Personal Training - Stretching or Strengthening?

I'm off to do a course today - actually re-do a course i took last year. Along with fellow personal trainer and bootcamp trainer, Ben Davis, we are going to be learning - or re-learning in my case MAT.

MAT stands for 'Muscle Activation Techniques' and is particularly useful in a one on one personal training situation. I know it is great for helping my clients and therefore want to get better at using it.

One of the key concepts of MAT is how muscular tension is viewed and worked with. For a long time the approach to a tight muscle is to stretch, stretch, and stretch some more.

However MAT has shown that this is often not an appropriate solution.

Instead, tension is seen as potentially protective of something else that is weak. This is assessed and tested, and if appropriate corrected by allowing the weaker muscle to become activated or strengthened again.

The affect of bringing the weakened muscle back into play can be such that the previously tense muscle can now return to a normal level of activity.

The amazing part is that someone can have this done and be stronger. They can then go back to their normal approach of stretching - and find that they are weak again! That's right for some people stretching (and also possibly regular exercise) will make you worse!

Not to say never to stretch or work on your flexibility, just that it's good to know when and how to best do this and have a way to test. MAT provides this, and if you think you have any imbalances or recurring problems, especially if you feel it is made worse by certain exercises, then you should seek out a MAT trained Personal Trainer.

Have a good weekend,

Steve.