You were designed to move.
Inactivity, pain, and compensation patterns can cause muscles to stop functioning as efficiently as they once did. When muscles fail to activate properly, the result can be weakness, instability, discomfort, reduced performance, and a loss of confidence in everyday movement. The process of muscle activation technique (MAT) will identify these limitations, restore proper muscle function, improve movement quality, and enhance physical capacity.
How MAT works
The Process
The Difference
The Difference
Through targeted assessments and precise activation techniques, a typical MAT session will...
Identify limits in range of motion in the upper body, lower body, and trunk and spine.
Evaluate muscle function by shortening muscle fibers and testing their strength.
Activate muscle fibers with hands-on treatment at the tendon attachments and through muscle contractions against light resistance.
Confirm muscle fibers are firing and activated.
Integrate activated muscles into movement patterns, exercises and activities.
The Difference
The Difference
The Difference
Rather than simply treating the symptoms, Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT) focus on reconnecting communication lines between your muscles and nervous system. When muscles function properly, brain signals are transmitted efficiently, allowing for smooth, balanced, and powerful movement.
As communication between the brain and muscles improves, the result is greater stability, improved mobility, enhanced performance, and the confidence to move through everyday activities—and athletic pursuits—with less pain and greater control.
What you can expect
Many of my clients notice improvements in strength, stability or range of motion during their first visit. In fact, after MAT is applied, a majority of my clients experience an ability to contract muscle fibers that were previously weak or tight.
Single Sessions: For relatively simple issues or recent injuries, one MAT session is often enough to restore function and get you back to moving confidently.
Multiple Sessions: Complex movement compensations or chronic dysfunction typically requires a series of 3–5 sessions see positive results.
Maintenance: Preservation of mobility, stability, strength, and performance while reducing aches, pains, and movement limitations may require maintenance sessions once or twice per month.
Why MAT?
Injury
Tightness and Weakness
Tightness and Weakness
Restore movement patterns and regain confidence following injury or physical setbacks.
Tightness and Weakness
Tightness and Weakness
Tightness and Weakness
Identify and address underlying muscular dysfunction that may be limiting performance and daily activities.
Balance and Stability
Tightness and Weakness
Balance and Stability
Improve balance, stability, and reaction time to stay confident on your feet and reduce the risk of falls in everyday life.
Mobility
Performance
Balance and Stability
Move with confidence during the moments that matter most, whether you're lifting your child, carrying groceries, or simply enjoying an active life.
Function
Performance
Performance
Maintain strength, balance, and mobility while preserving independence and quality of life.
Performance
Performance
Performance
Enhance human performance through evidence-based training that improves movement, strength, mobility, and functional capacity.
About
As an exercise physiologist, educator, and researcher with more than 30 years of experience, I've made a career out of helping people move better, feel stronger, and stay active through science-based training methods.
Throughout my career, I have served as a university professor, directed exercise physiology and sports performance laboratories, and authored more than 20 peer-reviewed scientific publications on a variety of topics including athletic performance, cardiovascular health, Parkinson's disease, and wearable technology. My work has bridged research and real-world application, allowing me to translate the latest evidence into practical, individualized strategies that improve movement, restore function, and enhance health.
At Peak Function, I employ the MAT process and the tools I have honed over three decades to help you enhance your strength, mobility, balance, and overall physical function, reduce compensatory movement patterns, improve performance, and maintain long-term independence.
— Dr. David K. Spierer
Founder, Peak Function
Founded over 25 years ago by Greg Roskopf, MAT is rooted in well-established neurophysiological principles with the sole purpose of reestablishing lines of communication between muscles and the nervous system to restore optimal muscle recruitment patterns so your body can move the way it was designed to move.