The Definition of Muscle Testing: “Manual Muscle Testing is a procedure for the evaluation of the function and strength of individual muscles and muscle groups based on effective performance of a movement in relation to the forces of gravity and manual resistance.”
Muscle testing is often a misunderstood diagnostic procedure. Especially in the training world it is highly underrated procedure. Muscle testing is a viable means of evaluating the musculoskeletal system to determine muscle/s that may be inactive. It is also used to determine the level of nerve interference from the brain to the neuromuscular junction. Typically, removing the interference brings strength back to the previously weak muscle. The return of strength is felt by the person tested and the tester. This is well accepted.
Is Muscle Testing a Strength Test?
Muscle testing is not a strength test. It tests the electrical tone of the muscles. It tests muscle activity. Many muscles in the arms, legs and torso can be tested. To give you an idea of what it feels like. Imagine standing upright and extending your arm out to the front. The person tests you will slightly push the hand down. This tests the strength of the anterior deltoid, the front part of the main shoulder muscle. Can you easily resist a slight increase in pressure or does your arm go down immediately? This is an excellent indicator of the activity of a muscle. Of course, if one goes from a slight increase of pressure to putting a lot of weight on the hand it will basically be impossible to hold the arm straight in front of you. How much pressure you can maintain is a strength test. How well you respond to a slight increase in pressure is an activity test. Which is the primary focus of muscle testing. Assessing the current function of a muscle.
And the function of a single muscle correlates of the whole muscular system, which correlates with the organ, endocrine, immune and nervous system. Therefore the assessment of the muscular system via muscle testing can be used to assess an individual response to foods and supplements.
The Scientific Explanation of Muscle Testing
The human body works much like a computer. Your body knows, at any moment and at some level, what is wrong and what it needs. From the perspective of quantum biology, the human body is a hologram composed of intersecting lines of electromagnetic fields - short EMF's - known as bio-energy.
These EMF's govern the physical functions of the body and have an intimate relationship with systems, organs, tissue, cells and even DNA. This “bio-energetic field” also serves as a sort of data base for everything that has impacted our health throughout our lives.
If anything impacts the physical body or the electrical grid, either positively or negatively, there is a change in the frequencies or EMF's. All the organs and systems of the body including the endocrine and immune systems are directly linked to the neurological system.
The nervous system controls muscle contraction. Therefore, any change can be registered in neuromuscular responses. In this way one can evaluate the specific needs of that individual. This electrical/muscular relationship is a natural part of the human system. There is a wealth of peer-reviewed research that confirms the presence and significance of these bio-energetic fields. Everything in the universe has a specific EMF based on its atomic structure. In fact, the basis for all interaction in the universe are governed by EMF's. Applied Muscle Testing is a process that allows the Trainer to access this natural phenomenon and utilize it for the benefit of the clients well-being and progress in training, specifically for Maximum Strength and Fatloss.
This makes muscle testing an excellent assessment tool primarily for muscle testing and secondarily for foods and supplements.
Wolfgang has demonstrated different muscle testing procedures at seminars over the last 10 years and has urged many students to look deeper into this topic. As the interest into this topic has grown over the last years we will host Bob Guiel at the YPSI for the first time. He has taught Muscle Testing for over 10 years all over the world, from Canada and the US, to Sweden and Australia. He will teach the YPSI Applied Muscle Testing Seminar (Level 1) in September this year in Stuttgart.
To use muscle testing for food and supplements it is crucial to possess sufficient knowledge of anatomy, physiology and biochemistry. For example, it's not possible to test the liver's ability to complete Phase I detoxification without knowing what that process entails, why your body does it, and what biochemical compounds it needs to do the job. These is why Bob Guiel will also teach the YPSI The Alphabet of Functional Nutrition Seminar to give a deep insight into the function and role of minerals, trace minerals and vitamin on a cellular level, the different aspects of hepatic biotransformation, the function of the immune system and methylation as well as many other metabolic pathways.
Picture: Bob Guiel teaching Muscle Testing to a group of Australian Students.