E401 - Functional Training vs. Training To Improve Your Function
Release Date: 09/03/2025
E401 - Functional Training vs. Training To Improve Your Function
Exercise Is Health
Get Started With Muscle Activation Techniques® To Keep Your Muscles Strong & Functioning Well: “Functional training” is a term often used by the fitness industry to describe ways of exercising that look like they improve people’s ability to perform everyday activities. Key phrase… “that look like”. Because when it comes down to it, most forms of “functional training” actually do the exact opposite. But that does not mean that all ways of exercising will diminish your ability to do everyday activities. So how can you determine if an exercise is helpful or hurtful to your...
info_outline
E400 - Our Biggest Insights From 400 Episodes Of Podcasting
Exercise Is Health
Get Started With Muscle Activation Techniques® To Keep Your Muscles Strong & Functioning Well: We have officially released 400 episodes of the Exercise Is Health® podcast! To celebrate, we are looking back on our first 399 episodes to discuss what has changed for us during that time, what we continue to believe to be true from this podcast’s inception, and what has evolved over the course of this podcast to lead us in new directions. If you have enjoyed any of our episodes in the past, you are going to love this conversation as we summarize the biggest things you need to do to...
info_outline
E399 - An Overlooked Aspect Of Recovery With Muscle Activation Techniques®
Exercise Is Health
Get Started With Muscle Activation Techniques® To Keep Your Muscles Strong & Functioning Well: Muscle Activation Techniques®, or MAT, is extremely helpful at helping people recover from a number of tweaks, twinges, and injuries. But, there is an aspect of the recovery process with MAT that is often overlooked, and this can have a HUGE influence on how fast the recovery process goes. Over the last 14 years, we have seen that when this aspect of recovery is accounted for, the recovery process can easily be up to 20 times faster than when it is disregarded. On this week’s episode of the...
info_outline
E398 - Celebrating a HUGE Client Win
Exercise Is Health
Get Started With Muscle Activation Techniques® To Keep Your Muscles Strong & Functioning Well: Our clients do some pretty amazing things, and on this week’s episode of the Exercise Is Health® podcast, we are celebrating some fantastic news that one of our clients recently received! Many people have experienced the news this client got just a few years ago, but very few people have heard what her doctor recently told her. We are absolutely thrilled for this client, and there are many takeaways that can be gleaned from learning about what she did. In this discussion, we are diving into...
info_outline
E397 - Are You Using The Right Tools?
Exercise Is Health
Get Started With Muscle Activation Techniques® To Keep Your Muscles Strong & Functioning Well: Accomplishing the fitness goals you have doesn’t have to be difficult. However, many people make it harder for themselves than it needs to be because they are using the wrong tools to help them get to their goals. In fact, there are just a couple specific things you need to make sure you are doing regularly to help you reach almost any fitness goal you have, but most people completely neglect one or both of them. On this week’s episode of the Exercise Is Health® podcast, we are identifying...
info_outline
E396 - What Nobody Is Telling You About Making Progress
Exercise Is Health
Get Started With Muscle Activation Techniques® To Keep Your Muscles Strong & Functioning Well: If you have been trying to make progress with your strength and fitness, there have likely been some roadblocks you have hit along the way. While we would all love progress to be a linear trajectory from the moment we start working out until the moment we stop, the truth is that progress is anything but linear. In fact, there are three distinct stages of progress that, if you don’t realize it, can completely stop you from achieving the goals you are after with your workouts. However, once you...
info_outline
E395 - The Big Myth of Aging
Exercise Is Health
Get Started With Muscle Activation Techniques® To Keep Your Muscles Strong & Functioning Well: There is a big myth of aging that is constantly told to us from the time we are young. Unfortunately, buying into this myth holds many people back from living the life they want on their terms. And to make matters worse, we can see examples of this myth being true all around us, which makes this myth even easier to believe. What is this big myth of aging? On this week’s episode of the Exercise Is Health® podcast, we are unveiling that answer plus teaching you exactly what you can do to...
info_outline
E394 - How Do You Explain Muscle Activation Techniques®?
Exercise Is Health
Get Started With Muscle Activation Techniques® To Keep Your Muscles Strong & Functioning Well: Muscle Activation Techniques®, or MAT, is the most powerful process we have come across for helping people increase their strength and mobility while reducing pain and tightness. But, while the effects of MAT are profound, explaining it to somebody can be challenging. Over the years of practicing MAT, we have seen that there are some key concepts that can be easily explained and help people quickly understand not only what MAT is, but why it is important. On this week’s episode of the...
info_outline
E393 - Big Changes We've Made To Our Workouts This Year
Exercise Is Health
Get Started With Muscle Activation Techniques® To Keep Your Muscles Strong & Functioning Well: One key to long-term success with your workouts is staying consistent with them. While much of the world is focused on constantly switching things up, the truth is you need to keep doing the same things over and over again in order to build lasting strength and health. But, sometimes things do need to change, and that is exactly what has happened with our workouts recently. On this week’s episode of the Exercise Is Health® podcast, we are diving into the changes we have each made to our...
info_outline
E392 - The Big Problem With "Good" Posture
Exercise Is Health
Get Started With Muscle Activation Techniques® To Keep Your Muscles Strong & Functioning Well: Poor posture is blamed for many aches and pains people experience from back tightness to shoulder and neck stiffness to general achiness all over. But, while the common solution is to create “good” posture, there is a lie being told about “good” posture that holds many people back from actually resolving their issues. On this week’s episode of the Exercise Is Health® podcast, we are exposing what that lie is and how to make sure you don’t get caught up in it. If you have ever felt...
info_outlineGet Started With Muscle Activation Techniques® To Keep Your Muscles Strong & Functioning Well: https://www.matschaumburg.com
“Functional training” is a term often used by the fitness industry to describe ways of exercising that look like they improve people’s ability to perform everyday activities.
Key phrase… “that look like”.
Because when it comes down to it, most forms of “functional training” actually do the exact opposite.
But that does not mean that all ways of exercising will diminish your ability to do everyday activities.
So how can you determine if an exercise is helpful or hurtful to your efforts to keep doing the things you enjoy most and what should you be focusing on with your workouts to give you the best chance possible of staying active and independent long-term?
On this week’s episode of the Exercise Is Health® podcast, that is exactly what we are diving into.
We tell you what you need to know to sift through the nonsense of the mainstream fitness industry and spend your time and energy doing the exercises that will actually move the needle for you.
If you have found yourself caught in the “functional training” craze only to find that your progress has been minimal, listen up!
What we share in this discussion can change that for you once and for all.
Check out all the details in this week’s episode!
Ready to schedule your first Muscle Activation Techniques® session with us? Click here to get started: http://vagaro.com/muscleactivationschaumburg/services
Looking for custom workout programming that gets designed to your exact specifications to build your strength and athleticism? Sign up for PRO Strength & Performance Programming: https://www.charliecates.com/programming
Would you like to have our guidance implementing the 4 Exercise For Life Principles while you workout?
Join the Exercise For Life Membership for free for 30 days! Just head to www.exerciseforlifestudios.com to get started!
Did you find this episode helpful? Let us know by leaving us a rating and review on the following platforms:
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exercise-is-health/id1330420565
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6H1CneHjsPiPStrAeFTP25?si=X1IuXkp0T1KCv3gCtt3j5g
Want to grab a free copy of our best-selling book, “The Exercise For Life Method”?
Click here to order yours while copies are still available! www.exerciseforlifemethod.com Just cover the cost of shipping and handling to have it delivered right to you.
Follow us on Instagram for more exercise tips and content about MAT here:
– Muscle Activation Schaumburg: @muscleactivationschaumburg
– Julie Cates: @julcates
– Charlie Cates: @charliecates