Muscle Activation

Just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to Stacey and Abui for their help with my foot/​knee/​hip and my transition from runner to swimmer. I am so excited, relieved and grateful for our success in the past year. My body is such a different experience from last year when I was a wounded pretzel of an ex runner who thought she was doomed to a life without exercise. Now I can walk eight miles, day after day if i feel like it. I can swim and swim and sometimes with fins! A little back pain is a happy problem I am sure Abui is certain to resolve in no time. Some days it may seem dauntingly complex and as if we will never quite be ‘done’ but in the final result it will always be well worth the time and effort to keep my body capable of tackle my sometimes ambitious sports goals. Thank you!

I was having continuous debilitating dizzy spells for a couple of weeks which had left me totally drained, depressed and at a loss as to what was causing the symptoms I was experiencing. After multiple medical tests, I was still no closer to figuring out what the underlying cause of the problem was. My colleague suggested trying MAT and I cannot convey how happy I am for that recommendation. I got a late afternoon appointment with Brian and he focused on neck and face as he suspected the cause of the dizziness may be tied to certain muscles in that area. After the treatment I felt instant relief, however I was still very cautious and nervous that the symptoms would arise again. It has been more than a month since my session and I have not had a single spell, it is nothing short of amazing! If I had not gone for MAT I can only imagine that I would have spent thousands of dollars going for more and more medical tests! Thank you Brian for fixing me (and saving me lots of money in the long run!)

Do not be intimidated by the term «Muscle Activation.»
MASF is a training studio where all levels of fitness are welcome! The trainers are genuinely passionate about helping clients achieve their goals. Brian Hannah and Stacey Earle (the brilliant minds behind MASF) have designed a space where personal training, muscle activation, pregnancy training, and pilates naturally coexist.
Circa 2008, I was lucky enough to train with Brian Hannah. I had shed 45 pounds (by cutting carbs) and wanted to maintain the weight loss. Right off the bat, Brian was a motivating force. Our sessions involved interval training, which helped burn more calories in the shortest amount of time. I actually had fun working out! Each session was a creative medley of explosive exercises; squats, vertical jumps, walking lunges, speed ladder drills, etc. Best part? I learned how to properly run on the treadmill and execute one complete pull-​up (huge triumph, don’t laugh).
Fast forward to 2013. I’d let carbs back into my life and my body was peeved. I needed a fitness intervention asap. Luckily, I tracked down Brian Hannah via the MASF website. We met to discuss my goals and create a game plan. Brian is a motivating force and gives you 100% of his attention. He’s your number one fan. Brian celebrates your achievements in the gym and supports you both mentally and physically.
Training at MASF was an incredible experience and I’m grateful for my time there. If you want an alternative to a public gym, I encourage you to schedule a tour of the MASF studio. You might just find what you’re looking for!

I am a client of Pauline since 2009. I have severe nerve damage in the lower spine, with atrophy in the right leg and scoliosis on the left side of my spine leading to a hunch. When I first meet Pauline I had a hard time walking with a strong limp on the right side, cramping and spasms in gluteus, right leg and left shoulder area.
Pauline has helped me and supported me with her treatments in the most amazing way. Her treatments do wonders and her instructions for exercises to do at home, the gym (or on your office chair) are precise and easy to understand and follow. She is a positive, kind, respectful observant, professional and encouraging. She is able to support and assists any client regardless in what shape of physical fitness, health and or disability they are, with accepting their state naturally and without judgment.
Today I am walking with no limp and no muscle cramping or spams. My whole way of walking and moving is much smoother and my shoulders straighten out and I am much more upright. I am in such a better state today and that is greatly thanks to her treatments, the exercises and advise on movements she gave me and continues to do so. I can definitely wholeheartedly and without reserve recommend Pauline as an MAT technician and Gym trainer. I am greatly thankful to her and her dedication to her work and her clients!

I’ve been seeing Mark for a few months and after every session I’m amazed at how much better I can move. Decades of sitting for long hours have caught up with me. I began to injure myself doing simple things, and had injured my knee about a year ago and it was still causing me pain. Mark has worked with me to identify which muscles are weak and how to strengthen them. Having all the muscles working instead of just a few has reduced the stress on the knee joint. For some of the muscles my brain has forgotten how to activate them, and MAT reestablishes the connection. Besides being able to move better, I’ve also noticed that I am more stable on my feet. At least once a month I used to step off a curb wrong or trip on something, but now that no longer happens. I’m looking forward to continuing my work with Mark, and the rest of the team at MASF.

I call Pilates instructor, Jenice Acosta the «Pilates Whisperer» –She is that good! She has transformed my body, I am now ¾ inch taller thanks to my longer spine and my core is strong and body is pain free. Pilates is a very tricky form of exercise as it requires a very good teacher in order to learn how to use the correct muscles in the appropriate way. Jenice is extremely patient and sees the body in a way that truly gets to issue. She sees the body in a beautiful way and provides movements that make body feel happier. I always walk out of a session with her feeling strong, lean, stable and invigorated. She is fantastic! She is the real deal when it comes to Pilates.

If you are looking for a Pilates instructor who knows exactly what she is doing and knows the body well, then see Jenice Acosta here at MAT, in the SF District.
I am a Pilates instructor myself visiting from Southern Cal. Along with scheduled group classes, I was seeking a good private session.
What a sweet surprise to have found Jenice Acosta, tucked away in this MAT clinic off Hoteling St/​alley. Jenice has this very unique ability of assessment and teaching. Her skills go beyond that of a typical Pilates instructor as she has a history of dance, a study of Physical Therapy and a thorough knowledge of her own life experiences with injury/​illness and healing!
Jenice gave me tremendous input as to my needs for greater Pilates form and exercise performance, which of course extends beyond Pilates and into real life! A fantastic session! I definitely plan on returning with my next visit to SF!
Thank you so much, Jenice, for giving to your clients – what they each need! This is what I myself strive to do every day with my own clients!
lydia j Wong of Irvine, CA
~Pilates Energy~

Charles dug me out of a serious hole. I’d been struggling with extreme sciatic pain in one leg for over a year when I was recommended to Charles at Muscle Activation SF. Before starting MAT, I’d been through extensive massage therapy, acupuncture, conventional PT, yoga, pain meds, etc. etc. etc. Hugely expensive, hugely unproductive. Could not walk more than twenty feet. Could not sit at all.
I’ve seen Charles 9 times so far. Last week I did fifteen miles in Yosemite. Enough said. You’ll be amazed what these people can do.

Pauline has been instrumental in helping me return to a level of activity that I thought was gone forever. I was a former pilates instructor who has tried multiple modalities to overcome Achilles Tendinosis, which has been present since 2009. My orthopedic surgeon recommended MAT following the Tenex ultrasonic procedure last winter. I had been unable to walk normally even on flat surfaces and was unable to climb the wonderful hills in SF.
It has been seven months of working with Pauline and doing my exercise at home. I am not only walking normally all over the city, but I just returned from Buenos Aires where I danced Tango for several evenings.
I’ve also had several sessions with Jenice and I am getting back into pilates again. I appreciate Jenice because she is committed to the original principles of Joseph Pilates. She does not just give you a «work out», but works on strengthening the core muscles to make sure they are firing properly first.
It’s the first time in six years that I feel I will be back to my old self through MAT.

I’ve been seeing Pauline for a few months now after I herniated a disc in my low back. Pauline has been amazing to work with and has really been able to get me back on my feet and back to feeling «normal» again. Her goal the whole time has been to get me back to strength training and I love the fact that she’s referred me to other experts within MATSF to ensure I am getting the best possible treatment.
I’ve recently started seeing Jenice for Pilates and I love her too! Hooray for MATSF… they are truly life savers.

I have been training with Stacey for over 10 years and also with Brian before they opened MASF. Currently I do MAT with Stacey, strength training with Brian, and Pilates with Jenice. I recommend all of them highly as supportive partners to help you achieve your health and fitness goals. I have benefited greatly from working with them and continue to today. I think their new trainers and practitioners are good too.

Pauline Hui is a miracle worker! When I first went to her for Muscular Activation Therapy, I had been experiencing a great deal of pain in my right leg for several years that made it increasingly difficult to walk. My Pilates instructor recommended that I try a MAT session with Pauline to see if that might help. I didn’t expect quick results, but to my surprise, after my first MAT session with Pauline the pain was much less and after the 3^rd, I could walk normally again without any pain at all. Thank you, Pauline. You are the best!

Brian, Stacy and the team at MASF truly care and are invested in helping their clients meet their goals. They are colleagues that I have had the opportunity to get to know through on going continuing education and professionally they are among the best MAT practitioners in the industry. They are highly knowledgeable. Personally they are really great people. I have shared multiple clients with them and their results are outstanding. I am very picky on who I will refer my clients to, but never hesitate to recommend them. You can’t go wrong with Muscle Activation San Fran.

I’ve been using Brian at Muscle Activation of San Francisco for over 6 months. At the age of 65 I took on a rigorous exercise program at the Olympic Club. At the age of 66 I embarked on a strength and fitness competition phase and am challenging that at this point. The results that I have been getting from the therapy that I have received from Brian have been nothing less than phenomenal. It also helps that the entire staff is well-​trained and the facilities are always clean! Everything they do is grounded in science and in results. I highly recommend it to any «senior» who wishes to challenge his physical condition.

Having reached middle age, fulfilling the duties of rearing two kids, and sustaining a beautiful marriage, it was time to refocus on myself. Having started a new job in the Financial District of the City and commuting in by BART, I decided from day one that I would take the stairs and never the escalator. That first time I was so winded by the time I reached the turnstile, I was embarrassed by my heavy breathing while others whizzed by me. I knew it was time to get back into shape. Three years ago I made the commitment to seek professional coaching for restoring my body. It was a life changing decision that dramatically improved not only my physical wellbeing, but also my mental and emotional wellbeing.
Enter Susie Bergman, at first sight a very fit and vivacious young woman whom I’ve come to trust with my body. She takes the time to ask at each and every session how I’m feeling, if there is any soreness in my muscles, then tailors that days’ workout based on my input. I am an active midlifer still enjoying snow skiing, bicycling, and flying airplanes. My goal is to continue this lifestyle well into my 90s and beyond! Being an engineer I did not have time to study human physiology, I don’t know the names of all the bones and muscles in my body. Susie takes the time to teach me all the names and shows me pictures of how the muscles are connected to the bones. This has really helped me in activating the right muscles for each exercise for maximum muscle development. Today I can honestly say that I am in the best shape of my life. I now hear others breathing heavily at the turnstiles of BART. I can climb over 2,000 feet in less than an hours’ ride on my bike, something I have never achieved before. I skied in Austria this year averaging well over 10,000 vertical feet each day for four days without any soreness in the body. Just amazing for me! There’s still lots of room for improvement. And I know with Susie’s help I can achieve new goals and set greater expectations.

Brian Hannah is an incredible healer.
I usually do not read long reviews, and I encourage you to read this one. It is about your health, after all.
I was a physically fit 18 year old guy who woke up with a sore back every single day. My MRI was clean. Even so, I could not sit down to work or enjoy a meal with my family. After 40 minutes, I would experience burning lumbar-​thoracic back pain.
The best advice I got from 3 MDs was to take 600 mg of ibuprofen per day for three weeks and see what happened. You can guess how well that worked. Five chiropractors, Two physical therapists, a PhD neurologist, and a handful of masseuses were similarly ineffective.
Fortunately, Brian knows more about debugging brain-​muscle communication than all of those people pooled together. Thanks to him (and a few other Posturologists) I am now able to work long hours at a startup. If I make millions, Brian will deserve a fair amount of the credit.
If you have any kind of chronic issue, I encourage you to see Brian first. I have sought treatment as far as New York, and Canada, so I can say that Brian is elite. However, if your particular ailment is not addressed by his breadth of knowledge, Brian will be able to refer you to the right person.
You have very little to lose, and only your health to regain.

I’ve been working with Stacey for years. She nursed my ankle back to health after I rolled it about as far as you can roll one without breaking it. She developed a training regimen for me and coached me through isometrics that restored range of motion and establish some balance across my body. It worked to perfection!
Fast forward years later and I’m back under her watchful and skilled eye to help fix some issues with a hip flexor and shoulder.
Stacey takes care of me more in a «every 15,000 miles» kind of fashion but that’s not to say that clients can’t be served by constant and routine work with her. It speaks to her talent and knowledge that she can get her hands on me for a few sessions here and there and have my body performing at its optimal level quickly.
She’s a joy to work with, her team is all top notch and their space is beautiful and easily accessible – especially if you work downtown.
If you’re looking for help bouncing back from injury or want to regain some balance and strength in your body, turn to Muscle Activation of SF!

I have had a chronic hip injury for the past 2 years. I had tried physical therapy and pilates with only short-​term results. I had been hesitant about working with a trainer after the horror stories you often hear of worsening injuries. One day I had a patient of my own talk about his incredible trainer — Brian. I reached out and am so glad I did.
Brian has been working with me to leave the injury in the past and also reach my physical health goals.
I love working with him because he gets down to the «why» of injury and helps me understand the changes I need to make. I have exercised all of my life, but have been finding that I was taught to do a lot of basic movements incorrectly for my anatomy (squats, deadlifts). He is extremely educated in his field and is one of the best trainers in this city.
I am excited about my progress (feel stronger and over time less pain) and feel fortunate to have found the right partner for the journey.
I gladly recommend him to my friends, family, and my own patients interested in healing an injury and/​or achieving their fitness goals safely. On a professional level, he has been incredible to work with as well. He understands that underlying health issues can impact inflammation and pain. Together, we have been able to make some big strides.

This review is of Suzie (Susannah)
I’ve been working out with Suzie for about 2 months (1/​day a week) and I’m getting the results I wanted already. I had a lot of reservations about seeing a personal trainer. I was worried that the trainer wouldn’t understand the root cause of my pain and that she would exacerbate my pain rather than solve the problems. I’m still getting to know Suzie but she keeps surprising me with her level of understanding on how the muscles should move.
Her training session is very interactive and she is up watching me very carefully, making sure I don’t get injured and giving me cues to activate the muscle group we are focusing on. She uses her iPad to show me pictures of muscles and video records me lifting weights so I can see how to correct my form.
She is into it! I have homework which I asked for and she checks in to see how I’m doing with my own workouts. She truly gets excited about getting people out of pain and feeling good about their bodies.
I have inherited hyper-​mobile joints and work as a Dental Hygienist so my areas of chronic pain from repeated movements in unnatural positions is loooooooooong. I am so happy to report that I’m completely out of chronic pain and when I start feeling aches coming on I know which weight bearing exercises to do to get me out of pain that very day. I used to worry about going down the same road as my mom– double knee replacement and shoulder replacement all before the age of 60 but now I know that I just need to strengthen all the muscles around my joints
BONUS my legs are looking pretty great too!

This review is for Susannah. We trained together for a year and a half, and I lost approximately 130 lbs during that time. I learned that my body went in cycles when I would lose weight, and Susannah did a great job making sure that I broke through plateaus.
In the beginning she was fairly strict and held me accountable for my diet and the workouts I was doing on my own. But when I started feeling stronger and the weight was coming off more consistently, she didn’t have to ask me if I did my own workouts or kept to my diet — she knew I would get it done.
I would describe her personality as easy going, and her coaching style is tip top. She teaches correct technique and makes sure you understand why you’re doing the exercise. The cues she gives are always positive, and reminds you where you started and how much you’ve improved.
I would recommend Susannah to any of my friends, since the results are incredible. But you have to put work in as well, and not rely on only the training sessions to achieve your goals.