July 2010
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Resistance Training Specialist - UK Course
Following this month’s Muscle Activation Techniques - Jumpstart course, Resistance Training Specialists (RTS) have confirmed their RTS123 course is coming to the UK later this year.
All of the trainers / specialists at Integra are both MAT and RTS qualified. Following a full MAT assessment to identify and treat muscular imbalances, we take our clients through exercise progressions using...
June 2010
5 posts
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MAT Jumpstart course - starts next month
The Muscle Activation Techniques guys in Denver are holding another MAT Jumpstart program here in the UK, next month - you may need to be quick to enrol!
This series is the foundation to Muscle Activation Techniques and an introduction to the neurophysiology, biomechanics, and practical application of MAT.
The MAT Jumpstart course is taught by Charlie McMillin, who is a MAT Master Specialist,...
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Three courses, jetlag and the effects
I’m back from three trips to the US; three hugely successful and dense courses (click here for the list) and now it is time for me to digest the information and put it in practice. I have approximately 150 pages of notes (although in Evernote, not on paper!).
With my clients I often discuss sleep and it’s effects on the nervous system, the body, the mind and their success (short...
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Reduced Rates for Health Professionals
We want to create an environment in our community of support, knowledge and continual development.
We value sharing our skills and experience and expanding our knowledge with fellow health professionals.
From personal experience, we see a huge benefit in receiving MAT treatments from our colleagues. We are always helping others with our treatments, how often do we look after ourselves?
If...
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Special Offer - Ends Today
Rui’s Special Offer for personal training is ending today.
If you want to experience training with Rui, you need to contact us today.
The fee for your first 10 sessions with him will be only £45 per session, rather than his usual £60, saving 25% (following your initial consultations with Michael)
This promotion has been popular, but he does have some availability left. Contact us now...
May 2010
3 posts
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“Most, if not all, experts in the health-related fields agree that movement, or...”
– Anat Baniel - Move Into Life
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“Movement is life; without movement life is unthinkable”
– Moshe Feldenkrais
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Upcoming courses (that we are doing!)
The Integra team are doing some interesting courses over the next couple of months and I wanted to share them with you. Michael will be studying:
Motor Learning: Moving from “Motor Patterns” to Motor Recruitment Realities with Paul Juris, PhD and RTS, in Oklahoma (link)
Trunk & Spine Muscle Activation Techniques master class, in Denver (link)
Force & the Nervous System 2:...
April 2010
4 posts
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“Always put process ahead of outcome.
Rushing to achieve the outcome, trying to...”
– Anat Baniel - Move Into Life
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Train with Rui: Spring Special Offer
Rui has some new availability at Integra.
Until 1st June 2010, (in other words, to get you ready for the beach!) he is offering a special personal training deal to new clients.
The fee for your first 10 sessions with Rui will be only £45 per session, rather than his usual £60, saving 25% (following your initial consultations with Michael)
Availability limited, Contact us now to book your...
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“[Muscle] tension is not a mistake!”
– Tom Purvis, RTS
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High fructose corn syrup study vs table sugar
Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.
…In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn...
March 2010
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Talk Therapy May Treat Low Back Pain →
A treatment designed to challenge how people with low back pain think about their condition and change their behaviors was shown to have long-term benefits in a newly published study.
The study is among the largest ever to examine Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for chronic back pain, which is among the most common, costly, and difficult-to-treat health problems.
“This wasn’t...
February 2010
3 posts
1 tag
Muscle Activation Techniques: New Location
News: Michael will now be offering MAT from two locations.
You can book a treatment with him either at his private studio on Brick Lane in E1 or on New Cavendish Street in W1.
Full details and pricing for this location will be posted onto the website soon.
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“The bottom line is, training is an investment, not a liability. Won’t one...”
– Dave Tate
January 2010
1 post
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Sleep Better - App for the iPhone
Getting regular and good quality sleep is essential for fat loss, hypertrophy (building muscle) and to enable your body to recovery from the daily stresses of life (work, exercise, arguing with partners!, etc…)
If you don’t get enough of the right kinds of sleep (deep sleep, REM, dreaming states etc), your ability to achieve your goals will be seriously impaired. A quick search on...
December 2009
3 posts
1 tag
“We are products of the past, but because of inherently empty nature, we always...”
– Sharon Begley, The Plastic Mind
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Sport vs Health
As the title suggests, we need to be careful about mixing up sport and health
As you are about to leave for the weekend and possibly do your weekend sports, football, rugby or running, etc… think about this:
Doing sport does not mean your health will necessary increase.
In fact, many sports are just not healthy for you - especially if you are late to the game.
Forcing your limbs,...
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Why Do You Stretch?
And are you creating problems? Is it because:
You always have done?
You read everywhere that is really important?
You were told to do it?
Because it is fashionable (the foam roller!)
Because you just do?
There is a lot of research out there that proves that stretching can lengthen muscle tissue, I am not even jumping into that debate. (well, I will in an post coming up!)
...
November 2009
3 posts
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“The brain devotes more of it’s real estate to functions that it’s...”
– Sharon Begley, The Plastic Mind
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Exercise During Pregnancy
One of my clients was interviewed in a national newspaper (link) recently. Shannon is 7.5 months pregnant and the focus of the article is how much she spends on her body.
It is generally regarded (apart from a few strange comments on this article!) that a healthy and happy mother = a healthy and happy child. What is interesting is that there is very little in the way of information on exercise...
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Muscle Activation Techniques Success!
I keep the personal ‘big-ups’ off this blog. It just isn’t my style, I am not interested in telling you how great I am, but….I have just got word back from Denver, Colorado; having taken my 16hr written and practical examinations for the MAT Certified Specialist Course. I am pleased to say I passed!!
This was an intense year of studying (and also one of the reasons for...
September 2009
2 posts
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Vibram Five Finger update
So this past weekend, I ran 10km (6 miles) in my Vibram Five Fingers.
Not surprisingly, my stride length has decreased, now no longer heel striking (I don’t have 3” of padding at my heel now!). My stride is shorter, although it did take a couple of runs to get used to landing on my forefoot, rather than my heel. My pace is also slightly slower - but then again, I was never that fast...
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'That' Time Magazine Article
Time recently published an article Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin which (in a nutshell) states that exercise is a waste of time due to the fact that if we exercise, we will be more likely to opt for something fatty as a reward, than something healthy. He goes on:
Spurts of vigorous exercise could lead to weight gain
And then talks about lower intensity walking being more beneficial for...
August 2009
3 posts
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Vibram Five Fingers
I’m late to the game.
The Vibram Five Fingers have been around for a while now, but I only just picked some up in Boulder, CO last week.
I’ve been walking and training barefoot in my studio for many years understanding the need to actually use the muscles in my feet, rather than strap them all up in shoes. We have a ton of joints within the foot (and subsequent muscles that are...
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“Our approach is based on intense, continual education coupled with years of...”
– Michael Goulden
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“Cultivate authentic presence”
– Chögyam Trungpa
July 2009
3 posts
1 tag
“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our...”
– Buddha
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TimeOut - London's best gyms and fitness centres...
For the 2nd year in a row, Integra has been named as one of London’s best gyms and fitness centres, being one of only a few personal training studios on the list.
With our unique style and approach, we are very proud for our little place in Spitalfields, London, to be included in the TimeOut feature again this year.
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“Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over...”
– David Foster Wallace
June 2009
14 posts
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High Protein Diet for Weight Loss Maintenance
Along with the Low-Carb vs Low-Fat Diet study is another paper (also in published Obesity) on the effect of a high-protein vs high-carbohydrate diet (both low fat) on weight loss maintenance.
Following a 6 week energy restricted diet, subject were placed on a 12-week weight maintenance plan of either high protein or high carbohydrates.
The study shows that low-fat, high protein weight...
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Low-Carb vs Low Fat Diets
An abstract from a study performed in Australia that was published recently in Obesity (a research journal) on the ‘effects of a low carbohydrate weight loss diet on exercise capacity and tolerance in obese subjects.’
‘A LC weight loss diet shifted fuel utilization toward greater fat oxidation during exercise, but had no detrimental effect on maximal or submaximal markers of...
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Tools, Brand Names, Bias and Identity
Coming up: I will be writing a few short notes about how Muscle Activation Techniques fit into our style of personal training. In the meantime, here is a little bit on our philosophy.
Each of our clients comes to us for a specific goal(s): whether it be injury related, or performance related or somewhere in between like health or fat loss.
We don’t associate our whole identity with one...
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Recommended Books - Strength Training
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WatchThis makes me want to get back to the water quickly.
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“It is historical continuity that maintains most assumptions, not repeated...”
– Edward de Bono
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Recommended Books - Anatomy
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Recommended Books - Kapandji
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Recommended Books
Coming up over the next few days, I’ll be recommending some of our favourite books.
Click on ‘books’ in the Tag Cloud to the right
As Amazon does give a percentage commission for sales if we link to their site, we have decided to give this commission directly to the Water Aid Charity (click for some more information on their work).
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“Feel is not real”
– unknown
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News: Michael becomes UK's 1st RTSm
A bit of late news, but so was the blog!
Michael becomes the UK’s first Mastery Level Resistance Training Specialist, Following the extensive Mastery programme during 2008, Michael succesfully passed the 2 day exam, which included a 4 hour oral examination, earlier this year.
Click here for more details on the acclaimed RTS Mastery program: RTS
Michael’s is continuing his study...
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"I am a Fitness Expert !"
Really?
Understand that exercise is not ‘a’ science - It is many sciences including psychology, biochemistry, biomechanics, cellular physiology, and neuro-physiology. It takes a lifetime to become an expert in any one of these sciences. Therefore, there is no such thing as a fitness expert!
(via the RTS Mastery Programme)
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“All of the top achievers I know are life-long learners … if they are not...”
– Denis Waitley
May 2009
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What is this?
This is our Tumblr Blog. Primarily written by Michael Goulden, this is a space for us to share thoughts, links of cool things we see and random bits of brain dumps along the way, sometimes fitness, sometimes not.