43: [Inside the Mind] Maurice Harden: Activate Your Muscles to Prevent Injury and Hit the Ball Further

The Golf Hypnotherapist (00:02.464)

Hey Maurice, thank you so much for joining me on an episode of the podcast. How are you today?

Maurice Harden (00:06.862)

I’m doing wonderful. How about you, Paul?

The Golf Hypnotherapist (00:08.882)

I am great. This has been a long time coming. I’m excited. I’m grateful you’re here. And we’re going to dig into a lot of aspects of the mental and physical realm of golf today. But before we begin, let’s paint a picture for the audience. Who is Dr. Harden? What is his background, his expertise? Share a little bit more about you and your journey.

Maurice Harden (00:12.89)

Yes, sir.

Maurice Harden (00:31.42)

All right, let’s go ahead and start it in. originally I was a veteran. I served 11 years in the army. I did a combat tour and everything like that. And I’ve always been interested in the fitness and health and wellness. Even going even deeper before the military, I actually started off as a nurse. I was actually started my career nursing and I was doing that. It’s funny story. My mom made, she has four boys. She made all of us actually go to nursing school.

Ashley Stars, she said you’re gonna always have a job if you become a nurse, so that’s where kind of everything got started and But really I wanted to be a pharmacy. I wanted to be a pharmacy tech So I kind of did what I’m down to started my education toward rat route. I even got a job as a pharmacy tech, but I Absolutely hated it. when I say hated it. I hated it. I’m on my feet all day Little old ladies at CBS cussing me out because I’m not moving fast enough. I mean

It was a hot mess. I’m talking about you would hate the four or five o ‘clock time of day because literally everybody’s in there in a bad mood. They just got off of work. It was just terrible. I thought it would be better if I went to a hospital. So I actually did try it like a hospital. That was just as bad because it wasn’t the people, but you’re just standing around doing nothing all day. So I was like, you know what? think pharmacy is not for me. So I sort of kind of went back to the nursing and kind of focused in on that. But one of the things that I noticed while doing nursing is that I didn’t feel like I was helping.

I felt like I was just helping people die slow. I’m gonna be honest, I was prolonging your death is what I was doing, especially working at the hospital. I worked on a neurosurgery floor at a strands at UF and that’s what it pretty much felt like, like I was just helping people die slow. Cause when you see regulars at a hospital, that’s a problem. So I could go down the hall and I’d be like, Hey, Mrs. Jones, this is her third time there. Hey, what’s her, I’m like, you know what? Something’s not right about this system here. I started getting more, so I can remember the day when

The Golf Hypnotherapist (02:15.445)

Yeah.

Maurice Harden (02:22.98)

I was in a room helping this client and everything. I saw a physical therapist come to the room and man, they helped somebody get up, help him walk around. They were smiling and laughing and stuff. And I was all mad. Somebody just cleaned up somebody and all this other stuff was going on. I’m like, man, that seemed like a lot a better to me. And so it’s just a process of the journey of trying to figure out where I wanted to be and where I would have put my time into. So I was like, man, I want to help people. feel like that’s like the path that I could do to help people. So I changed gears again and started gearing towards

towards physical therapy and everything like that. And I absolutely loved it, man. And through the military, I already had an exercise background. So I kind of had a lot of, I knew what to do. I knew how to challenge the body. I knew how to do those things. I even helped implement some of the, during the time it was a new Army Physical Fitness Program. And I was one of the ones they picked to help train our soldiers and stuff like that to do that. So I was honed in on that part of it. And I felt like that rehab component would definitely add to it since I was already there.

But no one behold, I ended up getting deployed. So, getting all of that and I ended up getting deployed. once I finished all my education, there was like a two year waiting list to get back into physical therapy school. And so I was like, nah, I’m not waiting two years. I’m not doing that. I was like, I need to do something. Nah, I work my butt off. I need to figure out what it is I need to do. And so I started looking up Kinesi therapy, Kinesiology and stuff like that and just looking into it. And I was really fascinated because it was…

similar in a way, but it was more on really helping the body as a whole, like from the rehab perspective to it was just more steps involved versus, okay, here’s the exercises that you do and stuff like that. It was a diagnostic component. There was more to it. And I was like, man, this seems pretty interesting. And so in my research, I’m looking, looking, looking, and then I come across this website that says bridging the gap between rehab and fitness, muscle activation. I’m like, muscle activation, that sounds pretty cool. So I’m reading in on about it.

reset the neuromuscular system and this and this and that. I say, that sounds like what I want to do. And from there, I go right in head force. started my, I was at the time, so I was transitioned to my masters. they had a master program that had focus in MAT. I was one of the actually only few, I’m still one of only few in Florida who actually went through the master’s program with a muscle activation part of the program. And so I went to head in and I just, fell in love with it. I was.

Maurice Harden (04:49.372)

amazed at how you can figure out what is going on with the body. It’s not just you get somebody on the table, you lay them down or we’ll just do these exercises because it’s funny because some people come in. So what exercises are you going to do? It’s going to be while before we do exercises. Let’s figure out what your body’s doing. So it was just a whole nother paradigm of actually seeing how the body works. And so like I said, I jumped in, the masters finished that, I started working. 12 years later, here it is now, probably about four years now, I decided

I want to know more because I had the technique. I didn’t understand fully how it worked, how it applied. So I went to, I started my doctorate of kinesiology and that just opened my mind a whole nother level of the body and anatomy and not even just that. Now I get the biomechanics included. Now I get the other parts included that see, okay, this is what’s going on. And just from there, just, that’s just more of a passion and the love that I fell into.

here we are today where I am one of the leading specialists here in the Tampa Bay area. And I just, it’s amazing what I can do and how I can help people. So that’s kind of the backstory to how everything got started and where we are today. So I hope I answered.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (06:01.31)

I love that. Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. And again, thank you so much for your service. I learned so much about you and I thought I was getting to know you pretty good. So that was so cool from my perspective. And let’s define for the listeners and we’re gonna really jump off. What is muscle activation training?

Maurice Harden (06:18.126)

Okay, so MAT, muscle activation technique, my primary reason is to get your muscles to contract more efficiently. As a result of that, you have less pain, you have less issues, you have more mobility. Now, so for instance, due to stress overuse, which is to be overused through exercise, overthrews, through any kind of repeated movement, stress overuse, sometimes medication, even diet. I’ve actually found where diet can actually affect how your muscles contract.

Lack of sleep, course, creating more cortisol and stuff like that. I think I already mentioned eradication, including dehydration. All of these different things affect how your muscles contract. So when someone comes to me, and they’re like, okay, I have this issue. All right, I need to see why your muscles are not contracting effectively. As a result, you have less pain, and as a result, you have more mobility. And so overall, that is what MAT is, to increase the contractile capabilities of your muscular system.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (07:14.05)

That’s fascinating to me. And I love so, you I’ve gotten the chance to develop a friendship, Maurice, and you know, his philosophy or his, you know, tagline, if you will, is activating your body’s true potential. And I share that because I think that’s a wonderful compliment to how you just so beautifully and simplistically explained muscle activation technique is like, your body is fully capable of contracting doing these certain movements. And for a golfer, know, us listening as golfers,

you know, the rotational component can be so limiting for some of us. And that’s simply because there are so many overused areas elsewhere that you’re limited, your body’s compensating. And please step in and correct me where I’m wrong there, but that inevitably your body compensates by limiting that range of motion. It becomes a protective mechanism. Am on the right path?

Maurice Harden (07:58.012)

Absolutely, absolutely, you hit it down on the head. So everyone looks at tight muscles. I gotta release these muscles. I gotta get these muscles relaxed. I gotta pull you these muscles up. I need to act, there’s some kind of tech, you know, resist the muscle. I need to get the gun and shut up. Your body is trying to tell you that something is wrong, okay? Your body is locking it up and keeping you from moving because it knows that if you continue this rotation component, you’re gonna hurt something. If you continue this abduction component in your arm, something is gonna hurt. You’re gonna continue to rub a bone. You’re gonna continue to rub a ligament.

And your body’s trying to keep you from doing that. But no, we want to go ahead and relax and we’ll go stretch it out until it’s numb and to the pain makes our water in our eyes and trying to get this range of motion when that’s not what your body’s trying to do. And so now you just opened up a range of motion your body has no control over. Think about that. If you stretch, now you have more range of motion, but you have no control over that new range of motion. Your body’s not aware of what you just did to it. You see what I’m saying? With muscle activation, when I activate your muscle and your range of motion increases,

The Golf Hypnotherapist (08:50.764)

Yeah.

Maurice Harden (08:54.884)

Your body connects with that and it’s like, I can move my arm all the way up there so I don’t have to protect this muscle anymore. Now I can release this muscle so it doesn’t stay contracted now that I have this range of motion. Your body is a protection mechanism. It knows how to protect you and keep you from doing what it don’t want you to do.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (09:11.724)

fascinating and I there’s so many different directions I want to go with that. I’m to try to stay organized for both of our sakes here. Talk me through let’s talk rotation. You and I both know you enjoy golf as well. There’s that rotation component and more importantly, it’s typically a one sided rotational component that gets the primary brood of that rotation. What are some of the things from an exercise prehabilitation standpoint that an avid golfer needs to be aware of to ensure they don’t fall victim

Maurice Harden (09:21.978)

Absolutely.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (09:41.516)

to an overuse injury in that rotational regard.

Maurice Harden (09:44.55)

So I think you need to understand the component between trunk rotation and hip rotation and mobility in the hips. So most of the rotation component is involving both. I think where we mess up is that our obliques and stuff do not get involved in that motion. if you’re going to train or exercise, you need to learn how to exercise your obliques alone. That way you can get the rest of that rotation because in the back swing, your loading phase, you’re going to back, your hips are moving with that.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (09:50.071)

Okay.

Maurice Harden (10:11.844)

So once your hips stop, a lot of times your trunk will stop. And that’s where you listen to your lack in the power and everything like that. When you train the proper muscles in that right order, you’re going to be able to get even more to where you can get that shoulder up under that chin, or you want to be able to follow kind of through. You see what I’m saying? So that’s what you’re missing. So when you keep the trunk and all together, that’s where you are messing up. That’s where you actually leave it more on the table than you want. And so when you can’t get that further rotation, where do you pick it up from? You pick it up from the shoulders.

So now you’re trying to get farther back with the shoulders. Now your shoulders are starting to spasm. Now your shoulders are starting to hurt because now you’re trying to get more rotation through your shoulders and that’s not where you need to get the rotation from. You need to get the rotation from your trunk and your obliques. Your hips are gonna shift one way but your trunk has to finish the rest and then follow through. Look at the best golfers and see how far their trunk rotation goes. You see what I’m saying? It’s a big, big, big, big difference. But again, even if what I see a lot of times people in the gym, I’m like, okay, work your obliques.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (11:01.836)

Dude.

Maurice Harden (11:08.368)

And then people are there and they’re doing this and I see the hips moving, hips moving. I’m like, okay, stop, move your trunk only. They can barely move their trunk because you think that, I am working my obliques, but you know you’re working your hips. Know you’re working the rotation of your hips. You’re not working your obliques. We have to be able to learn how to separate the obliques so that they get stronger to help compensate, to help build up with the body, with the rest of the hips and everything else that we’re doing.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (11:28.802)

Hmm. That’s, I don’t know if we’re gonna call this divine timing. I mean, that explanation was pure fucking gold. For me, like I literally just came out of a lesson yesterday where all we focused on, and I know you guys can’t see me, but is getting that left shoulder up under the chin, full rotation. And when I do that, my swing clicks, it’s pure. But you’re right, when I don’t rotate well, I let my arms and shoulders try to take over. A, it’s limiting. B, it fucks up my swing.

Maurice Harden (11:46.79)

Right.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (11:54.09)

And it’s just such funny timing. Like my coach was drilling into me rotation and the way you broke it down, that just clicked for me because I know in the past when I’ve golfed, I’ve gotten that shoulder pain. I’ve been trying to reach back rather than rotate back. So for those of you listening, I have a hunch and an imagination that you need to listen to these last five minutes again to really understand what Maurice is sharing. So let’s go here now. What are some of the action steps in Avid?

golfer or someone who’s at least got a baseline familiarity of getting into the gym. What are those exercises look like to increase that rotational opportunity?

Maurice Harden (12:29.178)

Okay, so trunk rotations, however, there’s a different way of doing it, because you have to be careful, because I’ve seen people do it with a straight arm. I’ve seen people do it with just like they’re doing this with their arms. What I find is that more people are doing more of the arm thing still, even when they’re doing trunk rotations. So the better way that I, when I see people that seem they can’t get that rotation corner down, I’ll have them either cross their arms and then you have to work it like that. So you can either attach the band to either one of the arms and you work in the rotation in the trunk.

that way and you always want to go both ways, but you want to work in a trunk that way. And that way you get all oblique. Again, it’s about the obliques. Now, obliques are not, obliques are primary rotators. So what I see a lot of times people doing the side bends, you ever see that in the gym? People are doing the side bend, I’m getting my obliques, I’m getting my oblique. Obliques are rotators, okay? So if you want to fully engage your rotators more, you could do a rotation and then a side bend. That’s more oblique. You see what I’m saying? Versus just a side bend, side bend. So it’s a different ways of breaking it down.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (13:23.19)

Mmm.

Maurice Harden (13:27.804)

So in muscle activation, separate obliques, and I mean, really there are more than one oblique, but we separate the obliques into different corners. You have your internal oblique, you have your external oblique. But we have lateral fibers, and then we have the intermediate fibers. So there’s different fibers that we target specific to actually help get that rotation component in. Because internal is more of a same side rotator, and the external is more of an opposite side rotator. So learning how to engage those. So if I want to get internal, I am going to need more of a rotation and a side bend component to it. You see what I’m saying?

So there’s a lot more to it than just, okay, I’m throwing my arms to the side. You really have to be more intentional about what we’re doing out here. I see it so many times. Like we’re so distracted when we work out. We’re not focusing on what we’re trying to do. I asked the lady the other day, it’s so funny. I asked the lady the other day, I said, show me what you’re doing in the gym. Cause I’m trying to figure out what’s going on with it. She’s like, I’m doing this with my leg. And then I do some of these here and I do this this. Okay, so what are you working? I don’t know. Really?

The Golf Hypnotherapist (13:57.538)

Absolutely.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (14:25.607)

Hahaha

Maurice Harden (14:27.356)

Really? You don’t even know what you’re working? You have no idea what you’re working, so I’m saying, so basically what you’re telling me is that you’re watching somebody’s video on YouTube or TikTok, and you’re just mimicking what they’re doing. We can’t do that. You have to be intentional on what you’re doing. Feel for what you’re doing. If you’re trying to target obliques, if you’re not feeling your obliques, something is wrong. Now, it could be your technique is wrong, or your muscles are not contracting. Your muscles are not contracting. I’ve had people sit there doing bicep curls, and they’re like, well, I feel my triceps.

something’s really wrong. If you’re feeling your tricep and you have a weight in your hand and you’re doing a bicep, there is a communication issue between your brain and that muscle. That signal’s not getting there. So being intentional on feeling what you’re trying to work with. If I’m working on obliques, I need to feel my obliques. I shouldn’t feel my glutes. I shouldn’t feel my lower back. I should feel my obliques. So making sure that we’re intentional in it. And here’s another thing about it, during exercise too, people have to be mindful of their range of motion. Your range of motion is not my range of motion.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (14:57.996)

Yeah.

Maurice Harden (15:24.924)

Not to say that you can’t go to a full rotation, but if you could fill your rotation with 10 degrees of rotation, stick with that until you can build up and work there. Don’t keep forcing these deep ranges of motion and that’s where your body’s not ready for. And so then when you’re doing that, now you’re shutting the muscle back down because now your body’s like, that’s a threat. You are forcing me to do something that I don’t want to do. That’s a threat. I’m going to lock up the mobiles. I’m going to lock up the spinal erectors and you’re not going to go that way no more at all. I’m going to block the signal from that side. So we have to stop.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (15:42.892)

you

Maurice Harden (15:54.736)

forcing our body into places and work with what we have. That’s the greatest thing I could think of for golfers right now is to work with what you have. Learn how to build your body up. See, a lot of times what we do in the gym is we’re and we’re pounding it, pounding it, pounding it, pounding it, not realizing after a while we’re starting to break ourselves down. We’re starting to break down, break down, break down, break down, not building up no more. Your body has a threshold where it’s going to go so far before it needs to be reset. And so eventually you’re going to start breaking it down, breaking it down, break down. You’re wondering why your golf swing’s starting to suffer now.

You wonder why, because you have been past your point and your body’s now starting to break down. And you’re probably pushing past what your body has. We have to listen to what our body is telling us. It will tell you, I don’t want to go that far right now. Stay within that safe range. It’s going to tell you, I don’t want to go that low. Stay within where your body is telling you where to go. But no, we have this ass to the ground stuff. We have this, we need to go as far as, no, we need to push. we need to do. Your body is like, OK, all right, you go ahead.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (16:42.572)

Yeah.

Maurice Harden (16:53.83)

Go ahead, I’m gonna let you go so far, or I’m gonna shut down and I’m gonna let you get hurt, or I’m gonna just make everything in your body so tight that you’re not even gonna be able to move and be able to golf at all. So we have to be more intentional with what we’re doing and build it up. Now, I hope I answered your question. I know you’re kind of specific, but I think that is part of it. That is part of it. Right.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (17:02.945)

Yeah.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (17:07.506)

No.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (17:12.222)

I love watching you in that flow state, dude. just really spewed a depth of knowledge and it’s so interesting. Like along my journey getting back into golf again, like I’ve been making little notes along the way that I can look back on. Once I achieve my goal of hitting scratch, it’s inevitably gonna become a list of things I wish I knew sooner or that every beginning golfer should know. And it’s so funny around the time you and I met, had our session, you not only helped me feel better instantly, but gave me so many.

veither corrections or upgrades to some of the techniques I was demonstrating for you. Like I couldn’t help but leave our time together feeling like rotation, flexibility and mobility absolutely need to be prioritized from day one. So many people get focused on like the perfect swing technique, but if your body can’t fucking move, you’re not gonna hit the ball right. And it’s just like the way you just delivered that those last six to eight minutes were just pure gold.

Maurice Harden (17:57.776)

period.

Maurice Harden (18:01.756)

So that’s why I I could tell you all these exercises do this exercise do the exercise But if your body is not able to get there like I said That exercise is not gonna do nothing but hurt you that exercise is gonna limit you that exercise is gonna break you down you need to know what your body can and can’t do and Then again my body is different than your body I might have stronger obliques than you have you might have stronger spinal erectors And I have that might allow your body to do a pretty different position than what my body can do again. Everybody is different

But you have to learn what your body is and that’s how you protect yourself. That’s how you keep yourself strong. I don’t care how much weight you can lift. I don’t care how much you can do in a gym. That stuff doesn’t matter if your body’s not able to do it. And again, all this will do is end up in the same place. Your body’s gonna be tightened up and you’ll end up hurting something. Then you’re not gonna be playing at all. That’s the end result. You’re not gonna be playing at all.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (18:50.262)

Yeah, absolutely. I love that. And for those of you listening, I made a note, I’m gonna prioritize putting this on YouTube ASAP too, just so you can see some of the rotations. I should do it without any sound. It’ll look like we’re just having a dance party. Maurice and I are, I know you can’t see us right now, Maurice is really mimicking some of the movements he’s describing. So don’t worry, I’ll put the video content up as well. So I’m curious, we talked about the trunk, we talked up the hips and glutes, like let’s move up to the shoulders now.

some either we can package this as like must do exercises, whether they’re mobility, flexibility or strength. What are people missing the mark on from a shoulder point of view?

Maurice Harden (19:25.628)

I would say shoulder retraction. Having those shoulders back. So bringing your shoulders back, retracting the shoulders. I’m gonna give you, and I say that too, because when I say this, because a lot of people are like, well, I do rows all day long. Well, I see people doing rows, but it’s more doing biceps and triceps. You’re not actually involving their shoulder at all. And because that’s gonna get that, your retractors are gonna give you that finish stage. So their arms are straight and you’re here. The shoulders, the rhomboids on this backside are gonna finish.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (19:28.086)

which is okay.

Maurice Harden (19:55.354)

are gonna finish, then chest is gonna finish this side. You see what I’m saying? So your pec is gonna pull back this way, the rhomboid on this side is gonna go that way. And I don’t believe in picking one muscle here or I’m gonna do just this muscle, I’m gonna do that muscle. Anything you do to one side, you’re need the other side. That’s one of the biggest issues and why I did not like physical therapy, because every time I was, all my physical therapy interns, have, they would work on that one leg that they have injured, which is fine, but why not do the other?

So now when you’re done with VT, you have the strong leg, not your other leg. you have issues with the other leg now. And I’ve seen that over and over and over again. Same with them, but they focus so much on this shoulder. But guess what? This shoulder attaches to your spine. This shoulder attaches to it too. So if this one’s pulling, or this one’s pulling, guess what? It’s going to pull off the mechanics of what your shoulders could do. So I like shoulder mobility. So you want to keep the shoulders open. OK? You don’t want to over -dominate the chest and everything like that. So you want to keep the shoulders open.

I can’t tell you how many times, people, too many people, their shoulders are already rounded. There are, when I come in, I see their shoulders are already here. Already here. That is not a good place to be. There’s no mobility here. Even if you look at my neck, if I turn my, my shoulders forward, I try to turn my neck, I can’t do it. I can’t do it. And so think about your swing. If I’m, my shoulders are already forward like this and I’m coming back, my, look, my shoulders already in my way. My shoulders already in my way and it’s hit my head and it’s messed everything up. I can keep my head down the way I need to because it’s going to fall on my shoulder.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (21:05.09)

Yeah.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (21:13.634)

Mmm.

Maurice Harden (21:19.856)

See what I’m saying? So the mobility in the shoulders and keeping them back to keep me in a better plane where my shoulders are more here versus here. And that’s what I see all the time. So keeping the shoulders up and I believe that’s retraction. So that’s rows and things like that to bring your shoulders backward is going to help with far as the mobility and stuff like that.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (21:39.01)

That makes sense. So I also think the exercise like cable rope face pulls, is that something too that really allows you to hit that retraction? Yeah. Yeah.

Maurice Harden (21:42.872)

Yep, yep, yep, But make sure where is the retraction coming from? It’s coming from your scalp you love. So I don’t care if you’re pulling, you need to pull from back there too. Because otherwise you’re pulling from your biceps and triceps. You see what I’m saying? excuse me, if you’re gonna be yorking them, work though. Make sure you’re pulling from here as you pull back. And that’s what I see all the time. Like, well, I would do rows all the time. I do these things, I do this, I do this.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (21:51.478)

Yep. Yeah.

Maurice Harden (22:11.322)

Are you pulling from your scapula? Your scapula is what moves. Your scapula makes so many different motions that we don’t even aware of. It anteriorly tilts, it posteriorly tilts, it actually rounds, it actually comes back, it goes forth. Your scapula makes a lot of different motions. But if we’re working that scapula, we have to be able to have that mobility there. If your scapula gets stuck, your shoulder’s stuck. Your scapula’s not moving nowhere. Now all the stress is on the three joints of the shoulder. So the AC joint, the SC joint. That’s where all the stress is now because your scapula’s not doing what it needs to do.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (22:24.854)

Hmm.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (22:33.161)

You

Maurice Harden (22:40.154)

So scapula mobility, getting that, being able to upward rotate, being able to properly downward rotate, being able to retract your shoulder. Those are the things that help keep that mobility and open the shoulders up so that when I need to do these tight movements with my swing, I’m able to get them shoulders all the way around the way I need to do

The Golf Hypnotherapist (22:54.39)

Hmm. Yeah, so well said and really the the undercurrent the through line of this conversation so far and you said it beautifully before we hit record is changing your mindset around how you take care of your body. mean, Maurice has just beautifully demonstrated the importance of intentional exercise knowing what you’re working, why you’re working and knowing what muscle or muscles the movement needs to originate from. take us another step further, whether we package this as like common mistakes or things to stop

doing to reshape your relationship with exercise to help you play your best golf? Where does someone listening need to start?

Maurice Harden (23:31.268)

I’m sorry, say that again, buddy.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (23:33.108)

Yeah, so like if someone’s sitting here, they’re picking up what you’re throwing down, they realize they are full of bad habits in the weight room. And there, you know, maybe they have a power lifting, a bodybuilding style background. They just want to lift as heavy a weight as possible. What direction do they need to start making subtle shifts to focusing on in their exercise regimen?

Maurice Harden (23:46.47)

Mm

Maurice Harden (23:52.134)

So the first thing I ask people that feel like they have to do a bunch of weight, a bunch of forces and stuff like that on their body. First thing I ask them is, so are you planning on being a body? Don’t want a body building kind of test? Is that your goal? And then they say no. I say, okay, all right. Do you plan on trying out for the bucks sometime soon? Because it must be, you’re lifting all that weight. So you plan on trying out for the bucks sometime soon. They say no. Well, maybe you want to play baseball. Is that what you’re doing? Professional baseball? You’re just trying to do that? Lift what is right for you. I took…

For instance, I’m gonna give you good example. I’m military, right? So I think that I’m used to working out a certain way because I trained my body for 11 years in that way. So after I retired and everything, I thought that I could still do that. I thought that I could still run the two miles, still do the crazy pull -ups and push -ups and all that stuff, that. My body was like, bro, I am done with that. I am done. I took myself on a journey where I tried different exercises. Literally, I would do.

For a whole month, I would do nothing but a dumbbell workout, trying different exercises to see and feel what felt right for my body. If I left that gym hurting, I was not right. I knew that wasn’t the right exercise for me. next month, I would do everything with a barbell, see what worked for me. If I left that gym hurting, cut that exercise, I’m not doing that no more. I would do something body weight. I would do different movements and stuff body weight. If I left there hurting, that’s not what I need to do. Figure out what your body needs to do.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (25:00.15)

you

Maurice Harden (25:18.492)

Play with different things, but you should not leave the gym hurting. That no pain, no gain stuff is crap. You are gonna gain something, you will gain a bunch more pain. That’s what you’re gonna gain. No pain, no gain. Yeah, you go gain something. You go gain a whole bunch of pain. It’s what you’re gonna gain because your body’s gonna be mad at you. so learn, start somewhere simple. You don’t have to go to that place. You don’t have to do that. If you leave that gym and you are tired, if you are over fatigued, you should leave the gym feeling better.

That is the rule of thumb that I tell people. Leave the gym feeling better. Whatever you’re doing in the gym, you should leave feeling better. If you leave feeling worse or feeling hurt or something, you’ve done too much or you’ve done the wrong exercise for your body. So I have people, hey, start with the basics, man. Start with the basics. You don’t need to be doing all this crazy stuff they showing you on TikTok. Like I cannot stand that one exercise where people do the glutes, they put a 45 pound bar on their hip and they tip thrust with a 45, I cannot stand that.

Do you know how many nerves there are, nerves and ligaments that’s right there in that area that you’re putting pressure on? That is awful for your body. And so you’re worried about that more than you even doing it. You’re not even able to focus there because you got so much weight. I can’t stand some of these exercises that people come up with and they’re like, this is the rule now. This is the best way to get there. No, I’m gonna tell you something. I’m all for the classic. Now, some of the basic stuff, you need to do a basic squat. Do some leg curls, some handstand extensions.

Do some basic trunk rotations, the things that your body normally does. My body needs to be able to rotate. Then why not do exercises that help my body rotate? My body needs to do flexion and extension. Why not simply do these exercises that help my flexion and extension? Do the things that my body was meant to do. I don’t need to be doing all this other crazy stuff, hopping up on a box and doing it again. Are you an athlete training to be an athlete? Why are you jumping up on the bench, jumping off a bench? Why are you doing box jumps? You’re not an athlete.

Why are you doing that to your body? You’re tearing your body up and don’t need to. And again, we talked about it earlier. like, want longevity. I want to be a 70 -year -old guy and I could go out there and play golf with the young kids if I want to. I want to have my body be fine. So I don’t want to tear my body up before that time. There’s no need. Exercise should be concurrent to what your body is able to do. So that’s like we talked about the scapula. I need to do things that help my scapula motion.

Maurice Harden (27:39.472)

That way my scapula doesn’t get locked up or end up with frozen shoulder because I’m doing the right stuff to help my scapula and my shoulder move the right way. My trunk, again, I’m focused on trunk. There’s motions that your trunk should naturally make in rotation, inflection, and extension. Work those muscles, because those you don’t work them, what’s going to happen to them? They’re going to get fatigued. They’re going to get tired. Now you’re all out. Balance your body out with what it’s supposed to do. While this crazy stuff is not needed. It is not needed. For longevity, it’s not needed.

And then we’re like, well, I want to build muscle and stuff like that. Well, guess what? Everybody’s going to build muscle. Sorry. It’s not. Your hormones, your testosterone, there’s so much more that’s involved in that than you building muscle and looking beast ready. If that’s not your body type, sorry. You can do until you blue in the face. And then let’s go even further back to the muscle activation part. If your muscles cannot contract to even do that, you’re wasting your time anyway.

How many times I think I told you how many times you go to the gym you see somebody that look exactly the same They’re in there four to five days a week. They look exactly the same their body don’t look no different whatsoever That is because there are muscle imbalance it there’s muscles in their bodies that are not firing and they’re just compensating Compensating compensating what muscles are working all the only ones that’s getting stronger. The other ones are actually getting weaker Actually getting weaker they’re not old they’re just know their muscles are actually getting weaker

The Golf Hypnotherapist (28:43.703)

Yeah.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (28:54.892)

Hmm.

Maurice Harden (28:59.898)

because that dominant muscle that’s continuously getting all the signal, all the strength, that’s just going to over -dominate, over -dominate, and then you’re not using that muscle at all. Look at quads, for instance. I’m going give you the greatest example, for instance, of quad muscles. Four major quad muscles, rectus femoris, vastus medialis, intermediate, and lateralis, right? Most of the time, people do knee extensions all day long, but the muscle that never gets any attention is the vastus medialis. That one gets ignored the most because rectus femoris,

And lateral quad takes over everything. And so if those muscles are constantly dominating, you could do 100 of them all you want to. That muscle that best is medialis is going to continue to stay where it’s at, stay small, stay where it’s at. So you have to have that balance. have to have all those muscles prior and working together. And that’s one of the biggest issues I see. We think we’re getting stronger, but no, we’re just learning how to compensate better. We’re just learning how to compensate better. That’s what we’re doing.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (29:41.771)

Hmm.

Maurice Harden (29:55.568)

We’re getting stronger by compensating better. That’s what we’re doing. We’re creating a bigger compensation within our body by working out, one, working out improperly, doing exercises that we should not be doing or lifting weight that we should not be lifting. And then not knowing what our body is doing is it’s able and capable to do it. And I don’t want to talk too long, but like, I’m going give you another good example. I got a guy, great guy, loves to work out and he’s complaining about his knee, constantly complaining about his knee. I’m like, all right, fine. Show me what you do. Show me your squat.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (30:15.308)

Please, yeah.

Maurice Harden (30:24.7)

When I say when that when I say this go guy goes all the way to the ground literally like he’s Down on his butt touching the ground is me. I’m like, dude. What are you doing? How are you helping yourself at all? Because now you’re wondering why your knees hurt girl only mechanism that you have to get up is with your quads That’s it You’re going that low the only muscle that you’re able to use to get back up is your quads Your hamstring has a much better lever arm to push you back up than your quads

The Golf Hypnotherapist (30:52.29)

Hmm. Yep.

Maurice Harden (30:52.944)

You see what I’m saying? It’s like learning again what you need to do again. But everybody wanna follow what they see somebody else do. Well, I’ve always, and you know right here, Paul, I’ve always was taught this. I’ve always told this the way you supposed to go. I was always told this how low you go. But you’re getting your body, Paul. It’s not the same as my body. You might have a bigger femur than I have. You might have a longer tibia than I have. Guess what? That changes how your squat is gonna be. Sorry, changes how your squat’s gonna be. Your squat’s not gonna look the same as mine based off the length of your tibia and fibia. Everybody’s are different.

You know what You can’t do it like that. You have to learn what is for your body.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (31:25.727)

Yeah, so you

The Golf Hypnotherapist (31:30.892)

So I think I speak for everybody listening where you have to say you have blown our minds and you’re making me rethink all of the things. You I’ve got a handful of credentials and exercise signs from way long ago and I’m like, half this shit doesn’t seem true or I got it wrong or I misunderstood or maybe they were wrong. So my mind’s going a million miles an hour, but I want to put myself in the shoes of the listeners because unlike me, they’re not fortunate enough to have you nearby in a text message away.

Maurice Harden (31:51.073)

Thank

The Golf Hypnotherapist (31:57.426)

Where do you recommend someone listening who is truly vibing with what you’re sharing, recognizing they’re making some mistakes, they wanna make positive changes, where do they go from here? What is that first action step or two to be well informed to start training for their body, their needs and their goals?

Maurice Harden (32:16.572)

would say first of all, you need to be active, okay? mean, and start in the gym. And I would definitely just say, start with the basics, stick with the basics, learn your body. Do what your body is saying for you to do, okay? If you feel a limitation, there is something wrong there. Know what your body is doing and then work within that limitation. You see what I’m saying? It’s not always a bad thing. That might be the strongest your body has. So learn to work within that limitation.

And then there are some things, I don’t knock any other modality at all. Like there are massage helps, there are things that help. Like there are, I believe to some degree even chiropractic help, depending on the person, because I don’t believe it’s for everybody. But like there’s other things that you can help, ultimately you still have to learn your body. You learn how to train your body. That’s the biggest thing Paul, where everybody messes up. Is they’re just doing what everybody else is doing, but not learning what their body is doing. And your body’s gonna tell you, if it don’t feel right, guess what? It probably ain’t right.

It probably ain’t right. Learn what your body is doing. For that person that wants to know, okay, I want to do better at taking care of my body, you need to figure out the way. Find a safe weight that you can control through whatever you’re doing. Okay, it does not have to be. Be intentional. I’ve actually even read research where they say it’s actually not good to listen to music sometimes while you work out. And the reason why they say it’s because subconsciously your mind is not on what you’re actually working out. You see what I’m saying? So if I’m, I’m going tell you guys what I do. For instance, if I’m working my quads,

The Golf Hypnotherapist (33:36.913)

Mmm. Yeah.

Maurice Harden (33:42.638)

I’m looking at my muscle. I’ll pull my pants up and I will look at my quads. And I’m saying, brain, I need Vastus Medialis to fire. I want to see my medial quad fire. I am looking at my muscles and seeing what my muscles are doing and making sure they’re firing. And then a lot of times isometrics help tremendously, guys. And if that’s something that you don’t know about, you still have to be careful with it, okay? Because you could go to a range of motion within isometrics and hurt yourself. But isometrics are key.

The longer that you hold a position, the more signal is required for that muscle to fire. So you will actually help increase your signal by holding position. Say for instance, if there’s a weakness in trunk rotation, you hit that and you rotate and you rotate and hold that position, that signal has to go there. Then give it a break. Go back to that position again. Hold that position there.

Watch how your body starts to actually unlock and open up because now you’re starting to get the increased signal to that area. There’s things that you could do for your body. Listen to it. If something that’s not tight, try to hold that position a little bit and see what’s going on with that position if you can hold it, if you can. It don’t have to be nothing long, but actually do that and then work your way into a position. You see what I’m saying? Work your way into an exercise. Work your way into a position. That will help you actually do that increase and then actually let you know what your body is doing. Because if you can only hold it for so long, okay, that’s a weakness.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (34:37.61)

Yeah.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (34:47.255)

Yeah.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (34:55.262)

yeah.

Maurice Harden (35:05.05)

That’s probably right where you need to start. That’s probably where you need to start. You don’t need to keep doing what you was doing. That’s probably where you need to start is with a basic isometric old. You see what I’m saying? So those kinds of things that you can do to start taking care of your body and listening to your body. As I said, there’s nothing more important than being intentional within your workout, within your training regimen. And that’s no matter what you’re doing.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (35:07.51)

Yeah.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (35:26.982)

love this. Like if I had to oversimplify the crux of this conversation for everybody listening, I think the key points are first and foremost, your body is trying to protect you listen to your body. It’s giving you the feedback, the signals and one way it will protect you is via injury before shit gets even worse. So listen to your body and be intentional in both exercise selection in targeting the muscle that needs to work to initiate them.

Maurice Harden (35:54.444)

That is key man. Everything else will fall into its place. You see what I’m saying? Everything else. And I’m not saying, I’m not saying sometimes some stuff that you can never ever do, ever don’t ever do, but once you start, give your body a good base, then you can move into a more diverse program. That’s what I do with everybody. Once I show people, this is your ground. This is what I do with all my clients. Hey, this is your ground. This is your base. This is where you’re at. We need to build you up from here.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (35:55.084)

Yeah.

Maurice Harden (36:19.728)

You see what I’m saying? And then, okay, right, we’re gonna target these. We’re gonna target these now that we got these weak muscles firing and getting stronger. Now you can do more dynamic movements. Now you can do more stuff because now your body’s working together and versus you using one or two muscles, now you’re using the whole muscle group. I ask people all the time, how good, let me ask you, Paul, if you had a job and it was a six man job, six man job, but you was the only one doing a job, how good would you be able to do that job? Guess what? Our bodies do that all the time. We have biceps.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (36:45.218)

Very good.

Yeah, wow.

Maurice Harden (36:49.062)

There’s, we have biceps. There’s more than one bicep. What if one of them’s working? How good is that job? That job is going to do. You have triceps. One triceps working. How good of a job is that one tricep going to do with what you’re trying to train? You see what I’m saying? You’re not going to, it’s not going to function properly.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (37:03.778)

That’s such a cool analogy.

Maurice Harden (37:09.478)

So that’s why I try to get people to understand, hey, let’s try to find a ground base to build up from. And then we could go from there. Then we could get more dynamic stuff. Then we could probably do more weight if we want to, if your body can tolerate it. You see what I’m saying? Don’t just go straight to what you think that your body needs to do and know. You need to figure out where your body at.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (37:26.626)

Hmm. Maurice, this has been incredible. This has blown my mind in so many ways. I know I speak for the listeners when I say that too. Like absolutely incredible. I’m curious, where can listeners go to either connect with you, learn from you, or for those particularly in the greater Tampa area, Florida area, actually work with you? What’s that best next step?

Maurice Harden (37:46.104)

Yeah, I’m the owner of Dynamic Fitness and Rehabilitation. I am here located in Tampa, Florida, in South Tampa area. You can get online, look up dynamicfitrehab .com and there’s a lot of information on there about my website, where we at, how this works. I’m on the Muscle Activation Technique website and yeah, that’s pretty much where the gist of it wears out. Hopefully soon I’m gonna actually start doing next year, I’m gonna actually start doing more.

videos and just more talks like this because I think that people need to notice information. I’m not one of those people that go out there trying to seek attention that’s trying to get likes and stuff like that. I just cannot stand that. I’ve seen valued people with proper credentials, with valuable education. They know what they’re doing, but because of the likes, they’re out there putting out false information. And so that’s something that I really want to start to combat next year is like, I’m going to put out the truth out there. I’m going to show you guys the truth and I’m going to back everything with research.

That is my job. Now I am a researcher. I’m going to back everything with research. And so I just want to start educating people the real stuff. I don’t care about likes and stuff like that. My Google reviews speak for themselves. I don’t need to tick in and try to get people’s likes. Okay. I want people to have the real information and people to live a better quality of life. And you hear me say that all the time. I want to help people have a better quality of life. I mean, I look at, I work with a lot of older people and stuff like that. It’s just, God, if you would have did something a little earlier, if you would have did something a little different.

This would be so different right now. You would not have this issue right if you just wouldn’t. And you can’t, I can’t tell you how many times Paul I hear, I wish I would have known. I had no clue. I had no clue. Did you know that Paul that most musculoskeletal injuries are because of the muscles are not tolerating the forces that’s put through your body? Most of them. Think about it. Your muscles move bones. So if your muscles are not working properly to move the bones, that’s when you have misalignments. That’s when you have.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (39:37.75)

sense.

Maurice Harden (39:38.316)

Ligaments rubbing your bones rubbing and then it’s your muscles your body has to be able to tolerate the forces Muscles tolerate those forces think about it this way Paul you ever wonder why football players will go through so much wreck Damage each week and we each week and still be able to play it’s because their muscular system is completely more tolerant to what the forces that are being put through their bodies and Then what happens with them so and a lot of people think that no It’s just that football players get injured and stuff like that just because they got hit No, a lot of football players push through the pain

The Golf Hypnotherapist (39:58.166)

Mmm.

Maurice Harden (40:07.878)

They’re already hurting. I’ve worked with them. They’re already hurting. They’re already sore. They’re already beat up. They’re already, and then it’s like, because their position is at risk, if they don’t play, they push through. Then they get the torn Achilles and stuff like that. They already knew the Achilles was already telling them something was wrong, but then they push through. And that’s what we do. We continue to push through with them, because we think that it’ll be fine, or it’ll work itself out. No, it’s not. Your body, again, is telling you something wrong.

And so that’s why people, but the good athletes, that’s why they can tolerate so much more of the hitting of the beating because their musculature can tolerate those forces. We need to tolerate forces. People forget that gravity is a force. Gravity is pushing on you all day long. So if I’m dominating on one side of my body, gravity is just gonna keep pushing me down, pushing me down. Now all my weight is distributed to one side of my body. I have a complete imbalance on one side of my body. And then I’m gonna try to work out. I’m gonna try to do some running.

I’m gonna try to play 18 holes with working with one side of my body. No, no, How good your game’s gonna be and you’re already leaning to the side. I see it all the time. You’re leaning to the side and you wanna go play golf? Come on, that’s not right. That’s not right. Your body has to be able to tolerate the forces that we’re putting through it. Do you know how much force goes through your body through golf? Just the swing? The swing?

The Golf Hypnotherapist (41:14.707)

yeah.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (41:27.626)

A lot.

Maurice Harden (41:28.102)

Think about why do you think Tiger Woods knees are so bad? He has one of the hardest swings in golf. Why do you think his knees are so bad? And then look at my boy Bryson. Bryson works with our developer of MAT. Bryson DeChambeau, I think I said it right, DeChambeau? Yeah, he works with the developer of MAT, sees him all the time. But why do you think that his body hurts so bad? Because he has to be able to tolerate those forces. That man swings hard, okay?

The Golf Hypnotherapist (41:42.818)

Mm -hmm. Yep.

Maurice Harden (41:54.434)

He has to be able to tolerate those forces until he gets his body reset. And that’s what I do. I help reset your body so that you can tolerate forces. And then we build it up, build it up. As I see your weakness, I’m like, okay, hey, I need you to do this now. I need you to try to do this. Some things that I told you, hey, I want you to cue this stuff when you do this. I want you to focus on this when you’re exercising. And that way you’re gonna, I’m getting your body to be able to tolerate the forces. And that’s what muscle activation does. It helps your body contract more efficiently and tolerate the forces that are placed through your body so that you can do the things that you love.

and comfort for longer.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (42:26.658)

Maurice, incredible. No, this is a master class. I am so appreciative of it. Like, thank you so much for taking time out of the busy day to share this knowledge as insight with everyone.

Maurice Harden (42:27.226)

I’m sorry to be talking so much, man.

Maurice Harden (42:38.096)

This is my passion, man. I want people to get it. I want people to understand. We don’t have to live the way that we’ve been living. We don’t. We don’t. We can have a better quality of life. We have more to our bodies.

The Golf Hypnotherapist (42:51.202)

Absolutely for those of you listening. Thank you for tuning in to another episode I know you found immense value in today’s episode So not only do I want you to go share this episode with the fellow golfer I want you to go back and listen again take notes and start taking action being more intentional with your action or with your exercises So not only can your body finally do what it’s supposed to do pain -free But also it’ll empower you to play to your potential on

golf course as well. thank you so much for listening to another episode. And if you haven’t done so, taking 30 seconds to leave a genuine rating review on Apple podcasts or Spotify, wherever you are listening to today’s show would be greatly appreciated. Have a wonderful week ahead, hit them straight and I’ll catch you in the next episode.