Inherent to the young professional’s biology is a special protein that scientists call, Competitivulin. It’s a protein that supports the body’s ability to repetitively kick ass no matter what it’s doing.
So while we love crushing it in the office, we also love bringing our Type-A-Games to the gym, the golf course, the tennis court, the jogging route, or any other athletic avenue that provides the opportunity for our bodies too shine as bright as our minds.
So if you’re in Toronto, and outside of work you want to maintain a healthy, competitive level of play, you might want to visit The Performance Lab.
‘Cause we did. And we’re better for it.
In fact, we put a Notable team member through their motion capture analysis (see: the same technology used to make sports video games) and discussed the detailed results with their in-house performance therapist and biomechanist.
While his hopes of going pro might be long gone, in a matter of only a few hours he probably shaved a few strokes off his golf game, added a plate to his squats, and saved himself an early trip to knee surgery.
“People who have been exercising or playing sports for a long time – their habits are so ingrained. Naturally they’re going to work out in a way that’s comfortable, so essentially they’re making their weaknesses even weaker,” says biomechanist, Kait Jackson as she applies somewhere around 40 round reflective markers all over our writer’s body.
“The technology we’re using and the analytics it creates sees things that the naked eye just can’t see,” explains Performance Lab Founder and Director Dr. Carmine Filice. “So we’re exposing those weaknesses in form and in force generation, and we’re providing the insight and ability for people to train those weaknesses away.” 
Looking like a sport video game guinea pig, our Notable athlete went into action while cameras picked up every single nuanced motion he made; a squat, a vertical jump, a golf swing, a baseball pitch, and a jog. Then some software chugged away to produce a detailed illustration and analysis of his movements and within a few hours, the observations were astounding.
When squatting to load for power, the left hip dips and the right knee collapses inward, highlighting a disturbingly tight right hip and a lack of strength applied from the hamstrings and the glutes. On vertical launch, the body tilts forward putting additional pressure on the knees, compounding the weakness of the “posterior chain” and ultimately exposing the right knee to long-term damage.
With the golf swing, the very same tightness in the right hip leads to a compensatory lateral shift and another collapse of the knees. This error is also fed by an inability to separate the shoulder angle from the hip angle, preventing the body from moving through the swing in fluid succession. Ultimately this forfeits power and makes hitting a straight shot much more of a long-shot.
And there was much, much more.
Mind = blown.
And this is only the first step of the services provided at The Performance Lab.
From the analysis, Carmine and Kait will then design a customized program of exercises and therapy. The program ensures that you adjust, strengthen, and optimize your mechanics, enabling not only peak performance, but increasing what most of us are in the market for now: longevity.
“A big part of this is avoiding injury,” Carmine reminds us. “Yes, you’ll get a boost in performance – you’ll have a better chance of beating your buddies on the golf course – but an important goal is also to keep you healthy and athletic for longer.”
And just as they promote it physically, commercially they endorse a generous degree of flexibility.
Once a customized program is completed in consultation with the athlete, it can be administered by the team at The Performance lab, by a personally selected trainer, or, if they’re dedicated and aware enough, by the individual themselves.
There are also corporate packages available so that two or three members of the sales team can skip afternoons together to work out the kink in their long irons.
And while they have put a lot of effort into replicating athletic environments in their own space – with things like combine-grade turf and Olympic track flooring – they’re about to make things even more authentic; coming out the first week of May, they will have a portable motion capture system so that they can perform the detailed physical analysis literally anywhere.
“Nobody else is really doing this. Nobody in Canada is bringing this level of technology to athletic performance analysis and therapy. We’re really trying to push the boundaries here.”
Having worked in some of the most advanced facilities and with some of the most elite athletes in the US, Dr. Filice is confident in the trail they are blazing north of the border.
“Our goal is honestly to be the best therapy and performance centre in North America. We would do the world, but you know, one step at a time.”
Or one squat, one pitch, one swing, or one whatever at a time.
Regardless of your sport, if you’re looking to stay healthy and stay competitive, you might want to pull The Performance Lab into your rotation.
Keep an eye out for two more locations opening up this year in the PATH and out in the West end.
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