By Remy Greer
Staff Reporter
The merits of a treatment, which helped rejuvenate the career of Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, was reinforced at a series of seminars at an Okotoks gym.
Muscle Activation Technique (MAT) guru and bio-mechanics instructor Rick Merriam educated fitness enthusiasts and debunked gym myths in exercise and rehabilitation for nine days in early March at W8 Trainer in Okotoks.
“We’ve been doing seminars within our gym to improve our training with our clients from the human anatomy point of view because we see a lot of injuries,” said W8 Trainer owner and operator Andrew Dexter. “I think this (MAT) is the future in healing and rehabilitation. That’s why I’ve got him here.
“I do a lot of injury rehab here and I wanted to take it to the next level of understanding the body.”
Greg Roskopf introduced MAT in Denver a decade ago and caught national acclaim when Manning lauded Roskopf in a Sports Illustrated article in November for overseeing his rehabilitation from four neck surgeries.
Merriam, whose extensive experience includes a tenure as the sports massage therapist at ESPN, said there a number of myths he comes across in his travels where he strives to differentiate gym science from real science.
“For example, the quadriceps, they extend the leg, but they actually all flex the thigh,” Merriam said.
“That’s really important because if your hamstrings are tight, your quadriceps in the front can’t pull your pelvis forward,” Merriam said. “We would turn those muscles on neurologically so they now would pull the pelvis forward and the hamstrings relax.
“Another way to put it is you’re always trying to bring one end of the muscle to the opposite end of the muscle.”
MAT mechanics run counter to conventional modes such as stretching, which focus on the symptoms and tightening of muscles, and instead get more to the source of the injury, Merriam said.
Such techniques include an emphasis on completing a range of motion with the use of free weights, cables, rubber bands and tubes rather than weight machines.
“We’re dealing with bio-mechanics, the way the body actually moves, and then we’re focusing on the muscles that would be neurologically inhibited,” said Merriam, a teacher at Parker University School of Massage Therapy in Dallas.
“So what I do is improve that signal so then the muscle can actually fire. So when they go to do an exercise every muscle involved in an exercise at those joints would be firing optimally.”
Part of the seminars was an education to the gym staff on how to best combat rehabilitation scenarios with clients.
“We’re looking at how they can do things to help their clients in the gym to be more productive with the strengthening,” Merriam said. “So once we get the muscles firing how can they strengthen those muscles in the best way?”
It’s a gospel that will be spreading through the foothills on a permanent basis next year. W8 Trainer instructor Stuart Barcelo will be the first licensed MAT coach south of Calgary when he completes his training in February 2014.
For more information on Merriam and Muscle Activation Technique visit his blog at engaginmuscles.com and to find out more about W8 Trainer go to w8trainer.com.
