This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
rehab


PEAK PERFORMANCE


KATE CRACKNELL TALKS TO DAN ZIEKY, EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR FOR ATHLETES’ PERFORMANCE, ABOUT THE COMPANY’S SEAMLESS APPROACH TO REHAB, PREHAB AND TRAINING


WHAT IS ATHLETES’ PERFORMANCE? Athletes’ Performance (AP) was founded by Mark Verstegen, a former college football player who hoped to play in the NFL until he suffered an injury. He therefore had the idea of developing a facility where professional, elite athletes could come in their off-season to get the best in training, the best in rehab, the best in nutrition all under one roof. Sometimes we’ll be getting athletes back to fi tness; other times we’re helping prevent injury in the fi rst place – some athletes come during the off-season just to have their off-season training. It’s all about a sustainable, long-term approach to staying healthy and injury-free, and they come back to us year after year. Whatever sport the athletes are involved in – whether that’s football, baseball, soccer, boxing – they have access to the


best facilities and the best specialists, all seamlessly integrated to ethically enhance the athletes’ performance. Nowadays this sort of seamless approach is more commonplace, with performance rehab and nutrition working together. But 10 years ago, nobody was doing this – Mark really was at the forefront of this trend. The fi rst AP facility opened in Arizona in 1999 and we now have four facilities: in Phoenix, Arizona; Gulf Breeze, Florida; Los Angeles; and Frisco, Texas. All are very consistent in terms of programming, training and philosophy.


WHAT’S THE OVERALL PHILOSOPHY AT AP? The pillars of AP are mindset, nutrition, movement and recovery – and all four are equally important. A lot of our clients are strong, fast, very athletically gifted. But what we do very


well at AP is not only educating clients on new training methods and ideas, but also ‘tuning up the car’ if you like – making sure they understand that, before they run that race or play that game, all their levels have to be topped up. All the elements have to work together: the recovery, the nutrition, the mindset, the movement. It’s never just one thing that you need to work on. It’s a combination of all those things, and it’s doing it effi ciently and consistently. It’s really important to educate the athlete about that – to make sure that every client is not only getting to their goal but also understanding the process.


I READ THAT AP ALSO AIMS TO EXTEND THE LONGEVITY OF CLIENTS’ SPORTING CAREERS? We always say that the NFL (National Football League) stands for ‘Not For Long’. You have to know how to look


Keiser’s versatile equipment means gym-based exercise can mirror on-fi eld movements


AP gyms are all kitted out to ensure a functional, movement-based focus 48 Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital july 2012 © cybertrek 2012


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84