Have you ever wondered what it would be like to train like a professional athlete? How do they structure their training? How do they reduce their risk of injury? And when they do get injured, how do they manage their treatment and recovery? Critically, what is the scientific and medical expertise that helps to inform these strategies and unlock their performance?
We’re building Optimi to help you access this expertise. Our clinical thinking is led by the former Head of Medical Performance at the NSW Waratahs (Super Rugby) and by the current Head Doctor of the Australian Rugby team. Our approach brings elite sports medicine directly to you, meaning you have access to the latest and most informed knowledge and protocols being developed across a range of sports in Australia, the US, the UK and Europe.
Our approach to injury prevention utilises science based protocols, proven across a range of professional sports, the military and with many everyday athletes. In order to improve your resilience to injury, we want you to focus on just 2 things:
1) Your personalised prehab plan. This has been developed for you, based on your goals, lifestyle, preferred sports and your previous injury history. Your plan targets areas of your body which are most at risk.
Our prehab plans are developed using a progressive, criteria based approach. Your plan consists of multiple phases, with each phase being a little more challenging than the last. Phases are unlocked by passing a set of ‘criteria’ – ie functional tests. This criteria based approach enables you to progress at your own pace and will help improve your function by increasing your mobility and joint stability, making you more resilient to injury.
2) Monitor your training load! In addition to following your personalised prehab plan, we recommend you monitor your training load. Poorly monitored training loads can significantly increase your risk of injury. Unfortunately, simply planning sensible increases in load over a period of time doesn’t take into account your individual response to the stresses of training (and life!) on any given day. We therefore recommend you track your training load using the tool on the app home page. This takes less than 5 seconds and you can learn more about the science and the methodologies HERE.
The approach we’ve outlined above is tried and tested in pro sport and is just as applicable to us all as it is to elite level athletes. It’s a small investment in time (typically under 15 mins for a prehab session and less than 5 seconds to capture your training load after a strength or conditioning session) and we’re sure you’ll feel it’s time well spent.
Remember – movement is medicine, enjoy the journey!
