I first came to learn about Muscle Activation Techniques from a friend in Toronto who had taken a course on it. At that time, I was looking for something on movement mechanics, and it fit what I was looking for, so I signed up.

At this time, I was competing in powerlifting and was experiencing chronic pain in my right knee. Every test I could find for testing was fine, no problem, but I still couldn’t bend down to pick up my kid. I went to a doctor, and his assessment was that it was just inflammation, and the prescription: stop exercising.

This is a common occurrence for the gym. The years add to more stress and more pain, and eventually, the person does fewer and fewer exercises, with an ever growing list of “I can’t do that anymore”. I took the time off that the doctor recommended. While the pain did go away, when I resume exercising 6 weeks later it returned within a couple of weeks. Pain aside, I felt I was being successful. I was happy with all my lifts, especially my deadlift at 3x bodyweight.

Going through the MAT education completely changed my view of that. My pride in my deadlift evaporated when I realized if I rotated my left leg outward, I could barely lift my leg off the table (my right leg could go almost vertical). The pieces fell into place. To avoid those muscles I wasn’t using in my left leg, the change in position of the right leg led to my knee pain. MAT found that problem and helped. Several years later I’m still lifting heavy, but now it is easier and more importantly, pain-free.