
One thing that really weighs the nervous system down is constantly having to compensate for inhibited muscles. Sometimes this results in feelings of pain and/or tightness, while other times it results in feeling like all of your energy has been zapped; like your internal battery is running low.
Muscle Activation Techniques® addresses these inhibited muscles directly, getting them communicating with your brain better so your body doesn’t have to compensate around them.
As a result, your entire body–including your nervous system–can begin to tolerate more stress without muscles becoming inhibited. For you, this means you get to reach the end of your day feeling like you still have charge left in your battery and you can bounce back faster after a great night of sleep.
2. Trouble “turning off” at night
Along the same lines of not recovering from the day, many people have trouble turning off their body at night.
Some find that their body is completely exhausted while their brain struggles to power down. Others find that their brain is totally fatigued but their body won’t relax and get comfortable.
With both of these scenarios, there is often a common issue underlying them–muscle inhibition.
When muscle inhibition becomes widespread, it can lead to dysregulation within the nervous system, creating issues with getting your body or brain to calm down at night.
However, with Muscle Activation Techniques®, these inhibited muscles get directly addressed, leading many people to experience a more full and restful night’s sleep on a regular basis.
3. Digestive issues such as bloating and constipation
One of the most consistent things we have seen throughout the years is when there is muscle inhibition in people’s core, their digestive system gets disrupted.
The abdomen may become distended. They may feel bloated. They may struggle to poop on a regular basis.
However, when many of the deep core muscles get activated, many of these issues clear up completely.
In fact, many clients bring this up to us without us having to probe or say anything after we’ve been working together for a bit. It is not uncommon for people to subtly ask during their session, “Hey, have you ever heard of MAT help with digestion? Because I’m not sure if this is it or not, but my digestion has gotten way better since we started working together.”
Furthermore, if somebody feels like their lower abdomen is uncharacteristically distended, that is almost a guarantee that many of the core muscles are inhibited.
The Muscle Activation Techniques® process identifies exactly which muscles are having issues contracting due to muscle inhibition and gets them back up and running again, helping many digestive issues to either fully resolve or calm down significantly.
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