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On this page you fill find some important articles, videos and more about Optimum Performance Training. The OPT is the best most up to date fitness system available. The principles work for elite athletes and everyday joe's alike!
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The OPT is based on the scientific rationale of human movement science. Each stage has a designated purpose that provides the client with a systematic approach for progressing toward his or her individual goals, as well as addressing his or her specific needs. Now, more than ever, it is imperative to include all the components of OPT programming as well as the right order..
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What Is Optimum
Performance Training (OPT)?
If you want to be a great athlete, you have to train your body the way it moves on the field of play. You're probably thinking cardio, strength, and power training, to be stronger, faster, more explosive, and agile. All true. But there is one component of sports fitness that has often been overlooked: Stability Training.
What is so important about Stability Training? Imagine a car that can go 150 mph; but the brakes only stop up to 50 mph. How fast would you drive the car? Probably not even 50 mph. On the court, your body is like the car. If you have strong muscles and the ability to move fast but you don't have good brakes, you will always perform less than your best. The stabilizing muscles are your brakes.
The OPT System has yielded phenomenal results with top NBA athletes because it trains both the brakes and high performance capabilities of the athlete. Some players have increased their speed by over 30 percent, while ankle, knee, and back injuries have dropped by more than 55 percent! Just this past season the Phoenix Suns had only forty-one games missed due to injury while the NBA average was over one hundred games missed! The Suns credit a large part of this success to their players' improved ability to stabilize, decelerate, and accelerate in all directions as a result of the OPT system.
First, you need to understand a few basic principles about your body. Your body has three different types of muscles:
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Stability Muscles: the small, deep muscles that support your joints and muscles so you can balance and perform strength and power movements on the court. The deep muscles that connect and support the pelvis and spine are examples of stability muscles.
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Strength Muscles: the large, superficial muscles like the chest, back, shoulder, and butt muscles that enable you to be as strong as possible in defense and rebound positions.
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Power Muscles: the muscles you recruit at the right time to execute the exact amount of force and speed needed to perform explosive moves like a lay-up or dunk. These movements are made using a combination of stability and strength muscles.
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Matt Nichol?s worked for the
Toronto Maples Leaves hockey team for seven-and-a-half years. The strength and
conditioning coach for Team Canada
in 2004. ?Our team won the gold medal in the World Cup of hockey?
?Physiology is physiology and biomechanics is biomechanics. How
you apply it, that?s the tricky part. Something that I think is in tune with NASM?s core beliefs is that the body has to function properly, no matter what you want to do with it. If you?re injured or
have a dysfunction, it doesn?t matter what sport you want to play, you?re not
going to have an optimal performance until you can restore proper function.?
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NASM-OPT-Training is a huge benefit. It has a cumulative effect on your body. If your body is more receptive every night,
it’s going to help you over the long term”
Steve Nash, Phoenix
Suns, Two-time NBA MVP
“Over my 10 years in professional athletics as strength and
conditioning professional I have found a scientifically based systematic
approach to performance training ideal for the professional athlete. The based OPT model by NASM has been the
driving force behind the implementation of this approach in athletics
today. I would highly recommend the
utilization of NASM’s scientific based approach to performance training for all
athletes, conditioning coaches, medical professionals, and fitness practitioners
in their pursuit of excellence in sport today”
Sean Cochran, former strength and conditioning coach, San Diego Padres,
current strength and conditioning coach on the PGA Tour
“I’ve always sought out the best technoloty in my sport to
enhance my career. Getting together with
NASM has been a perfect fit for me because it’s about one thing, always getting
better and never being complacent. This
is a common vision that NASM and I have.
My biggest asset is my durability and I attribute my ability to stay
healthy over the course of 9 seasons in the Major Leagues to NASM and the
techniques it’s incorporated in its programs.
What sets NASM apart from the rest for me is the willingness to
constantly adapt the programs and techniques to the latest technology that’s
come about from the most up to date studies and research. NASM has never hesitated to upgread their
programs constantly to coincide with the latest and greatest technology in this
field. I am an NASM advocate for life
and look forward to seeing how and where this visionary company will go”
Barry Zito, San Francisco
Giants, Cy Young Award Winner, MLB All-Star
“The health and wellness of professional athletes has an
intangible value-sickness or injury can devastate an organization, team and
athlete. As a medical professional, I
understand the importance of keeping each athlete healthy and I rely on the
best science and techniques to do just that.
NASM’s unique programming model and integrated training techniques
exemplify their commitment to cutting-edge performance training methods. Too often we dedicate our resources to
rehabilitating an athlete and neglect to focus on injury prevention, but NASM’s
programs combine the latest science, research and clinical applications
available to help athletes reduce injuries and reach teir performance
potential. NASM’s evidence-based
approach systematically progresses athletes through a solid foundation
punctuated with preventative measures and works to ensure a physically sound
athlete throughout their career
Dr. Thomas Carter, Team Physician, Phoenix
Suns and Emeritus Head of Orthopedic Surgery, Arizona State
University
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The Life of a High-Profile Athletic Trainer - A Conversation with Phoenix Suns' Aaron Nelson
Congratulations to Aaron Nelson who was named ATC of the year in the NBA by his colleagues.
CS: How do your coaching styles compare to your predecessor?s?
AN: After my first year as the head guy, that?s when I met Mike Clark and adopted the OPT model. I pursued a lot of the educational resources through NASM. I transformed from being a traditional athletic trainer to doing more assessments, and trying to correct kinetic issues rather than relying strictly on modalities.
CS: Do you apply the same techniques and training to every sport? AN: I think overall, in using the NASM background, it?s the same. You assess the athlete for dysfunction, then correct the dysfunction. That part is the same. The types of injuries we see are obviously different. Basketball?s a lot different than football and hockey, and football and hockey are a lot different than golf and tennis. We tend to see different injuries and we address those differently.
CS: Do you have a training philosophy?
AN: Yeah, absolutely. It all falls back onto everything I?ve learned from Mike Clark: doing an assessment, figuring out the dysfunction of the athlete, and using it 1. to prevent injury and 2. to prevent injury. Then, implementing the OPT model in the overall concept of things. So, when guys are in the strength and conditioning room, they follow the OPT method. We pretty much embody all of that.
CS: It seems like training is an evolving field. How have advances in technology and research affected your practices? AN: There are always different modalities and it kinds of comes in phases. There are different kinds of stimuli; ultrasounds, lights and lasers became real popular. From a modality standpoint, there have been a lot of changes in modalities, vibrational stuff. Now, assessing, preventing and treating the way that we do is different. I started changing probably in 2000 when I started working with Mike. The thing I like about it is everything that I?ve learned is based off research and evidence-based practice. So, that always changes. The research may show something new two years from now and we?ll change with it. The methods are not so set in stone that it?s ?OK, this is it, there are no ways around it.? If research shows something new, then we change with it.
CS: Since implementing NASM?s OPT model in 2000, have you noticed a change in athletes? Have the athletes noticed a change?
AN: Yeah, absolutely. Our games lost due to injury have gone way down. Our use of modalities has gone way down. The athletes tell us they feel better. They seem to move better. I?ve definitely seen a difference and I know they definitely see a difference.
CS: You've been referred to as the "fountain of youth" for the Suns. How do you keep the athletes' bodies working smoothly? AN: It goes straight to assessing the athlete, whoever it is. It doesn?t matter whether they?re young or old. We try to find some dysfunction. Usually everybody has some type of movement dysfunction, whether it?s coming from their knees, ankles, back or shoulders. Then, we put them through a program of corrective exercises and therapy. That includes manual therapy, foam roll, myofascial release stuff. Basically, we are lengthening what?s tight and strengthening what?s weak. That?s our whole philosophy. It involves a lot of hands-on table work with the guys and then having them go straight in and perform their corrective exercises. You have to do both. I can do all the manual therapy and make anybody feel good, but if they don?t do the corrective exercises to follow it up, they?re going to lose that eventually. It?s a hand-in-hand type of program.
CS: What is it like working with Dr. Michael Clark and NASM? How has he helped shape the team's training program? AN: When we first started out, I met Mike and got to know him and looked at the principles. Everything is based off of research and the fact that it?s evidence based ?there?s no gimmicks around it. It is what it is. It?s real. The program is unique from that standpoint. A lot of people have really good ideas, but try to bottle them into just their own concept and their own ideas. This is evolution; it may change year to year, who knows? But, whatever the research is saying, that kind of dictates how we change things. Working with Mike has really, really pushed me into more of the academic side of training and why things should or shouldn?t work. My philosophy on the way I approach the athletes and treat the athletes has changed dramatically, working with him. I?m fortunate. He?s an incredibly intelligent guy. He?s really passionate about education and trying to keep people healthy.
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