By Samantha Clayton, OLY, ISSA-CPT, Herbalife Nutrition Vice President, Worldwide Sports Performance and Fitness and Ryan Capretta, MS, CSCS, Founder and Director of Proactive Sports Performance
As a former international, competitive sprinter and former professional football strength and conditioning coach and current professional basketball team consultant, we’ve had the opportunity to train and work in elite centers and see what works as well as the potential for innovation and improvement. Our partnership over the last 10 years– combining nutrition science with a customized exercise program– has allowed us to see how fitness regimes, nutrition, and the latest technology to monitor performance create fantastic results in amateur and professional athletes. Together we dreamed of building an elite training facility to provide a holistic, high-tech experience for athletes of all levels. It was a three-year journey to create a one-of-a-kind facility for our clients, and while building a world-class facility is no easy feat– particularly during a pandemic– our dream turned into reality with July’s unveiling of the world-class Proactive Fueled by Herbalife Nutrition Performance Center.
State-of-the-Art Performance Equipment
The more than 17,000 square foot multi-sport complex, located in Westlake Village, California, provides athletes access to physical conditioning, sports rehabilitation, personalized nutrition management with Herbalife24® products that are NSF Certified for Sport®* and the addition of the Herbalife24 Sports Performance Lab. It will serve a wide variety of professional athletes, including talent from professional leagues, winter sports, and collegiate and high school athletes looking to make it to the next level of their sport. Data-driven workouts, supported by advanced technological equipment, will help athletes track improvement, compare metrics, and set performance benchmarks, allowing them to continue improving and evolving their skillset. Equipment and technology in the facility include:
- Keiser Strength Training®: Allows athletes to train at speed, on every machine, for every movement by applying Keiser’s Dynamic Variable Resistance, which safely builds strength at any speed. Training can only be considered functional if it is done at speed.
- Altitude Chamber: Simulates elevations up to 15,000 feet for athletes training to perform in high altitude climates with lower oxygen levels. The chamber has various premium conditioning tools, including a Boost One gravity-reducing treadmill to enhance conditioning while preserving joint health.
- BioDex System 4 Pro: Measures limb and muscle strength for more accurate and effective rehab and training programs.
- BOD POD Body Composition Analysis Chamber: Determines athletes’ weight and volume to calculate body density and body fat percentage.
- HP Cosmos Gaitway treadmill: Combines synchronized 3D ground forces and pressure distribution analysis, allowing for the highest accuracy of walking and running analysis. Our facility has one of two in the entire country.
- Full-size Basketball Court with In-Ground Force Plate Technology: The full-size, professional-scale court with research grade high speed cameras and force plates doubles as a biomechanics lab.
- HydroWorx Underwater Treadmill: Utilizes warm water therapy to enhance rehabilitation and performance through water’s buoyancy, resistance, and hydrostatic pressure. Benefits include generating greater cardiovascular endurance, increasing flexibility, promoting increased healing and strengthening of injured tissue, and reducing joint stiffness.
The Herbalife24 Sports Performance lab gives us unique tools to test athletes and design a specific training program that will help them meet their goals. Training has really evolved over the years, which makes this equipment necessary to mitigate any potential injuries or ways in which their bodies are responding to their conditioning and nutrition regimens. We try to determine the athlete’s weaknesses and strengths and address those weaknesses to make the workouts more efficient, resulting in the performance you see on the field or court. We hope that eventually the testing we do at this facility can be shared with the public and help everyday athletes and weekend warriors who are working towards their own personal goas as well.
Access to the Nation’s Best Experts
What might be even more important than the equipment at the facility, is the dedicated team of talented specialists. Clients not only get to train with their most trusted strength and conditioning coaches, but it’s one of the few training facilities in the country that provides access to performance coaches, physical therapists, dietitians and exercise scientists together under one roof.
The Proactive Sports Performance team builds relationships with the athletes so over time they’re able to build trust. Our shared goal is to ensure that when the athletes leave here they feel strong and healthy and not beat up from the weight room. We focus on strengthening the right muscle groups and the right type of biomechanical movements that athletes need to be doing and assist in tailoring customized pre-, during- and post-workout nutrition to fuel each stage of their workout. Finally, we provide therapy treatments as necessary to ensure optimal recovery.
Trusting and Supportive Community
Regular clients of the facility come to train here because they have very specific goals of wanting to evolve and elevate their skillset. Whether it’s a professional athlete maintaining their fitness during the off season, a high school or college athlete trying to make it to the next level of their sport, or exercise enthusiast wanting to carry the level of fitness they once had in their 30’s into their 70’s, all the athletes and staff support and motivate each other. We are eager to take our understanding of athletic performance, fueled by nutrition, to the next level to help today’s athletes effectively compete tomorrow.
*Certified for Sport® is a registered trademark of NSF International.