Circuits Alive Muscle Tuning Articles

An Alternate Approach to Improving Muscular Performance

By Evelyn Mulders, Principal of the Kinesiology College of Canada

Is the Body's Muscular Communication Actually Working Properly?

Have you ever gone into the gym one day and had a sensational workout and gone the next day and the workout was less than inspiring? Or have you ever found that your sports performance can vary from day to day for no apparent reason? Well the reason could be due to not having your muscles properly switched on. 

Having your muscles ready to fire is integral for ultimate performance. Muscles can switch off because the brain body communication has been impaired in some way. There are several pathways that communicate with muscles. If these pathways become jammed resulting in muscles failing to respond properly... it can simply be a result of the body’s innate desire to protect the muscle from injury. In some cases switching muscles off can cause pain, which is an indicator that something is out of balance.  Athletes often ignore this signal and “push through the discomfort”, because it’s ingrained to push to perform your best even though it hurts.

Muscles essentially switch off and stop firing properly because of stress – perhaps the stress of having had an actual injury, using too heavy a load, the demand of too many repetitions, too little flow of lymphatic fluids and blood supply, or even poorly managed emotional tension. More insidiously, muscles may appear to function alright, but are not actually operating at an optimal level. Indeed, one can lift a weight or go for a run without being aware of the heavy level of compensations that are occurring at the neurological level in order to make the many movements to perform that activity. Top level athletes and fitness professionals may notice this disharmony, but many people get used to the feeling and choose to call it ‘a plateau’, or decide their stamina is ‘off’ that particular week. Very few people realize how much more easily their bodies could function if their muscles were “switched on” using “Muscle Tuning™” technology. 

Physiology – How to Interpret Its Signals

There is an easy and simple way to assess muscles and get them to fire optimally. Clearing neurological pathways will allow muscles to work more optimally.

The body has electrical circuitry that co-ordinates muscle movement. Part of this electrical circuitry is called facilitation. Muscle facilitation and its corresponding inhibition is integral for body movement. Some muscles need to “switch off” for others to work properly. For example, if the hamstrings didn’t “switch off” while the quadriceps were engaged, you would be frozen in your step and not able to move at all. The basis of this communication is initiated in the muscle and tendon proprioceptors.

However, sometimes inhibition of muscles is inappropriate. Consider cases of post-injury. The muscle has repaired but it is common that the message does not reconnect, leaving synergistic muscles in the area to pick up the slack. After a few months the good neighbors are annoyed with the extra responsibility, become irritable themselves, and also stop performing - leaving even fewer neighbors to do the extra work. Eventually, as you can predict, the whole region is ineffective. The solution is to get the injured muscle facilitated and doing its job as quickly as possible.

As an example of inappropriate circuitry, I asked a client during a “Muscle Tuning™” session to lift his leg up and out. He performed the request on one leg perfectly and while he went to perform the same action with his other leg, his head jolted forward. I recognized immediately that his neck muscles were recruited to support his hip flexors on one side of the body. I re-activated the hip flexor muscles using body reflex points and his neck flexors no longer needed to lead him (most noticeable while walking). He was extremely grateful as he had been complaining about the neck being sore as well. What a surprise!

Another example of muscles doing work that they are not designed to is a personal example while I was healing from an Achilles heel rupture while training for the National Waterski competition. Four months into the healing process I suddenly had a new excruciating pain in the bottom of my foot. It completely stopped me from walking. Inspecting the situation by assessing all the calf and ankle muscles, I discovered that one of the calf muscles (posterior tibialis) was ‘switched off’ contributing to a foot muscle (plantar interrossi) over-compensating to support the foot arch. Once I ‘switched-on’ the posterior tibialis using body reflex points, the plantar interrossi relaxed and I could then walk again without pain. Without this knowledge, I would have been limping around for weeks frustrated and confused about my injury.

How Did This Science Get Developed?

Manual muscle testing was developed by Physiotherapists in the 1940’s, and then further researched and integrated into some Chiropractic treatments. Laypersons trained in techniques based upon Applied Kinesiology have also been using these techniques for the past 35 years for improving health and function.  Muscle testing and balance techniques can be utilized by professional athletes to get their muscles firing just before a competition or by fitness enthusiasts desiring better outcomes. Muscle balancing techniques have been historically available through clinical specialized kinesiology therapy or visits with Applied Kinesiology-trained Chiropractors. This information is now available to be used by trainers at any sports facility and can be performed in fifteen minutes, without any special equipment. It’s called “Muscle Tuning™”.  This particular system designed to increase fitness and sports performance was developed by the Principal of an internationally-recognized College of Professional Specialized Kinesiology located in the British Columbia Interior and her business partner.  Together they bring 20 years of experience and passion for their work.

“Muscle Tuning™” employs body reflex techniques to restore appropriate brain / body communication for optimum muscle potential. Exactly like one needs to reset circuit breakers in the home when there has been an overloaded circuit, one can reset circuit breakers in the body when the muscles have been overloaded. This technology has been taught in over 80 countries and to hundreds of thousands of people who have utilized the information for the health of their families and friends. However until now, the technology hadn’t been packaged for easy use by people in the fitness and sports industry. It’s now quick and easy to apply these techniques once properly trained.

Experience the Effect Yourself

Most people can benefit from switching on the quadriceps. Try this easy assessment and experience “Muscle Tuning™” for yourself.

Quadriceps/ Rectus Femoris

• Begin by sitting near the edge of a chair. Simply lift one bent knee a few inches from the floor and gently yet firmly push down on the knee while resisting. You are assessing how easy it is to keep your lifted knee in this position. Lower this leg and check the other side.

• Now, run up and down stairs until you feel fatigued, or do squats to muscle fatigue. The idea is to effectively activate the quadriceps muscles. Notice how you feel and how many repetitions you can perform easily.

 

• Immediately upon stopping the exercise, repeat the assessment of the quadriceps as above. Is it still as easy to hold your knee in position as you use the same amount of pressure to push the leg downward? What about the other side?

• Now firmly rub the area all along the bottom of your ribs on the front of the body. Make sure to rub on the abdominal region, not on the bones themselves. Rub all the way from the midline at the bottom of the breastbone towards the side seam of your clothing Go back and forth. Do this for about 10 to 15 seconds. People commonly use the ‘knife edge’ of their palm to do the rubbing… (instead of chopping a karate board in half, you are using this edge of your hand to perform the massaging action).

 

• Seat yourself as before and assess the quadriceps muscles again. Is it easier to hold the knee in position and resist the pressure you are applying downward on the knee?

• Now immediately head into another set of exercises and notice and feel if the muscles are no longer fatigued even though they have had less than a minute’s rest, that it is easy to continue, or that you complete even more repetitions before fatiguing or if it just feels better?

 

• Experienced exercisers appreciate having these muscles “tuned”. They’ve reported a new sense of ease in movement with less exertion. Those new to exercise appreciate having these muscles turned on because they feel encouraged and excited when they can instantly perform more repetitions more easily. This effect can be felt with every muscle that is monitored and switched-on during a “Muscle Tuning™”session.

What is the Desired Outcome?

The point of “Muscle Tuning™” is to wake up the neurology to the various muscles before one exercises. When the muscles are awake and communicating properly with the brain, they actually allow you to do more work, more quickly, more effectively.  For those with low fitness levels and lack of muscular development, properly facilitated muscles can help to reach weight loss and toning goals more easily. In our test group with Curves members over a 3 month period many of the participants were able to significantly reduce inches and dress sizes at a more accelerated rate than usual with regular application of muscle tuning (one session per week).  For athletes focused on performance goals of setting targets for endurance, speed, or increased repetitions, “Muscle Tuning™” will ignite the muscles to act as if gas has been added to the fire resulting in measurable improvements of performance in a shorter time frame.

How Would I Offer This Service to My Clientele?

Typically sessions are organized into groups of six sessions to lock-in the benefits at each level before proceeding to the next level. Sessions can be spaced a few days or a week apart. A fitness trainer would help a client facilitate the main postural muscles for six sessions, move to the synergistic muscles for another six sessions, then lead them to working on the popular core muscles for another six sessions. Additionally, in the last six sessions, other key muscles which can cause broad disruptions in the functions of all the other muscles are assessed and tamed.

Because it is fun to participate in the activity, clients look forward to their next session and the improvements they are noticing. Also, because the activity is performed right in the gym or side of a sports field, onlookers invariably approach and ask:  “What is all the fun about?”

Would You Like to Be 'Turned On?'

If you would like to experience this effect yourself, there are regular demonstrations performed by the owners and certified instructors of “Circuit’s Alive Muscle Tuning™”. We invite you to contact us to experience “Muscle Tuning™” yourself, and to learn how to offer this service to your clientele.