It’s no pain, all gain at Pinnacle Performance and ProHealth Sports and Spinal
Photos courtesy of establishments
Not that Manila is lacking in fitness facilities and rehab centers, but here’s more welcome news for professional athletes, health aficionados, and even amateurs slowly getting into the best shape of their lives.
Pinnacle Performance and ProHealth Sports and Spinal, two brands with branches across Asia, have teamed up and recently launched in Manila, a move that signifies and acknowledges the growth of the spirited sporting and fitness community here.
Located on the 28th floor of Centuria Medical Makati, the two’s dual-space concept isn’t the typical setup most people think of when it comes to a holistic approach to fitness and health. But if Pinnacle and ProHealth’s arrival is any indication, it’s a setting that’s going to become more commonplace, especially with how people are training and taking care of themselves.
Pinnacle Performance
Founded by Tom Summers, Pinnacle draws much of its appeal from Summers’ vast experience with professional and elite athletes, which include English football and rugby league players.
“These professionals have a goal and they follow a program that suits their training needs,” says Summers. “We wanted to bring that to the everyman, anyone who has dreamed of being an athlete.” Three years after its inception in Hong Kong, this goal-oriented, high-performance gym is exciting even local basketball players like Chris Ross and Arnold Van Opstal.
Apart from access to the athletic track, performance suite, conditioning equipment, and suspension and bodyweight area, one key element that draws fitness enthusiasts is its Pinnacle Global Rating (PGR), a measurement of a person’s speed, power, agility, strength, body composition, and energy system’s capacity. It’s a way of objectively tracking progress alongside individual goal-based attention.
“With groups of no more than eight, a lead coach taking personal responsibility for every member’s program and progress, and a team of coaches who know everyone’s names, families, and careers, Pinnacle is an engaging environment that encourages shared development.”
Endurance athletes could also benefit from strength and conditioning afforded by fitness centers like Pinnacle given the high volume of training, impacts, and cycles of cadence and gait in triathlon says Summers.
Endurance athletes could also benefit from strength and conditioning afforded by fitness centers like Pinnacle given the high volume of training, impacts, and cycles of cadence and gait in triathlon says Tom Summers
“With around 5,500 strides per hour when running, that’s a lot of impact if the muscle networks and body are moving poorly. The misconception can be that strength and conditioning has the sole goal of improving performance and competition time, and while this is correct and we are of course searching for an extra millimeter of stride length from a more powerful strike impact, we see the importance and potential risk of the huge training volumes and injuries that occur long before the start line.”
Innovative fitness centers like Pinnacle have added an exciting new dimension to Manila’s active lifestyle scene but few solutions like Pinnacle’s plan, pursue, and perform philosophy have been designed to address the openness of these centers to those starting out their fitness journey.
“Of course the accountability of a goal can be daunting and scare some people off, however looking at it from the other side of the fence, the responsibility that we place on ourselves as coaches to achieve that goal with you is formidable.”
ProHealth Sports and Spinal
On the other side of the facility is the stark white contrast of ProHealth Sports and Spinal, the brainchild of Mark Cameron and Philippa Stewart.
ProHealth is a 17-year-old physiotherapy center with branches in Beijing, Hong Kong, India, and Singapore, and it’s now bringing its pain treatment, spinal rehabilitation, and occupational and sports physiotherapy expertise to the increasingly health-focused population in Manila.
“Eighteen months ago, Philippa Stewart and I traveled around Asia looking for different cities where we could set up a physiotherapy center that could make a difference,” says managing partner Mark Cameron. “And when we arrived here, we found a vibrant community that was very active.”
Powered by six resident therapists with various specializations, real-time ultrasound for more accurate assessments as well as fully-equipped premises (with beautiful views of the city, too) meant for injury recovery and prevention and flexibility improvement, ProHealth is giving even the regular individual second thoughts about their physical needs.
“It’s not just for professional athletes. It’s a misconception that we want to break,” says Steph Yee, head physiotherapist and national physiotherapist for the men’s and women’s rugby teams. “We have people who simply want to get better.” Better muscle function, flexibility, spinal rehab care, or whatever chinks in the armor anyone might be feeling. “The core part of our business is that we’re very patient-focused,” says Cameron.
It’s a tried-and-tested but effective strategy that has worked and is still working in the industry because razor-sharp attention to patients is a key quality that centers like this possess.
What ProHealth is doing better is taking its full repertoire—highly skilled therapists, international experience, and expanded specialty care services—into an arguably saturated market but standing out with its biggest asset: a comprehensive training program for physiotherapists called the ProHealth Physiotherapy Academy, which ensures that clients receive the latest possible physiotherapy treatments, concepts, and techniques.
Depending on where you are in your athletic career or personal fitness journey, measuring progress and physical limits matters.