Minimalist Muscle Activation: Crush Structural Imbalances, Find Clarity in Your Movement, and Live Pain-Free and Strong Now and in the Future by Sean Schniederdjan

Minimalist Muscle Activation: Crush Structural Imbalances, Find Clarity in Your Movement, and Live Pain-Free and Strong Now and in the Future is a new ebook by Sean Schiederdjan. I just bought my copy last night and took a quick look through it. Sean usually promotes some interesting movements in each of his many books and this one includes some old and new material. What I like is that it is simple, but covers a lot of the body parts that might need work. I am always up for some new ideas, so I look forward to trying out some of Sean's moves.

As Sean says, you can find hundreds of books on stretching on Amazon, but only three books on muscle activation. I am not sure if I have any books primarily trying to teach muscle activation (I do have 2 cds), although looking at some of these moves, I think it just might be what you are calling what you do. Do not confuse these movements with Muscle Activation Technique. I did go through many sessions of MAT and it was costly and only benefited me in the short term. MAT involves testing, small movements, and retesting. The movements are done while lying down and you need a practitioner to help you. I think Sean's moves are more about loading and firing your muscles. You might find this an inexpensive way to think about your muscles in a new way, help out some weak muscles or movement problems, or deal with imbalances.

Cure Tight Hips Forever: Simple Hip Movements and Muscle Activating Techniques

Cure Tight Hips Forever: Simple Hip Movements; Muscle Activating Exercises (Simple Strength) is a new (and cheaper ebook) by Sean Schniederjan that has some really good and helpful hip exercises. I bought his first ebook The Ultimate Hip Knee, and Ankle Guide for One-Legged Squats back in February and immediately took a liking to many of the exercises. Some of the exercises seemed to be works in progress (which is a good thing-learning new tweaks and stuff) and Sean provided updated video links to help with the exercises. You can also learn to move like Shakira (even if live me you don't know how Shakira moves)

This week, his new ebook came out (this one on Amazon). I asked Sean before purchasing the book if it was any different than his first book and he said it is 40-50% new material. I noticed that some exercises where missing and there were some new ones. I guess the first ebook is geared toward fixing the hips in order to do strength moves like squatting and in particular a pistol (one-legged squat). 

The new ebook is more geared towards just working the hips so they can be more open, balanced, and free. I have gone through the exercises a few times and they are easier as the target is just the hips. I am not sure the exercise have been the ultimate cure-all for me at this point, but they have greatly helped things along. I have also heard from a few readers of my blog who have found Sean's exercises very helpful to them also which is great feedback.

 The last month of running has been really rough for me as my hips moved way out of position. I did try a new therapist this week who uses a variety of cutting edge techniques (another day's post) and just one session put a lot of things back in position (mainly pulling my left hip back to be even with my right hip). I noticed how some of the techniques she used were similar to techniques in these books, but on a more gentle scale and even with less movement. She used some Muscle Activation Techniques and Muscle Energy Techniques and I don't know what the karate chops to my arches and heels were, but that was the only non-gentle part! Anyhow that evening I felt incredibly balanced while running and did my first track workout since my hip operation (6 X 800 meters) and the pace and ease exceeded my best expectations. 

If you are looking for cutting edge and usable ideas to fix tight hips, I can recommend this ebook. The one improvement I would like to see in the ebooks is how to learn the correct amount of force with these movements. My therapists  and what I am learning from M.A.T, M.E.T,  nd Somatics is that sometimes the you need to push gently and not force movements. I always am one to normally push and force a stretch or an exercise to the max and that may not be the best way to improve quality of movement.

Here is Sean describing his ebook and the kick back exercise for the hip flexor.



Here he teaches you how to move like Shakira!



Sean also has videos demonstrating his exercises, but those are only for people who buy the ebooks.

And OK, I had to find out how Shakira moves her hips, so here you go. I only know her from The Voice.

Janda short foot exercise

Last week was not a good week of running and I am shutting it down until I can get in for a M.A.T. (Muscle Activation Technique) appointment. I have been noticing over the last couple of weeks that I am imbalanced and having a hard time recovering from runs due to stressing my joints in muscls in the wrong way. This week I took 5 days off, then ran a decent 8 miler on Wednesday. The next day I was stiff and my joints were tight. I ran 8 miles again, but I should have stopped after the first mile. I basically forced myself to finish the run with my hips off and my legs moving in different patterns and directions from each other. It was hard to run and I was about 10 minutes slower than the previous day. I had noticed that my left foot was pointing more and more to the outside like it used to do as I walk and run through the day. The isometric exercises weren't getting it back and by Wednesday, my muscles were loose so I could fake the running, not with the stiffness the next day. When my foot points out ( I have been told I can never fix the tibial torsion-but I have been able to hold it in position better) it means the way I run is affected. I pronate and roll over the ankle, and the weight is placed on the inner half of my knee (affecting the popliteus muscle) and then my hip is not in position so both hips get out of alignment and I feel it in my lower and sometimes upper back. I have got in over 500 miles of running since the last M.A.T. appointment last November. Hopefully I just need a good tune up to get the muscles firing correctly. I am not sure what the cause is this time: running? starting to do some foam roller work? or maybe the camber of the road? I have an appointment for Saturday, but I hope to get in earlier, because I know better than to run like this and I don't like sitting around.

Running miles April 1-7
16 total miles
446 total miles for 2013

I did find a Janda exercise this week called the short foot. This is a movement to help strengthen the arch. I have heard of Janda before, but have never seen this exercise. It does remind me of what Gregg, the M.A.T. guy has been having me do . I have a lot of foot exercises from him, but maybe I have been doing them wrong. I am supposed to use a similar pull when doing multiple isometric exercises with the foot pointed in, forward, and out for different muscles. I have concentrated on pushing down with the forefoot and pulling back with the heel (all slight movements) but not on lifting up over the arch.

Muscle Activation Technique: Session 8

This week I went for my 8th session of Muscle Activation Technique work as I try to put my body back together from years of dysfunction and compensations. It was not a good week for running. I thought I was getting somewhere and starting a string of consecutive days of "very limited running", but I realized I needed to end that. Here is what little I accomplished:
Monday: 2 miles (14 days straight of running. I probably should have taken the day off)
Tuesday: 0 miles I had to be smart and end my streak
Wednesday: 0 miles
Thursday: 4 miles (started to feel great again and overdid it)
Friday: 0 miles
Saturday: 1 mile treadmill
Sunday: 2 miles
Weekly total: 9 miles

The more I was running particularly as I ran over 2 miles, the more my adductors and glutes got tight and hurt. My running form looks better than is has in years, but something is pinching in my adductors or a tendon is frayed or tight, and it locks things up and then the glutes give out and get really sore.

Friday, I finally got frustrated enough and called the surgeon and explained things. I spoke to someone at the office and they said it doesn't sound like the joint is the problem and they had me set up an appointment with the physiatrist I last saw last winter. I am not sure what I am expecting, maybe an MRI to rule out a problem in the hip or tendons. I don't think I need any more trigger point injections or referrals for PT. The doctor's office did say it could be a nerve problem in the back region, but I reminded them that I had an MRI a year ago for that and they said my lower back looked great.

So I went to my M.A.T. session and explained to Greg what was going on and what my thoughts were and I got his thoughts too. I do think the M.A.T. has been extremely helpful. It has strengthened and straightened out my foot. My stride, walking and running, is so much better. I feel great, except when I start running. Are my muscles just tightening up to protect the hip joint from pain that is anticipates? Are they firing incorrectly? I wonder if having strong toes and a stride that is more balanced due to my using my big toe and toe joint is creating more stress in the inside hip area due to greater use due to getting rid of the compensations when my foot would just give in as I ran? I will be seeing the physiatrist in a couple of weeks and so I decided to make this my final M.A.T. session for now, until I can run again, or I can find out what is causing the pains in my hip.

Last week, after 14 days of running, things started to go off again, I stopped running, but did some light stretching and other movements on Monday that felt good at first, but set everything off and I had two uncomfortable days until it all resolved. The good news is that Thursday, I woke up feeling great and balanced again and most important I was still aligned well. I thought maybe all the M.A.T. work had disappeared and I was back to where I was two months ago, but it was still there. So like an idiot, I went for a 4 mile run and things tightened up again.

Two weeks ago, Greg said we had finished with the feet and legs and we would do the right (good hip) this week. After discussing it, he thought it would be better to do the trunk and I agreed. I feel like my good (right hip) is a bit behind my left hip and, strangely, doesn't bend and move as well as the left (labral tear) hip. I also feel that my lower back is very tight and stiff. Greg reminded me that there are a lot of muscles and tendons that attach to the hip joint: from below, with the legs, and above, from the trunk. The muscles from above can come into play in how the hip-pelvis works.

We went about the testing of muscles. I would be in a seated or lying position and move into a position from which Greg would push against my torso or legs to isolate certain muscles one by one. Interestingly, the inhibited muscles were on my right (or good hip side) and I was strong on my left (labral tear) side. Then he would palpate the origins or insertions of the week muscles and we would go back to the testing and it, like usual, would be amazing as I could not exert force from a position which moments earlier I could not. Greg also said that the fascia on the side of my spine was very thick and tight and this is a way that the body tries to protect itself when there is a problem. That makes sense as I recall that after having rolfing done about 6 years ago, that even one year later when I went to a chiropractor that he noticed right away how much looser my back muscles were around the spine after the rolfing. The rolfer I saw last Spring for one visit, also mentioned that my right side was the tight side. He gave me a stretch, but I could never get it to work. Some of the muscles that Greg worked on were my psoas and diaphragm, as well as muscles along my spine and on the sides of my back (like where junior high kids like to poke you to startle you). I forget all the names as there are so many. I do like that M.A.T. is a muscle by muscle approach.

I guess many muscles on the right side of my body are weak or inhibited in the torso area. A light bulb went off in my head. I may be feeling pain or tightness in my lower left back, glutes, and other areas, but maybe that is due to compensating for the right side, or because that left side has to work harder. This makes sense as for years my left side would get stiff or tight after running or racing. For the last 15 of more years when I run the Falmouth Road Race, I immediately go to the massage tent and meet a local Falmouth Chiropractor, who knows me from only the Falmouth race and the Cape Cod Marathon, but he knows to work my very tight QL (quadratus lumburon) on my left side after each race. Usually I feel better running after the race, then when I did running it!

I know I don't run straight or balanced, even above the waist as one side is always rotated and one shoulder is sometimes higher than the other. I had a Gate City Striders teammate, who used to laugh at me because I couldn't keep my racing singlet on my shoulder. It was always falling off on one side. This goes back many years. Here is a photo he took at the 1996 Mt. Washington Road Race as I was nearing the final massive climb to the finish with the singlet falling off. I was impressed by myself when I looked at the results. I knew my time (1:22:23), but I had forgotten that the GCS team that I was on finished third for all the open teams in that race and I was a scoring member (we were only about 1 1/2 minutes out of second place, but I did my part and beat the corresponding 5th place guy by 6 seconds). The other thing I remember about this race, besides not walking one step, was that the previous week was the first week I had ever gone to a chiropractor and had an adjustment. My lower back was much worse back then then it is today in my daily life. I used to have a hard time sitting pain free those days (but I could run!). I remember feeling great after the adjustment, but by the next day I was back to my old self, and it has been a long trip since then trying to get things sorted out.

After this week's  M.A.T. session I felt some new and better rotations in my right lower back and in the way I sit and move. I also feel better in my hips. It is still early to tell how much it helps, but I don't feel as much strain across the front of the hip where the hip flexor presses and the adductor doesn't feel as tight. When walking and running, my hips feel better balanced and the right hip seems to work better. I ran 2 miles today and it felt very good. My glutes did tighten up soon after the run, though. Greg has also been filming videos for me of some of the isometric exercises he wants me to do. This has been very helpful and a big bonus.

I guess that even as I improve my body, there is so much still to unwind. I think I became I master at running through dysfunction and finding my own path to move. It is embarrassing looking at some old photos of my stride, but I made it work. And I damaged my body. The goal now is to see if I can fix it and get back to pain-free running. I know that when I start my runs now, I feel so loose, good, and balanced. I was running today and could "feel" myself being able to run a marathon again, because I wasn't fighting my body like I did for years and years. It is just that I have to make sure I can run without pain. Will the physiatrist find something? Will I just need more time and patience to heal? Will the M.A.T. work on my torso be what I need to get rid of all imbalances all the way up the chain? All that I know is that like the Mount Washington Road Race, it will be a long, slow, uphill climb and that I don't want to walk it, I want to be running it. I feel I still got a lot of good years of running left in my body, so I can't give up now.



M.A.T. has been a really good therapy for me, even if it has yet to fix my hip problem. I "feel" so much better overall. It is too bad they didn't have stuff like this in the 1980s when I first started having imbalance and lower back problems. I may have had a much better and less painful running career. It is too bad there is not a lot of good information out there on M.A.T. One really good testimonial came out this month. Sport Illustrated had an article on the return of Peyton Manning to football with the Denver Broncos and possibly why he chose Denver to play for. The M.A.T. founder, Gary Roskopf, is in Denver and that is whom Peyton sees to treat his troubled muscles in his neck and other places.

"But most important in Peyton's resurgence has been his maniacal body upkeep with two Denver musculature gurus. Last season in Indianapolis, while Manning was fruitlessly racing to prepare his body to play following September neck-fusion surgery, he would pay every week to fly in Greg Roskopf, a Denver-based specialist in cutting-edge Muscle Activation Techniques—finding muscles that have been traumatized or strained and strengthening other muscles to compensate—who had become popular with veterans such as former Broncos safety John Lynch, a friend of Manning's. "There were weeks my arm was dead, and [Roskopf] was instrumental in rebooting my body," says Lynch. (Later, Lynch would be influential in getting Manning to sign with Denver, reminding the QB "what a tremendous luxury" it would be to play where Roskopf was located.)"

Now that I broke my running streak at 14 days, the only streak I have left is that I have done every single Great Gobbler Thanksgiving race held in Nashua (since 2003). You will find me at the starting line ready for a slow jog of a race (to see if I can break 24 minutes) this Thursday (race PR of 18:09 just 5 years ago). Hopefully I haven't lost more than 2 minutes per mile in the past 5 years!

Muscle Acitvation Technique: Session 7

I had my 7th weekly session of Muscle Activation Technique (M.A.T.) on Saturday. Thank goodness Wells Fargo sent me a surprise check for overcharging my account a few years ago on my mortgage and that I have a wife that advocates for me to continue with the therapy because she understands how important fixing my stride is to me. Without either of those, I would be still hobbling around. The interesting thing going in to this session was that I felt myself feeling more solid as the week progressed without any regression at all. My feet feel strong. almost too strong. as I am not used to using my big toe and MPT joint so much. Greg worked on my toes, feet, and lower leg again. I feel this is the most important part of getting my alignment and stride to stay straight. It was a typical session of testing, palpating where necessary, doing some isometrics, and retesting. After 7 sessions I am extremely confident in Greg's expertise and skills. I would not be continuing on if I didn't think 100% that we are on the right track. I am going to take a week off and go back after two weeks and we are going to work on the right hip (keeping away from the problematic left hip). Strangely, although my left hip is weak and gets sore as it adjusts, it is actually the right hip that my body says needs some work as it feels a bit behind the left and my right leg is a bit awkward when easing my foot down to the road. I think I am getting close to being done with these sessions and it is time to keep working on the slow build up and to see how well all of this work sticks with my body.

Two weeks ago I ran a total of 10 miles doing 5 two mile runs. Then I took 2 days off.

This week:
Monday: 0 miles
Tuesday: 2 miles
Wednesday: 2 miles
Thursday: 2 miles
Friday: 2 miles
Saturday: 4 miles (I doubled my mileage after hearing my buddy Mike Wade had run his first 50 mile ultramarathon. It  was also right after my M.A.T. therapy session.. Halfway through the run, I knew it was still too far for my hip to run smoothly, but I made it and was justly sore afterwards.
Sunday: 2 miles

Total for the week: 14 miles (barely a long run in total) It is hard to be patient and while it doesn't sound like much running to me. It is the first time since in over 2 years that I have run 5 days in a row. I am still going: as of today it is now 8 days in a row. I want to get that hip used to running properly and to be strong before I push the mileage. The good news is that when I run, there are times that I feel so loose and balanced that I can recognize the racer inside of me ready to burst out and I can feel that ease of running that has been long gone returning (and it feels good!).

I am still getting a pinching on the inside of my hip and am still debating whether to call my surgeon and see if I need an MRI. I started taking Advil in case there is inflammation in the hip area. Since I started doing that, he pinching isn't as bad and I can flex my hip a whole lot more, so either the Advil is working or it is a temporary thing as my muscles adjust to running again.

Sunday, after my run, my wife was standing there with two thumbs up. She had watched me run home and said my stride looked straight and even. My left leg was not twisting around and things have really improved.

Muscle Activation Technique: Session 6

Saturday was session 6 in my Muscle Activation Technique (M.A.T.) journey. Two things happened last week. One, I felt great and balanced. I feel like my bones are lining up correctly (particularly on  the left side of my body) and they stayed that way pretty much all week (just going slightly off a bit on Friday). That was the good news. I also started a slow build up towards running again. My stride feels good and balanced and I am certainly ready to enjoy running again. However, there is always a devil in the details. While my left hip (operated on for labral tear last year) is finally lining up correctly with my knee and ankle, the area around the hip doesn't feel strong or right. It is hard to describe. At times, I thought it felt like it was taped together at the front and a bit rickety. I get a pinching and weak feeling if I try to flex my hip and lift my leg up. This is something that has come and gone both pre and post surgery. If I lean forward and brace my arms on a table while bending forward, it is difficult to lift up my left leg. I started running 2 miles a day last Sunday and it feels great to run, except for that hip. I was hoping it might strengthen and go away with repeated runs, but after 6 straight days of running 2 miles a day, I had to stop yesterday as running seems to aggravate it. I did get in 12 miles for the week.

It really stinks to be feeling the best that I have in years when not running and then not being able to run. Saturday, during the MAT session, I explained this to Greg and so he tested all my hip muscles and they were doing pretty good. He did do a little work on the left psoas and illiacus. I am happy with that, because it shows that the MAT work is holding as we haven't worked on the hips in a couple of weeks. It seems like working the feet is making the most changes, so we went back to working on the feet. This time we worked on the toes and the plantar surfaces of the feet. There are a lot of little muscles in the toes and feet and it was interesting seeing which ones were strong and which were week and then activating them through the palpating them and then doing light isometrics.

After the session, I noticed that I had a lot of tightness, sort of like it you had walked over rocks and sand at the beach or just maybe had someone pushing and pressing on all your toe joints and the bottom of your foot. It is starting to calm down now a couple of days later.

I am really hopeful because I feel good and balanced with my body working with a better coordination  I am really concerned about my hip however. It could just be reacting to the changes and new positioning,  but I am also wondering if I need to see the surgeon and get an MRI to see what is going on. I am pretty sure it is the hip flexor that goes over the front of the hip bone that is bothering me. Last week, I thought it felt like a frayed rope, being pulled back and forth over the bone. It could be that it is just too tight and pressing on the hip joint. I am also worried about the lifting of my leg. That is a different feeling. It feels like something is getting caught on bone or pinching which creates a big weakness when I try to lift up my leg.

Maybe I am just relying on my hip flexor too much to create movement. I am studying Lori Thomsen's  video on how and why to turn off the hip flexors. It is very interesting, but I am looking at how get into the optimal position for running to turn off the hip flexors and then how to use your glutes for running.



Lori works for the Hruska Clinic which specializes in Postural Restoration. You can see many of her videos for runners here.

Muscle Activation Technique: Session 5

Saturday, I had my fifth weekly Muscle Activation Technique (MAT) appointment. If I were to rate  myself before starting this process as I would say that my body (alignment and movement) were about 20-30% of where I would like it to be. It is a feeling I am very used to, but never satisfied with because it just never feels right. After the 4th session of MAT, I had an interesting week. I thought I was about 70-80% of where I should be and that is a huge improvement. Working on the muscles of my lower legs and feet have really been revealing. I had good days that week and days I thought my feet might be unraveling. By that I mean for the first time in years, it seems that my left foot points straight ahead or nearly close to that and I have so much more function and mobility in my feet and ankles which translates right up my leg, hip, and back into vastly improved movement. This I am very happy about.

I did a slow start to exercising again at the YMCA last week.

Monday:  5 miles cycling, 1/3 mile running, 1 mile ellipitcal
Tuesday:  5 miles cycling, 1/3 mile running, 1 mile elliptical 1/3 mile running (stopped as soon as hip muscles tightened up)
Friday: 5 miles cycling, 1 mile running, 1 mile elliptical (no more running as my hip seems to tighten up after the elliptical machine- its time to no longer use this machine)

The running felt straighter, however I still have a lot of tightness at the front and side of my left hip and my glutes start seizing up from tightness also. Despite that, I have had a hard time running slow as everything else feels light and loose and ready to run. The big question I had all week was, "Oh no! When is it all going to fall apart? Is my foot starting to point to the outside again, because when it does it throws my knee and hip off?  This had me nervous as I saw such great improvement and I want it to stick.

At the MAT appointment on Saturday, I had more work done on my lower legs.It seemed to be more a finishing touch on some muscles and a review of muscles already tested. Since that appointment, I feel like things are at 80-90% and my feet feel solid on the ground including my left big toe and toe joint that never seemed to touch the ground before. I don't sense it falling apart like what would happen last week. For me I can walk and run with a freedom and ease that I haven't' had since I don't know when. I still have to concentrate to do a full stride to complete my gait as I walk, but I am starting to feel like I am getting to something more normal. Yes, I still fear that it will fall apart and I will be forced into old patterns again, but this week is improved as my feet feel more solid and secure in its positioning.

I have also got out of the YMCA and started a very slow build up to running. I have done 2 miles a day now, for 3 days in a row and I hope to continue doing this until my hip and glute loosens up. It may take a few weeks or even a few months, but I am going to be patient and get it right. I still have a pinching and tightness in the inner adductors and my glutes and outer hip can get tight, but I am hoping that some of this is due to a new positioning and  movement pattern inmy left leg as it moves, in what appears to me as a straight line. It is good to be making progress and to feel my bones and body realigning itself throught the Muscle Activation Technique.

Here is a news report introducing Muscle Activation Technique.

Muscle Activation Technique: Session 4

I have completed four sessions of Muscle Activation Technique (MAT) and some interesting things are going on. I have been going in weekly and after my 2nd session of focusing on my left side, we went back to  bilateral work. I felt much better after the third session. I was getting the sensation that the left side of my trunk and pelvis were rotating forward (which was something I needed) for a few days. Monday night I had the feeling of well, nothing. It was one of those rare days that nothing was hurting, pulling, or out of place anywhere in my body. That feeling lasted all day Tuesday and I even remarked to my wife that it felt like a new or missing part had been placed on the outside of my left hip and my stride and balance was perfect when walking, standing, and moving. It lasted all Tuesday night. Wednesday morning, I went back to feeling off again and couldn't get the "magic" back, but that day showed the possibilities of what we are shooting for. By the middle of the day on Wednesday, I took my orthotics completely out of my shoes. They just feel like too much in my shoe since I started the MAT work. I felt they were pushing my feet and legs into the wrong positions. I haven't put them back in. Maybe I will need to someday, but it just doesn't feet right now. On Friday, I decided to try my first run in about a month? When I started off (the goal was 2 miles) my legs and stride felt pretty good, but soon I felt a lot of tightness in and around the front of my hip joint. It was more than usual on a bad day, and although I hoped it would go away, it didn't. I probably should have stopped. but I was only going for a short run. I am guessing that muscles and tendons around the hip are in some new positions and my body doesn't like them just yet as my stride felt pretty good and strong and when I looked down, my left leg was behaving very well. When I finished the run, my left glutes started tightening up deep in the area neat the backside of the top of the femur. It is still loosening up a couple of days later.

Saturday's MAT session started off with Greg asking questions about what my body was telling me. I really appreciate this. I have had a PT recently who wouldn't listen to me or want me to think. Here, I get to think and talk and then have Greg explain what could be going on and how it all fits together. Each session is a running dialogue  I had been feeling tightness all up my left side from my neck to my ribs and to the outside of my hip and ankle, but on the inside of my knee. I figure most of that is my body getting used to changing positioning, and I felt it was time to look below my knees to my toes, ankles, and lower legs. Greg agreed. I have been getting the sensation that my big toe not touching the ground and was throwing me into a position that put the pressure of standing and walking on the inside of my knee.

We did a lot of work on the muscles of the ankle and the muscles related to the toes that cross over the ankle joint. We were working on improving dorsiflexion and plantar flexion. Through testing and retesting we found some muscles that needed some activation, but the big one this week was the posterior tibialis. The interesting thing was the that my calcaneus (heel bones) are very much stuck in a position that does not allow much movement of the foot. I have heard this before (being told I have an inverted heel) and so I get the compensations that I get because I cannot go into pronation. There is probably a thickening and stiffening of tissue keeping it stuck, but I should be able to improve on loosening this up although it could take a year of two. The other interesting thing was it is just not my left foot, but my right foot also has its problems. Anyhow it is good to get started unraveling dysfunctions like this and get my feet working properly. We testing my foot in various positions and I got a bit of cramping at times, but it is always interesting to see a muscle that was weak become strong after the palpations at the the origins and insertions of each muscle all along the foot, ankle, and lower leg up to the top of the calf area. Some of the points on the calf and bottom of the foot can be a little intense. There was one point where there was an immediate and dramatic improvement in my range of motion, After the MAT work my feet are flat on the floor and I can feel a strength and alignment returning up through the knee (not so twisted) and up the inside of my hip. I also feel a pleasant slight burning or awaking around the toes and feet similar to what I felt after my first MAT session and the work on my hips. I also notice that I can rotate my left tibia through my ankle to the inside (pointing my toes to the inside) much further than I ever could before. It would always get stuck when I tried to go beyond 12:00, but it seems I can now easily go a bit beyond 1:00.

Today, I started a slow build up. No more 2 milers sad to say. I went to the YMCA for the first time in months and spent a little bit of time on the stationary bike and the elliptical machine. I ran one lap between using the two machines and two laps at the end of the workout for a grand total of 1/3 of a mile of running. My stride felt strong, but I can still feel the tightness in my left glute a tiny bit. My whole leg is changing its alignment and pattern of stability (could it even be straightening out?) so I have to go into this slowly if I want to do it right. There are no instant fixes after years of dysfunction, but I like where MAT is taking me. The one thing MAT does is give me hope that I will eventually be running pain free again and doing it much better than I did for years.

Muscle Activation Technique: Session 3

This was the third weekend in a row that I went for a Muscle Activation Technique therapy session. I am going for broke and seeing what this therapy can do for my body. I am also hoping for the best. After my first session, my hips felt loose. After my second session, my body went hairwire. So this session was about finding out when wrong and using that to inform what direction to go. Actually, I shouldn't say, "What went wrong," because I think good things happened and it was just my body rebelling against so many changes to its usual way of doing things. Last week, I just felt my body body warring against itself. My left side felt all off from head to toe. The left side of my back was tight and compressed. It wasn't a happy week. I did not expect this to be an easy or quick way to change the way my body works, so I somewhat expected this rebellion somewhere down the road, but it still was a little unnerving.

I went over this with the therapist and he explained that is a process of finding out what works best. The first week we worked both sides of the hips. The second week we worked mainly on the left side of the body and down to the knees. One sided therapy can work for some people. but we needed to go back to working on both sides and to try more work above the pelvis.

The good news is that most of the tested muscles were holding their strength over a week's time, so that nothing was lost over the week. The one muscle that stands out on me is the left TFL (tensor fasciae latae). This small triangular muscle at the top outside of the hip is tight and does not hold its strength. It not only loses its strength over the week's time, but loses its strength after being activated in a session. It is a key muscle for the gait cycle. Its insertion point is at the head of the iliotibial band that runs down the outside of the thigh. It supports the iliotibial band and stabilizes the hip and knee joints. It helps to flex, abduct, and internally rotate the hip. If it is not working then I am overworking the hip flexors and other muscles to do its job. When I walk or run I cannot keep my leg straight  and the knee and hip rotates internally. I knew my femur rotated internally (knock-knees due to femoral anteversion), but I guess my whole left hip follows along. The TFL may be tight but it is weak, as the hip joint internally rotates the hip gets pulled along by the tight and weak muscle. I am told that this could be a neurological issue (see it is all in my head) as the central nervous system can't or doesn't send the right messages to this muscle. We are trying to get it to activate and recognize the messages. This could be something from birth or an accident, who knows?

We also worked on the right side of the body as my rigth trunk doesn't rotate forward freely (my left  rib cage always feels like it is twisted backwards and the hip seems "behind" the left hip. I need to practice this movement by doing small lunges (left leg forward and then moving my right side forward- or the left side of my torso back. We worked the psoas muscles, the right quadratus lumboron and other muscles like the obliques. We also worked around the iliac crest and some of the muscles going up the spine such as the multifidi and the other spinal muscles. I can't  remember all the muscles as we must be doing 50-100 tests and retests of muscles throughout the session.

I feel better today than I did all last week so I think the changes we made are going in a positive direction. It is just not one part that needs an "instant" fix. It is finding out how everything works or doesn't work together. The place of pain or discomfort may not be the place that needs the treatment. I like Greg's explanations of how gait works and falls apart as we talk, because it matches the things I have found that don't seem to be working correctly when I run. The good news is that MAT matches the type of thinking I have always had about my imbalances and I like the way that it is a muscle by muscle whole-body approach, Next week I go back for session four and more work on the hips and torso. He doesn't want to work on the lower legs for now as that does't seem to be the crux of my problem. He did say he has observed the way my foot functions and that I am going to find some amazing things happen when he gets to the foot. If he worked on them now before fixing things higher upstream, it probably wouldn't hold. There are a lot of muscles in the feet, so I look forward to what he can do with that. I have noticed that my left leg doesn't rotate out so much since the first session and after the second session my feet and big toe interact much more strongly with the ground. I have had to take the orthotics out of my shoes halfway through a day of teaching a few times as it felt like too much in my shoe. So even if we are not working there, things seem to be stabilizing a bit with the hip work.

As for running and exercise, I am being good and have not done any. I do feel itchy to get out there and I am really tired of sitting on my butt for over two years now without being able to do heavy training or at least a contiuous diet of even light running. My day will come and I feel I am on the right path.

Muscle Activation Technique: 2nd Session

Sunday I went in for my second appointment with a MAT Muscle Activation Technique therapist. I had my first appointment a week earlier and I am more than enthusiatic with the results. Every day since that first appointment my hips felt loose and stable and I can get up out of a chair quickly instead of slowly getting up like an old man. I expected the feeling to go away, but every day it stayed the same. I did get some tight muscles in the my legs at times, but simply walking around or resting seemed to snap them back after awhile. My hips felt great, but I did not do any exercise as instructed. Each day I was itching to just try out my looser feeling hips with a run or even a sprint, but I don't want to mess things up by running when I had been instructed not to. The only exercise I did was moving some cut up logs from some trees we cut down. Some of them were about 1 1/2 feet thick and about 2-3 feet long and I was able to carry them 50 feet, while stepping over a rock wall, before throwing them into the woods. My hips remained stable and strong with no stumbling, giving out, or weakness. I was very impressed with the results after just one therapy session.

During the session on Sunday, I had more work done on my hips (primarily the left one), as well as the muscles around my knee (again mostly the left), and then some work on the muscles above my hips and back. Some of the muscles needing work were the usual culprits: the poplitius behind the knee, the QL (quadratus lumburon) on the left side (tight and weak), the TVA (transverse abdominus), and the TFL (tensor fasciae latae). The TFL seems to be the one that is tight and inhibited. As soon as we get it working, it wants to shut down again. I think the sessions are spot on and all the conversations about the muscles make complete sense to me and give me some answers to the things I have been sensing for years. I wish I had a transcript of all the things we talk about concerning the muscles and how they work as well as how MAT attempts to work with these muscles. To me, this seems like the most scientific and muscle specific approach I have yet undertaken to fix my imbalances and my running stride. Each muscle is tested in different directions and positions, then if it is inhibited, we do some isometric contractions, then he palpates the origins and insertions of the muscle before it is retested again. I am amazed by how a muscle that was weak, just minutes earlier suddenly feels solid and strong. He retests certain muscles again after treating surrounding muscles and sometimes they have held their strength and sometimes not, and we go back to fixing that muscle again. It is a very active therapy, as I am moving muscles and turning over on my front, back, or side multiple times. It was also a long therapy session and while my money is very tight, I think that I am certainly getting my money's worth out of these sessions due to the therapists time and expertise and the fact that I am noticing changes and how it makes complete senses to me. I am going back again this weekend. I am still cautioned not to run or exercise in ways that may reinforce my bad patterns and compensations, so I am still on the running retirement list!

That being said, as good as I felt after the first session, I returned home after the second one and started feeling stiff from my toes to my head. Partway through the session, I noticed I had a stiff neck, but didn't say anything. I may have had it earlier in the day. I don't recall. By Sunday evening, my whole left side felt like it usually does on my worst days. All the nice looseness of the previous week was gone. My toe joint hurt, my ankle, my lower leg felt rotated off my knee, my outside hip was tight as well as my glutes and lower back and I felt like a had a kink in my upper back and neck. All of this on my left side. Maybe the therapy was too aggressive, maybe we did too much work on one side, maybe my upper back or neck had something to do with it, or maybe it was just my body readjusting in another way to all the changes. It lasted for two nights and then last night I got up and shifted my hips a bit and there was a loud thunk in my pelvis (or hips) and things started calming down. I guess some muscles let go or something shifted back into position. The muscles in my legs are still tight like I have done some heavy exercise, but I haven't, however I still feel more balanced and can walk up and down stairs without lurching, holding on to the railing, or shifting to one side. My upper back and neck still are stiff so maybe that is something else, but I am writing it all down so I can remember when I go in for the next session.

Here is a new article on Muscle Activation Technique as found on the Hugo Anywhere blog. It looks like it was written for older people with mobility problems that may be more obvious (using canes and walkers), but if I don't get myself taken care of soon, that could be me in a few years. The article stresses a couple key points about MAT therapy very clearly. If your are interested in learning about the working of MAT, read these highlights from the article.

According to Greg Roskopf who began developing MAT twenty-five years ago, the key to building strength is through reducing tightness and increasing range of motion.
Roskopf posits that tightness is a symptom of muscle weakness, and it’s actually caused by faulty wiring of the neuromuscular system preventing information from getting to the muscle from the brain. Without the proper signals, muscles tighten up as a defensive mechanism, resulting in pain, inflammation and limited mobility. MAT aims to restore those neuromuscular pathways in order to slow, or even reverse the progression of muscular dysfunction that causes weakness and muscular imbalances...“As we age, this instability becomes an internal issue, maybe part of the muscular system itself becoming dysfunctional, causing the same neurological response as walking on ice, to take shorter strides and limit their range of motion. The goal of MAT is to melt the ice, provide a sense of stability. If you do that the body will provide all the mobility in the world.” ...While other therapies treat tightness directly using stretching or massage, MAT treats the muscular dysfunction as a neurological disorder. Using digital manipulation of the muscle (manually pressing and palpating) MAT trains the muscles and brain to work as a connected system. Imagine trying to start a car without a battery. Much the same way, MAT aims to restore the electrical pathways between the muscle and the brain. By patching that channel of communication between the muscle and the nervous system the chance of injury is reduced.

This technique involves palpating the muscle where it attaches to bone, called the points of origin and insertion, and retraining the brain to fire the muscle and connecting muscles...

Unlike movement-based therapy therapies such as yoga or Qi Gong, MAT is an isolate-based technique. Similar to the way mechanics works on cars, MATs examine the body in stasis as an integrated system and isolate the dysfunction. MAT practitioners want to know what you can’t do. When a movement is activating a muscle that is weak, other stronger, synergistic muscles will compensate. MAT aims to resolve the perpetuation of strong muscles getting stronger and weak muscles staying weak.
You can find out more about Muscle Activation Technique at the MAT site here (which I note has been recently updated from the earlier archaic design). This video gives a bit of a picture of a what a MAT assessment and treatment looks like.

Muscle Activation Technique: First Session

I am still in retirement from running, but looking to find a way out and back to feeling healthy. In the past two weeks I have done very limited exercise, which stinks with all the great running weather we have been having. Two weeks ago I did an 8 mile bike ride. Last week, I ran two miles twice. The running felt good and my hip had some additional mobility due to, I think, working on different exercises from the Muscle Activation Technique (MAT) cd. The day after both runs my body didn't feel good, so it took two days to recover from just those two short runs.

I decided to try going to a MAT therapist even though it is a little over an hour drive away and yesterday was my first appointment. While it is expensive, I am thoroughly pleased with the direction that MAT is going. Everything that the therapist mentioned was exactly how I felt my body is malfunctioning and it makes perfect sense to my experiences and feelings about what is going wrong with the functioning of my body. Some muscles, around the hip in particular, just aren't working and seem turned off. Other muscles seem to be taking up the slack and tightening up, tiring out, and pushing and pulling from slightly different angles wreaking havoc on my alignment and stride. My compensations are winning. Here is how MAT works based on their website.

MAT looks at muscle tightness as a form of protection in the body. Weak or inhibited muscles can create the need for other muscles to tighten up in order to help stabilize the joints. MAT gets to the root of pain or injury by addressing muscle weakness rather than muscle tightness. This helps to restore normal body alignment, thereby, decreasing pain and reducing the risk of injury.

I think I was in there for a little over two hours, going over my history and talking about how the body works. The therapist was very impressed with my body's neurological ability to ignore pain signals for so many years, but I think I have come to limit of being able to do that anymore. He also found my body works fairly symmetrically although I have funkiness with my left leg. This may cause my body to not be symmetrical when running as the foot pushed my body out of proper position as well as causing many muscles to work overtime just so that I can have stability .

 On the basic level, MAT involves testing each muscle for weakness, then doing some small contractions with the muscle after which the therapist palpates the origins or insertions of the muscles to get them fired up again. Then the muscle is tested again to see if it is switched on and working. The interesting things were that the muscles that were inhibited let him to palpate the spots where I always feel pain or stiffness after a workout. The testing and palpations are very exact as he went over each small individual muscle. He worked on the muscles around my hip with the testing of my legs in various positions and with feet straight, feet toed in, and feet toed out. It was very interesting work. He also found my quads to be not working well at all, something I have noticed post surgery. They seem tighter than the did prior to surgery and when I ran I felt like I could only use a small portion of my quads for movement, the other parts just felt dead.

When the session was done, my hips felt light and loose, and I feel a slight "burning" or "coming alive" feeling to the front of my hips and also to my feet and legs which weren't even really worked on. I can stand up much quicker, unlike the "old man" rising out of a chair routine that I have been stuck with.

Next week we are working on my lower back. I have limited rotation there, he found out and I find it hard to look behind me when running. The lower back and side muscles are really tight. There are many muscles running into the pelvis from below, with the legs, and from above with the muscles around the core.

Overall, I am more than satisfied and very pleased with MAT after just one session. It was much more precise and interesting than I had even hoped for. My concern would be wondering if the changes will last. I am not to run, but to let me body process the changes and I am OK with that, although I was dying to try running with looser hips today. Retirement stands.


Here is a video of the founder of MAT, Gary Roskops, explaining MAT.